Parsing Universal Healthcare

Now that we know that "Universal Healthcare" means whatever the Democrats want it to mean at that moment, let's look at it in English in order to compare and contrast the results.

"Universal" means

u⋅ni⋅ver⋅sal–adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of all or the whole: universal experience.
2. applicable everywhere or in all cases; general: a universal cure.
3. affecting, concerning, or involving all: universal military service.
4. used or understood by all: a universal language.
5. present everywhere: the universal calm of southern seas.
6. versed in or embracing many or all skills, branches of learning, etc.: Leonardo da Vinci was a universal genius.
7. of or pertaining to the universe, all nature, or all existing things: universal cause.
8. characterizing all or most members of a class; generic.
9. Logic. (of a proposition) asserted of every member of a class.
10. Linguistics. found in all languages or belonging to the human language faculty.
11. Machinery. noting any of various machines, tools, or devices widely adaptable in position, range of use, etc.
12. Metalworking.
a. (of metal plates and shapes) rolled in a universal mill.
b. (of a rolling mill or rolling method) having or employing vertical edging rolls.

So it means that care should be available to everyone. Do we have that now?

If you go to the emergency room, is it available to you regardless of race, creed, or color? Yes.
When will you get turned away? Triage demonstrates nothing to treat. Demanded type of care (like radiation treatment) is not offered at the ER. Inability to pay is not allowed as a reason to refuse care, so price has nothing to do with it.

If you go to a private physician, when will you get turned away? Nothing to treat. Demanded care not offered. Inability to pay.

So the quick conclusion is that Universal Healthcare already exists, if you have something that the doctor in question offers the skills and equipment at the ER but never if you have nothing to treat. Other doctors get to pick and choose their patients.


Now, let's go to imaginary Obamacare with the assumption that Congress cannot allow healthcare to make us go bankrupt. (Stop laughing! Congress will impose some limits on how much it will spend some day. Why, when, and how is harder to predict.) They will limit doctors' pay. They will limit who can be paid, if Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Obama's health advisor and brother of Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, is to be believed. He wrote in The Lancet that healthcare costs should be focused on the middle aged with older allowed to die with reduced care.

So now we will have doctors getting less compensation. They will go bankrupt or retire at abnormally high rates as soon as Obamacare goes into effect. They will consequently cease providing care. Supply will dwindle overnight.

Patients will have more ability to demand care, increasing demands on the system overnight.

Those two functions alone will cause waiting rooms, where they still remain, to fill up overnight. Even if Obama offers cheaper care per treatment per patient, he will have lines because no one is able to provide the required level of care.

Obama or his successors will have to increase compensation for doctors. Costs go up. Care won't improve because the retired doctors still don't want to be in The System. Now prices go up but no improvement in quality of care.

So we don't have everyone getting treated. With this proposal, we will have moved from existing Universal Care to Obama Limited Care.