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From: mfs@mhuxr.UUCP (SIMON)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Seat-belt laws
Message-ID: <244@mhuxr.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 12-Feb-85 12:15:12 EST
Article-I.D.: mhuxr.244
Posted: Tue Feb 12 12:15:12 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 13-Feb-85 03:55:16 EST
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> >  >From: cliff@unmvax.UUCP
> >  >
> >  >Want to reduce medical costs for everybody?
> >  >Get rid of medicare and deregulate the medical industry.
> > 
> > Sure, it's worked so well, let's have more!  Medicine in the U.S. is
> > less regulated than in just about any other industrialized western
> > country.  The result is predictable: two tiers of service, one for
> > those who can pay and another for those who can't;
> > 
> > Mike Kelly
> 
> Whether it is "less regulated" than others or not, there is still so much
> regulation that it is not surprising that the costs are enormous.  It is
> not uncommon to hear of people who want to build hospitals that are not
> allowed, because they can't show proof that they are needed.  I can not
> decide that I need a particular drug, write a prescription and go purchase
> it.  As long as the number of hospitals is kept down and the number of
> people allowed to perform the most rudimentary medicine is likewise
> restricted, the cost will remain be enourmous.  BTW, when you say we are
> less regulated do you mean the qualifications of doctors are lower or
> do you mean that Uncle Sam doesn't directly set the rates that our medicine
> people can charge?
> 						--Cliff

Flat nonsense; in *some* sections of the country (i.e. where there are
people with lotsa bucks), hospital beds go empty for lack of patients.
In some *other* sections of the country (e.g. the South Bronx), there
are not enough hospital beds to go around.

If you can decide what drug to use, why do we need doctors at all??
That's it, deregulate all the way; get rid of doctors, let everyone
practice medicine. One condition, though: YOU, nor anyone else,
CANNOT sue the drug manufacturer, your insurance company, the government
or anyone else, when the drug you take turns out to make your kids
be born  with no brain.

Finally, a large brake to the increase in health enterprises is the
threat of malpractice suits. When a doctor has to pay $60,000 a year
in malpractice insurance, no wonder people are not rushing into the
health field. This is not due to government regulation, but to the
litigious nature of US society.

Marcel.