We All Must Fight Against Socialized Medicine, Especially on a Local Level

Socialized medicine has become the talk of the day. This is not only unfortunate. It is harmful and we have a responsibility to speak out.

Socialized medicine has led to a drastic reduction in services and in quality of care in every nation it’s been tried. The elderly and the infirm are always the hardest hit.

When Barack Obama was asked about this by the media, he openly admitted that the elderly and the infirm would not be priorities. How shameful it is that the media did not see fit to call him out on this. Can you imagine their reaction had a Republican president said the same thing?

Failure to care for the elderly and the infirm is a failure in society as a whole. It’s un-American and it lacks compassion. It is our responsibility to speak out against this, vocally and constantly. It is also our responsibility to gather civic groups and candidates throughout the nation to rally the public against this monstrosity.

Obama’s loyalists have organized themselves into groups that act locally. Obama’s team coordinates directly with them as they take their message to every county in the nation. While this is unfitting for a president and threatens the foundation of democracy, we must learn from them and speak out on a local level. Truth can easily destroy fiction if only it raises its voice in protest.

With that in mind, consider the following. Here are just some of the horrors that are socialized medicine:

The typical wait for hip surgery in Canada is 14 months.

In Canada’s Province of Quebec, patients in need of a 30 minute procedure to cure urinary tract infections are on a three year waiting list!

Children with significant hearing problems are denied access to cochlear implants.

Arthritis treatment in the United Kingdom has a waiting period of up to nine months. Also in the UK, a 22 year old man just passed away because the government refused to allow him to receive a liver transplant.

Is this the so-called compassion inherent in socialized medicine?! In a word, yes.

Patients across the spectrum are denied access to thousands of necessary medications, which are deemed “too costly” or “unnecessary” by non-doctor bureaucrats.

We cannot and will not allow this type of devastation in America. Our seniors deserve better. The infirm deserve better and society as a whole deserves better.

Most of all, protecting health care options for seniors is a sacred trust. These options are only available under a competitive system that at least attempts to force doctors and hospitals to be at their best.

Can health care by fought on a local level? You bet it can! But we all need to get involved in the fight.

All issues can be fought in the battle of ideas. And that battle starts locally.

I’m at least pleased to say that my State, Florida, is leading the fight. Palm Beach County GOP Chairman Sid Dinerstein has labeled the bill the "Send The Seniors Home To Die Bill.”

This is partly because Florida’s economy relies heavily on our seniors and on continued migration to the State. For these conditions to continue, access to the quality health care that stems from a competitive system is a must. But it’s also because Floridians recognize the inherent inhumanity of any system that harms the elderly and the frail first and foremost. And we refuse to tolerate it.

Solutions:

I understand that we must make health care affordable. But we don’t have to throw the proverbial fish out with the tub or resort to governmental micromanagement of our healthcare system to get it right.

A large part of the massive cost of health care, and the main reason that our system is failing, is because government health programs like Medicare are caving over due to the size of their bureaucracy. We can streamline costs and augment care by simply doing away with much of the red tape. That’s not a solution, but it’s an important ingredient in any viable plan to fix the system.

Republicans and Democrats agree that the current health care system has become too complex, too bureaucratic and woefully inefficient. Like the tax code, no matter what side of the political aisle you are on, all agree on the need for simplification and for less bureaucracy.

Cutting unneeded red tape and focusing on necessary and effective oversight should be a prime goal of fixing the health care system. If government would simply concentrate on being effective rather than being large, it would be amazing what we could accomplish in all areas of society.

Governors throughout the nation are shocked by the trillion dollar costs of the proposed federal bill, much of which is being passed on to the states. Governors like Bill Richardson, who is certainly no political foe of Barack Obama, have expressed shock at the amount that the latest healthcare bill would cost, especially its cost to the states.

As we look for solutions, let this much be clear: Government run healthcare is government rationed healthcare.... and it helps no one!

Socialized medicine is as failed a doctrine as is socialism itself. It needs to be fought and I am committed to leading the fight on our local level, right here in our district.

Most of all, we will look to keep competitive options available to seniors and families regardless of what the federal government does. Good health care, complete with competitive market based options that force providers to offer the best care available, is worth protecting. The future of America’s health and economy depend on it.

On all issues, we will provide real common sense conservative solutions that bring true improvements to society, not another socialized bureaucratic mess or a fiscal nightmare that all taxpayers are forced to bear the brunt of.