Catching Up: How do you feel about your health care system?

Saturday night I stayed in.

It was good after a week of craziness and being sick on and off. I haven't had it nearly as bad as other people, but I was seriously not happy about having a cold/allergies/whatever.

I think mine was more a reaction to the totally bi-polar weather more than anything else. I feel bad for others though because I know a few of my friends had actual fevers and ended up having to make that dreaded trip to the doctor.

I'm glad they're better (or at least getting there).

And since we're talking about being sick and doctors, I will take this opportunity to make a very modest comment about the health care bill and the much anticipated nationalized health care system.

I don't really know a whole lot about it.

To be honest, it's been really difficult to keep up with what has and hasn't been proposed and what's been shot down or played up. I know this bill has seen a lot of opposition and it has been a long and difficult process. Although the bill has passed, the proposed system has a rough time ahead of it.

I don't know exactly how the government plans to carry this out — I'm still doing my research — but I know it will take a long time to get it all done. It's going to be a rough few years (some say as many as 10).

I'm most worried that people are going to get so angry or fed up in the transition years and not give it a chance, basically setting up the system for failure. I say that knowing many people have already made up their minds about it.

I know that there will be problems and with a system so large it's going to take time to work out the kinks.

Personally, I like how things are done in Taiwan. There are problems, but none that I have seen directly so it's certainly not a disaster. I know there are other nationalized health care systems (also typically in small countries) that work quite well. They all have their problems but overall they promote quality and accessibility of care.

That said, the U.S. is going to have to be careful about what it picks and chooses from its predecessors in universal health care considering the shear size of the country will likely be its most difficult obstacle.

Honestly, I want this system of health care to work because I do feel like if it's done well it will be good for the U.S. and everyone else. America tends to be a leader of change (though not always in the most positive ways). But if a country as large as America can manage to pull off providing reasonably priced health care for everyone then that means more countries around the world can work toward something more affordable for their own citizens.

Or maybe that's just the liberal hippie in me talking.

I will acknowledge that I certainly do not have all the answers. I just hope that we can come up with something better than the crappy quality and inaccessibility of care we have been working with for so long.