National Healthcare for the USA

by sammielee24 348 Replies latest jw friends

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  sammielee24

  I am all for socialized medicine. It might cost us a bit more, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be $500 a month.

  Health care coverage is already subsidized heavily by federal, state, and local taxes. In fact, fully 64% of health care spending is already from taxes. Employers would pay a small payroll tax, but this tax would be instead of paying health care premiums like most employers pay now. Most employers that currently offer health insurance would actually save money. Small businesses will no longer be at a disadvantage in obtaining good health coverage for their employees and thus competing for the best employees.
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  sammielee24

  NHC in this country is a scary thing because there is so much suspicion toward anything to do with government control

  Governments do some things better than others--so do corporations. Medicare is the most efficient health care system in the US, with administration costs about 20% of the average HMO's administration costs. And if you think there's no such thing as corporate bureaucracy, you've probably never had a problem with your HMO. Ask anyone who has. Any system is going to have some red tape. But it's a matter of having *one* system of red tape, or 50 different ones. And government's not all bad. Government has provided us with public libraries, the GI Bill, Social Security, police and fire protection, the Do-Not-Call list, emergency services, national parks... there's bad, sure, but that doesn't mean you can just ignore the good.
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  sammielee24

  For those that claim that national health care in other countries is not as good as what we have in the US, well Canada, and the rest of Europe are living longer than we are so they must be doing something right.

  America has the best health care system in the world!Only if you don't compare it to anything else. The US ranks 37th in a World Health Organization examination of the world's health care systems. Americans also live fewer years than people in other countries, and have higher infant mortality levels (more babies under the age of one die per year). And according to the Institute of Medicine, 18,000 die each year from having a lack of health insurance. And we've got 45 million people without health insurance, and the most expensive health care system and prescription drugs. The US does a good job with waiting times for elective surgeries, but doesn't do nearly as well as other countries in most measures of "best" or "quality," however you define it.
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  LDH

  I also (like all women aged 25-65) have a regular cervical smear test every three years to check for abnormal pre-cancerous cells

  OK is it just me or......this test is recommended every YEAR....is this the type of testing schedule you get under nationalised healthcare?

  Little Toe, the two arguments are a separate issue. How an insurance company operates is one issue. How nationalised healthcare works is another issue entirely.

  Of course I find it interesting that under your "wonderful" system people AUGMENT national healthcare with private insurance. That would be the poor, I assume, who are paying to augment that wonderful system? Of course not, it's the wealthy. No different here. Your citizens get a Yugo. Those that can afford it buy a Cadillac. How is that different from what we have here?

  A safety net for the poor, and insurance for the middle income and wealthy.

  Lisa
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  SixofNine

  Those that can afford it buy a Cadillac. How is that different from what we have here?

  A safety net for the poor, and insurance for the middle income and wealthy.

  I know, it's nuts isn't it? I mean, why are we even having this discussion? It's as plain as the fact that Christ returned in 1914. We have essentially the same healthcare system as the UK, anyone should be able to see that.
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  LDH

  We have essentially the same healthcare system as the UK, anyone should be able to see that.

  Six I know this might be a newsflash but try to follow me here....this is the US not the UK or Australia or Canada. You are free to move.
• 

  SixofNine

  Six I know this might be a newsflash but try to follow me here....this is the US not the UK or Australia or Canada. You are free to move.

  lol, no, it's not the UK or Australia or Canada. Hell, it's not even Cuba or Costa Rica.
• 

  LittleToe

  Lisa:

  OK is it just me or......this test is recommended every YEAR....is this the type of testing schedule you get under nationalised healthcare?

  I'm guessing it depends what State you're in. Don't make out like your private schedule is universal, because it's not. Besides, do you really like having your insides scraped every year?? Are you really condemning a system of free three-yearly scrapes to a system where some can afford it annually and some can't afford it period? That is soooo myopic!

  How is that different from what we have here?

  You mean you've actually turned to asking someone who knows, rather than merely pontificating from afar with those look-to-heaven eyes?

  Our safety net is bigger... much bigger... Everyone gets a station wagon (regardless of income) and if they want a Porsche then it's in the showroom waiting for them - meanwhile everyone gets a free station wagon. That about compares to the US system of getting nothing for free unless you happen to be totally poverty stricken, in which case they'll lend you a bicycle. Depending on income YOU can pay for anything from a Yugo to a Cadillac.

  Oh, did I forget that some US insurance plans aren't worth the paper they're written on, ergo you might think you have a Chevvy but might find that when you come to use it there's only a 100 cubic inch engine under the hood?...

  We've had this discussion before, haven't we? It boils down to having a system where there's waste but everyone gets cared for, or a system where about the same amount of money gets creamed off as profits by the insurance companies, etc. The mean cost to the population is about the same, but everyone gets a piece of the action with NHC, including (most importantly) the patient.
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  sammielee24

  is this the type of testing schedule you get under nationalised healthcare?

  Women in Canada receive mammograms as needed/scheduled/set up under the medical guidelines and if thats yearly then they get it and they don't need to worry about bringing a cheque in when they go. The same thing happens for men receiving prostrate examinations and all and any other examinations that are scheduled/recommended by the medical guidelines. If this includes cervical then they get it. Interesting fact you point out - while the recommendation here in the US is to get the test - if you don't have health insurance you are never getting it anyway!! Doesn't matter how much it's recommended - annual physicals might be recommended but its a well recorded fact that those 45 million without any insurance don't get those either. At least in the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Finland..so on and so on, you get the test - in the US you don't unless you have the money and that is a big, big, and often life threatening difference. swife.
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  SixofNine

  That is soooo myopic!

  And in fact, that seems to be the problem with everyone who advocates keeping things as they are. One poster here even sees his high end work-provided insurance as a merit badge of his own value over others. A heart that black and small probably does need the finest medical science has to offer to keep it beating.

  The average American can't force anyone else to value them equally, but I do hope they'll start forcing politicians to value every American equally (to the extent that is possible, and it is MUCH MUCH more possible than it is happening now, it's a matter of putting small business above big business, and individuals ahead of corporations).