[Jim Noble]

So the question that was asked, in a graphic way, what does society do with all of those who would have no insurance and hence, no health care or medical treatment?

I trained in one of the last great county hospitals. No patients had insurance (or, rather, no patients got a bill - some of them DID have insurance, but came to our place because it was so good.)

It is certainly false - grossly false - that, because a person had no insurance, he had no health care or medical treatment.

What IS true is that such persons didn't have PRIVATE medical treatment, and didn't have access to the latest and best technology.

The social decision to destroy the system of healthcare for the poor has been amazingly foolish. It is no more likely that the poor will have healthcare for the rich than that they will have mansions or gluttinous dinners.

To achieve a semblance of one-class care, the existing high class system will have to be destroyed.

And so it is being.

Hope you all like it.

[Final Authority]

"Last great county hospital". I believe it, the last one. There are no more like that, at least in these parts, as docs need to be paid, nurses need money, the kitchen staff work for a living, and so on and so forth.

The plan put forth by Newt Gingrich and the Massachusetts legislature is for the poor. If you are really poor, you pay nothing, if you are somewhat poor, you pay something, and if you have been a leech on the teat of society, you pay your way, as long as you can.

There will always be medical care for the rich, the question is, should it be nationalized or maintained as a private system of delivery. This plan keeps it private, for now at least, as long as personal reponsibility is accepted.