Voyager,
After re-reading your post, perhaps I was hasty calling your post the most heartless I had seen on the board.

You mentioned that Canadians come to the US for health care. I read in a newspaper article about one family moving to Canada because one of the parents was a Canadian citizen and the family would qualify for socialized medicine. It seems that they could no longer afford the hundreds of dollars a month just for health insurance and pay their bills or even eat since one of the family had developed a serious medical condition.

There will always be people who are lucky to afford good health care and it doesn't matter if they live in a third world country, they are able to fly to London for care as in the case of the wealthy in the middle east. Same thing in Canada. They may not want to wait the 8 months I did just to get into a dental school to have my tooth fixed because I could not afford the thousands a private dentist told me that a specialist would charge.
Same goes with the fact that I have 2 herniated disks and would like to try other treatment other than being given pain pills which I am now dependent on. In other words, I have health insurance and its probably better than most but even WITH health insurance, I can not try all the available treatments like artificial disks or even afford back surgery with my newly sky-rocketed co pays. Two to four years ago, I might pay about $100 for back surgery. Now, I will have to pay thousands. Why did I wait for back surgery? I have been told by more than one doctor that it would not last in my case if I did have surgery. Its still the same insurance but there is an ever increasing demand for use that the state of Texas which provides the policy for its active and retired employees and their families simply can't afford the demand and its only going to get worse we are told.

So the big fear about socialized medicine is long waits and rationed care. I have long waits to see a doctor and my care is rationed and I AM insured.

As a matter of fact, since I am on social security disability, I qualify for Medicare. But it stinks compared to what the state offers.

The fact is there IS No solution. There are too many people clamoring for ever shrinking resources which includes health care. Join this with the 'Me First and screw you' belief of the 1990's and you have a mess.

Socialized medicine is far from perfect. But I would rather pay high taxes and live in a country that values its people over one that destroying another country with million dollar a pop missiles . I would rather wait but be certain that I would be given medical and dental care from decently trained professionals at a price I could live with (no pun intended). I may not get the greatest and latest in health care, but at least I would likely be taken care of in some fashion than left to the mercy of the county hospital which will dump me on the street as soon as I am stabilized.

How many people could receive health care and how many medical and dental schools could be built with what the Iraq war will eventually cost?