by sammielee24 348 Replies latest jw friends
Just an FYI for anyone interested - there is a major drive on to push the bill forward for National Healthcare in the USA. You can sign the petition by going to http://www.onecarenow.org/.
It has gone through one part of the process last year and now the push is on to get it moved to the next level - it is backed by over 400 groups including the UAW I believe. It is no longer if it happens, it is only a matter of time as to when it happens.
That looks like it's for the state of California. It will be interesting to see if it works, or turns into a system under which, you too can die waiting for treatment to be approved.
Hillcare again?
No thanks! There is a good reason all those folks are coming across the border from Canada to have needed surgeries done. It's called socialised medicine! Medicare and medicaid are a form of that, and all of us on those two programs have a fair idea of what that sort of thing involves. Right this minute I am in PAIN. My primary caregiver called in a presciption for the problem causing it. Medicaid informed the pharmicist they won't pay for it, despite the fact it was on the list of medications covered when the Doctor ordered it. So I am still in PAIN!
That is probably why I am being such a bastard and baiting the liberals on this forum. This has been going on for awhile and I feel mean as hell! Screw Hillcare!
Forscher
"It's called socialised medicine!"
That's right, and civilised, intelligent people are for it. Assholes and insurance executives are not. Hell, if you lived in embargoed Cuba, you'd have the best medical remedies for your PAIN available.
Forscher,
I'm truly sorry you are in pain! I very much hope it is alleviated SOON!!
socialised medicine!
In Great Britain we have what Americans call "socialised medicine". It's called the National Health Service and I have nothing but praise for it.
Having battled cancer for the past two years I know full well how many of my American colleagues (we are on the same internet forum re the disease) are concerned over whether or not their health care insurance will cover them. Many say they aren't covered for certain treatments - treatments I get for "free" in the UK (it isn't truly free, of course, as funding comes out of our taxes and insurance contributions, which are deducted from one's salary every month).
Truth is, I feel socialised medicine CAN work in the USA, especially if you learn from Great Britain's mistakes, such as having too many administrators when the money could be better utilised!
I wish you well!
Ian
I use to be against it but, dam, with more and more good paying jobs moving overseas (along with insurance benefits) how do we expect people to afford today's skyrocketing premiums?
My mother, who's only 63, has high blood pressure. Guess what she pays each month to the insurance company? $1,000.00!!! She's lucky that my father behind enough money to cover that expense but a lot of seniors aren't. What do we do for them? Kiss them good-bye?
Hell, if you lived in embargoed Cuba, you'd have the best medical remedies for your PAIN available.
Have you talked to any expatriate Cubans lately sixofnine? That much vaunted cuban heathcare system just gets you in to see a doctor and may get you surgery if you can wait in line long enough. It doesn't garaunty you medicine if you need it. You have to pay extra for x-rays etc.. Many female doctors there are selling themselves as prostitues to foreign tourists to get the hard cash to buy medicines for patients who can't afford those medicines. just because Castro get's world-class care doesn't mean rank-and-file cubans do!
Thanks for the comments Dansk. I've been following your on going health issues and wish you well. I had an online friend over there in England who lost his battle with the big C awhile back.
Forscher
By the way Dansk.
There is a reason I called it Hillcare. When Hillary Clinton was the first lady over here, we got a very good look at what form socialised medicine will take if it is ever mandated over here. She got together with the major players in the heath care industry over here in secret and put together a proposal that was so rife for corruption and waste that it deserved the abortion it underwent.
Those major players are stiil there and will still insist on being allowed up to the the government trough as they did when they were talking to Hillary. And Hillary, as a Senator, is still around to help them get it! Believe me they didn't learn a thing form Brittain's or anybodyelses' mistakes! All they could see was the money they could get from the government's hands in everybodys' pockets and they went for it. The american public made it clear they wouldn't allow that outright theft, and I have no reason to believe that the American public will allow their pockets to be picked now.
Forscher
This is just one program...there are a lot of congressmen behind the bill as well - check out Kucinich as well as he has a list of supporters, including a lot of doctors under the PNHP who believe that national healthcare is the ONLY way to go. There are reports after reports that support this single pay system because financially it makes sense - the only people making money out of the current system are the insurance companies. The last reports (not sure if they were the WHO ones) report that 18,000 people die every year - ages about 18-40 simply because they have NO health insurance. Say what you will about national health care but no one is refused treatment because they have NO money which equates to NO health insurance. 43% of families that earn between $23,000 - 38,000 have no insurance...there are 43 million now underinsured and non insured. I checked out a plan for a family of 3 living on a wage of 29,000 per year and the cost was 350.00 a month but the deductible was 7,000 a year and the co insurance was still 30%. The health of Americans has fallen behind every country that has a national health care system and yet the cost is more per person. Now that the unions are getting behind the proposed system, the power will return to the people slowly but surely - especially since now even the miserly minimum wage that's been frozen for 10 years won't be increased. Check out the PNHP as well - as well as Kucinich's site because you can get a list of who is supporting it so far in the house. swife.
Press Release from Health Care Now - people DO want national healthcare...its just a matter of time - the sooner the better -
Continuing their historic role in support of social justice, labor unions and workers from 161 unions across all divisions are in the forefront of the national single payer healthcare coalition movement. They are calling for a single payer system that would cover everybody in the United States with quality and affordable healthcare.
As a part of Healthcare-NOW and its partner ALL UNIONS COMMITTEE for SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE…., over 161 labor endorsements have been voted for H.R. 676, the single payer national healthcare legislation, by unions, Central Labor Councils of the AFL-CIO and Internationals. H.R. 676, the Conyers bill, would assure quality, comprehensive and affordable healthcare for every resident of the United States,
Healthcare-NOW, the national coalition dedicated to this healthcare advance is headed by a team of three national co-chairs representing labor, faith and the medical profession. They are now launching their new “Elect a Healthy Congress” campaign calling on politicians to support single payer national healthcare for all and to commit to refuse contributions from insurance and pharmaceutical drug companies.
This coalition is determined to defeat the corporations that want to keep healthcare as a profit-making industry rather than a guaranteed right for all. They are challenging the Healthcare Industrial Complex: the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical drug corporations, the for-profit hospitals and lobbyists and calling for public control of the financing of the healthcare system.
The Single Payer leaders who co-chair Healthcare-NOW are Leo Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers, Jim Winkler, head of the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, and Dr. Quentin Young, National Coordinator of the fastest growing and most progressive group of doctors in the nation, Physicians for a National Health Program.
Explains Gerard: “The news about healthcare is worse every day. The costs are going up. Employer contributions are going down or becoming non-existent. Quality of care is questionable, and corporate fraud is rampant. Every contract is about negotiating healthcare benefits rather than for better salaries and working conditions. But there is a solution and it is a single-payer system.
What would a single payer system do for us? According to Jim Winkler, “We would get a lot more than we do now. All medical, dental, optical, mental health coverage, all hospitals, medical equipment, pharmaceutical drugs, long term care, drug and alcohol treatment and more would be a part of the new system. Attention to and control over the corporate fraud that now takes away hundreds of billions of dollars would help us pay for this kind of healthcare for everybody.
How much would we pay? Surprisingly, we would pay less than we are paying now considering premiums, co-pays, deductibles, and uncovered costs such as dental, pharmaceutical drugs and long-term care. An average family of three that pays more than $10,000 a year now – including all of the above costs, would now pay about $1,200 a year– or $100 per month.
Employers would contribute equally – the same amount per employee based on their income. How would this work? We would all be paying a small amount into the system. The big corporate insurance and HMO entities would no longer be handling the money and reaping huge profits, paying for advertising and lobbying and denying our needs. Instead we would have a single payer and we would have an entitlement to healthcare.
