He loves high gas prices because it makes the poor suffer. God forbid the US drills for oil or produces any energy of its own.

He loves unemployement a its makes the poor suffer. So keep chasing companies out of America.

He loves the liberal rich, its the only place where he can talk down on the rest of America and be applauded for bashing bitter people who hold on to their guns and religion.

He loves government micro managing the lives of the peasants. After all poor people are too stupid to know what is best for them.

He loves the idea of destroying the best health care system in the world.

He loves hanging around terrorists, both domestic and one day abroad, hence his Hamas connection and his willingness to talk to evil dictators.

He loves hanging around spoiled rich guys who get special interest rates from Country Home.

He loves the day when he can turn America into a Cuba style paradise.

Face it liberals once again you are backing a loser. Oh wait, you hate America too. So I guess you have your man. Now only if he would turn over his birth certificate then we can see if he was truely born in America. Oh wait that would mean Barack can't run. Well keep hiding the truth liberals, that is your only hope.

Wow can you say, Jimmy Obama Carter?

Obama has posted his birth certificate online, idiot.

<link>

I concede your point. As well as note my error. However I notice that by default you must agree with all my other points. As you failed to address them. Thanks for playing.

I didn't address them because they exist only in your tiny little mind.

Do you ever post anything that wasn't issued to you by Rush or Hannity? In other words, have you ever had an original thought in your life.

How is Obama going to destroy France's health care system?

The idea that the US has the best healthcare system in the world is something they've been taking on faith for 20 years from now. Pointing out things like facts only irritates them.

Interesting that you needed to reference a report from seven years ago. Here is something more recent. <link>

On page 6 you will see the only reference to any sort of ranking in health care but please take note that the U.S. had the lowest verified events of potential international public health concern from September 2003–September 2006.

The United States of America has the best medical practices in the world. This is due to capitalism. We have major issues with providing the care provided in these facilities to all in need. I will summarize the two biggest issues at the end of this commentary. I do want to make some comments on your 2000 report showing how wonderful healthcare is in France. The rating was based on five criteria I have listed below with some thoughtful commentary. I would like to point out that if you as a U.S. citizen were in France and needed to see a doctor the odds are good that you wouldn’t be allowed since you are not French and if you did get one it would be because of your… you got it, your money.

1st rating criteria - overall level of population health; In the U.S. we are blessed and cursed with an overabundance of food and gluttony. This provides a heavy (pun intended) skew on this subjective rating selected by WHO. We have more obese people and that is a very serious health concern. This doesn’t really reflect on the medicine being provided just on the avarice which is a temptation that all succumb to once in awhile.

2nd rating criteria - health inequalities (or disparities) within the population; Again being one of the wealthiest nations we are at a disadvantage here because the distance (disparity) from the wealthiest to the poorest in this country is so large. [(I know the comment you are about to make and yes I agree that Bill Gates should give more money to the poor) (I also know that MSN is the parent of this very forum)] An added problem is that we have a higher rate of undocumented people with no insurance because they are in the country illegally and therefore are not qualified. How would this reflect on the other countries if these people were sent back. Additionally, all of the countries in Europe have such strict laws against illegal immigrants they rarely have to deal with the issue. Plus, not too many people are clamoring at their door, why, the taxes are so high to pay for the socialized medicine. In the generalized area of fairness Colombia achieved top rank because someone with a low income might pay the equivalent of one dollar per year for health care, while a high- income individual pays 7.6 dollars. As you can see the difference is about 6 dollars but their income only differs by a few hundred or a couple thousand. In the U.S. class rankings are separated by the tens of thousands.

3rd rating criteria - overall level of health system responsiveness (a combination of patient satisfaction and how well the system acts); Simply put the first of this isn’t a valid issue since it is a fact known world-wide that American’s are the whiniest people on the planet we aren’t satisfied with anything. [(A moment of interjection, yes I have had an HMO and I felt there was much to be desired, but I have also had other health care plans of equal cost and found them to be satisfactory and in some cases downright comforting to have.) (Oh, and I am patriotic but if you disagree that American’s are whiny just take a second and think of how you treated the last customer service phone rep you spoke with.)] Again, we have a higher rate of undocumented people with no insurance because they are in the country illegally and therefore are not qualified. The system is a mess because it is trying to provide a service to people who, aside from possibly not being able to pay for it, are not willing to pay taxes to receive what government assistance there is available. Even if we socialize healthcare these people will still be left out since they are illegal and the economy of our nation cannot afford to make the entire world legal citizens. (Even if the Supreme Court is handing out U.S. civilian rights to enemy military personnel and leaders.)

4th rating criteria - distribution of responsiveness within the population (how well people of varying economic status find that they are served by the health system); See a combination of the 2nd & 3rd rating’s commentary. This rating criteria is just a re-cap of the other two and it was foolish for a group of such highly educated people to try and pass this off as a separate criteria.

5th rating criteria - the distribution of the health system's financial burden within the population (who pays the costs). See commentary on the 4th criteria.

In summary the majority of this report was really on the financial issues surrounding healthcare, in other words the insurance companies in America stink, not on the actual care being provided. WHO makes a subjective judgment call trying to bring the issue of taking care of the poor into the issue. This country has the best medical practitioners in the world. Yes, as a people I think we need to take better care of our poor but do not allow the issue of providing coverage for everybody out shadow the quality of medicine that is practiced. They are NOT the same. No one has sat down and tried to calculate how many billions of dollars of service are written off because last known address is incorrect and the SSN provided doesn’t match with a real person. Some of these billions are written off because someone passes away and many other issues. The fact is that people in this country actually get better medicine than in any other, otherwise why are people in such a rush to get here that they don’t go though proper channels. One of the biggest burdens on this nation’s healthcare is the illegal immigrant and the second biggest might be lawsuits against doctors who are just trying to do their best and will occasionally make a mistake. I am all in favor of suing the incompetent doctor out of business and in some cases into jail, yes, they are out there, but by and large the medical professionals out there really want to serve. If someone really needs help they can and do receive it even if pro bono from a kindly medical practitioner.

P.S. Let’s ask the people from WHO where they would like their heart surgery or hernia operation,

No one is disputing that we have great doctors and hospitals in this country. The problem is, we have a system that's designed to enrich insurance companies as the #1 priority.

So, our system of training doctors and performing procedures is great. But at the same time, our system of who pays for it sucks. And that isn't going to change until we put patients ahead of insurance company profits.

mar1976cus:

1. He loves the idea of destroying the best health care system in the world.

2. He loves hanging around terrorists, both domestic and one day abroad, hence his Hamas connection and his willingness to talk to evil dictators.

3. Face it liberals once again you are backing a loser. Oh wait, you hate America too.

1. Best health care, NOT the best health care system; not even close.

2. Ayers was never convicted of anything but of course like other fascists, you guys are able to charge & convict WITHOUT trials or evidence, so in your tiny, fear-addled mind, he will always be a scary bad guy :)

3. "Hate America" blah, blah, blah. <Yawn> What a joke. No, liberals are actually grown up enough to both love and be critical of the country we love. Conservative like you, on the other hand, have the maturity and self-esteem of a four-year-old - can only handle praise and falls apart whenever someone rightly criticizes. Your kind of 'arrested- development patriotism' is a cancer on the body politic which seems resistent to every kind of truth radiation that is thrown your way. Sad...

mar1976cus:

again you are backing a loser. Oh wait, you hate America too. So I guess you have your man.

...is the same as Hermann Goering:

"...it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

You do know who Goering is, correct?

"I do want to make some comments on your 2000 report showing how wonderful healthcare is in France. The rating was based on five criteria I have listed below with some thoughtful commentary. I would like to point out that if you as a U.S. citizen were in France and needed to see a doctor the odds are good that you wouldn’t be allowed since you are not French and if you did get one it would be because of your… you got it, your money."

I'd like to comment this opinion from poster Analytical.2.A.T above. As he has probably never been outside the country, let alone to France, he unfortunately is commenting on matters about which he has no actual knowledge. I travel frequently for both business and leisure and spent 3 weeks traveling around France this past February. As to be expected during winter, about half-way through my visit I came down with a tremendous head and chest cold. Not wanting to be miserable for the rest of my trip I decided to seek out health care in Paris - a U.S. citizen with NO French or international health insurance or any sort of rights under the French public health care system. I walked in to a public health clinic where the receptionist inquired about my problem and directed me to an Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. I had no appointment. I waited 15 minutes and then was seen by a very kind older doctor who spoke fluent English. He examined me and promptly diagnosed strep throat and an upper respiratory infection. He wrote me prescriptions for 2 antibiotics. My entire visit to the clinic lasted 35 minutes and cost me 20 euros. Filling my two antibiotic prescriptions at the pharmacy down the street cost me 18 euros. Just to recap: It cost me 38 euros and 45 minutes total, with NO insurance and NO appointment, and I was cured of my symptoms in 2 days.

Now ask yourself: If I had instead been a French citizen traveling for 3 weeks in the US, what would have happened to me? Where would I have had to go for treatment? (The ER?)How long would I have had to wait? (Several hours?) How much would it have cost me, an uninsured foreigner, to be seen by an American doctor here in the US? (Several hundred dollars?) How much would those two prescriptions for antibiotics have cost me? (Again, several hundred dollars?)

And then tell me that the US has the best health care system in the world.

Rule: Your experience in France mirrors my own, and my own work in US hospitals certainly underscores your 2nd point about an international traveller's potential experience in the US healthcare labyrinth.

Unfortunate that facts seem to have little/no ability to dislodge the hardcore political beliefs of many.

I've never been to France, but I can tell you from my experience in American ERs that you will expect to wait hours. I went to an ER in a rural community once for a back injury. The place wasn't busy at it was a non-profit hosptial associated with a major university.

Even though I could barely walk and the ER was virtually empty, I had to wait hours before a doctor examined me - in the aisle. They didn't even take me behind a curtain.

Oh, and what was the first thing they did when I came through the door? Yep, make sure I had insurance. I couldn't even get into the waiting area before they ran my insurance number through the system.

Greatbear 452 ! That is soo true.They could care less about how much PAIN you were in,as long as you have that ins.card .Wonder what they would have done if not for the ins. card ?

yeah but most likely your mom has the same thought. You are a mental midget. Look up his voting record and get back to me when you get off welfare.