The LVRJ editorial staff loses its mind

    What???---"This is more typical Trumper nonsense. Who cares about Venezuela? How is it relevant?

I get the Trumper "logic," of course. Venezuela is a mess. Venezuela is a socialist country. Therefore, socialism is bad. It's like saying, everyone who eats apples dies. Therefore, apples must be bad for you.

As to whether anyone here is able to "ask Venezuelans blah blah," I doubt that anyone here is able or willing to do that--and what would it prove?

The reason why Stalker's questions don't get answered has a lot to do with the nonsensical nature of those questions." --------- Have you completly lost your mind?

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/waiting-your-turn-wait-times-for-health-care-in-canada-2018

First of all. that article talks about specifically referrals from primary care physicians to specialists, NOT wait times to receive general care. Second, the article's quoted times aren't compared with those in other countries. Third, the article mentioned that wait times are declining.

I've waited weeks or even months before a specialist was able to see me. I would like to see some actual comparison of wait times between the US and Canada, not the usual unsupported Republican bleating that you have to wait 600 years to get treated in Canada but only fifteen seconds in the US.

But you know what? I would prefer a system where I have to wait a little longer to one where tens of thousands of my fellow citizens die each year for lack of access to medical care.

At least everyone here can agree that our medical care system is not what it should be. If the system in Canada is so good, why then did a Democratic congress approve and ram thru the Ponzi scheme (without reading/knowing what was in the legislation) now known as Obamacare? One word explains- VOTES. Presently it costs the government (tax payers) $685 BILLION dollars a year to subsidize Obamacare - and the DemocRats complain about the cost of the Wall. Healthcare in America needs reform, but Obamacare is unjustly funded by sky high premiums ( from those who pay for insurance) and tax payer dollars. Democrats have refused to engage in bipartisan discussions with Republicans to resolve the funding of healthcare- they just stonewall. Once again, their objective is to slam Republicans for "doing nothing" about healthcare while riling up voters stating as such - all the while the Democrat controlled congress themselves do nothing but continue the Russian collusion witch hunt. 

David Miller writes: 

"I get the Trumper 'logic', of course. Venezuela is a mess. Venezuela is a socialist country. Therefore, socialism is bad. It's like saying, everyone who eats apples dies. Therefore, apples must be bad for you."

Poor analogy.

Death is inevitable.

Socialism is not inevitable. 

I knew you wouldn't understand the logic.

Correlation does not equal causation. Event B follows Event A. That does not mean that Event A caused Event B.

Venezuela adopted a socialist government and economy. Soon afterward (and not immediately by any means), it plunged into a political and economic crisis. That does not mean that that adoption caused the crisis.

Kevin says- "Venezuela adopted a socialist government and economy. Soon afterward (and not immediately by any means), it plunged into a political and economic crisis. That does not mean that that adoption caused the crisis."------- Just what was Venezuela's economic status BEFORE Socialism?  There is a correlation to this present day causation...

Kevin Lewis writes: "Venezuela adopted a socialist government and economy. Soon afterward (and not immediately by any means), it plunged into a political and economic crisis. That does not mean that that adoption caused the crisis."

Well, it apparently didn't help avoid it.

Death rate = 1 per person, on planet Earth at least.

I'm curious where Kevin got the 'statistic' of "tens of thousands...die each year for lack of access to medical care."   That is the type of statistic that lacks specificity, as most of those types of pronouncements do.  There is a difference between dying because one failed to seek medical care until it was too late, and some wretched poor who hadn't the wherewithall to seek out the available care.

If any are your "fellow citizens", have you taken up the cause?  Looked into your local community's stats on that?  Why folks aren't at least getting the benefits they are eligible for (Medicare/Medicaid or other state system), or maybe they don't want to sign up for them because that means going on somebody's record, or don't have transportation to sign up at the govt. office (granted, often a humbling experience)?  Have you considered joining a local initiative to improve things?  Volunteered at a free health clinic? 

There are free health clinics.  Since they operate on a shoestring (volunteer doctors and nurses) they can't take drop-ins who are taking their last breath, but they will provide basic primary care and even some dentistry to stabalize, and some social work services to look for resources going forward.  The person must make an appointment which they may not get into for a few weeks, get there, fill out forms, talk to doctors, follow recommendations, and some people just don't want to do all that.  They wait until they are at death's door, call 911 to be transported to an ER where they WILL be seen and stabalized and again referred to social work to help them identify resources.  Lots of effort is made, but patients offen do not follow through.  It is a "here I am, fix my heart failure, my diabetes, my emphysema and my vascular insufficiency and my gangrenous sacral wound from 20 years of laying in bed and smoking 3 packs a day and eating three double whoppers and four orders of fries every day" mentality.  Is that one in the "tens of thousands" that seek medical care for the first time...at age 65?      

Some avoid the doctor because they will be asked about their smoking, drinking, drugs histories and they don't want to give that information nor stop smoking, drinking and drugs.  Overall it can come down to personal responsibility, which seems to be a sinful thing to say that people should have...personal responsibility.  I wasn't given a big lecture about it during my growing up years.  I just noticed that my dad went to work every day, mom was tight with spending, both expected us kids to attend K-12 school, mind the teacher and make decent grades, and make a plan for our own futures including jobs that would sustain our needs (they certainly were not going to support us after 18), prepare for the slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune we would enounter in daily life and the eventual ravages of old age. 

Sorry, but in the USA most people, with some effort, have access to health care.  It is mostly us suckers who worked hard, have middle incomes, and pay big insurance premiums who buy the idea that some "tens of thousands of people" have no access at all to health care.   That's one of the lines the politicians sell, BTW.

The previous is not an endorsement of any political party or ideology. 

Wait a minute.  How can Healthcare still be an issue in the USA?  Didn't President Obama and the Democrats fix that?  Didn't the Affordable Care act save American Families $2,500 a year?  Didn't it bring the uninsured afforadable coverage through 600+ billion a year in taxpayer subsidies?  How can tens of thousands of American citizens die each year from lack of access to medical care? Obvioiusly the answer is that Obamacare didn't fix the system. 

Now Democrats now want to scrap President Obama's signature accomplishment and try a grand new experiment.   What's the slogan going to be:  "Vote for us because we can really fix the same thing we already fixed".