Why Universal Healthcare is a bad idea

One of the big issues in the upcoming general election will certainly be health care. Democrats have proposed universal health care for a while now. On the surface universal health care sounds like a great idea. everyone, regardless of income will have access to medical services. However, there are many drawbacks to universal health care and, in my opinion, this arrangement will ultimately have more drawbacks than benefits. First, and perhaps most importantly, how will the government pay for this? Higher taxes, of course. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't feel like having more money taken out of my paycheck each week in order to pay for someone else's insurance. With the increases in the cost of gas, energy, groceries and other necessities I am tapped out. I think I speak for the majority of Americans when I say that this well is just about dry. The second negative effect of universal health care is the quality of care. Currently, if I have a condition that requires urgent care I can either go to the local hospital or, if I have the money, I can fly to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and see the worlds best doctor or specialist. If I happen to blow out my knee, I can drive to the doctor immediately and have an MRI to determine the extent of the damage. In Canada, a country which currently offers universal health care, the waiting list for an MRI is 10 weeks. 10 WEEKS!! That is ridiculous. I recently read a story about a man living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada who has the same type of brain cancer that Ted Kennedy has. Because he had to wait for so long to get an MRI, his doctors (the same doctors that performed Kennedy's surgery in Boston) told him that the tumor was inoperable because it had grown too large. The wait for care among cancer patients in Canada exceeds the time limit standards set by both the US and European societies of oncology.
Right now free markets determine the cost of care, drugs and procedures. If competition suddenly ended tomorrow, what incentive would drug companies have to develop new cures for the worlds most deadly diseases? Don't say to help people. Although in an ideal world, helping people would be everyone's goal. However, we do not live in an ideal world. Businesses exist for one reason, to make money. Why would young med students strive to perform their best to get residencies in the best hospitals? Their pay would be roughly the same whether they graduate at the top or bottom of their respective class. The bureaucratic red tape that would accompany universal health care would almost certainly tack on additional, needless costs that would be passed on to the middle class.
Anytime the government is in charge of something, whether it's health care or social security, it is a bad idea. Economist Adam Smith wrote that individual ambition in competition serves the common good. This is the basis upon which our capitalist society is built. While changes are certainly needed within the health care industry, socializing health care is not the answer. Free market solutions are the only way to solve this industry's problems. There is a big difference between universal health care and everyone getting the care that they need.