Posted on February 21 at 11:54 a.m.Suggest removal

Caroline,
I'm assuming you are not a pre-med student. If you were you would have been a part of the majority of students who have seen firsthand how people without health care struggle to make ends meet as medical bills are racked up. I have been to clinics in Oklahoma City and met hard working people who lost jobs because of an illness and lost coverage as a result. They entered the "vicious cycle" of illness and poverty that is nearly impossible to get out.
Assuming you ARE a pre-med student when you attend your first medical school interview, do me a favor. Print out this letter and bring it to the interview. I will be attending medical school next year, and after a number of interviews, I can say with certainty if they were to read this letter, you would not be accepted.
Why would this be? Because medicine is not about making money. It is not a business, nor a commodity. Medicine is a social need that not only saves peoples lives when they are the sickest, but also improves their quality of life and allows them to continue to live a happy, enjoyable life while contributing to society. If every physician, health care worker, and pharma company executive kept this in mind when they priced their services and supplies, we would not be in this mess in the first place.

Finally, your letter points out that you really lack an understanding of how the health care system in this country (or really every country) functions. Socialized medicine is simply a pejorative that people use to scare people. The only difference between our current system and a single payer system (you probably have never heard that term, its what you would called socialized medicine) is who manages the payments for the services. Currently, people pay a premium to the insurance company and the company then tells hospitals how much they will pay for a service. If the hospital wants they make you pay more. Replace the word premium with taxes, and take out the last part about hospitals requiring you to pay more, and you have socialized medicine. Drastic changes, I know! However, the duty of the government is to serve the people, not to turn a profit. So if medicine were "socialized" your payments to your new insurance company, the government, would be guaranteed to go directly into paying for your treatment, educating new doctors, and researching new cures. There would be no million dollar raises to a CEO. No luxurious private jets flying people to conferences. And most importantly, no denial of coverage. Now please explain to me how this is a bad thing. There are just as many inefficiencies with a privatized insurance company as there are with a government run plan. Most amazingly, doctors in socialized health care systems make just as much as doctors in the U.S. system (look it up if you dont believe me). Next time you watch fox news and hear about all the bad things government does, try to do a little research and understand what is really going on.

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Posted on April 29 at 3:12 p.m.Suggest removal

If OUIT wants to know what Ozone should look like (not that it ever will) they should check out Univ of Missouri's MyZou. Its the same thing but ENORMOUSlY easier to use.

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Posted on April 19 at 3:35 p.m.Suggest removal

As anecdotal evidence, my fiance attends the university of missouri, another state school in a predominantly republican state. Their classes are much more difficult than the same classes at OU. I've seen her tests in biochemistry and they make my tests look like a high school test. It is sad. It shows in the quality of students there. The students seem more mature and respectful of their peers and their professors. If I could go back in time, I truly do not think I would choose OU, and its for the exact reasons discussed in this article. Glad someone else shares my sentiment.

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Posted on April 16 at 3:23 p.m.Suggest removal

I seriously think a group of students need to step up and start a new publication that covers campus news. The Daily appears to be being repair. They don't even need to waste all our money on the tons of paper copies that just get thrown away. They can just post it on the internet like most major newspapers are these days. Or maybe even an Iphone app. Then they would have full power in deciding what is newsworthy and what isn't. I hope it happens.

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Posted on April 14 at 12:23 p.m.Suggest removal

Detective Woolridge,
If you are arguing the government has a duty to protect its citizens from harmful substances, then you must also agree the government must provide healthcare for all citizens.
Likewise, if that is the case, why is alcohol legal? Alcohol is a toxin that in high enough amounts (amounts easily consumed by an individual if they so choose) can kill you. So your argument has a serious flaw in it.

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Posted on April 13 at 9:48 p.m.Suggest removal

Here is an idea. Let's give these people temporary citizenship and collect their taxes. Does it really matter to any citizens whether immigrants gain citizenship status? Not like our system is keeping out anyone dangerous as is. Might as well collect taxes to pay for this ridiculous war and terror and war on drugs.

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Posted on April 12 at 3:23 p.m.Suggest removal

I think every other state should be required to learn about Oklahoma' past and present, so they know what NOT to do.

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Posted on April 12 at 3:19 p.m.Suggest removal

I recently heard a story from a clinic in Norman about the numerous people who had come in with horrible rotting teeth who had never heard of flossing. Every child has it drilled into their heads that flossing is important. Why? Because its understood that flossing is good for one's health and not flossing could lead to serious issues.
Take the same idea and apply it to sex. Currently, all students are taught is sex is bad and we should abstain or bad things will happen. Then, when kids grow up and decide, hey whats the worse that can happen, they haven't learned about condoms or birth control. The result: babies and STIs.

I was an ardent supporter of health care legislation, and when I heard that this was included in the bill, I was displeased. But, along with the anti-abortion legislation, these articles were required to get enough public support to pass the bill. Whose to blame? Both parties, and Americans lack of intelligence.

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Posted on April 9 at 9:37 a.m.Suggest removal

A bit of irony. People are willing to spend millions of our tax dollars to keep people in prison when they are no danger to society, e.g. they used or dealt drugs. Some of these tax dollars go to healthcare for prisoners. However, for all of us law-abiding, drug free individuals, there shall be no free healthcare because thats socialism. Moral of the story, if your sick and you want access to healthcare, start selling some drugs. You will go to jail and then you will get all the health care you need. God Bless America.

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Posted on March 31 at 10:19 a.m.Suggest removal

I heard Sarah Palin was going to be giving the commencement speech. But then I heard people pay here a hundred grand to hear her speak, and I prayed to god OU wouldn't waste that kind of money to hear someone without a phD waste an hour of our time.

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