Every time there is talk about universal health coverage, the political right scares you by yelling "socialism". They warn of "long lines" for care. They warn of rationing of medical services. They yell with pride that we have the "best" medical system in the world.

Now, I am NOT on the right or the left. I AM a doctor and I want ALL American citizens to have access to health care. NO AMERICAN should worry about medical care and medicines for their families. NEVER!!!!! You will note that it is always the rich that tell us that we have the best medical care and that is nonsense. It is even nonsense for the rich but they apparently do not know it! People in Canada and Europe live longer than we do and they all have better lifestyles and better health care and they all have national health systems.

I feel NO pride in having the most expensive health care in the world with the worst infant mortality in any industrilaized society ( Even in El salvador newborns have a better chance at kfe than here in the U.S.) I feel NO pride in a system that prizes work till you drop dead and does not acknowledge the value of rest on the mind and body.I feel NO pride in a medical system that drugs society. I feel NO pride in system that rewards the doctor who cuts over the doctor who prevents. I feel NO pride in a health system that helped create HMO's and insurance companies that deny "high risks", underinsure and place their profits over the health and well being of Americans. I feel NO pride in a nation that allows the innocent to go bankrupt in order to pay their health bills, but ,pays for illegal immigrants. I feel NO pride in a nation where executives can take a company down, borrow from taxpayors to keep it afloat and collect millions upon millions in salaries and spend on airplanes while the middle class has no health care coverage.

If you respond to the cries of "socialism" of the likes of McCain and Kyl here in Arizona, do not be suckered! They are RICH, they have no problems getting health care and they are protecting their money.They also have clsoe ties to insurance companies. What have YOU got? Do you have good health insurance?  Forget the political labels. Support what you know is right. I am not the only doctor that feels this way. Most of the physicians in the AMA (a conservative group) agree. We need fair and accessible health care for ALL Americans. The issues are how do we pay for it? How will we have a say in its structuring? How do we keep the feds honest when we know that they are professional blunderers? Well, while I have no love for big government, remember this- Medicare (federally run) runs LEANER and gets higher satisfaction ratings from physicians than do PRIVATE companies. 

This is NOT about politics or even economics. It is about what is fair and moral. We need rational, cost effective, democratic and comprehensive universal health care.There are plenty of models that we can look at and then make our own brand of care.    Sam