The Battle Over Health Care Begins

I'll be posting a whole lot more on this in the coming weeks as this battle ramps up, too, but I wanted to start out with a couple of real-life examples of the kind of government-run health care program that Obama wants to implement here.

Britain:

A former soldier pulled his own teeth out with a pair of pliers because he could not find a dentist to take on NHS patients.

Iraq War veteran Ian Boynton could not afford to go private for treatment so instead took the drastic action to remove 13 of his teeth that were giving him severe pain.

The 42-year-old, from Beverley, East Yorkshire, had not had his teeth looked at since seeing the army dentist in 2003. He had not been registered with a dentist of his own since 2001.

The British and Canadian healthcare systems are used as ideals by leftists who want a public option for healthcare services. They say, and Barack Obama says, he will not make you give up your private plan. But we know that the public option will make the private options so expensive, they'll collapse. Additionally, we know that some employers will shut down their private plans to save money.

Either way, pretty soon we'll be doing surgery on ourselves. Pity the man who performs his own vasectomy.

Canada:

Government-run health care in Canada is supposed to be wonderful.  Tell that to the people who are turning to private clinics and doctors.

Reports Fox News:

Private for-profit clinics are a booming business in Canada -- a country often touted as a successful example of a universal health system.

Facing long waits and substandard care, private clinics are proving that Canadians are willing to pay for treatment.

"Any wait time was an enormous frustration for me and also pain. I just couldn't live my life the way I wanted to," says Canadian patient Christine Crossman, who was told she could wait up to a year for an MRI after injuring her hip during an exercise class. Warned she would have to wait for the scan, and then wait even longer for surgery, Crossman opted for a private clinic.

American medicine has problems.  But our task is to address them while keeping the strengths of the present system.  The actual experience in Canada shows just how much we have to lose.

Is this what you want to deal with here in America??  Stories like this are the rule in government-controlled systems, not the exception.

There is nowhere in the world -- literally NOWHERE -- that a government-controlled health care plan doesn't end up like this.  Costs always skyrocket, quality always goes down, and rationing always occurs.  Period.  It is that simple.

And don't buy the spin about Obama's plan being different - Obama's plan will give us this exact scenario!  Liberals even admit that Obama's current plan is the first step in government-controlled health care.  This issue is one of the times when literally every American should be informed and involved in the debate because your life and the lives of your loved ones actually do depend on what happens with this legislation.

It is coming soon.  Get an early start - call or e-mail your Senators and Representative, and tell them in no uncertain terms to reject any and all forms of government-controlled health care, a single-payer option, or whatever Obama wants to call it.

There's my two cents.