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A tourist in Hawaii spends an average of $200 a day for a hotel room, meals and entertainment. But there's another class of visitors given room and board, full health care benefits and more for just $3 a day. MOD EDIT. You may not post more than two sentences from a cppyright source: TOS.
Anybody who meets the criteria to qualify for Medicaid is entitled to the same services provided in any other state. There are several other threads that discuss healthcare in Hawai'i, the state's law that requires employers to pay 50% of the premium for employees that qualify, and the quality of healthcare in the state.
I heard the NPR segment when it was broadcast, and it touched on many of the difficulties the state faces, including the large number of homeless people and the financial burden created by trying to care for them. Homelessness and/or poverty are complicated issues in almost every state. Hawai'i has no panacea for either.
I cann't get Medicaid if I want it. My health insurance would love to rid of me now. I might have to move to another state someday.
John
I hate to say it, but leave America altogether. Sad to say that actually.
I am living in Japan...neither my wife or I are Japanese. We are living in the most expensive country in the world...in Japan.
My wife had a baby...we went to a clinic...they gave her her own room for 6 nights and 7 days...after they delivered the baby...she was cared for 24/7 just in case anything happened - nothing did. SHe also had 3 meals a day and whatever else. Total cost = $1,800. (That's without insurance! - I do have insurance in Japan as I live and work here, so it was covered...but same cost even without it!)
Imagine if I were in the U.S...and had no insurance...with what we did....I think I'd easily be in debt, I don't know, $20,000 or so? Maybe even much higher?
Healthcare isn't expensive in itself...which is why it costs so little pretty much everywhere else in the world. The U.S. though, there is something real odd and bizarre there...everything is at hyper-inflated prices....
It's amazing to watch people wanting NO healthcare for half of the population....because they think it costs too much to do that...well, in the U.S. system, when you give immense profits to every kind of middle men who gets in on the game...then yeah, rewarding every middle man with immense profits...does drive the costs up extraordinary...and yeah, then I guess the society does need to cut out a quarter or a third of peoples from getting any heathcare whatsoever. It's real interesting to say the least.
Anyways, Hawaii is still in the U.S., and it'll get steamrolled as well...even though they are compassionately trying to assist their citizens...but they are still in the same system of immense profits and rewards to all middle men that the entire U.S. system is under. In other words, it'll have to give eventually as well. It's not a sustainable system, particularly in something so critical to so many peoples lives as healthcare.
---
Incidentally remember, Japan is one of the most expensive countries in the world...so 'at cost' here is $1,800. If I were in any other country in the world, the 'at cost' would have been much much much lower.
(That was $1,800 for the birth of my son, 6 days/7 nights in her own private room without 'roommates', 3 meals a day, and 24/7 staff with all the healthchecks you could possibly want for a newborn and new mother as well). Amazing, right? I mean, when you compare that to the U.S. system, where people can't even afford to stay one night after delivering...and can barely afford delivering a baby at all.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 05-24-2010 at 08:19 PM..
How much are the taxes in Japan for income, sales, doing business, etc?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiger Beer
I hate to say it, but leave America altogether. Sad to say that actually.
I am living in Japan...neither my wife or I are Japanese. We are living in the most expensive country in the world...in Japan.
My wife had a baby...we went to a clinic...they gave her her own room for 6 nights and 7 days...after they delivered the baby...she was cared for 24/7 just in case anything happened - nothing did. SHe also had 3 meals a day and whatever else. Total cost = $1,800. (That's without insurance! - I do have insurance in Japan as I live and work here, so it was covered...but same cost even without it!)
Imagine if I were in the U.S...and had no insurance...with what we did....I think I'd easily be in debt, I don't know, $20,000 or so? Maybe even much higher?
Healthcare isn't expensive in itself...which is why it costs so little pretty much everywhere else in the world. The U.S. though, there is something real odd and bizarre there...everything is at hyper-inflated prices....
It's amazing to watch people wanting NO healthcare for half of the population....because they think it costs too much to do that...well, in the U.S. system, when you give immense profits to every kind of middle men who gets in on the game...then yeah, rewarding every middle man with immense profits...does drive the costs up extraordinary...and yeah, then I guess the society does need to cut out a quarter or a third of peoples from getting any heathcare whatsoever. It's real interesting to say the least.
Anyways, Hawaii is still in the U.S., and it'll get steamrolled as well...even though they are compassionately trying to assist their citizens...but they are still in the same system of immense profits and rewards to all middle men that the entire U.S. system is under. In other words, it'll have to give eventually as well. It's not a sustainable system, particularly in something so critical to so many peoples lives as healthcare.
---
Incidentally remember, Japan is one of the most expensive countries in the world...so 'at cost' here is $1,800. If I were in any other country in the world, the 'at cost' would have been much much much lower.
(That was $1,800 for the birth of my son, 6 days/7 nights in her own private room without 'roommates', 3 meals a day, and 24/7 staff with all the healthchecks you could possibly want for a newborn and new mother as well). Amazing, right? I mean, when you compare that to the U.S. system, where people can't even afford to stay one night after delivering...and can barely afford delivering a baby at all.
I know someone that has a family member that went to Hawaii just for the free medical care. He was homeless and had very little money and lived real cheap.
Well, if you looked at the NPR link John1960 posted, most of it was about mainland homeless folks moving over here and increasing the demand on the Hawaii State homeless system. We don't have enough money to take care of the locally produced homeless people and the imported ones are straining the system. Pretty soon there will be two homeless systems, one for local folks and one for mainland folks since asking the Hawaii taxpayer to support a homeless person from another state isn't right. If these were federally funded programs it would be different, but from the looks of it, most of the programs are funded by state monies and the state is going broke like most of the rest of them.
One of the reasons Hawaii has such a good low income/homeless program is because so many of our people are at risk. Service jobs are what is the most common employment those found in a tourist destination and they don't pay well. Yet tourist destinations have high living expenses because loads of folks want to live here. It is extremely common to hear "I visited here on vacation and told myself I'd move here one day". So those folks go to where they have a high paid employment, gather up a ton of money, come over here and either buy a house at an inflated price or pay high rent and live here for a year or two. They then figure out they can't afford the lifestyle they were used to and go back to the mainland. However, in the meantime, they've driven up rent and house prices for the folks who live here. It isn't each individual person who does this, it is the overall trend of loads of folks who do this which causes the problem. I suspect it is very typical of all tourist destinations and I haven't a clue if there's any fix for it.
The overall health care issue in our country is because the United States of America does not have a health CARE system we have a health INSURANCE system. The insurance lobbyists in Washington are the largest lobby group there. Just look at how much of your budget goes to state and federally mandated REQUIRED insurance. Looks like a corrupt and crooked shill game to me but as a little person, there isn't much I can do. I know a lot of folks who go outside the country when they need even no to major health care. Sometimes they go for routine checks with an annual vacation to their favorite medical center.
Well, if you looked at the NPR link John1960 posted, most of it was about mainland homeless folks moving over here and increasing the demand on the Hawaii State homeless system. We don't have enough money to take care of the locally produced homeless people and the imported ones are straining the system. Pretty soon there will be two homeless systems, one for local folks and one for mainland folks since asking the Hawaii taxpayer to support a homeless person from another state isn't right. If these were federally funded programs it would be different, but from the looks of it, most of the programs are funded by state monies and the state is going broke like most of the rest of them.
One of the reasons Hawaii has such a good low income/homeless program is because so many of our people are at risk. Service jobs are what is the most common employment those found in a tourist destination and they don't pay well. Yet tourist destinations have high living expenses because loads of folks want to live here. It is extremely common to hear "I visited here on vacation and told myself I'd move here one day". So those folks go to where they have a high paid employment, gather up a ton of money, come over here and either buy a house at an inflated price or pay high rent and live here for a year or two. They then figure out they can't afford the lifestyle they were used to and go back to the mainland. However, in the meantime, they've driven up rent and house prices for the folks who live here. It isn't each individual person who does this, it is the overall trend of loads of folks who do this which causes the problem. I suspect it is very typical of all tourist destinations and I haven't a clue if there's any fix for it.
The overall health care issue in our country is because the United States of America does not have a health CARE system we have a health INSURANCE system. The insurance lobbyists in Washington are the largest lobby group there. Just look at how much of your budget goes to state and federally mandated REQUIRED insurance. Looks like a corrupt and crooked shill game to me but as a little person, there isn't much I can do. I know a lot of folks who go outside the country when they need even no to major health care. Sometimes they go for routine checks with an annual vacation to their favorite medical center.
Thanks for the post. I've learned alot from this thread and others.
Really, this was quite a fluff peice; the reporter apparently talked to all of 3 people, provided no statistics or facts, spoke to no officials, but made repeated statements meant to awaken the ire of the anti-tax movement. I guess the goal in mind is to target individual homeless people, instead of looking for national solutions--some countries, like Denmark, have not only a cheaper, more effective healthcare system, but a cheaper, more effective guaranteed housing program that virtually eliminates homelessness, and they don't target anyone in the process. Also, there was apparently no distinction made in the article between, say, people who moved here when they were 3 and recently became homeless, and those very few who somehow managed to end up here after becoming homeless. Regardless, the reality of homelessness here would surely not be so rose-colored.
By the way, I wish full dental coverage was included in the medicaid/quest program like the article leads people to believe; but it isn't.
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