mattd wrote:

AU has a national health scheme,I used it to have a graft on my eardrum several years back.Didnt cost a cent. There are gaps in the system such as long waiting lists and poor dental cover,its also under pressure from the economic 'rationalists' esp in the liberal party.The only reason I mention such a creation of the hated state is that it could soon be a matter of life or death for many septic tanks.The foot and mouth outbreak in Britain would have been nipped in the bud a lot quicker had computerized tags been used.There's some scrambling around now in the US to shore up sagging public health infrastructure.What's probably really needed is something like I seem to remember Lady C proposing.I'm boosting 2 things here that on the surface may seem anathema to anarchists.IDs for all and socialized medicine. Am I wrong to?

YES, you are. The aims don't justify the means (initiatory-force regulation of healthcare which is what will happen). Besides that you're not going to reach the aims anyways. Look at what is happening on europe: all insurances are forced on the government standard -- politicians dictate what medicine should be used, prohibiting expensive and alternative products and therapies. The REAL price ultimately includes governmentalisation and bureauratization of practiced medicine. People have to pay more and more for public healthcare tax because the public insurance (and the gov's healthcare standard to which all insurances have to adhere) isn't rentable. Public healthcare was Hillary's masterpiece of economic destruction back then. Be happy that it didn't come to it. Please don't fall for those lawyer-type destructions and antiindivdualistic intrusions for Mrs C's often-cited, very own "social good".