Free health care for all?

[Bangkoktraveler]

The medical system in the USA is spiraling down wards in quality. Having NO coverage might be better then having coverage. As strange as that might sound, I have found that might be the best advice to give anybody in the USA.

 

[Old Hippie]

That is just it, the insurance companies and for profit types do indeed control the government, and thus any/all policies involved.

 

Regarding your not having any insurance here in the USA...damned lucky you didn't need it. What would have been the result if you needed something major like a by-pass or long term care from a stroke or cancer treatment etc...? Of course paying for it is not cheap either.

 

I once explained that I had an option to buy policy where in I would pay $350 a month, with a $2500 deductible, and then they'd pay 80% until $3500 a year was out of my pocket...so basically $6700 out of my pocket a year before it was worth anything...then another $1000 out of my pocket before it really kicked in. Now assume I was seriously ill and not working...that is serious money to lay out under good times, let alone bad times.

 

As I said, I am not sure why people are so opposed to having some sort of coverage for their tax money. I am certain something could be done if the waste in government were stopped. Wait, we may have just realized the flaw in my thinking...

[Flashermac]

My sister had health coverage with her job. Seems it didn't cover dental though, and all she even needed was dental! Then they laid off all of their people to keep them from getting in 20 years and a full pension. Now she has a new job with all her old benefits lost.

 

TIA (This is Amerika)

 

 

[Old Hippie]

This is sort of my point here, I mean the average person cannot afford it, and can't afford not to have it. Sooner or later, employers will not be able to afford it, or will just want to drop the expenses, siting "we need to compete."

 

It seems ridicules to me that you could die, or lose all you worked your life for because you got sick or had an accident. Other civilized/western nations have it, why not us? Again, we are not talking the frivolous stuff, but the life saving/pain reducing/keep us healthy and productive stuff.

[Flashermac]

Seems our government - and many American voters - are perfectly willing to dump millions of dollars on foreign countries but will not spend a dime at home. This has always struck me as more than bizarre. It is insane.

 

And why do illegals qualify for free care, but I don't?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hugh_Hoy]

 

 

HH

[Flashermac]

 

 

[cavanami]

Let's see....

 

Compare the salary a USA doctors gets and a doctor in Thailand or Japan...Huge $$$ difference!

 

Compare BUPA coverage, anywhere in the world, except the USA...guess what, the cost is 80% (?) less then coverage in the USA.

 

...and on and on and on it goes

 

They force people in the USA to buy health coverage at some outrageous cost...time to boogie out of the USA for good!

 

or

 

tell them you have BUPA insurance, unless the US gov rules that one out.

[shygye]

"...Old Hippie: My feelings on this have more to do with my theory of government than anything else..."

 

With you on that. This may be the major flaw of the program, the government fucking it up. *If* it were run like medicare and medicaid, *maybe* it would stand a chance...MAYBE.

 

right now, if I had to pay 100% of my current plan, it would be about $400usd a month, which I cannot afford (already on salary cuts and what not). A family plan would be well over $600usd a month, figure the effect it would have on the economy if ALL Americans were forced to pay 100%.

 

There has to be some compromise, some sort of middle ground. I don't mind paying a bit if I can, what I can, but the figures currently make that difficult. Were my coverage to lapse, and something happened, then I fall through the cracks, and others end up paying anyway.

 

To me, the basic emergency/life saving treatments should be covered. Not talking nose jobs and tummy tucks here, just the major stuff, by passes, hip replacements shit like that. *Maybe* breast augmentation/reconstruction where needed, but we'd have to negotiate on that.

 

That is a fine attack on a strawman of the neo-cons. The mandate would also apply to biz. They would not be able to dump the whole cost onto the employee, like they can now.

[dean]

The only thing that I worry about is having an accident (car/motorcycle) that would require extensive medical care. I'm at the age now where I also have to worry about illnesses that occur in middle age (cancer, heart desease, diabitis). At least in Thailand, I can self insure myself and family. While I might do tht for myself in the U.S., I wouldn't dream of doing it for my family (besides the U.S. visa people have put the scare into me about my being liable for my family's use of government services for the first 10 years that they are in U.S. (I would assume that includes hospital care). In the U.S., there are three classes of people; those that work for companies that give generous health care plan (this includes many goverment workers), those that have decent health care but does not include every option and those without. I just happen to fall in the 3rd catagory for now.