Reply #121: interesting that you bring this up...

[lavenderdiva]

Mr. Lavenderdiva and I were having dinner with friends the other evening, when the conversation turned to politics, specifically universal healthcare. Now, these friends are dyed-in-the-wool Repubs, and while we love them dearly (friends for over 35 years), we definitely differ on our political views.

Of course, Mr. Lavenderdiva and I both support universal healthcare and wish it would be here already, as we have absolutely NO health insurance-- we just can't afford it, and aren't employed by anyone who provides any help getting it. If we get sick or hurt-- tough. Our friends both work for different oil companies, and are provided with excellent healthcare insurance coverage. We were trying to impress on them the necessity of universal healthcare, but they weren't buying it. I told them that every other civilized nation on the face of the earth has some form of universal healthcare. They countered saying that the coverage wasn't free (of course we knew that!), and that those nation's citizens paid more in taxes to cover this universal healthcare than we as Americans currently pay. Point being, that if universal healthcare is instituted stateside, our taxes would be sky-high. IS THIS TRUE? Then came the old argument that they would be waiting for months for appointments, and that Canadians come here to the U.S. for better healthcare than they are offered there in Canada, and when they can't get a timely appointment in Canada. IS THIS TRUE?

Mr. Lavenderdiva told them that they better start getting used to the idea of universal healthcare, as he believes it will be here in the U.S. within 15 years. U.S. businesses will have to embrace it, to remain in business.

Would someone please give me something to counter these arguments, plus some other information to help me put forth a better argument? I am all for universal healthcare, but I'm afraid I don't have a lot of facts under my belt to convince others....