Miiiine! Miiiiine! Miiiiine! "from the gulls on Nemo"

If not for the "marvels of modern medicine", I would have been gone from this world many times over by now. I have had more than my share of accidents, injuries, and just plain old bad decisions, which have landed me in emergency rooms all over the world.

Maybe this is where my personal attitude about our "health-care" as Americans, comes from. We as a nation have really grown in the last couple hundred years, to be quite a self-centered society. I have read quite a few opinions on this subject alone, and far too much of what I see is "What's in it for me", or fear mongering about ridiculous ideas such as "Socialism" or just plain ignorance. Are we really so self absorbed as to believe that we are not already "paying" as a society for not taking care of the least of us.

We already pick up the tab for anyone and everyone that receives health-care and can not pay for it in the form of higher taxes, deductibles, medical costs etc.. Currently instead of doing anything to keep these people healthy and productive, we only pick up the tab when they have true emergencies. It would seem that society as a whole could benefit from keeping as many people healthy and able to contribute to our nation as possible.

I have spent most of my life with "socialized" medicine in one form or another. I started off having the same health-care as our military forces, where the lowliest enlisted person and his family get the same level of care as the highest ranking officer. I later joined the military and was able to provide my own family with this great benefit, and now receive health-care from the Veterans Administration. Please don't think that this is free Health-care, it is a benefit given to the men and women who choose to spend their lives in service to our country, and it is definitely earned.

If we, as a nation, choose to provide health-care for all of our citizens, maybe we could require two years of service from every citizen. It wouldn't have to be in the military, just something that gives back to make the country a better place. Between social services, military service, and, job corps, I think we could find somewhere for almost everyone to contribute.

Later in life when I chose to get out of the military, I was quite shocked at what civilians call health and dental care. I had several different policies from Aetna, BCBS, and Fortis, and honestly almost all of these were little more than a joke, after the deductible, copay, and cost of prescriptions, I was quickly missing my military provided "socialized medicine". My biggest issue was the fact that some data entry clerk, probably making $10 an hour, was making decisions about my health care that contradicted what my medically trained doctor had decided was best. I also have an issue with how doctors are compensated, it is in most doctor's best interest to run as many tests as they can because it generates income either for themselves, their employees, or for the hospital. It has been my personal experience that this is even worse in the dental care area. My wife was told she had 9 cavities that needed to be filled before we got married, and later found out from our Tri-care dentist that she actually didn't have any cavities, they were just trying to generate income. Caring for people by educating, healing, and counseling etc... doesn't need to be a business. Medicine for the sole purpose of profit doesn't really even seem ethical if you stop and think about it.

The education of our children, which is a much bigger issue than this one, has been socialized almost since the dawn of our nation. We still have the opportunity to send our children to a private school if we wish, but we also still have to pay our taxes so that our society as a whole can be at least minimally educated. Health-care could work in a similar fashion, the basic preventative, emergency, and general care that everyone needs is provided, but additional care can be provided to anyone who wishes to pay for it themselves.

I really don't think this is that big of a deal, as far as how we pay for it, or who sets it up. I have read the current bill, and I have many issues with it, but at least it's a starting point. This might not be the right way to do it, but I know deep down that we do need to do it. While I am very grateful that we all have the right to our own opinion, what truly sickens me is the selfish attitude of what I would call my fellow Americans. I've got mine so screw the rest of you. Miiine, Miiine, Miiine!