Fact! No photo ID, we will NEVER get National Healthcare

[SoCalDem]

It's just as simple as that, folks..

The photo ID ...passport preferred..(for ALL general purposes) is a PRECURSOR to a national healthcare.

Every country that has national healthcare has, in place, an IDENTIFYING mechanism that proves the person seeking care, is eligible.

The "real ID" is actually something we should be embracing, because not only will it set aside a group of people who are indentified as being citizens, it will also group the others into identifiable segments.

The census has been politicized in the way we "count" people, so the ID issue would also solve that issue for apportionment purposes.


The one thing the government HAS to do, though, is to provide the first ID FREE..

It could "roll out" on a month by month basis until everyone had been "reached" and the expiration date of the cardfs should also be prorated /staggered, so they don 't all expire at the same time.

Believe me, with that card in the hands of all citizens, one hurdle would be removed for national healthcare.. No card..no service..

and as a side benefit, people who vote could NEVER again be challenged about their citizenship.. all that would be needed to prove an actual street address would be a rent receipt, a bill, or any mail addressed to that person (postmarked of course)

A passport number is a UNIQUE number (never re-used), so if the passport is lost, it can be replaced.. (I made my son photocopy his and leave it with us when he went to school in Italy...just in case)

All we hear about the healthcare issue is how expensive it will be, but the ID added to the program will make it even MORE costly, so why not tie the ID to "security", and use it as a pre-paid benefit when we introduce the healthcare issue again :)

[SmokingJacket]

1. Oookay...

I'll accept a nation ID WHEN AND ONLY WHEN we have a national health care program.

[SoCalDem]

3. Congress would never go or both at the same time..too costly

Keep your hopes high, though.. We boomers will be dead soon, and the pressure will be off the medical system, except for all the new (unidentifiable) people who are here.:hi:

Good luck to you all :)

[SmokingJacket]

9. Seems like it would be a rather small expense compared to

the big enchilada that is the national health system.

Maybe they could work something out via the ID systems that are already in place -- driver's licenses, etc. Especially if the national system was operated through the states.

[liberal N proud]

2. The cost is the whole problem - They are not addressing that issue

The way all proposals stand, it falls on the voter to pay for his/her own ID. And if a Passport is what they will require, that is over #100 dollars when you are all done.
That cost will make it impossible for many low income America citizens to get the ID.

I heard one asshole the other night on CNN say something about if they can't afford the ID, then they should be able to vote. Once again, I caught my self screaming at the TV.


It is not the identification that Democrats decry, it is the cost. The republicans are spinning to sound like the Democrats want the illegal aliens to vote and that is why they are against it. Once again, spin by the right gives us a black eye.

[SoCalDem]

4. BINGO.. our people are framing it WRONGLY

We should embrace it as a security issue..get the ID, and THEN use that as the wedge to go the next step.. healthcare..

[Gormy Cuss]

16. Remember it's not just the fee attached to the ID

It's lost wages, or lost jobs for those who have employers who won't give them time off to hang out at municipal offices and DMV obtaining papers. It's the cost of transportation for the elderly and disabled who now need to go to DMV to have their photos taken.

[misternormal]

5. Not so sure I'm in favor of a national ID system yet...

... I need a lot more information about it before I could get behind it...

I've seen a lot of fake documents in my past life, and until they can truly come up with one that is un-fakable... I'll wait.

[SoCalDem]

7. The passport office is pretty darned picky

I would suspect that 99.999999% of the population would not be into "fake" passports..:)

[originalpckelly]

6. Personally, I don't know what people have against the idea...

I don't know why people are worried about BIG GOVERNMENT!:scared: Why worry if the government has all your information? Why would anyone be against the government knowing the intimate details of my body/health? What is with this whole "privacy" thing anyway? Or BIG BROTHER? :sarcasm:

[SoCalDem]

8. Me either!!

If you have ever been to school, you had to show a birth certificate to get in.. or to get your first drivers' licence or for so many things..

There are not many "off-the-gridders" as the media would have us think..and do they even vote?? Did the unabomber vote?

99% or more of the people here are "known" to the government..by employment, social security, VA, schools, DMV, health insurance, neidical records..you name it..

[Captain Hilts]

12. That's exactly right. nt

[SmokingJacket]

13. I don't mind, if they have a good reason for needing it.

Like national health care.

But right now, they DON'T need it, and I don't trust them, so I don't think they should have it.

That's all!

[serryjw]

14. Thank you...I was waiting for someone to awaken

Can you imagine what kinda info they will have on that magnetic strip?

[bluedogyellowdog]

10. Don't drink the Kool-Aid

What do photo ID and national health care possibly have to do with each other?

The answer is, of course, nothing.

We need to go back to no-photo drivers licenses, period. This has nothing whatsoever to do with national health care. Whether or not there are photos on drivers licenses has nothing to do with national health care. It also has nothing to do with immigration enforcement, preventing drunk driving, or any of the other myriad excuses people make for photo IDs.

We can easily have national health care without photo IDs, and all it would take is expanding the existing Social Security system, which doesn't have photo IDs.

[SoCalDem]

11. You young'uns will have to sort this one out

I'm 57, and have heard the "national healthcare" issue talked about(Talked to death) for 20+ years..

Like I said above, the boomers will be departing the scene sooner than we all think, (downsizing, coupled with NO healthcare benefits and unaffordable premiums for private insurance makes for a sickly bunch of people who won't "linger"..)

Good luck to you 30-somethings.. It won't be pretty for you guys either..

Greedy insurance companies and their lobbysists will see to it that you all get the "best healthcare that money can buy".. Good luck on that "money thing".:hi:

[Amonester]

17. I don't know for elsewhere, but in the Province of Quebec...

... (Canada), the problem they had before the

card was introduced was too many people were continuously "lying" about having "lost" their card and ordered replacements, while in reality, they were "selling" them to foreign visitors who needed costly operations and the whole thing had turned into a big nightmare to manage so the pictures were added to save millions.
http://www.ramq.gouv.qc.ca/en/citoyens/assurancemaladie/carte/carte.shtml

[newyawker99]

21. Hi bluedogyellowdog!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[tabasco]

15. National health care in the USA !?! LMAO!

Maybe in the distant future.

The robber barons are in the driver's seat and universal health care ain't on the agenda.

I'm probably leaving this country because I can't afford health care.

But you make a good point about the id.

I would be happy to carry a national id if the US government evers shows any indication of giving a shit about the people. If this ever becomes a civil and progresive nation, I will carry it proudly.

But that won't happen here in my lifetime.

[sweetheart]

18. That's not true

I fell at a london restaurant a few years ago, and dislocated my shoulder, i was taken
immediately to hospital, given morphine and had the joint re-located, all i remember,
in all honesty was the pain, a dislocated shoulder is excrutiating, and i did not have
any documentation on me, being at a business lunch.

The UK NHS was prompt, and impeccable, they treated an injured person like christians,
and i was really moved, quite honestly, its one of the things i really love about this
country.

No identity was ever checked, nor was i ever charged, except for aftertreatment. I was
honestly in shock, wondering why people were being so generously kind when i did not have
health insurance, not even asking for ID, but doing the right thing, like medical professionals
and seeing to a treatment... what a concept!!! So, probably the NHS has official identity
numbers, and i have one somewhere, but back then, i did not have one of those, i was entirely
undocumented and was treated anyways kindly... aah, what a free country was like...

[Evoman]

19. In Canada, we have a health card.

Its not a picture I.D., and we can't use it to get into bars because there isn't that much info on it.

[SidDithers]

22. Newer ones do have a pic, Evoman...

at least in Ontario. If you've got one of the older ones without pic, don't lose it, because your replacement will require a photo, and will need to be updated every few years, like your driver license.

Sid

[Cleita]

20. I lived in a country that had a national ID card.

If you don't mind being stopped by the police for no reason other than the fact that they can stop you because they want to see your ID or your papers, then go for it. Just remember that when they stop you, they can also search for other things if they think you might seem suspicious about something, like maybe dope for instance. If an initial search doesn't turn up what they are looking for and you still haven't satisfied them that you are innocent, they can take you into custody to be searched further at the police station.

I hope everyone knows what they are in for. A national ID means you can be searched by any police agency for anything suspicious, dope, firearms, contraband. Why, because you are a suspicious person to any law enforcement until you prove you are legitimate. For this reason you don't have to commit an offense first to be stopped by the police. They can stop you to prove that you are a citizen and for no other reason.

Fortunately in this country the police were on foot, so it wasn't hard to turn and go the other way if you spotted one. Avoiding the police so to avoid being stopped was almost a national pastime.

We have Medicare and Medicaid cards in this country. This is all you need and they could cover national health care. Canada and the other countries of the world get by nicely with medical cards. You don't need a national ID.

[magellan]

23. False.

The UK doesn't have a photo id for access to nat'l healthcare.