Dental care

Anyone heard the, "Why not have socialized healthcare? We already have long lines and high prices?" statement? Well, ours is nothing compared to what it could be.

I lived in Ireland for 1 1/2 years. I saw socialized healthcare firsthand (which IS what Obama is moving toward). Allow me to share a personal experience.

DENTAL (Sep '03): Having only been out of the country about a month (3 weeks in England, 1 in Ireland), one of my teeth began hurting terribly. As the dentist checked out my tooth, he told me there was decay under it. (I got it...I needed a root canal.) He suggested that he pull the tooth. I asked, "Oh, and what would be there?" He had me to look in the mirror and said, "See that tooth?" "Yes." "Where that tooth is, there would be a big hole."

I had to stifle a laugh, but soon realized he was completely serious. After blood returned to my face, I said, "No way." He then offered to write me a perscription for medicine that would take care of the infection for a little while, but told me it would inevitably come back before my stay in Ireland was completed. I decided to take my chances.

Long story short, I used the medicine for it's duration, offered a lot of prayers, and my tooth never began hurting again. Of course, one of the first things I did once back in the good ol' U.S. of A. was get a root canal.

So the point is not the outcome of the story, it is the outcome of Ireland's dental health system. Sure the dentist was young, charming, and good looking, but his expertise paled in comparison to ANY dentist trained in the United States.

The demand for dental care is monumental because everyone is ENTITLED to it. The government can't require dentists to learn all that they need to know to be proficient in their field (we're talking good dentists not excellent ones). It would take too much time and too much money from "the governement." In actuality, the PEOPLE have to pay for it all anyway (that would be you and me in the U.S.), and in Ireland the people cannot afford to pay for educating dentists sufficiently, to pay them if they choose to become proficient on their own, and the demand is so high they can't wait 6-10 years for a dentist to become available.

Lest you believe, "I can't afford healthcare, but some American living high on the hog should pay for mine," think again. When something becomes an "entitlement" issue, it becomes abused. This would happen. We would, in affect, "Rob the rich to healthcare everybody." Do you really think the extra money Americans have EARNED should and COULD pay for everyone's healthcare? Think again.

The true proposition of Obama is for all of us to become poor. Tax the rich until they're poor, do the same with the middle-class, etc. Where will we turn when our funds are exhausted? Quality would gradually be comprised, the lines would become 2-3 days for emergency care rather than the 6-10 hours we occassionally experience currently. And he'd be out of office, likely still hailed for his miracle working, and we'd be suffereing.