If Tripp Palin receives Socialized Medicine, why is it so evil??

..Hi jerzgirl, This baffles me to no end, when for years people have been receiving Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and all of a sudden they want the government to keep their hands off their Medicare Like you say, who in essence is reponsible for seeing that they have Medicare, the good old government. It begs the question, does the populous who are voicing their displeasure, understand what is going on with these services? With SaraLee and her grandson, she would probably say that her daughter makes those decisions. But on another front, do you not think that her special needs child is receiving some sort of government assistance for his problem? As much as she liked to have her children travel on the government of Alaska's dime, when she held office, I cannot see her not applying for anything available for her son to help with his disability. Could be wrong but I would like to know if she does. Another question, if she or Todd would be eligible for Social Securuty, would they refuse to accept it when they are eligible? Just like Senator John McCain who rails against the government taking over health care, he gets two pensions, in addition to Social Security I believe, one is from the Navy, that would be government, yes? Has he refused or given back his SS payment? When he leaves the Senate, he will get another pension. Hello? Amazing, good for the goose but not for the gander. They are hypocrites as far as I am concerned. Take care.

well call me sill but whats is so bad about socialized medicine? come to that whats so bad about socialism! if i lived in america i'd be bankrupt by now from having to pay for my medication, here it costs me about £5 an month. i find it obscene that a nation as 'developed' as the US still lets people go on the streets rather than have a sensible medical care system.

This is so out there on so many levels. That's why you couldn't find anything outside of a left wing blog that considered this a story. First, you should read why she opposes the health care bill. To my knowledge she's never flat out stated "I oppose any form of socialized medicine." The majority in this nation do not support the health care bills in the house and senate and that certainly doesn't mean all those people oppose medicare, medicaid, etc. There is a HUGE difference between something like medicare where people CHOOSE to have it and the bills in congress that FORCE you to buy health insurance and punish you if you don't. You also brought the Indian Health Service and tribal nations into this. That is a completely differently entity that was designated by treaties between the US and Native tribes. Of course none of this really means anything since this is not about Sarah Palin. It's about her daughter and there are just too many people on the left that won't leave her family alone. The left wing hate blogs decided that her children were fair game for every attack they could muster years ago and even today they stalk Bristol Palin attacking her mother through her. It's sad that you are now supporting such behavior.

It's simple Jerz. Palin is a politician. "Do as I say. Not as I do"! I sure hope that you are "infected" with socialised medical cover soon. If ever a country needed it it's yours! Bizarrely the chief objectors often seem to be the people that would benefit the most from it. I do sometimes wonder if Americans actually know what they are talking about when they use that term "socialised". It's not the slippery slope to communism. It is expensive and of course it's funded by taxes. But I don't see how the current US system can be regarded as "better". It sure as heck isn't affordable or half the folk on this site wouldn't be complaining that they are sick and can't get treatment.

Well I would have to say because she is not the baby's mom so therefore she does not get to make the decision. Bristol does. Bristol is an adult. As for wether or not the two women have faught over that decision...well is it really any of our business? The last thing I want to see on the news is Palin making possible private agruments or discussions between her and her adult daughter to the public stage...way to jerry springer for me. And it would also do a lot of damage to her relationship with her daughter. I know if me and my mom got into an arguement over something I decided to do for my kids...then decide to take it public on the evening news...OMG would things get bad between us.

Yes she is very loudly against "socialized medicine" however I suppose she does voice her support for privatizing social security. I don't think anyone could turn down medical coverage if they really needed it, and I doubt many people would be willing to even if they didn't need it. Private industry has not been shown to provide health care to everyone. Free markets are fair, not equitable. Perhaps a health care structure like Japan's where the government regulates prices would be more effective, or a structure like Germany's where the government provides incentives to health insurance companies, will be effective in this country.

For a lot of Americans, government paid healthcare is the only healthcare possible and they would be fools to turn it down. If it were the norm, it would certainly take the stigma out of medicaid and it would also reduce the financial burden that healthcare is placing on employers and employees. How many outsourced American jobs are going to countries that have national healthcare? I don't know much about Sarah Palin's take on socialism and medicine but what scares me is how so many politicians rally their followers behind the evils of socialism. In a recent discussion on here, a Mylotter from one of the Nordic countries stated that they had a pretty good healthcare system. I agreed. All of a sudden people were enumeratng the evils of socialism telling us that socialism would never work as a form of governemnt in the US and if we knew the overall evils we wouldn't recommend anything about socialism. Never mind that one of the people on that thread was a citizen of socialism. Never mind that no one had even hinted that the US should become a socialist state. These kinds of knee jerk reactions are probably not unlike the McCarthy era reactions to Communism and to me that is very scary.

Every time I think of those "Keep the government's hands off my Medicare" placards I don't know whether to laugh or cry! How totally STUPID can people be? Medicare is the perfect example of a government program that works and that people LOVE!! Despite the fact that it could certainly be streamlined and there should be more efficient oversight to prevent waste and abuse, Medicare has far less overhead than private insurance companies. More of what's taken in is used for actual health CARE unlike the insurers with their billions in profits and millions of people denied coverage and dropped from their roles. I think you're going to be hard-pressed to find anyone, regardless of how much they rail against "socialized medicine" who would refuse Medicare for themselves or their parents or SCHIP for their children if they can't afford private insurance. There are also few who would not go to the ER or take a loved one there if they had no insurance and couldn't afford to pay the bill up front even though they know the rest of us will foot the bill in the long run if they're sick enough. It's that evil government, by the way, that reimburses the hospitals in part for the unpaid ER visits that are outrageously high compared to regular doctor's visits and preventative medicine. Annie

There is a GINORMOUS difference between "socialized" medical care and the benefits of the tribal system, you almost talking about the governments of two completely different nations.

You're mixing apples and oranges and maybe some onions here. There is a difference between universal socialized medicine and both Medicare and the Indian Health Service. Medicare is health insurance that falls under the auspices of the Social Security Administration. Social Security, when first enacted, was not meant to be a retirement fund but rather to provide for those who had lived beyond productive years or who, through disability or infirmity, could not provide for themselves. The initial contribution way back then was 1% from the employee and 1% from the employer. It was an insurance policy with the government that most people were not expected to collect upon. That it has become the administrative behemoth that it is only points to the fact that the federal government has grown to an enormous scope. Medicare is not socialized medicine, it is a health insurance plan of limited scope that is administrated by the federal government. There is a subtle difference. To my knowledge, Sarah Palin has not come out in favor of denying health services to the disabled and the elderly. The Indian Health Services department exists because of treaties with the Indian tribal nations in which they ceded lands to the federal government in exchange for services provided. I can't imagine anyone seeking to equate these appropriations with a government takeover of all health services in the country, nor can I imagine anyone advocating the dissolution of this service. I had to seek out another source for the document and I found quite a few of them. I had to in order to see the document since I couldn't get your link to load. The Huff-Po has a copy of it there, though. Naturally, the article is full of derision and lacking in substance, just the sort of thing they excel at. Tripp is part Native-American and through the treaties with our government signed by his grandfather's tribe, he is entitled to these benefits. Are you suggesting his mother should not allow him to receive benefits guaranteed him through a treaty between nations? To my knowledge, Sarah Palin has never come out in favor of abrogating treaties with the Indian nations, so I don't see how this is any kind of backpedaling on her part. There is a huge difference between this health care coverage provided by treaty and the sweeping health care reforms bills proposed by the Democrats. One can distinguish also between providing for the poor, the disabled and at-risk children and supplanting the entire medical insurance system for everyone - even those who are covered and satisfied with their coverage (well, the people at Huff-Po can't distinguish between these concepts, but most people can). No one would deny that we need to provide for those who can't provide for themselves but the majority of Americans (those ill-informed people) do not support the concept of a nationalized health care system that replaces or administrates the health care for all citizens.

You asked, ".....if Ms. Palin feels so strongly about the evils of socialized medicine, how could she allow her grandson to receive such coverage?" The same way she was all for family values and her daughter was pregnant and unmarried during the election. There's one word for this and that's "hypocrit". Someone needs to add to those crib notes, that she keeps in the palm of her hand, so she can remind herself not to engage her mouth unless her brain is in drive. She will say anything just to hear herself talk. She's such an obvious AZZ kisser (and a bad one at that) that the AZZ kissers in Washington are cringing. Please someone put her out of her misery and hang her on a set of moose antlers back in Alaska!