The writer is responding to Pat Bullard’s Aug. 16 letter, “Universal health care is solution.”

The countries that have socialized medicine have substandard care compared to what we know here in America. Canadians who can afford it come to the U.S. for a serious medical procedure with little or no waiting.

With socialized medicine, often people wait months to be seen by a health professional. For nearly every medical need, they are treated by general practitioners with little or no specialty training, as well as nurse practitioners, midwives, nursing assistants and so on. They use a lot of the older medications instead of the new available meds for seizures, Parkinson’s disease and dementia, for example. It does keep the cost down, but at what price?

A person with COPD or emphysema doesn’t see a pulmonologist for specialized care, they have to see a GP.

With universal health care, you don’t have much of a choice. That is why the people with money come here for the best medical care with state-of-the-art equipment.

Most Americans do not realize that we would not receive the same health care as we have today with socialized medicine There are other ways to be cost effective without going to universal health care. One is what Trump proposed early on — allow insurance companies to cross state lines. That is a great start.

I do give Obama credit for allowing people with pre-existing conditions to get health coverage without being penalized.

One day America will see socialized medicine, as much as I hate to see it happen. Americans will be surprised to find out that office visits will be substandard, and even our hospitals will change.

. The next time there is an election, get out and vote for officials that see it the way you do. It’s our only chance to keep socialized medicine out of the United States for as long as we can.

— Gwen Johnson

China Grove