Why National Health Care Should Scare You

A friend reminded me the other day of why the scheme to nationalize health care is so frightening. I mean, we should all oppose it on principle -- but there are also self-preservation reasons, as well.

First, it is clear that countries that have socialized health care require long waiting periods for treatment -- no matter how much you are willing to pay.

This isn't an original idea, but this scenario should make people think:

Let's say you have cancer, and it will cost you tens of thousands of dollars for treatment... and you don't have insurance. This is certainly a very, very bad predicament, but it is not an impossible situation. To be sure, you might have to beg, borrow or steal in order to be treated, but a resourceful person can find a way to come up with money. It won't be easy but coming up with the money is, at least, theoretically possible.

But if the government tells you that it's too expensive to treat you or that you're too old to be treated or that you're too sick to be treated or that you brought it upon yourself, then where do you go?

In a perfect world, everyone would be healthy. In a less than perfect world, everyone would own their own personal health care insurance account.

But it will be a truly dystopian world when government can deny or postpone health care.