Chris & Ted, Heath Care's Poster Children

Great to be back! Nothing is more invigorating than spending four days in the woods during a Biblical downpour!

You all know Senators Dodd and Kennedy. It was announced last week that Senator Dodd (who by the way got a really great deal on his mortgage from Country Wide) is suffering from Prostate Caner and of course, Senator Kennedy is in God's waiting room waiting for his final ride suffering from Brain Caner. We wish both senators well as they fight their health battles.

Both are receiving the best health care in the world. Both have access to the finest doctors, nurses and hospitals in the world. Both are pushing for health care for all. Both are over 65.

Now the universal health care plan they are pushing is NOT the same one they have or WILL have after they have shoved it down your throat like a giant horse pill.

The plan they have certainly doesn't include the euthanasia counseling that their bill includes. You didn't hear about that? Well, let me ed-u-ma-cate you on that one. See if you are over a certain age, I believe it is 70, you have to be "counseled" on the benefits of euthanasia every five years. I am not making this up or kidding. See, it is more beneficial and cost effective for the old folks to check out, Ala Snake Plissken in Escape from New York.

Senator Kennedy will never have to worry about hearing:

"You know Ted, may I call you Ted? Ted you're 70, you've lived a good life, why be a burden on everyone?"

"But I only have a broken leg!"

"Yes, today it's a broken leg, but what if we spend $10,000.00 to fix that and next year you get something else? You have to think about the big picture Ted and stop being so selfish!"

See if Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy WERE covered under the plan they want to shove down our throat, they wouldn't be getting the treatment they are receiving now.

Sadly, under the plan they are backing, Senator Kennedy would probably already be dead.

That's why ANY plan they pass had BETTER include the UNITED STATES CONGRESS, SENATE, SUPREME COURT and PRESIDENT.

It won't.

And that's just part of what's wrong with this legislation.

The plan that you and I will have will not be anything like the one I have, so that pain in my knee I have been struggling with for the last week or two won't be eligible to be fixed for months, if not years.

Why do THOUSANDS of Canadian Citizens cross our borders every year to access our heath care system? Because Universal/Socialized Health Care DOES NOT WORK.

This correspondent has said many times that the present health care system does need some reforming. A common sense approach is needed, not a knee jerk reaction. Once again, you don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Let's have REALISTIC and REASONABLE changes to the system, not something that we WILL regret.

My best friend lives in Chicago and has a good job. He had a medical condition in which they found a "clot" in his leg. Thankfully it was found in time and he's on the mend thanks to the wonders of "clot busting" medication. Had he been a Canadian living in Toronto, he MAY have been diagnosed correctly and he MAY have received the medication he needed. In Chicago he has access to Northwestern University Hospital. Here I have access to Allegheny General or West Penn or Presbyterian University Hospital. That will dry up under this plan.

Am I just another alarmist? I don't think so. What is the incentive for someone to go to medical school, racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in school loans to come out and be paid a far lessor wage than they would be making as the system stands? Where is the incentive for pharmaceutical companies to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in research if they can't make that money back?

What does the government do right? Take a moment and talk amongst yourselves. OK good, you ready to answer? The government is good at, well other than the military the government isn't very good at much of anything. You are willing to trust this government with one sixth of this nation's GNP? This is the same government that is running the "Cash for Clunkers" auto bailout right now. I rest my case.

If you want real reform and real health care for all, you don't need to start from scratch, you need to tweak the system yes, start all over? NO.

Senators Dodd and Kennedy have the best care. Shouldn't you?