Nationalized Healthcare Would Treat This, Too.

Let's face it, most of us have been in a situation where we've had too much. But have you ever needed an ambulance? Of course your copay (depending upon your plan) applied and you paid for it in more ways than one. But what if the government had to foot the bill? I'm sure that sounds good to a certain percentage of people. Until someone sits them down and explains that the "government's money" is "our money".

Has anyone seen the story out of the UK from New Years? Calls for an ambulance every eight seconds?

In the first four hours of 2008, London Ambulance Service (LAS) dealt with an astonishing 1,825 calls alone, peaking at over 500 calls an hour between 2am and 4am. The volume of 999 calls was up 17 per cent on last year' and four times worse than a normal night.

Meanwhile in the West Midlands the ambulance service fielded 1,400 calls in just five hours - a rate of one every 12 seconds. It was mirrored by the North East Ambulance Service which received 1,860 calls between 11pm and 5am.

Last night the astonishing number of calls to deal with booze-fuelled illness of injury prompted accusations that lives of those in real emergencies were being put at risk and demands for partygoers to wake up the costs of binge-drinking.

LAS spokeswoman Gemma Gidley said: "These calls put the Service under increased pressure to manage demand when we have to ensure we respond quickly to other patients with potentially life-threatening emergencies.

That's an ambulance for someone who is acting irresponsibly - paid for by the population - when an ambulance might be needed for a plane crash, a heart attack, a child finding a bottle of pills left out for a second in reach. Yes it's the middle of the night but emergencies happen then, too.

But my point is this. Anyone who thinks that nationalized healthcare is an affordable option is kidding themselves. Of course the defenders would say "well, we would make exceptions." No we won't. The loud and influential minority of those that "demand" coverage would get their way. The opportunities for things to pay for are absolutely endless. That's the way the relative universe works, and unfortunately, our societies are not doing our part to recognize the of consequences of actions.

And in this case, the equal and opposite reaction that should be allowed to take its course is this: what goes down, must come up. In the words of one commenter: leave them where they fall.

Or send them the bill.