So Let's See What Happens

[bu villain]

Not for the people that are paying for it. The people that are paying for it will see no difference.

Well I am one of the ones paying for it and I think it's a worthwhile use of my money because the basic health of the people in my country concerns me.

That kids would be far better educated if the govt got out of the way. If I have kids that are of school age, let me take the portion of my taxes that go to schools and use it to put my kids through the school of my choice or give me a voucher equal to that sum. Under the current system, if I want to send my kids to a private school I have to pay to send your kids to school while paying additional money out of pocket to send my kids to school. If a voucher system was in place, anyone could afford to send their kids to private schools.

Hey that sounds great but how will you fund schooling for the kids of poor parents?

So what disease do you test for? I brought up cancer, what would have more of an impact than that? I know how we could reduce those costs, we could only test the people that fit a certain criteria and dont have any other serious health issues. We wont call that rationing though, we will call that SMART preventive medicine.

I am not a doctor so I can't tell you which diseases would be cost effective to test for. Additionally its not just testing for disease it's also vaccinations, education, and treatment. If you can discover and treat say high blood pressure with a cholesterol pill, that can save a lot of money if it prevents an emergency room trip for a heart attack. I don't understand why you equate preventative medicine with rationing.

Do you really believe that the majority of people in this country are going to change their habits because a doctor says it isnt healthy? If that was the case, fast food chains would be gone and Phillip Morris execs would be looking for other jobs.

I agree some people will never change certain habits but many others will. Look at the rates of smoking in this country over the last 50 years. What do you attribute the declines to if not education about the health consequences? Do you really not know anyone who has changed their diet, drinking/smoking habits, or exercise based on their doctor's advice? How many diabetecs do you think died because they couldn't be bothered with their insulin injections? Just because something is not a cure all does not mean it has no value.

Not an exact statistic, but 1/3 of all single mothers live in poverty.

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/h...equal_time.htm

This is incorrect logic to assume (if p then q) means (if q then p). Even if 3/3 single mothers live in poverty, that doesn't mean that any significant portion of poor people are single mothers. To make matters worse, you are further assuming that most single mothers are so because they were just plain irresponsible as opposed to death of a husband, divorce, etc.