Health Care is all about protection and security, therefore I always ask parents a couple of questions:
If you send your child to school and they become ill because their classmate's parents can't afford Health Care coverage - Do you feel protected? Is your family secure? As a parent are your protecting your children?
This morning HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt was on C-Span's Washington Journal defending President Bush's veto threat of the current SCHIP legislation. I tried calling in to ask America the above question, but as usual the lines were all busy. My morning routine of listening to Washington Journal while surfing my favorite Blogs continued when Secretary Leavitt came up with this stinker of a right wing talking point. You know the one:
"People in France and Canada right now as I speak are waiting in line to come to America for Health Care that they just can't get with their government run Health Care Program."
These weren't is exact words but we have all heard some version of this right wing drivel.
Oh why oh why couldn't I be the next caller in line to ask Secretary Leavitt the following question:
You mean to tell me that the good people of France and Canada would vote today replace their current single payer Health Care system with a system that would cost
2 1/2 to 3 times more? A system that leaves almost almost 20 percent of their fellow citizens with no Health Care coverage at all? A system where a normal visit to the Doctors could require anywhere from $20 to $500 out of pocket expense?
Would the people of France and Canada vote for a system just like the one in the United States today?
I would bet a million Dollars that such an initiative would even fail here in the good old U.S.A..
The next time you hear the right wingers spout these talking points please ask these questions.