Ken Blackwell on "Sicko"

So healthcare is important but because the topic displeases your Republican masters you must speak against it.

People who argue that the cost of socialized universal medical care is too high ignore the high costs imposed on our economy and citizens by the US health care system.

The large health care expenses we are paying go to support a large, wealthy health insurance industry that, more than anything else, makes our system more complicated than it should be. The general role of a middle man in a supply chain is to extract as much profit as possible without adding any value or efficiency, a task that the US health insurance industry excels at.

Along with that primary cost to the citizenry of the US, there is a tremendous amount of money and energy lost to the transaction costs of hospitals and doctors trying to coordinate their care with health insurance agencies.

The current US system basically takes money from average citizens and people who are sick or hurt and gives it over to a superfluous industry that actually seeks to reduce the quality of healthcare in this country. All of this, of course, is sanctioned and encouraged by the US government.

Our system of healthcare is really a form of charity to the health insurance industry, not to mention the pharmaceutical industry. This is not surprising - our political system is set up such that the government is a service provider to for-profit industries. Industries pay government officials and agencies in various forms, and the government, in return, provides a sort of political road-paving service, smoothing the way for corporations and industries to seek profit with fewer barriers.

Jared writes,"Mr. Moore correctly identifies health care reform as a pivotal issue for this country, but he dives off the liberal deep-end by claiming the Cuban health care system is somehow superior to ours."

Obviously you haven’t seen the movie. Mr. Moore clearly states the US has the best healthcare providers in the world, if you can afford it. For HMO users and managed care users many life threatening claims are denied.

I find the term Mr. Perkins uses to describe his voting block as “value voters.” Talk about bigotry. I guess if you don’t share his views that must mean you have no values. With that being the premises, Jared shows his lack of “value” by unashamedly misstating the truth.

Bob: Though I don't disagree with Ken Blackwell (who has seen the movie), the above post contains a quote from his op/ed. The words to which you refer are Blackwell's, not mine.

Typically, when a long section of usually more than 4 lines is quoted, a blockquote is used to set this off from the rest of the text.

Jared:

Point well taken. I'll use blockquotes.

Because I had a tiny melanoma removed from my leg my monthly healthcare premiums soared from $800 (family of 3) per month to over $4,500 with a $4,000 deductible for each family member. I work hard and save but I can’t afford healthcare any longer. My son is covered through a policy we buy at his school but my wife and I are without coverage.

Last year at Parkland hospital in Dallas over 16,000 babies were born. Of those, over 71% were to illegal aliens and the bills were paid by homeowner's tax. My position is that we should drop the liberal/conservative BS on this subject and start addressing the real problems. After all, we rate the lowest in coverage for almost all industrialized nations.