Many of you who have watched the Superbowl game last Sunday (Feb 1st) probably saw the commercial from Denny’s that advertised its free”Grand Slam” breakfast offer. The offer was good for Feb. 3rd, from 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Judging from the response to the ad, a lotof people caught it.
Based on the reports I’ve heard on the radio this morning, thousands of people took advantage of this offer in Denny’s resturaunts nationwide. Not only did the lines go out the door and snaked around the building, some even went up and down a city block. Most of the patrons were young, college aged kids looking to score a free meal. Some of them even took advantage of the offer in one resturaunt, then went to another Denny’s and helped themselves to another free meal.
By now, you’re wondering when I’m going to get to the “Nationalized Healthcare” part. Patience, I’m getting to that…
Consider, for a moment, what Americans were willing to do to avoid paying the retail price of $5.99 for a simple breakfast of 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, two strips of bacon and two little sausage links, something most of us could easily prepare in our own homes. They were willing to get up early, skip classes, skip showers, fight over parking spaces, and stand in line for hours on end to take advantage of one measley free breakfast, whether the customer was actually hungry at the time or not.
Can you imagine how it would be if they were receiving free health care for life?
People are quick to take advantage of “free” services, even if they don’t actually need the services. Every cough, sneeze and sniffle that normally would have them just visiting the local pharmecy for over the counter medications would suddenly warrent a trip to the doctor. Every minor cut, scrape and bruise would justify a trip to the emergency room. Why treat it yourself, if you can get a professional doctor to treat it for nothing? Better safe than sorry, right? And why not? The service is free, after all. Sounds like a great deal so far? Read on.
Some of you reading this may have eaten, or tried to have eaten, at Denny’s today. I’m referring to the patrons that wanted something besides the free breakfast. How much longer did you have to wait in line to get in today as opposed on a normal day? Chances are, you either waited a lot longer, due to all the people in front of you taking advantage of the free breakfast, or you just gave up and headed to a different establishment. The cooks and service staff, unless they had some sort of special arrangement, had to cater most of their time to accomodate the needs of the special offer patrons before they could get to you.
Now take this scenario, and apply it to our hospitals. How much longer will you have to wait for treatment, due to the facility’s doctors and nurses attending the needs of patients being treated for minor wounds or illnesses that arrived ahead of you? Sure, they may consider you for priority service, depending on your condition, but are you really willing to count on that? We have a shortage of doctors and nurses now… and we don’t have a whole lot of new ones coming in. Would the hospital staff really be able to accomodate the huge influx of new patients? If you hate the waiting times now, you’re really going to hate them if nationalized healthcare kicks in. Remember, people take advantage, and often abuse (as in the cases with people eating multiple free breakfasts) free services.
Let’s look at this from another angle. Barring tips to the waitstaff, no profit was made for these free breakfasts. How much did Denny’s spend to provide all those pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausages to the customers? I’m betting they didn’t get those for free. Let’s not forget the money they spent for those Superbowl ads. My guess is, they took a loss from this event.
Again, imagine applying this scenario to our hospitals. How much do our hospitals currently pay for medical supplies? Now, how much extra will these supplies cost, if more people are going through bandages, syringes, tongue depressers, painkillers, etc?
Still think nationalized healthcare is a great idea?
