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SkiBumGymMom
Would like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to what I think is the best socialized Medical program in the world - the US Military Health care system. My father and husband where both career military, so I grew up going to military hospitals and my children where born in them. And while they have their flaws (I din't see the same doctor twice until I was 25 years old), the care was great. Since my husband retired, we have lived in an area for the past 10 that is far enough from a military base that we use civilian care, through TRICARE.
Was away from home recently and had a chance to need to visit an ER and happened to be close to an Air Force Base, so got to go down memory lane. Amazing. So good, that if anyone in my family had any kind of health issue, I was seriously consider moving close to a military hospital, just to avoid having to deal with insurance issues. Went to the ER to have my daughter checked out for a concussion. Spoke to the check-in nurse(with a sorry to make you wait ma'am for a 3 minute wait), saw the triage nurse, saw the doctor, CT ordered, wheeled to CT, CT results given to doctor,saw doctor again, all clear,walked out the door. This took about 90 minutes.
I truely don't know how much we could apply on a National scale. I know the issue is far more complex. But it does make me cringe when I hear some say "socialized medicine" like it is a dirty word, and talk like the federal government can't do anything right. I have personal experience with these federally funded hospitals, run by federal employees, and my experience has been positive.
My husband's family was military (his dad), so when they were growing up they were covered through that (CHAMPUS at the time). He always talked about how wonderful it was. Glad to hear more support for it.