Within the next few years the U.S. is going to have a nationwide, single-payer system

It sis a choice that NavyVet makes to not have insurance. I am not condeming him for that choice becasue I also have made that same one in the past. But nonethe less he has weighed what is important to him and his family and has decided that insurance is something he can do without. When my children were babies I also did not have insurance but they never failed to get their check ups or their shots or any needed medical treatment. I paid cash at the doctors office and yes he did cut me some slack on the bill because he knew we did not have insurance and he also knew that he was getting paid right away. If my kids were sick I would call him and ask what to do instead of going the ER... I also would get in to see him rioght away if they were sick. Almost all PCP's have a set number of sick visits available every day. Even to this day with insurance I still would rather take my kid to the doctors office if he was sick rather than wait in the ER waiting area for hours. It costs me less on my co pay and I get seen quicker.

Alot of people say they do not have the money to buy insurance but they have to weigh what is more important to them. I know of people that have high credit card payments, drive loaded out cars, and live in a house really beyond their means. these people have decided that buying new clothes and dinner out several times a week (up to 100-150 a week in eating out at least) and the really expensive car is more important to them than health care. Well why should I subsidize them for insurance?

P.S. I also was a vet fresh out of the military when I was trying to get started. I also was one of the last cold wariors as well as a vet from the first desert storm.

Don't forget the terrorist in the prison camps.

I'm not saying that the Single Payer plan will be a bad thing, but I'm guessing that nurses will not make out so well. It seems like I know plenty of nurses from other countries(Canada,England,etc) who work here because of the better working conditions and the better salaries. Also I don't believe the insurance companies are going to go down without a major fight. Why are the unions trying to push this down our throats? I know CNA is really for this plan.

Perhaps because the unions have their own interests in mind, not those of the nurses they currently represent.

The California Nurses Association is a registered nurse run democratic organization.
I can and do attend meetings of the Board of Directors. I can speak up at these meetings.
We also talk with our elected officers and local board members.

Of course some members don't approve of every action we take.
Some are very glad to have a contract, just cause discipline, wages and benefits in writing, and safe staffing ratios.
I think most nurses want everyone who needs healthcare to get their health and life saving needs met.
After much educating each other most of us actively work for single payer.
We didn't begin with this thought. the more we learned, the more the HMO and other marker based ideas proved harmful to our patients (an us when we were injured or sick) the more we came to understand that the civilized was is for all of us to pay and all to benefit when we need it.

So the young and healthy pay while the old and sick are priovided with needed healthcare. Then when we are sick we can have our needs met too.

http://www.calnurses.org/assets/pdf/nnoc_101.pdf

AMEN I feel the same way. And believe me, it gets a lot worse in good ole Louisiana too!!!!! Ours come to the ER at 5:05 pm and tell us they do it because thay do not have to wait as long as going to the MD's office. The whole system sucks bad! These are not true emergiencies!
I try everything I can with my kids to stay out of the er! Then we have these poor little ole elderly people that worked hard all of their life that gets no help---not even military! It is backwards!!! My grandfather raised 8 children working every moment he could. When he became ill he could get no help(the family supported him) worked hard all of his life and had only aquired a car and a small home. In order for government help he was told he would have to sell the house and car first!!!!!!!!! HELLO???????? Hence the reason why welfare recipients do not own anything and do not marry!!! It doesn't take a brain sergeon. My thought is that the people promoting this system are having some tucked away in their own pockets! money is a greedy thing!

I agree with bayoubengals, I am a new nurse here in America, and its just recently I discovered that those arrogant patient and relatives are what you called the medicaid patient. Well, it is very frustrating in my part as a foreing nurse, I am paying my tax, working legally and yet experiencing Such unkindness. Well, I THANK GOD I AM A NURSE