[lbo-talk] socialized medicine

[B.]

The US Army, Vet's admin or not, is also a type of
socialized medicine. All new recruits have a
comprehensive exam, and if you have probs, they get
you on meds, give you glasses, etc., whatever you
need, immediately, from the get-go. Of course, this
means if you have too many existing med. problems they
won't let you into the army at all. My cousin has
Crohn's Disease and couldn't join -- too much
liability.

On the other hand, the singer of the punk band I
posted about, Jack Control of Austin, Texas, who was
almost stabbed to death last weekend -- his medical
bills are already at $80,000+. Just for the privilege
of getting stabbed. There were some posts on int'l
music forums to help raise money for him (he has no
insurance), and while in forum responses Americans
were generally "Oh that's awful," Canadian and British
punk fans were like, "I'm glad I live in
Canada/England, where I wouldn't be charged for nearly
six figures for getting stabbed."

-B.

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Yoshie wrote:

Paul Krugman says that the best kept secret in the US
policy debate is that the Veterans Health
Administration -- government-run health care -- works
much better than private health care:

<blockquote>Well, I know about a health care system
that has been highly successful in containing costs,
yet provides excellent care. And the story of this
system's success provides a helpful corrective to
anti-government ideology. For the government doesn't
just pay the bills in this system - it runs the
hospitals and clinics.
No, I'm not talking about some faraway country. The
system in question is our very own Veterans Health
Administration, whose success story is one of the
best-kept secrets in the American policy debate.