Michael Moore is a GENIUS and SiCKO is his best yet (how much, military)
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joe, if you're referring to me, please point out where i claim that health care is free under socialized medicine? i merely pointed out the fact that health care is about half as costly per capita in other developed countries, including those with socialized medicine, than in our country.
it's sad that conservatives have a selfish comfort in letting a fellow citizen suffer or die because they could not afford adequate health care.
Okay let me do a comparison for you. My husband, has several cancerous looking spots that need to be removed on his back. He also has a mole, that is partially above and on his lip, which he has been cutting for years, everytime he shaves. A doctor in the U.S, would remove any large moles on his back, and immediately refer my husband, to someone who could safely remove the mole from his face. Why would a doctor take immediate action? Because the insurance company will cover a hefty portion of the cost anyway, after I make a co-payment, that's why. The doctor has nothing to lose, he or she will get their money. As long as I am familiar with my insurance policy, I will know what is covered and what isn't. Their are different insurance policies to choose from, and I can choose the best one for me.
But regarding my husband's potentially cancerous moles... The doctor here in the UK, gives my husband some idiotic ointment, to spread on his moles, to see if if changes the fact, that some of them look dangerously cancerous. He actually admits that he has to try this first, before he is even allowed to refer my husband to a specialist. He gets bonuses, if he saves the NHS money. It's been 6 months, and we are still doing this dance with this doctor. It's ridiculous. The doctors' job here in the U.K, consists of giving a prescription for anti-biotics, regardless if you have a bacterial infection or not, and to hand you a pack of pain killers on the way out.
As far as me making a comment about Michael Moores weight... someone who is promoting better health care for all, who is showing an interest in the overall health of an entire nation of people.... should have a healthy appearance. He's in the spotlight, and he looks so disgusting, that I can't even take him seriously. He represents perfectly, the type of American image that people around the world, make fun of us American's for a.ka., a fat, sloppy, loud, American.
And to all of you who have never lived outside of America, and are complaining about the healthcare in the U.S.... it's much easier to say that America's healthcare system sucks, when one has never had the firsthand experience, of dealing with another country's healthcare.
choosing one's fate among insurance policies is only a luxury for those who have money in the first place. plenty of people in this country don't have enough money to choose any health insurance plan. it makes a lot of sense that people with money would want to preserve america's system. it works much better for them. it works little at all for people with no incomes, and even for people stuck in the middle.
that's an interesting anecdote, and i'd like to see evidence that that is in fact providing lower quality medical care. i'm just starting med school, so i won't comment further. meanwhile, such incentives are also in place in managed care (gatekeepers to see specialists, "approved" procedures, doctor/hospital networks). u.s. doctors don't like these restrictions on the medical care they can provide either, by the way.
say what you will about his weight, but using it to discredit him is an ad hominem argument. there are skinny, healthy people who hold similar views as his. it only makes sense keep your criticism to the views and not the person.
i have no experience receiving health care in other countries. i have many friends in the u.s. from other countries who give me their comparative perspective. one friend just had two children and is about to move back to france, in part because of her concern over needing health care in the u.s.
i merely pointed out the fact that health care is about half as costly per capita in other developed countries, including those with socialized medicine, than in our country.
If you think Canada is so great, then move there. We don't need you
nice way to contend with the points i raised.
i did stop to consider it when bush was re-elected, but it gets too cold there for me. besides, i'd rather help make this country better. but thanks for the suggestion.
As a Brit living in the US I can confirm the US health system is best if you have money, if you don't have money it is the worst service!
The British National Health Service is a great idea and could be and used to be great, but the service is terrible because it is under funded and has been neglected by present and past governments whom seem to believe health of the British public is not an important as some other issues!
ok, I guess I'm that one person that hasn't.. I'm retired military and have some of the best insurance in the world. My wife had an almost $40K stay in the hospital a few months before I retired and it cost absolutely nothing. Now I have to pay something like $430/year, but I don't mind at all because I know I'm covered no matter what.
well, except the obvious things like suicide attempt, drunk driving and other stupid things I'm not going to do. actually, I'm not sure if they don't cover them, but I would think they wouldn't..
so yeah, the rose colored glasses are pretty nice
and who is paying for your healthcare again? American taxpayers and what you pay a year is what I pay for roughly 2 months of coverage in a PPO for a 38 year old!
ok, I guess I'm that one person that hasn't.. I'm retired military and have some of the best insurance in the world. My wife had an almost $40K stay in the hospital a few months before I retired and it cost absolutely nothing. Now I have to pay something like $430/year, but I don't mind at all because I know I'm covered no matter what.
well, except the obvious things like suicide attempt, drunk driving and other stupid things I'm not going to do. actually, I'm not sure if they don't cover them, but I would think they wouldn't..
so yeah, the rose colored glasses are pretty nice
Newsflash - that stay in the hospital cost YOU absolutely nothing - now who's talking about "free" healthcare? You said it yourself that it cost $40K - was that money grown in the hospital's petrie dishes? And thanks for letting us in on your little secret about the dirt-cheap hc you get - it explains your haughty perception of hc in general. $430 doesn't even cover one month of hc for my family, so maybe if you had a dose of others' reality you might provide an objective point of view. You may as well just say, "let them eat cake" Ms. Antoinette.
Newsflash - that stay in the hospital cost YOU absolutely nothing - now who's talking about "free" healthcare? You said it yourself that it cost $40K - was that money grown in the hospital's petrie dishes? And thanks for letting us in on your little secret about the dirt-cheap hc you get - it explains your haughty perception of hc in general. $430 doesn't even cover one month of hc for my family, so maybe if you had a dose of others' reality you might provide an objective point of view. You may as well just say, "let them eat cake" Ms. Antoinette.
As a Brit living in the US I can confirm the US health system is best if you have money, if you don't have money it is the worst service!
The British National Health Service is a great idea and could be and used to be great, but the service is terrible because it is under funded and has been neglected by present and past governments whom seem to believe health of the British public is not an important as some other issues!
The point that the NHS (UK) used to be great is a reasonable assessment and the possible cause could be the slide toward private treatment and the use of the NHS to train and fund the consultants who populate the private wards.
In health matters as in educational matters, if all people had to use the same service a better service might result because the rich, persuasive and powerful would, naturally, not put up with a bad service.
At an earlier date someone posted details of what fraction of the 45 million without healthcare tabled by Moore in the US might be considered the real hard core and he showed that it could be as low as 18 million souls without any healthcare saying this is a small number considering the total population is 300 millions.
Quite honestly if one poor person cannot get treatment it cannot be morally justified.
Even those unemployed and between jobs are making life easier for others, when economic considerations are taken into account, scale affects all, some supermarkets would not exist without the throughput provided by the unemployed section of their customer base.
The supermarket worker, one who pays his health insurance, needs his customers rich and poor.
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