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When I hear middle-class Americans complain about how they want Washington to do something to pick up their health tab, I always want to ask them: If you don't want to pay for your own health care, what makes you think someone else wants to pay your doctor bill?

For that matter, why not "innocently" inquire as to whether any mandatory social program, in any society, at any time, has ever maintained a balanced budget? (The answer is "yes", but they won't know that and the example of the Shaking Quakers wouldn't do them any good anyway.)

So: 1) take at face value the claim that socializing medicine will improve service AND save money. 2) Reply, "Wonderful!" 3) Remind them that Medicare and Medicaid are financial basketcases. 4) Offer to support them fully in this inspired reformation of health care, once they've proven their genius by fixing the mess that lesser minds have made of Medicaid and Medicare.

Roy Mark  Open Blog all welcome No Deletes