[ RadSafe ] cost per kilowatt ratio

[Dukelow, James S Jr]

Steven Dapra wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl on behalf of Steven Dapra
Sent: Sat 2/10/2007 12:36 PM
To: radsafelist
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] cost per kilowatt ratio
 
Feb. 10

   <snip>

  (Nobody cares about your 
political and social leanings.  However:  I note that you said you are "a 
fiscal conservative," and that you also favor a "single payer health 
care."  These two positions are contradictory.  Single-payer means 
socialized medicine with its attendant astronomical costs.  No fiscal 
conservative can support socialized medicine.  This is not an invitation 
for a debate about socialized medicine.  I am merely pointing out that your 
two positions are contradictory.)

    <snip>

=========================

This is, of course, in invitation for a debate about socialize medicine, since your assertions are contrary to fact.  Most of Europe has single payer systems or one sort or another.  They spend something like 50-60% per capita what we spend in the U.S. and do rather better than we do on several objective measures of public health, such as infant mortality.

In the U.S. Medicare, the Veterans Administration health programs, and DoD care for active military are effectively single-payer systems and all deliver health care with overhead costs that are a small fraction of our general mix of private health insurance, either individually-purchased or employer-purchased.

Single payer may not be politically feasible in this country at this time, but that fact doesn't make your assertions correct.

Best regards.

Jim Dukelow
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA
jim.dukelow at pnl.gov

These comments are mine and have not been reviewed and/or approved by my management or by the U.S. Department of Energy.