Universal Health Care

Firstly i should say hi to anyone who is still here from the last time i was here
long time no see

Anyway as part of my paramedic's degree i am studying the health systems in different countries and i was astonished at the US health system.

In Australia we have 2 health systems, public and private
The public system is paid for both by tax and the medicare levy (ie another tax).
Medicare pay GP's and if they chose to bulk bill Medicare they are free to the public (some chose to charge above the Medicare rebate for different groups)

Public hospitals are banned by law from charging for services. This includes all procdures and all medication including medication they give you to take home

almost all A & E departments are in public hospitals as are all trauma units, they are also the teaching and resurch hospitals and they have the top staff.

Private hospitals are a bit of a joke (we took one patient back to a private hospital after she had just been discharged because she had a BP of over 200 and they told us she just had "high blood pressure")

We also have the PBS which subsides perscriptions to $30 for everyone and about $5 for people on a health care card

In comparision the US has NO universal health care system and when the Clintons tried to introduce one it was voted down. Now yes i know the politisions got pay backs by the stake holders for this but thats not my question. I want to know why the average american cizitizan doesnt FORCE your pollies to introduce universal health care. I am amazed about this when you can see what happens across the border in Canda, in the UK, Australia, New Zeland, even in cuba.

After all like education, universal health care helps the whole country especially business as all the people are treated early rather than living with treatable and preventable cronic health problems which also puts pressure on the unemployment services because people then cant work when in another contry it would be delt with straight away.

 

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You are quite right; the healthcare system in the United States is bizarre. You are wrong in your assumption that Universal Health Care was vote down. It never got to a vote. Special interests put an end to it before it could even be introduced into congress. In the United States we as citizens have very little say in our fate. Our government is controlled by special interests…big business. We have the most expensive healthcare system in the world yet rate pretty low in terms of quality.
You have a parliamentary form of government, which I think is less subject to the influence of backroom deals. So that is probably why all of the other industrialized nations have universal healthcare and we do not.
Whenever we talk of universal healthcare in the United States, the healthcare industry and politicians start running advertisements about how bad socialized healthcare is, long waiting lines, etc. They basically scare the public into believing that universal healthcare is equivalent to the end of the world as we know it and that helps to quell any push for universal healthcare.
Prescription drugs in Canada, Mexico and virtually any where else in the world are a lot less expensive than in the United States and the drug companies want to keep it that way. The drug companies were very concerned when large groups of Americans began crossing the borders with Canada and Mexico to purchase prescription drugs. The drug companies put an end to that practice by making it illegal. Our president, President Bush, told us that prescription drugs obtained from Canada might not be safe. And until he could prove they were safe, we cannot buy prescription drugs from Canada and take them across the border.

 

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my question is why, i could understand if they were some isolated little country but apart from the internet and travel how many of there citizans live across the border from canada and travel over there on a regular basis, im sure some of these (if not most) have turned up at a canadian GP or A&E and recived treatment and even if they had to pay (being non citizans) im sure they talked to the canadians. I just cant see why the public doesn't demand universal cover. Whats more i just dont get why Business doesnt demand one, after all if your worker has say, a melinoma (its the only thing i could come up with off the top of my head) and goes into hospital and has it removed the boss pays between a day and a week maybe sick leave. If thats untreated then he has an employee dying of canser who he must replace and pay for all the retraining. Or to take an example from "Sicko" a guy has his fingers cut off so he has them reatached and has a couple of months rehab or he doesnt have those fingers and cant work. Where is the sence in this?? and why dont americans fight for it??

Edit to add: I am begining to think i have my answer, i thought this would be flooded by replies today and there is nothing. Maybe its just a case that americans just dont care although i cant see why thats the case.

 

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I don't want socialized medicine. I don't want the quality of healthcare to go down the toilet. I don't want to be forced to pay for other's healthcare. I don't want anything to do with it. It's bad for people. Bad for America.

The number of Canadians and Britons coming here for healthcare is astounding. They have to wait up to 6 months for emergency brain operations back home. The USA has the best healthcare money can buy. Let's keep it that way.

 

I have to say im baffled by your responce. Firstly if you look at statsical data on GDP spent on health care to goverment spending on health care greater the percentage spent by the goverment the lower the cost overall

secondly what makes you think that the quality goes down? look at mortality and morbitity rates. The US has the highest rate of infant mortality in the developed world compared to the countries with universal health care having quite low levels

thirdly it makes good economic sence to have a healthy and well educated work force. If your employee's are always out sick because of unresolved health issues then that lowers productivity which means goods and services are more expencive because the employer must cover the costs of replacing sick and injured staff. So you do end up paying for them just without any benifit to anyone

 

And fuck-all to the huge numbers of hardworking people who either can't afford the INSANE insurance costs or work for small employers that don't provide any. Let em' suffer, right? Is that the christian way, sandy?

Fuck.

 

Yes, she is baffling. We spend more on health care than most countries and recieve far less for it. Notice the knee-jerk response of "socialized medicine". That's what our soldiers have! We are being held hostage by corporate interests that want to profit by keeping us sick. I won't even start on the lack of compassion or basic morality.

 

so why dont you fight for it?

after all pollies are poll driven, if enough people give them reason to fear for there jobs then you get what you want, well some of the time

 

Who has to pay for this healthcare? I do. So do all my friends. We have to pay for the healthcare GIVEN to people who choose not to have it. Sorry, but I don't want to pay for your healthcare. Just like I don't want to pay 70%
of my taxes for schooling your kids, but I have to. Socialized healthcare is bad. Bad for people. Bad for America.

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I certainly hope to get a Democrat in office with a Democratic congress that will give us universal coverage of some kind. Sandy, you will pay your share of taxes just like everyone else. It won't cost any more than our folly in Iraq.

 

What compassion? What morality? The poor already get free healthcare. So do the 50 million criminal aliens. I'm already paying for them. I don't want to pay for able-bodied lazy/stupid people's healthcare. There is nothing moral in throwing money at people who choose not to have insurance.

 

- Lobbyists
- "socialized medicine" stigma (them dirty commies!)
- etc.

 

Iraq and socialized medicine are two different things. Iraq is worth it. The cost of the war on terror is priceless. The cost of giving free healthcare to lazy/stupid people is too high no matter what it is.

 

No they don't Sandy the Samaritan. Emergency care isn't the same as health care, and it's more expensive.

So killing and chaos is fine, giving people life saving care is abhorrent. I can't think of any philosophy more disgusting or basically immoral.

 

Hey, MY taxes will go up to pay for this sh!t. I have the right to my opinion to oppose it. The losers who pay little/no tax have nothing to lose. They LOVE entitlements.

 

http://www.pnhp.org/

http://cthealth.server101.com/the_case_for_universal_health_care_in_the_united_states.htm

 

The war on terror is necessary. Rewarding losers/stupid people is poor business.

 

Sucker. You've been duped. Both views are designed to enrich the rich and keep the average person down, that's not what this country is about.

 

There's a good little xian.

 

Sandy,

A serious question for you. Do you believe that individualism and free enterprise are a hallmark of what the USA stands for?