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Of course many of these countries spend less because they have largely removed the profit factor out of health care.
And what about the quality of the health care provided? Why is it that many people from other countries fly into the USA for serious procedures? Or do we just ignore that?
And what about the quality of the health care provided? Why is it that many people from other countries fly into the USA for serious procedures? Or do we just ignore that?
You act like EVERY hospital in the U.S. provides first rate care.
Have you not seen the stats on how many people die due to medical mistakes, infections they acquired in the hospital, mix up of medications, etc.
Many times health care is not very well coordinated, especially since so few doctors and hospitals use electronic medical records.
In any case, many people who come to the US do so because they are rich and didn't feel like waiting for an elective procedure. Sure sometimes people from Saudi Arabia come because they want to see their personal physician for some first-class procedure. So what? The rich will always get the best care because they can afford it.
The poor and middle class are the ones we should be worrying about. Their employers are deferring more of the health care costs to them and some of their employers are not even providing health insurance. There are people out there working full time jobs that don't get health insurance. Then you have people who have health insurance but can't afford to use it or can't afford a trip to the doc because their pay is so crummy.
Let's not ignore that many U.S. citizens go to other countries as well in search of cheaper care: Thailand, Mexico, and Canada come to mind.
You act like EVERY hospital in the U.S. provides first rate care.
Have you not seen the stats on how many people die due to medical mistakes, infections they acquired in the hospital, mix up of medications, etc.
Many times health care is not very well coordinated, especially since so few doctors and hospitals use electronic medical records.
In any case, many people who come to the US do so because they are rich and didn't feel like waiting for an elective procedure. Sure sometimes people from Saudi Arabia come because they want to see their personal physician for some first-class procedure. So what? The rich will always get the best care because they can afford it.
The poor and middle class are the ones we should be worrying about. Their employers are deferring more of the health care costs to them and some of their employers are not even providing health insurance. There are people out there working full time jobs that don't get health insurance. Then you have people who have health insurance but can't afford to use it or can't afford a trip to the doc because their pay is so crummy.
Let's not ignore that many U.S. citizens go to other countries as well in search of cheaper care: Thailand, Mexico, and Canada come to mind.
And do you know the statistics for medical mistakes in other countries?
Do you realize 70% of canadians have some sort of supplimental health insurance beyond your blessed univeral coverage? Why is that? Because they do not want to wait months for an MRI.
In sweden (another country with UHC) 60% of citizens buy supplimental insurance.
You seem to leave those facts out of your arguements. If UHC worked I would support it 100%, but when it is not good enough for 60-70% of the population, there is a major problem!
Leave government out of the private life. Deregulate health insurance and allow competition. A competitive free market is what will drive costs of health insurance down. Regulation is strangling the industry and driving up health care costs for all of us.
Please look at all the facts, not just the ones that support your own personal agenda. I want a system that is effective both in terms of health care and cost. You seem to not care at all about the cost aspect of it. I do not want health care by the government if I have to pay for it out of taxes as well as out of pocket to make up for governmental inefficiency.
Why is this man and his ideas almost never seen on CNN, NBC channels or any other major media outlets?
I try to limit my exposure to corporate media.
When I'm home to catch the nightly news, I watch PBS.
I try to get my news from a bunch of sources and I love Mother Jones magazine. They have some great reporting.
And do you know the statistics for medical mistakes in other countries?
Do you realize 70% of canadians have some sort of supplimental health insurance beyond your blessed univeral coverage? Why is that? Because they do not want to wait months for an MRI.
In sweden (another country with UHC) 60% of citizens buy supplimental insurance.
You seem to leave those facts out of your arguements. If UHC worked I would support it 100%, but when it is not good enough for 60-70% of the population, there is a major problem!
Leave government out of the private life. Deregulate health insurance and allow competition. A competitive free market is what will drive costs of health insurance down. Regulation is strangling the industry and driving up health care costs for all of us.
Yes I do realize Canadians have supplemental insurance. I think that's fine. The insurance covers what Medicare doesn't cover. If Canadians hated it, I'm sure they'd make their voices heard but the vast majority of Canadians like their health care system.
There is nothing wrong with having a single-payer health care system that covers basic health care and having insurance to cover the major costs.
I'd actually be in support of a single-payer system that allows people to purchase private health insurance if they want it.
Why not allow people to buy into Medicare if they want to? I don't see what is so wrong with that. I can understand why health insurance companies would hate it.
Of course polls have shown many people favor Medicare buy in. I try not to take a lot of people on the CD board as a representative piece of Americans. We seem to have a lot of extremes and I have to keep that in mind.
I try to limit my exposure to corporate media.
When I'm home to catch the nightly news, I watch PBS.
I try to get my news from a bunch of sources and I love Mother Jones magazine. They have some great reporting.
So instead of getting a balanced perspective you limit yourself to ultra-liberal news sources?
Mother Jones is as far left as Fox News is to the right, and both should be treated as jokes because of their incredible biases.
So instead of getting a balanced perspective you limit yourself to ultra-liberal news sources?
Mother Jones is as far left as Fox News is to the right, and both should be treated as jokes because of their incredible biases.
I'm not going to sit here and list every single news source I read.
I love Mother Jones magazine but it is NOT my only source for news.
If I wanted to limit myself to just "ultra-liberal" news, it would be my right to do so just like the people who ONLY watch Fox/Faux News and WorldNetDelusion...I mean WorldNetDaily.
Yes I do realize Canadians have supplemental insurance. I think that's fine. The insurance covers what Medicare doesn't cover. If Canadians hated it, I'm sure they'd make their voices heard but the vast majority of Canadians like their health care system.
There is nothing wrong with having a single-payer health care system that covers basic health care and having insurance to cover the major costs.
I'd actually be in support of a single-payer system that allows people to purchase private health insurance if they want it.
Why not allow people to buy into Medicare if they want to? I don't see what is so wrong with that. I can understand why health insurance companies would hate it.
Of course polls have shown many people favor Medicare buy in. I try not to take a lot of people on the CD board as a representative piece of Americans. We seem to have a lot of extremes and I have to keep that in mind.
Purple - we ALL buy into Medicare right now. If it was a choice I wouldn't care at all. I want the choice to OPT OUT. I want to never pay into Medicare, Social Security, UI, food stamps, welfare, etc. If I could not contribute to social programs and never use the services I would be happy. If I could have the tax money I throw away on those programs I could donate it to sources that actually work. Government programs are essentially business enterprises without competition. When something in an uncompetitive environment gets inefficient (an inevitable part of any business life cycle) it starts to waste money. With government programs, the problem is a new, efficient company does not have the ability to come in and correct the inefficiencies.
Can you really tell me Medicare is not wasteful in its current state? When it becomes inefficient to the point of failure, what do we do? Keep throwing money into it? If we leave it to private enterprise, when a company fails another company steps in and provides the same services for a much better cost. That is the beauty of the free market. Regulation stifles new growth.
Purple - you are in college, right? I would recommend you take a few business classes before you graduate. It is slightly hypocritical to hold a view so strongly against private businesses when you seemingly do not understand the basics of sustainable business models.
I'm not going to sit here and list every single news source I read.
I love Mother Jones magazine but it is NOT my only source for news.
If I wanted to limit myself to just "ultra-liberal" news, it would be my right to do so just like the people who ONLY watch Fox/Faux News and WorldNetDelusion...I mean WorldNetDaily.
I am just saying - limiting yourself to only liberal sources makes you just as bad as limiting yourself to only conservative sources.
Read both - have a balanced opinion. read an article from foxnews.com and then read an article on the same topic from mother jones. Fully understanding both sides of a debate is the only real way to be able to make an informed decision.
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