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+--- Thread: Universal Health Care (/showthread.php?tid=773)
RE: Universal Health Care - JerryCarr - 12-12-2006
Awww, Jared is making me nostalgic. It's been a long time since I heard proponents of universal health care compared to Marxists.
Still cheerful,
Jerry
RE: Universal Health Care - Kelena - 12-12-2006
How many ding-dongs are too many. I need to know quick.
RE: Universal Health Care - nnickle - 12-12-2006
Maybe I would be for it if people with bad habits like smoking, drug use, drinking alcohol, not wearing your seatbelt, not exercising, poor dental health, poor eating habits, driving a car without airbags or a 5 star crash rating, speeding tickets or criminal infractions which all adds to health care cost
You do relize you already pay for them? If we had uhc you would have preventive medicine which would eliminate some of the extra costs and people would not clog up the er rooms leaving them for the purpose they are built emergencies.
RE: Universal Health Care - mella l - 12-12-2006
Oh Glen you make me laugh! ROTFLOL ding dongs.
My health care provider takes loads of money each month, and each year whittles down what they cover. Now for my monthly premium, I qualify for an annual physical, any problems they find are on me up to $6500.00, and then it is mostly out of my pocket but they help some! Go figure. They have shareholders to take care of and are in it for a profit!
What really gets my goat in addition to the above, is every statement I get has one page of information I need and four pages of legal mumbo jumbo I do not need, but of course pay for. Hey it's job security, they tell my company they are working so hard, sending out all this useless mail is hard work, shinning insurers on is hard work too!
Earlier someone mentioned the middle man getting 20 - 30 percent to push paper. My guess is that it is 35 to 40 percent for the middle man, you know the one who says no to all claims and hopes you will not quibble, or they will find someone else to pay, anything to discourage you and get you to send a check. It is criminal in my opinion.
I have heard many good stories about the European system. I wonder what it is called and if I knew I would google it and start writing my government officials. Some of them should be paying attention, either that or they are all bought off like with big Pharma and the cost of drugs. All those television commercials need to be paid for somehow! Do you remember when there were no "Ask your Doctor" adds. Well the advertising lobby got their way, and the drug companies write off all these advertising expenses. Something really rotten going on IMNSHO.
Oh well deep breathing here! LOL
Aloha, Mella
mella l
Edited by - mella l on 12/12/2006 12:47:55
RE: Universal Health Care - Jared I - 12-12-2006
I would say more than one DingDong a day is too many, unless they are straight from the icebox which causes to calories and other bad things to condense and pass right through the body.
The Marx quote can be viewed many ways but I see it as a responsibility. Each according to his abilities; if you have the ability to afford kids, buy cars and live large by all means. Each according to needs; most people could live if they spent wisely and lived according to their needs, if you can't afford kids don't have them, if you can't afford a chemo don't smoke. If health care is a requirement for your life plan, focus on getting a job that offers it. I here the military is hiring and they have health care.
Poor planning on your part is not my problem.
RE: Universal Health Care - Kelena - 12-12-2006
But Jared, don't ding dongs come in pairs? I always ding dongs coming in pairs.
Should I see somebody? What if I don't have health insurance? CAN I see somebody?
Did you known Ayn Rand died penniless and alone. surrounded by sycophants.
I guess Atlas shrugged and Ayn fell right off of his shoulders.
I can't WAIT until tomorrow, cause I feel a pair of ding dons comin' on!
RE: Universal Health Care - loffelkopffl - 12-12-2006
"can i opt out of it?"
of course no one can opt out of paying their taxes, legally that is, unless of course you are corporations that hire lawyers to find every loophole and hire lobbists to bribe congress.
woulkdn't it be great to "opt out" of bush's failed oil war?
RE: Universal Health Care - toucano - 12-12-2006
Back in my real home of Brazil, my Brazilian wife and I pay about $120 a month each for private health insurance. So what does that buy us? 100% coverage with NO deductible for anything and everything except prescriptions. Private hospital room for up to 1 year. Access to any specialist directly without any primary care doctor to OK it. I have never seen it take more than 3 or 4 days to be seen by a specialist. Unlimited medical tests. I had a doppler ecocardiogram done as part of a routine physical. Are the hospitals and medical clinics/facilities like they are in the U.S.? Not for the most part. But I think the emphasis is more on the care than the physical plant. The magazines are usually old like in the U.S., but in Portuguese. Nice pictures though...
Now before you say, "but the doctors must be bad." Not that I've seen. Most read English and/or European medical texts. I've had superb doctors as far as I (who admittedly did not see a doctor for 35 years before my physical there - thus the COMPLETE workup at no cost) or my wife can tell.
Dental insurance? $20 a month. All procedures covered. Only out of pocket is for materials like crowns. Cost of a root canal and a porcelain crown? About $250. Again, our dentist is extremely competent and does cutting-edge surgery at the University of Rio Dental School. I will admit that someone handed me a card in the street of a small city that advertised dental services that included tooth extractions for $3. I don't know if anesthesia was included or not. Perhaps the rubber mallet kind.
The down-side? Brazil is what I call a 2nd world country. Advanced in many ways, but behind in many. Remember, Brazil is energy self-sufficient because they use sugarcane for alcohol. The fact is that $120 a month is a lot of money to the average Brazilian. Too much for a vast majority to even think about our private insurance. But there are many, many cheaper plans that I see for $15 and up. Certainly not what we get, but probably not that far behind from what you get in the U.S. from what I hear.
Brazil also has a system of government hospitals that are free to everyone. Rich or poor. Good care? Well that depends on many factors, like where you go to one in Brazil. You probably are not going to be getting a heart transplant in any of them. But I know many Brazilians who use them exclusively and with luck you get good competent care. That also includes free rehab afterwards if you need it.
I was also told that an annual mammogram and a bone densometer for women is a right. Brazil knows prevention is cheaper than cure. They also take things like Dengue fever very seriously and every few months an inspector asks permission to see if out house has areas that breed mosquitoes.
One of the universal questions that Brazilian's ask me is why the U.S. health care system is so, for lack of a better word, screwed up. I have to tell them that I really don't understand it myself. It defies a rational explanation why it is what it is. They are just amazed. People in Brazil are not being driven into bankruptcy by medical problems. And I am ashamed.
Now before you decide to move to Brazil to get good cheap medical care and live on the beach in Rio and eat coconuts and bananas off of the trees there... Let me remind you that there is no free lunch in life. Just as it is one thing to vacation in Hawaii as opposed to living here, the same is true for Brazil. And no, your English and high school Spanish will probably not be a big help communicating in a country where Portuguese is the language and about 1 out of every 5,000 people you meet speak English to any real degree.
FWIW, my wife's mother was in a nursing home with Alzheimer's for about 4 years. The facility was more than adequate in a Brazilian kind of way. Cost per month? About $350.
RE: Universal Health Care - radioguy - 12-12-2006
"Heck, maybe a communist system isn't that bad after all."
Yes, that's just what I was thinking as I watched the commies machine gunning unarmed civilans trying to escape the horror of living under communism in East Berlin and East Germany. That's funny, NO ONE FLYS TO RUSSIA FOR ANY MEDICAL TREATMENTS. I WONDER WHY? NO ONE GOES TO ENGLAND FOR MEDICAL TREAMENT. WHERE DO THEY GO? WHERE DO PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD GO? TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Can you possibly think of a reason? Sorry, but this Bu@* Sh*t really pisses me off...
RE: Universal Health Care - toucano - 12-12-2006
Radioguy - Yes, if money is no object or you happen to have a really great comprehensive medical insurance plan, the U.S. offers some of the best care in the world. If you don't fit into one of those categories and you have, God forbid, a catastrophic illness, between doctor bill, hospital bills, and prescription drug bills... you just might kiss everything you own goodbye.
The U.S. could do better. Much better. But I am pretty sure we will see pig levitate before anything substantial happens that really solves any of the access to care and cost of care issues here. Sad but true I fear.