Today is Older American's day, said the man on TV. He's interviewing some people from UHCAN....an organization advocating universal health care. They say that America is the only leading country in the world that doesn't have universal health care. Big deal. The other countries have 60% tax rates to pay for it.

When the government gets into it, the average person gets screwed...witness social security and medicare. Social security is a SAVINGS program....not a tax. The government has no right to take my social security contribution out of the SS program and use that money to balance the budget...or to pay bills...or what ever they do. It simply disappears down the sink hole. Social security would not be in trouble if the government would have set aside all those contributions and invested them in treasuries...or whatever. They should start now to separate our social security savings from the federal budget. Keep your paws off.

My concern about universal health care is, I will be paying for other people's irresponsible behavior that results in health problems. On top of this, another layer of bureaucracy is created. This adds to the cost of the program. I am unwilling to pay for bureaucrats.

Have you considered that We all ready have a system that, with a few tweaks, can meet the goal? It is called the Welfare System....or Social Services. This program has eligibility guidelines. Many people can't access the program because they make too much money. All that is needed is to create a category called "medical only". The income guideline is dropped. This means that the candidate can get medical care, but is not eligible for the other components of the program, like food stamps, section 8 housing, and so forth.

No new layer of bureaucrats would be created. Thus, the cost is kept down.

You don't like the idea of walking into a Welfare office? So, change the name to Universal Care Services.