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I'm curious...

Snake Dave

Snake Dave

Schrödinger's cat
Could someone here please relieve my ignorance, and you'll probably have a greater idea regarding the matter since it involves your country...

Why is/was there such uproar regarding Obama's notion to make an American NHS?
 
Snake Dave said:
Could someone here please relieve my ignorance, and you'll probably have a greater idea regarding the matter since it involves your country...

Why is/was there such uproar regarding Obama's notion to make an American NHS?
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Haven't you heard?. He's trying to kill us all through good health. It turns out he really is an alien from outer space; Go figure?!.
 
mike17l said:
Have you ever heard of debt?
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So you're saying that because of the US's (national, I presume?) debt, the funding for this NHS would have to come out of public money?

If that's the case, don't you already pay for health insurance?
 
Snake Dave said:
So you're saying that because of the US's (national, I presume?) debt, the funding for this NHS would have to come out of public money?

If that's the case, don't you already pay for health insurance?
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We pay for private health insurance and our taxes go toward medicade and medicare. Both of which don't come close to paying for full benefits that those of us who pay for private insurance does through our employers or what we pay on our own.
 
Snake Dave said:
Could someone here please relieve my ignorance, and you'll probably have a greater idea regarding the matter since it involves your country...

Why is/was there such uproar regarding Obama's notion to make an American NHS?
Click to expand...

The biggest debate is that opponents believe that a UHC system will restrict their choices, ration health care, and force people into decisions they don't want.

The most extreme are making things up, like a council forcing Grandma's Euthanasia (
2006.gif
), but it's mostly an ideological battle since UHC is socialist, so it must be bad.
 
Well, excuse my bluntness, but the US healthcare system does leave a lot to be desired. Why not want to change it, and I really did laugh at some of the reactions e.g. "one step towards communism" etc.

That way, no more paying for private health insurance (although the rich have that option), just one tax covering one healthcare system for all?
 
Snake Dave said:
Well, excuse my bluntness, but the US healthcare system does leave a lot to be desired. Why not want to change it, and I really did laugh at some of the reactions e.g. "one step towards communism" etc.

That way, no more paying for private health insurance (although the rich have that option), just one tax covering one healthcare system for all?
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I think its more complicated then that. There's a certain group of Americans who just plain don't like to be controlled. And they feel that a government sponsored health insurance would be a form of control. At least that's what I gather from reading all about it.

Personally, I think socialized medicine is a good idea, but a heck of a lot of people don't agree. It almost seems that some people think that if you can't afford medical care, then you don't deserve it. It's really sad in my opinion that so many people feel that way.

I never get involved in the political threads, because you can't change peoples' minds at all, especially not online, but since you're not from here, its easier to talk to you about it and possibly explain it better.

Most of it revolves around a bunch of back and forth... :twohammer
 
You see in our country our population more than triples yours, we're fat, smoke, drink, do drugs, have no control of the thouands of illegals entering our country each month, and are capitalistic. That means we work for what we have, but unfortunately we also have a huge problem with lazy moochers we already pay for and those we also pay for that just like to overabuse their bodies. Then we have the problem of liking to have a military because we count on other countries for a vast majority of our goods so we make friends with them and protect them to avoid the nasty problems that would occur if our importers were unble to import to us. Also, in our country when you go to a restaurant the ice, ketchup, napkins, and other condiments are free unlike in your country, our goods are cheaper, and taxes lower. Health insurance i not for the rich its just for the employeed and that suits the majority of us just fine:)
 
I must say I follow this thread being as curious as snake dave. Lots of countries have a better healthcare system than the US, but the first time an effort is made to change it, everybody seems in an uproar. From this point of vieuw that's very strange! But I probably do not have all the info there is about this, so this thread can maybe make things more clear...
 
I was injured at work and I'm currently dealing with a "managed health care" system (workers comp). It's not a system that I have chosen to deal with, but have to. If my doctor thinks I need an x-ray, cat scan or MRI, the insurance company has to review his notes and see if they agree with his decision. He wanted to perform an Anthroscopy and that took 5 weeks, for them to agree to it. My appointment couldn't be made, until after they got the approval. After the surgery and every other time, it took them 3 weeks to OK my physical therapy. My doctor wanted to put me in a cast for 7 weeks and that took 2 weeks to approve that.

Every little thing that goes on, regarding my care and recovery, is determined by a person that is only worried about their companies bottom line. Not to mention, that as all this red tape is being cut through, I'm not working right now. My doctor says I can work light duty, I want to work, but the company I work for sees my returning to work as a liability. Until I am better.

Having to deal with this, is what scares me about Obama's plan. Do I want some bureaucrat, that probably doesn't know his arse from his elbow, deciding what tests, procedures or Doctors I need. Imagine that I am not dealing with a joint injury, but instead, it was cancer or another life threatening illness.

I am sorry, I am not going to turn the care of my family or myself, over to the government. We all see how they manage things like the DMV and our taxes.

JMO!

Wayne
 
danielle said:
You see in our country our population more than triples yours, we're fat, smoke, drink, do drugs, have no control of the thouands of illegals entering our country each month, and are capitalistic. That means we work for what we have, but unfortunately we also have a huge problem with lazy moochers we already pay for and those we also pay for that just like to overabuse their bodies. Then we have the problem of liking to have a military because we count on other countries for a vast majority of our goods so we make friends with them and protect them to avoid the nasty problems that would occur if our importers were unble to import to us. Also, in our country when you go to a restaurant the ice, ketchup, napkins, and other condiments are free unlike in your country, our goods are cheaper, and taxes lower. Health insurance i not for the rich its just for the employeed and that suits the majority of us just fine:)
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I hear what you're saying, but our ideals in the UK aren't really that different. We're a capitalistic society as well, and there's always issues regarding "moochers".

Oh and condiments, napkins, ketchup and ice are free here too LOL.
 
Wayne also not every plan is equal. With my own inurance I didn't ever need to wait for an approval from an inurance company that sounds weird to me all I needed was a referral and they had to honor it period. My prescriptions were 10 bucks, specialists 20, and regular doctors 5 with my company paying for my plan. My kids have the same deal through their fathers work that pays for my sons speech therapy, neurologist, and evaluations. In our country if we hate our plan we just change it and each insurance company has several different plans to meet individual needs, but you are gauranteed not to wait months for injuries like abroad or be told what medicines and treatments the government will pay for thank god for now!! No health plan anywhere is perfect, but statistically per person we have more doctors, nurses, hospital beds, and specialists so it always confuses me when a Brit or Canadian point our how much worse our system is without ever having lived here and using it.
 
danielle said:
Wayne also not every plan is equal. With my own inurance I didn't ever need to wait for an approval from an inurance company that sounds weird to me all I needed was a referral and they had to honor it period. My prescriptions were 10 bucks, specialists 20, and regular doctors 5 with my company paying for my plan. My kids have the same deal through their fathers work that pays for my sons speech therapy, neurologist, and evaluations. In our country if we hate our plan we just change it and each insurance company has several different plans to meet individual needs, but you are gauranteed not to wait months for injuries like abroad or be told what medicines and treatments the government will pay for thank god for now!! No health plan anywhere is perfect, but statistically per person we have more doctors, nurses, hospital beds, and specialists so it always confuses me when a Brit or Canadian point our how much worse our system is without ever having lived here and using it.
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It's not merely a question of sheer resources, but how those resources are used and managed.

I'm not "pointing out how much worse it is." I'm simply going on figures provided by the WHO and the opinions of American friends that I have.
 
Yeah opinions here are very mixed and health in our country varies from state to state unfortunately a lot. I am lucky to live in a state where health care is great and resources are plentiful. I injured my back a few weeks ago and spent less than 10 mins. in the ER before getting an x-ray and catscan, another 5 to get a brace, and was discharged and home in less than an hour. No complaints from me but like any story this doesn't represent health care everywhere on the whole. In the US people are litigous forcing docs to run extra tests to cover their tushes...of course these tests are costly and often unneeded, but when they find that tumor another test wouldn't have no one complains. I guess a lot of it is what your used to growing up is what is comforting and horror stories of weeks to months for simple treatments do not help people resist change. You like your way and I like mine- neither is perfect or for everybody but we deserve a choice if this is what our government does. I want the right to keep my private care:)
 
danielle said:
Wayne also not every plan is equal. With my own inurance I didn't ever need to wait for an approval from an inurance company that sounds weird to me all I needed was a referral and they had to honor it period. My prescriptions were 10 bucks, specialists 20, and regular doctors 5 with my company paying for my plan. My kids have the same deal through their fathers work that pays for my sons speech therapy, neurologist, and evaluations. In our country if we hate our plan we just change it and each insurance company has several different plans to meet individual needs, but you are gauranteed not to wait months for injuries like abroad or be told what medicines and treatments the government will pay for thank god for now!! No health plan anywhere is perfect, but statistically per person we have more doctors, nurses, hospital beds, and specialists so it always confuses me when a Brit or Canadian point our how much worse our system is without ever having lived here and using it.
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With your insurance, your company chooses the benefits and how they are handled. They pay into (match) the plan along with you. Do you think that the government is going to want to continually pay into some of the better plans out there? OR Do you think they will go with the cheap as a means of saving money? I think at first, they will offer some of the better plans, to get people into the idea, but as time goes on, health care costs rise and funds become depleted, they will start moving people into some of these more managed plans. As a way to track and control spending.

I don't trust it!

Wayne
 
Of course, and you're more than entitled to your own opinion, I just wanted someone to shed some light on the current situation.
 
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