This is my kind of thread. It's a really worthwhile debate to be having right now, too.

The reason we're going to have to look at the question of nationalized health care is because big-business-ized health care isn't working and is out of the reach of more and more sick people. It's very simple, really. It's not that anyone truly wants the government involved in health care, P4B. It's that without that involvement, there are millions of people who cannot obtain care at all and more and more among the working, insured populations who are going bankrupt as a result of our current system. This is only going to get worse.

FreshNugz does seem to relish the gift of his covered health care services, Delusions. Perhaps that is entitlement. Perhaps it's just his Canadian perspective combined with his youth. I don't think any reasonable American believes that a nationalized program is going to provide across-the-board services free of charge or free of problems for anyone. Certainly it'll be paid for in one way or another, just like it's being paid for right now in our grossly overpriced system by the few who still have insurance and extra cash. Making care that'll be available to everyone and portable isn't legislating compassion, though. At least not in my book. It's simply a more compassionate way to approach the problem we have now, which first takes into account everything but what really matters, which is what will benefit people's health. Personal responsibility will still factor in, too. That'll always factor in in health care, from picking up copayments and shares of the premiums or taxes/tax credits that support it to living the health-smart behaviors that ensure you need fewer rather than more services.

I'm hoping some of you will read this link, this information. It's a really good study of health care system comparisons by country and what people think about them, plus what their advantages and disadvantages are. Some of it's mighty dry. Good info, though. This is the study that's helping drive planning for the soon-to-be American system and is the data that helped show just how badly American health care needed to do something different when it came out a couple of years ago.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An Update on the Quality of American Health Care Through the Patient's Lens