When the right warns of socialized health care, the left says that we already have socialized firefighting, so shut up and stop whining.

But there’s a huge difference between the federal government’s involvement in health care and local governments’ involvement with their local fire departments. Can you seriously tell me there’s not a giant disparity in scope here?

I realize that universal health care is not on the table right this second. Still, some in this country would love to see it, and some of the reform being considered could serve as a sort of gateway legislation in that direction. So for the sake of discussion, I’ll use the extreme of universal health care.

The federal government’s universal health care would be inescapable. If you don’t like it, too bad. You couldn’t even escape to Canada in that case, because, well…you know.

But if you don’t like the way your locality is managing the fire department, you can move to another locality that handles it more to your liking.

Also, at least some fire/EMS departments use a combination of paid and volunteer personnel. The volunteers keep costs down considerably. Even with these savings ($30-40,000/year multiplied by how many firefighters?) many Virginia localities have had to recoup some of the expenses by charging EMS user fees, and some places are contemplating fire user fees as well. Virginia probably isn’t the only state to do so–it just happens to be the one I know.

And those EMS fees predate the economic recession by several years. Stations also rely on private donations to fund their operation.

No service is free, even if the government is helping to provide it.

Localities are a bit more averse to massive debt than the federal government. They can’t spend now and figure out how to pay for it later. A Congressman can hide from his constituents much easier than a Board of Supervisors member can hide from his neighbors.

Back to volunteers: Can you expect to have volunteer doctors keeping costs down like you have volunteer firefighters and EMTs? Yes, some doctors do volunteer their services at charitable clinics, but that’s in addition to a full day at the office doing pretty much the same thing.

Let’s take a glance at the preparation involved for these activities. To become a doctor, you need a zillion years of expensive schooling. Firefighters and EMTs require more training than ever before due to increasingly stringent regulations (and this extensive training does prevent some people from volunteering) but the length of time remains considerably less. Plus, after a certain point, rookies can transition into doing the job while they continue to build on their training. For EMTs, they can train to the level of BLS (Basic Life Support) or ALS (Advanced Life Support.) Not all stations have ALS providers all the time.

Don’t get me wrong–Fire/EMS is a huge commitment, and I am grateful that there are still people who take on that task without expecting a thing in return. They spend all day at work and all night at the station, ready to respond to any emergency. You’d be hard-pressed to find better people.

And I don’t begrudge the paid firefighters one bit. I think it’s great that they can earn their living doing something they love. Some firefighters and EMTs work as paid staff at one station during the day and volunteer at night or weekends at another station, which is all the more amazing.

Nevertheless, the nature of a fire/EMS station is worlds apart from that of a doctor’s office or hospital.

Healthcare involves preventative care as well as reactive care. Fire/EMS is almost exclusively reactive.

Fire/EMS reacts to a specific incident after it has already begun. The exception would be the fire marshal who inspects public buildings periodically–but in terms of tax dollars spent, that would pale in comparison to people’s annual physicals.

If no incidents occur, the fire station personnel get to spend their day on equipment maintenance and additional training. Other days are packed with wall-to-wall hectic events and harrowing situations. It varies. No two days are alike, as I’ve been told by many a firefighter.

Doctors, however, can count on treating patients each and every day, all day. They can catch their breath on their lunch break–maybe, if they’re not working through it.

Bottom line–You won’t be able to save money with volunteer doctors like you do with volunteer firefighters and EMTs. Maybe firefighting has become partially socialized on the local level–but only partially. It doesn’t come close to equating to universal health care.

Oh, and for those universal health care advocates who mock their opponents with “What, should we privatize the police, too?”…

Government makes the laws. Therefore, law enforcement is a natural function of government. You can have private security guards and body guards, but they’re not police officers. You can no sooner privatize the police than you can the armed forces, courts or Congress.

But if a community decides that the best way to deliver a public safety service like fire/EMS is to pool some of the tax dollars toward that cause, then that community is free to choose some degree of socialized firefighting. Any resident who doesn’t like the execution is free to become a resident of another locality while remaining an American citizen.