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Give "free" healthcare to everyone for all healthcare. I think that many people seem to love the Canadian model where everyone gets "free" healthcare. .
I am responding to both of you together since you are basically making the same point(s).
I forgot to mention in my post that we're paying for almost all of Europe's and Canada's defense. That's how they can afford (if they can afford, that is) to be so generous. Greece's travails may show the limits of their wallets. If the U.S. did what you suggest and not "spend trillions of dollars waging war and building up other countries infrastructure" Europe would have a very hard time sustaining their "generosity." Basically the U.S. is throwing a party for which the U.S. is not appreciated.
That price was rolled back, I believe, though there are rumors to the contrary. And the fact that the manufacturer even tried to push it through is a testament to the impact of third-party payments.
HEALTH INSURANCE and MEDICAL CARE should be like a utility. NO different, that having a police force, public schools, water, electricity, etc.
I STRONGLY disagree! This thinking is what got everyone brainwashed and into the mantra that a single payer system would be a panacea!
Look at how the utilities are taking over! Power and water and fuel should be available for next to nothing and they are robbing us blind -- for basics that Nature provides for FREE --just for the dispensing of it. Not only that but by the time we get it ,it is dirty and or poisonous ( EMFs , Fluoride etc etc). But it isn't just the companies, it is the GOVERNMENT approving their rate increases and fees every year that are helping them rob us blind -- which is what eventually happened with medical insurance.
Medical insurance, if it was used properly, like you use your car insurance FOR BIG THINGS ONLY, and was something each of us owned (rather than your employer paying for it) would be very affordable. Like your homeowners and auto insurance is.
It was with the beginnings of HMOs and the brainwashing that orthodox medical doctors could "prevent" disease and soon got in bed with the insurance companies - forced by state governments to begin covering every little picayune thing you can think of and changing policy designs to pay for more of the first dollar costs - like a check up - that began the undoing of the industry.
We all know medical doctors can't prevent anything. All they can do is diagnose something-- often after it is too late. Then they just "treat" it. You never get rid of it. You have to go to a different type of doctor or take responsibility for your health and stop eating the acid forming foods making you sick in the first place if you want health. Insurance and medical doctors can't help with that. You'd think medical doctors would be honest about their limitations but the AMA won't allow it.
Imagine if your auto insurance covered every oil change! There would be an auto insurance crisis BESIDES the health insurance crisis!
This is not the case either. In Canada people wait for months or years for treatment for problems which should be taken care of much sooner! My sister lived in the U.K. for years and they found that you needed to buy private insurance as a supplement in order to get decent service.
I think you should check that claim about Canadians waiting 'years' for treatment, but there are wait times which is built into the system. It's a way of rationing health care to those who most urgently need it. If you urgently need a cardiac bypass you will be treated promptly, but if you need knee surgery and are still ambulatory you will probably wait. The option would be to increase the number of physicians and hospitals to the point where no one had to wait, but it would also create a system that would be horribly expensive.
I am quite healthy but I've experienced long wait times just to get an appointment with a specialist - it took 5 months for me to see a Rheumatologist and almost 3 months to see an Orthopedic doc and that's in the US, not Canada
Look at how the utilities are taking over! Power and water and fuel should be available for next to nothing and they are robbing us blind -- for basics that Nature provides for FREE --just for the dispensing of it. Not only that but by the time we get it ,it is dirty and or poisonous ( EMFs , Fluoride etc etc). But it isn't just the companies, it is the GOVERNMENT approving their rate increases and fees every year that are helping them rob us blind
There is a cost involved in delivering utilities; and gas, electricity and even water have to be paid for before they can be delivered to you. Your rates would probably be lower if you lived in an area with community based non-profit utility services, but we're living in the era of "privatize everything" no matter how much more it costs us.
This is not the case either. In Canada people wait for months or years for treatment for problems which should be taken care of much sooner!
My sister lived in the U.K. for years and they found that you needed to buy private insurance as a supplement in order to get decent service.
This mirrors nothing but exaggerated American propaganda that is generated to protect the interests of exploitative corporations. According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. has the 37th best system in the world, ranking lower than Canada, the UK or any other major developed nation. No health system is perfect, but let's be real.
There is a cost involved in delivering utilities; and gas, electricity and even water have to be paid for before they can be delivered to you. Your rates would probably be lower if you lived in an area with community based non-profit utility services, but we're living in the era of "privatize everything" no matter how much more it costs us.
This is why we should have public ownership of all utilities.
The only reason why it "costs" to produce and deliver utilities
is that we are paying to an unnecessary and exploitative
private interest. That private interest in many cases isn't
even American. Our representatives should pass laws to make
private ownership of utilities illegal. The states and municipalities,
counties, etc. would purchase the utilities from the private owners,
payable in stages.
We would continue to pay, but it would be immediately around 20%
less, because the current (roughly) 20% added tax on your utility bill
would not be duplicated. Once the utilities are publicly owned, then
we only have to pay the workers to run the utilities. Fuel costs
would be capped. Financial exploitation of the energy sector
would be outlawed.
You would not get any utility bills anymore.
There would be restrictions on reasonable use, of course.
This is only a controversial solution because Americans are brainwashed
to call it "Communism", or some other red herring phrase.
This mirrors nothing but exaggerated American propaganda that is generated to protect the interests of exploitative corporations. According to the World Health Organization, the U.S. has the 37th best system in the world, ranking lower than Canada, the UK or any other major developed nation. No health system is perfect, but let's be real.
There is far too many horror shows being splashed ( very few BTW) to paint the Canadian Sytem of HC as some sort of horrific system....AS you mentioned..It isn't perfect..BUT the stories to suggest American system is the BEST in the world ..belies what World Wide Stats suggest....
The worst claim I've ever heard is " Canadian HC is FREE"..THAT is a bold faced LIE!!! WE all pay..including copay's and Corporate partial payments each and every paycheque...Nothing in life is FREE!! We all pay..sometimes out of pocket depending on what service is needed..BUT NO ONE in Canada will never go bankrupt..Ever!!
I just have to LOL at some of the stories..knowing full well..many patients ( impatient) to get help..get back doored to get immediate help!! It's a wink and nod understood thing with HC workers...But it always depends on HC provider to initiate it or not..
Mostly..It was hardly ever necessary..BUT yep..Delay can happen..BUT then again $$$$$$ Makes those wheels turn..even to the point of outsourcing whatever they wanted..even if it was strictly unnecessary..but wanted by patient....SO guess what?..THEY pay to go elsewhere...pay..then bill our service for whatever..and get only whatever our system will pay for same..Nowhere near the megabucks those rich spend....
LOL That's Free Capitalism being used by those who can afford it!!
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