Remember this, and be prepared to cite it, when someone argues that the left really cares more about the poor, than it hates capitalism:
Mayor Thomas M. Menino embarked on a highly public campaign yesterday to block CVS Corp. and other retailers from opening medical clinics inside their stores, an effort that exposed a rift between Menino and the state's public health commissioner, a longtime ally.
Menino blasted state regulators for paving the way Wednesday for the in-store clinics, which are designed to provide treatment for sore throats, poison ivy, and other minor illnesses.
The decision by the state Public Health Council, "jeopardizes patient safety," Menino said in a written statement. "Limited service medical clinics run by merchants in for-profit corporations will seriously compromise quality of care and hygiene. Allowing retailers to make money off of sick people is wrong."
The argument that one member of the opposition in Boston brought up was that without a regular, full-time doctor, patients wouldn't get the "continuum of care" that they need to stay healthy. Nevermind the fact that these small clinics will allow parents to unload a lot of the burden that exists on primary care practitioners. Additionally, the creation of new medical care facilities will increase the number of medical care providers competing for Boston's poor's dollars. Many of them might be able to buy cheap, affordable healthcare for the first time in a long time, or even ever for that matter.
I can see the argument (though I disagree with it) that the drug stores have a conflict of interest here in that they may try to push drugs on their patents that they don't need. However, the better way of dealing with that is to enforce existing medical ethics rules at the state level, and to expand or refine them where necessary, instead of just legal carpetbombing a viable source of healthcare treatment.
What idiocy. At first, when I thought this was in Brittan or one of the other foul nations, I was about prepared to shrug it off. Boston? Well, ok, it was Boston, but still. Too close to home for comfort.
The real people who fight that are not the socialists however, though they are in there. It is the medical plans, and state powers (controlled by insurance and other big money groups). Socialist never understand that if they win, it's because some one is capitalizing on the notion, not because it is a good notion. Ha... And yeah, there are bad capitalists (the ones who cheat, lie, steal, and prevent real choice). Socialists, patsies to the end, useful idiots without equal.