Universal Healthcare...
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Gold Member Username: SouthernrebelMonroe, Louisiana 3 DD3515s, 2... Post Number: 6833 Registered: Mar-04 | So, what are your thoughts on Universal Healthcare provided by the govt in the US? I'll hold my comments off until a few people chime in... |
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Gold Member Username: PitbullguyThe Chicago area Post Number: 3531 Registered: Oct-06 | "So, what are your thoughts on Universal Healthcare" I think we should switch to Worldwide Healthcare so as to cut out all the extra expenses of inter-planetary coverage. |
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Gold Member Username: The_image_dynamicSan Diego, California Post Number: 4582 Registered: Dec-06 | It's a good idea in theory and we are the only major country that doesn't offer it as part of citizenship. I am all for it if it is done well... something that is all too rare lately. But there are also alot of issues which I am guessing Canaan might go over. |
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Gold Member Username: Van_manBoston South, MA Post Number: 4359 Registered: Mar-06 | it has its good points and bad points. At the end of the day, cash is king. I lived in London and Ireland and they both have free health care. Ya its great its free, but the lines are always long, service is what you expect for free. and if you need somehing like an OP, then its a long long wait. and if you want something done like say having tendons worked on, your gonna have to get a private Dr. If it isnt bleeding and your alive, they are done with you. Ive got some hacked stitch jobs done in London. Luckily i never had anything serious happen to me over there., and oh, you dont need any paperwork to be seen. Now if it was enacted over here, it would be a zoo. ER's would be jammed 24/7 with people who never could afford to go to the dr. Junkies would be there all the time trying to get a fix. alien's would hog all the services, hell the would come here just for that. I think they should have it for poor ppl. but should keep it privatized. A goverment run health care would be a mess. Look what they done to other services that dont play with ppl's lives. Do you realy want them running that too? |
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Platinum Member Username: WingmanaliveA pic is worth 1000 posts!! Post Number: 18516 Registered: Jun-06 | To me the cost of even our own private health care is absurd. Quality is comparable also. Just speaking from experience. I waited in the waiting room holding my thumb together with a dish towel after a bandsaw accident for 4 hours until a doctor stitched me up. I saw coughing kids get seen before me time after time. Some of the parents didn't even speak English. They cared for the kids and didn't even ask for insurance info beforehand. They did me mind you. I ran into the emergency room in a panic and was told to have a seat. I HAVE/PAY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE AND WAS TOLD TO SIT DOWN BEHIND THOSE WHO DON"T!!! 4 hours later when the kids cleared out they stitched me up and took 3 Xrays to make sure it didn't hit the bone. 20 minutes tops. $1800. Two days later I got the Bill. I'm the "paying, insured" customer and waited 4 hours behind "immigrants" who aren't. I now have nerve damage in that thumb that might have been reversed if I were seen earlier. I'm speculating but still. I tried bringing this to the hospital's attention through MANY emails and calls but as always get the runaround. Oh, mind you, they pay someone at this hospital to greet you at the door. He is a simple creature with simple duties. Open the door for you and say "hello". Yet they can't get enough doctors on staff to keep a patient holding his thumb together waiting in the lobby for 4 hours. The bill: $1800 3 Xrays.......$900 Click..click..click Emergency room...$50 copay. Just because. Stitches..........$500 Sewing experience anyone? Tetnus shot.....$90 Push, squeeze, pull out. Yup, worth it. Huh? Room supplies. Yes I was in one for a few minutes................$100???? The rest administrative costs.....Please. The system we have now is RETARTED!!! My sister recently had a baby. C-section. 2 day stay. No complications. $30,000!!! We live in a world today where some ppl have a 3 hour procedure that costs more than they made in their entire lifetime!!! Tell me the cost of health care isn't screwed up. I'm scared. When I get sick I wanna pull the plug myself. I don't want my family to burden it. Sonofabitch why don't you ppl tell me to shut the hell up lol. |
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Gold Member Username: Big_edge_headMilwaukee, Wisconsin Post Number: 2824 Registered: Mar-07 | I actually have to do a debate in my sociology class about this subject. I'm gonna be the side that says go for it(which I'm undecided at this point). Switching to universal health care is a huge transition involving a loss of insurance industry jobs, higher taxes, and I don't ever see it happening in the United States. There are nonprofit and government run hospitals that provide services to people without insurance, and it's illegal to refuse emergency medical service to anyone without insurance. Paul, I know what you're saying. When I cut my hand last summer, I went to the ER and they told me to sit down and wait. I'm there holding my hand with a bunch of towels soaked in blood. After about an hour of waiting and watching people come in and get helped before me, they finally called my name. Got 11 stitches, a tetnus shot, but no Xrays. |
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Platinum Member Username: WingmanaliveA pic is worth 1000 posts!! Post Number: 18518 Registered: Jun-06 | "and it's illegal to refuse emergency medical service to anyone without insurance." I agree, (sort of). Yet it's that more frustrating to those who pay thousands of $$ a year for this coverage, me included, who take a back seat to those who don't pay a dime???? |
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Silver Member Username: JustforhahasPost Number: 550 Registered: Jul-08 | I have many cousins, aunts, uncles in Newfoundland Canada who have private insurance along with their Canadian socialized government medical ..these relatives are professional and well to do with great careers and occupations and much common sense and very down to earth..in fact a few are employed as nurses and doctors and other medical areas, in the private sector.. well anyways, they all prefer using the Canadian government program over their private insurance, because they all tell me that the service is MUCH better and faster using the Government program..in fact recently I had an aunt diagnosed with lung cancer and within 1 week she had successful major surgery of a partial lung removal, and great follow up care ever since....with no waiting or lines, home visiting nurse, part time caretaker, and anxiety counseling to help relieve her worries and concerns, which are common with cancer.. Also the state of Massachusetts has a program very similiar, where EVERY individual in the state has health insurance of your choice and your premiums are income based and affordable to all...so the poor can use the same doctors as the rich and the costs are equitable to everybody's income level, and there are no long lines or waiting to see your doctor..and the state is NOT having severe budget problems because of this program....as far as Emergency rooms go, well they all suck, no matter what insurance ya have! |
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Silver Member Username: StryvnWisconsin Post Number: 881 Registered: Dec-06 | Think about how long it takes and what a painful experience it is to go to the department of motor vehicles to renew your drivers license in this country. Do you REALLY want these people handling your open heart surgery? I don't. |
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Silver Member Username: JustforhahasPost Number: 551 Registered: Jul-08 | I have homes in both FL and Mass..I can honestly say that the DMV in both is great!...I can renew my license in less than 10 minutes (from first step in til last step out of the building), and either by walk-in or appointment..Florida does something thats works well, the DMV has nothing to do with car registrations, which the county tax collectors office handles very efficiently , as well..The DMV only handles drivers licenses....In Mass the DMV handles both licenses and registrations, but unlike 10 years ago, has learned to streamline and simplify those processes.. If a Gov universal medical program, was as efficient and properly managed, nobody would have any complaints.. |
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Gold Member Username: Van_manBoston South, MA Post Number: 4361 Registered: Mar-06 | idk what part of MA your from, or when you were here last, but the state is in a bad way right now. They are cutting 40% of the state budget this week. 40%, thats gonna kill a lot of ppl. In order for towns to make up the short fall, property taxes will rise and state/town services will be cut in half. And i dont like the mandatory health insurance they instated here. friends of mine who are self employed now have to pay huge monthly medical covarage bills, where as before they payed as they went. And yea, its proportinate to what you make, so a 18 yo kid in college who makes say $25k a year now has to pay about $8k a year towards health insurance. It aint right. I dont have a good solution, if I did, i would be in office. But theres got to be a good middle ground thats fair. |
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Silver Member Username: StryvnWisconsin Post Number: 883 Registered: Dec-06 | Listen and learn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0NWqvRidlk |
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Platinum Member Username: WingmanaliveA pic is worth 1000 posts!! Post Number: 18520 Registered: Jun-06 | Interesting vid. |
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Gold Member Username: Big_edge_headMilwaukee, Wisconsin Post Number: 2827 Registered: Mar-07 | Great thread. This is gonna help me out alot for my debate next month. |
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Silver Member Username: JustforhahasPost Number: 560 Registered: Jul-08 | Marc...the state has budget problems like all states, but not related solely to the state universal health plan..if ya notice the ENTIRE US country's economy is in the toilet, and not because of medical insurance.. Small businesses with employees are now required to provide health insurance which is partially subsidized by the state.. I know MANY people (single and married) making only $25k a year and there monthly premiums are VERY affordable, under $50 monthly, which includes their prescriptions...that equates to 2.5% of their income.. So I honestly don't know whats going on in Boston,... but on the Cape, Worcester, and Springfield and the rest of the state, nobody is paying rates of 33% of their income (8k of 25k) for medical insurance, as you stated..... |
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Platinum Member Username: WingmanaliveA pic is worth 1000 posts!! Post Number: 18524 Registered: Jun-06 | Well I consider myself middle class. I pay about $70/week for health care for me and my two kids. I know others in the same boat paying less than $10/week for the entire family. WTF?? It's not like I work for a small business in Toledo or something. I work for a major corporation with billions in annual revenue $. You'd think we'd get the same rate. |
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Silver Member Username: JustforhahasPost Number: 562 Registered: Jul-08 | Marc...here's why the state budget woes...LOSS IN TAX REVENUES...NOT MEDICAL INSURANCE COSTS.. By GLEN JOHNSON Associated Press BOSTON - The hundreds of millions of dollars in budget cuts Massachusetts is facing because of a sharp drop in tax revenues will affect the core delivery of state services, and not just the so-called fat, Gov. Deval L. Patrick said on Tuesday. He said he planned to lay off employees and make cuts deep enough to affect the public's interaction with their government. He again pegged the cuts "in the hundreds of millions," a sizable chunk in a $28.1 billion budget. Patrick would not elaborate on the cuts before an official announcement Wednesday. But cuts at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, for example, could slow driver licensing, while trimming in the Department of Conservation and Recreation could lead to shortened park hours. One set of cuts discussed by the administration calls for reducing the pay rate for all 2,350 state troopers by one rank, eliminating their extra pay for criminal justice degrees and furloughing the most recent class of 150 recruits. The governor planned to unveil his actual cuts after revealing a recalculation of the state's expected tax collections for the year. He would not say if higher education funding - including the University of Massachusetts and community college systems - will be affected, but he reiterated his pledge to avoid cuts in state financial aid for cities and towns, as well as state assistance with local school funding. "So far, I think we're able to do that, or at least not touch it in significant ways," the governor said. Patrick has pledged to cut his office spending by 7 percent, about $600,000, while Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi have promised to cut 10 percent in legislative spending, totaling about $9.1 million. Constitutional officers have also been asked to pare their budgets, and Auditor Joseph DeNucci has said his staffers will take one-week unpaid furloughs to prevent any layoffs. Patrick also has asked Margaret Marshall, who oversees the judiciary as chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, to voluntarily reduce her budget - one of the few remaining chunks in the spending plan. Marshall has refused to comment on any potential cuts. The Revenue Department announced earlier this month that tax collections fell $223 million short during the first quarter of the fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30. Patrick said he expects that trend to deepen, so he is going to make large cuts now, while budgets are still relatively flush, and hope he does not have to return for more. The governor also is expected to announce that he will again tap the state's $1.8 billion rainy-day fund to offset the lost tax revenues. The state's fiscal 2009 budget, which went into July 1, already is balanced, assuming a $400 million withdrawal from the fund. |
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Gold Member Username: Touche6784USA Post Number: 1307 Registered: Nov-04 | Well, to put it frankly, we have a universal health care system. It is called medical schools and emergency rooms. One great example I can think of is a woman wanted to get rid of her breast implants. She asked her surgeon to take them out. The surgeon refused unless insurance would pay for it, which it would not. So, the woman stabs her b00bs and goes to the emergency room and has the implants taken out by emergency doctors. Our medical care system is the best around if you can get the required care. I think the problem is so much more complex and bigger than the two presidential candidates think and for that matter the general public. I think there are so many components that are making health care expensive than simply creating a universal system will not work. I do however believe that all people should have access to very basic health care. I think that our perception of what should be covered by insurance needs to change to a more practical sense of the word "insurance" and less like "warranty". |
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Gold Member Username: Big_edge_headMilwaukee, Wisconsin Post Number: 2841 Registered: Mar-07 | When are you going to chime in, Canaan? lol |