Health care already available for all

Louise G. Fortier, Las VegasHealth care already available for all

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

Regarding Stan Broselow’s Friday letter, “Health care plan had no chance with GOP”:

If Mr. Broselow thinks there is a chance in you-know-where that the average person will have health insurance commensurate with the insurance plans provided our members of Congress if a Democrat is elected to lead this country, then he is living in a dream world.

Mr. Broselow should realize the costs would be astronomical to provide specialists and hospitals equivalent to those provided for our federal employees and distinguished members of Congress. (No malice intended.)

Socialized medicine would over time devolve into your having a choice, as it did in Canada. If it is determined, for instance, that someone needed heart surgery, he would simply be put on a list and wait his turn.

Canadians drive or fly to the United States to be attended to, and for more than just surgery. This is not because the physicians or hospitals in Canada are not top-notch, it is because socialized medicine cannot fulfill the needs of everyone.

Here in the United States, those who can afford to pay will continue to pay and those who cannot, well, we’ll all pay for them, as we do now. Free clinics, medical and dental, are already established and emergency rooms handle those who come through their doors.

At the present time, so far as I know, no one is turned away even those in our country illegally. Mr. Broselow should be careful what he wishes for he could be in for a big surprise.