Want Free Health Care? Get in Line

[Welcome Industry Radar readers!]

Much has been made of rationed health care in countries where taxpayer funded, single payer plans are the norm. Those who support single payer dismiss the idea of rationed health care as a myth.

Seems you don't have to travel too far to find an example of what happens when health care is free.

Dave Boggs (age 25) has a digestive problem and needs corrective surgery. But he doesn't have health insurance and he doesn't have the money to pay for the surgery.

To ease the pain of his condition, he has been on a liquid diet for the last 2 months.

He is waiting his turn for free care.

Because there are so many people like him waiting for free care, Boggs said, he's been told it will be months before his turn comes.

"They told me it could be a year," said Boggs, who is part of the Lexington Rescue Mission's Life Renewal program for recovering substance abusers.

Lexington.

As in Kentucky.

Bluegrass country.

Although there are several clinics available that provide free or reduced-cost care to those in need, it isn't always easy to get in to see a doctor, and continuity of care can be a problem.

And where are those who say nationalized health care is the solution to all that ails us?

"There's a big gap for people that have no insurance to have primary care,"

This still baffles me.

Primary care is the least expensive to deliver, yet we have an entire generation of people who think it should be free or at the least, a nominal copay.

Medicaid exists for those who are truly needy. But we have middle and upper class Americans who share this same mindset. They complain about having to wait to see a doctor.

Wonder how loud they will scream when health care is free?