A free lunch
Governments are renowned for coming up with harebrained schemes.
Our lot have surpassed themselves.
"Let's give free medical care to all children in the state who are under six."
While on my wee break Down Wesht, I happened to see our illustrious Minister for Health waffling on about this scheme [I was waiting for the weather forecast and got him by accident]. He thinks it is absolutely essential. His reasons were basically twofold – some other countries have it [some countries have public stonings and others have the electric chair, but he conveniently overlooks that] and he reckons that the ultimate goal is free healthcare for all, free education for all, free childminding for all and God knows free what else.
Doesn't this idiot realise that THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS FREE?
Doctors are like the rest of us [though some of them may lack our morals] in that they have to feed, clothe and house themselves. If they are giving their services for nothing then for it to be truly free, they would have to get free housing, food and clothes. The providers of those services would in turn have to either pay the cost or would have to get their services free and so on ad infinitum.
So obviously doctors have to be paid for this "free" service. And who pays the bill? The tax payer of course.
Varadkar sees a world where health and education are "free". What this boils down to is that the tax payer will have to fund the salaries of every doctor, surgeon, nurse, teacher and professor in the land, not to mention all the support staff in the background and the building and maintenance of hospitals, schools and universities. And then they wonder why our country is up to its neck [and beyond] in debt?
I have nothing against using taxes to help out those who genuinely can't afford to pay for a service that is essential [dare I suggest something like a Medical Card?] but giving "free" services to everyone is way into fucking La-La Land.
This farcical scheme is just going to mean that those of who who might have to visit a doctor for a genuine and serious reason are going to have to wait in the waiting room for hours along with dozens of little brats who have nothing worse than a scratch or a sniffely nose while their parents' Beamers and Land Rover Discoveries block the streets outside.
There are just no words to describe the level of complete insanity that this country has descended into.
Dare I suggest that if they stopped taxing us to the hilt, that maybe we could then all afford these services for ourselves?
I just assumed you already had free NHS rubbish. What do you have?
Your description of what a waiting room might look like is exactly what they do look like over here.
It's complex and it's a mess.
If you are on low income, you can apply for a Medical Card which essentially entitles you to free medical care [plus a charge on prescriptions]. Then there are Doctors Cards [for those who are on low income but don't qualify for the MC] which entitle you to free GP visits. Above those, you pay.
Hospital visits are theoretically free [I think], but you still have to pay a charge. Waiting lists for fairly essential stuff can run into years however, and be prepared to spend days on a gurney in A&E.
Those of us who can afford it [and a lot who can't] plump for private insurance which while prohibitively expensive at least entitles us to reasonably prompt treatment. Who wants to wait eight years for a hip replacement?
Not to worry GD, he has that covered too with compulsory health insurance planned for the next government.
Which means we all have to fork out for our own insurance and also have to fork out for all those little bastards cluttering up the surgeries.
That's the way this generation of politicians thrive, double and triple invoice for everything.
And who always pays the invoice?
As long as it is "other peoples money" then its free. As long as you can keep suppling enough free shit for 51% of the population you steal as much as you need from the other 49%. Of course eventually the 49% get feed up and start to complain, but as long you control the media no one will hear them.
Welcome to the Socialist dream state! Everything is free. You are all left equally poor.
Do you have to pay for education too? I thought it was the same as the UK, better get travel insurance next time I visit Ireland!
I'd state something like, "…but think of the cheeeldren!", but I wouldn't want to get banned from the site. Blathering "make-it-look-like-I-actually-care-so-I-can-keep-my-position" political idiocy if you ask me.
Did anyone mention that there'll be an election soon?