Universal Healthcare, a Step in the Wrong Direction When speaking on the topic of socialized medicine, Ronald Reagan was quoted as stating, “One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it” (1961). This warning from one of our country’s greatest leaders is more pertinent today than ever. Take a hard look at the state of affairs today, and you will see that the socialist agenda is being jammed down our throats whether we like it or not. Socialized medicine is a great idea, but it could never work here in the United States. It would only cause more harm to our country’s already fragile healthcare system. My first experience with socialized medicine was in Gotebörg, Sweden, back in 2004. I was 19 years old and finally getting into the flow of things in the Motherland. I had the language down (somewhat), and I had a new group of friends to go out with. Friday night came, it was finally time to party! As I was getting ready for a night on the town, I was tucking my pockets back into my jeans after a vigorous wash cycle. All at once I felt a stabbing pain, I exclaimed some profanity in Swedish, and looked in to see what had happened. Somehow a wasp or some kind of terrible Swedish bee had crawled into my pants-pocket and decided to sting my thumb. Normally this would be no cause for concern, but not unlike Superman I have one weakness. I am allergic to bees. I immediately threw the pants on the floor, and proceed to stomp on them like they were on fire. I made sure that I had put an end to that creature’s existence, and then ran downstairs from the flat I was staying in to my newly rented Peugeot 206. After a quick drive to the nearest hospital urgent care center, I checked in and proceeded to wait. I waited for about six hours as the hustle and bustle of the hospital went on around me. I was in severe pain, and at this point my thumb resembled some kind of giant Swedish sausage. I had no idea when I was going to be able to be seen, or how severe my allergic reaction was going to be. Finally almost eight hours later I was hastily seen, given some kind of shot in my thumb and sent on my way with some non-descript pills.
Eight hours to see a doctor? Wow, even by the standards back home this seemed a little excessive. I guess on the bright side, my allergies were no longer as severe as they were when I was a child. Oh, and did I mention this was all free? So maybe in Sweden you have to wait forever to be seen by a doctor, but free is good right? “In percentage of the National GDP for each Country, (Sweden and USA) regarding healthcare 9.4% for Sweden and 15.2% for the USA” (2005, Swedish Healthcare Solution or Problem Tax or Insurance). How is it that a country like Sweden has this universal healthcare system, using only 9.4% of its GDP, while here in the Unites States we can’t get the job done with 15.2% of ours?
“Here is something else, The Government (USA) only covers 45% of the percentage of the GDP while Sweden covers 85% of the same. The difference here is our government (USA) is only covering the welfare base with 45% of the allotted percentage of our healthcare cost whereas your country (Sweden) is covering the entire country with the 85% of the allotted healthcare cost” (2005, Swedish Healthcare Solution or Problem Tax or Insurance). If the United States government is already this ineffective with spending, why would things change if we gave them more of our hard-earned money? Bob Unruh (2010) has reported that, “President Obama's new law giving government more power over health care will be imposed on taxpayers as well as patients, with two-thirds of a trillion dollars in tax hikes and 14 different increases on citizens earning less than $250,000 a year, according to a new