[lentulusgracchus]

You get sick you die.

Especially if you're one of those hated Norman Rockwell Americans. Die, die, all die! </Ezekiel Emmanuel>

[arthurus]

It goes for the elite, too. I truly think they do not understand the ramifications of eliminating the last freemarket medicine on earth. Or they do and do not consider it because that is in the future and those people think about the future abstractly in terms of bringing the perfect society to Man. They also tend to think that researchers will do their researching for love of Mankind and will work for free. All the other expenses, of which the pay of the personnel is not the major portion, will just disappear in the socialist utopia. They point to all the medical research going on in Switzerland and Germany which have their own socialized medical systems but that research is dơne for the American Market which is the only way it gets paid for. When the American Market is gone, so is medical research. In a government system medicine is just one expense that has to be balanced against Military and Welfare and the funds required to finance the extreme amount of corruption that is endemic to the system. Research offers no immediate benefits and will not be paid for or will be financed meagerly with funds that will mostly get diverted to politicians personal interests.