Thursday, June 28, 2007

Health Care Debate in Fort Collins

The Northern Colorado Business Report summarized a recent debate in Fort Collins on between an advocate of single-payer socialized medicine (Cory Carroll, M.D.) and an opponent of socialized medicine (State Senator Shawn Mitchell). Here are some excerpts of Sen. Mitchell's views:
Mitchell said other industrialized countries that have adopted national health care or single-payer systems don't offer the same level of health care as the American system offers, and that's what most Americans want.

"Access to a waiting list is not access to health care," he said. "If you have a serious health-care problem, you're twice as likely to die in a socialized system."

...Mitchell said national health-care systems tend to restrict access to care, which helps keep their per-capita costs down. "Who's going to make the decision that you're getting too much treatment and it has to stop?" he said.