Trout

iTrader: (1)

So Mr Osama Bin Barack is trying to introduce free healthcare for 46 million Americans and the rest of the Americans who pay a fortune for their healthcare now hate him and are calling him evil.

There was apparently a newspaper editorial in the US that said that if Stephen Hawking was British and left to suffer at the hands of the British NHS then he surely would have died by now. They were clearly confused by his voicebox being made by IBM!

Why should Americans fear this system so much?










* Buck Up(tm) threads are a new form of thread brought to you to change, enlighten and stretch the normal day to day tedious envelope of experience shared in NSR - taken from an original book by Yoza, translated for the screen by Trout - the Thinking Man's Troll

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Probably something to do with the fact The private Health companies are spending 100's of millions on propoganda scaring those Americans silly.

They don't want to lose all those billions in insurance premiums

53

iTrader: (41)

So many reasons, Racism and Economics being the prime motivation.

Also it would expose all the unnecessary procedures carried out privately in the name of 'health care'.

The culture of compensation would see a state funded comprehensive health care system on it's knees within hours !!!

Trout

iTrader: (1)

The latter point is very valid.

The places would be staked out by lawyers! Indeed there would be two desks in reception - one for healthcare and one for legal advice.

stilover

Maybe the Tax payers don't want to end up paying for all the lazy work shy w*ankers who can't be @rsed to work, to get free health care. Like we do in Good old "Not so Great anymore Britain"

FlightMan

Most Americans haven't got a damn clue about anything outside of the US. They probably know more about the moon than the UK!

tanyatriangles

iTrader: (2)

Ah.........................But the same sytem ALSO pays for all the industrious, hard-working upright citizens who have been thrown out of work by successive government policies and banking greed, and can no longer FIND work or afford private health care for their families, still too young to work

There's TWO sides, at least to most pov you know

TopBanana

Americans don't like big government

hodgy0_2

plus they get fed a load of rubbish by fox news et al

EddScott

For that comment alone Yanks should be neutered.

53

iTrader: (41)

Indeed, and the United States is a statement of geography rather than political unity.

American is as huge as it is polarised in terms of race and economics. The country is so much more complex than ours, it will will never happen.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

The BBC of America

Markus

Trust me Fox and CNN are far, far worse than BBC news.

Scaremongering at every single turn on even the most trivial of things.

CNN = Comedy News Network.

Leslie

The US see it as a form of socialism and the thought of that gives them birth pains!

Les

Klaatu

Look to Australia...income tax...medicare levy...AND...after tax...private health. You pay three times, income tax, medicare tax, AND private health "tax". But you have choice, right?

Trout

iTrader: (1)

Well if they had an NHS they would be able to see a doctor and get some treatment for them

Klaatu

What a moron!

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Or they would be left in a hospital corridor fo 18 hours and be nothing but bones by the time the doctor saw them because mrsa had stripped every inch of flesh off them.

MJW

The same happens in the UK - I've seen plenty of people touting no-win no-fee solicitors at the A&E department.

Klaatu

Sorry that is wrong. "Every inch of flesh" should be replaced with "Every ounce of cash!!!, direct debit too usually.". No kidding!

StickyMicky

I was chatting with an American teacher the other night and he was telling me about this, he was asking my thoughts on the subject, i couldn't give a decent answer because i don't get ill, nor do i tend to waste GP`s time with stupid trivial things, so i spend very little time using the NHS.

I put it to him that people in this country tend to think that the cash that is pumped into the NHS is largely wasted on bollocks, but he said that the debate in America was that with the 4 different types of healthcare they have over there? they actually end up wasting more money on the current system they have, compared with what we apparently waste over here.

I am not 100% sure on the "4 different types" part, as at the same time, we were both fighting off a load of locust in Gears of War2 and our defences had just been breached on wave 29

hodgy0_2

yep thats correct -- they spend a higher % of GDP to cover less of the population

warrenm2

But they have the best health outcomes in the world...

As for the 46m figure, see how its arrived at...

The 46 million myth

Trout

iTrader: (1)

...the best health outcomes? Are you sure? They have a lower life expectancy and higher obesity. These are strategic health issues.

Snazy

Simple....

Because no one likes change. Especially when its changing the only system you have ever known.

Unlike StickyMicky, I DO use the NHS a lot, and from my experiences its a system that works for me, although I am still tempted by the promises of private.

The US system however, when married to a UK insurance policy, sucks!
Over a year later im still trying to settle a medical bill which fluctuates invoice to invoice, from $330 to $730.....

hodgy0_2

and a higher infant mortality than Cuba

hodgy0_2

i cant put it better so I will simply repeat -- apologies

I assume that you are using 'myth' to mean 'something false', and not in its classical sense. In which case it is itself false to say that the 46 million are a myth. They HAVEN'T got medical insurance. What you seem to be trying to say is that some of them have such (unattractive) alternatives as claiming means tested benefits or paying for health care themselves until their savings are exhausted. Another questionable assumption you make is that those with good incomes who haven't got medical insurance for some reason don't want it. It's perhaps more likely that they have standing medical conditions and can't get insurance at any price (insurance covers only possibilities, not certainties).

Your reference to 'emergency rooms' also sounds more benign than it really is. Under EMTALA, emergency rooms can't legally refuse treatment to anyone with an injury or an acute illness, but if you survive, the hospital will bill you for it and pursue you through the courts if necessary. Before EMTALA, hospitals would sometimes drive patients around all the other hospitals in the locality, trying to find one that would take them, and dump them in the street if one couldn't be found.

It's not surprising that in Britain no mainstream political party will put such unenticing policies into its manifesto. But in any case, there's an air of hypocrisy about free-marketeers pretending to be concerned about people who can't pay for medical treatment. True believers in the free market (like their mistress, Ayn Rand, so often quoted with approval on this blog) should be saying that such people should be left to die.

jods

Nail, Head, Hammer, Hit.

I was out in the States a couple of years ago with the family and my father.

He felt a bit dizzy / nauseous one morning and was slightly sick.
As he is on medication for RA we thought it best to get him given the once over at a local medical centre.

18 hours later he was released - After they had run out of tests to put him thru (found nowt wrong)

The bill £5000.00 Payable immediately if you DON'T mind. Took a year to get the money back from the insurance company.

Klaatu

At least they have the choice (Not saying that is the be-all-and-end-all of health care systems). You "buy" health "care", one does not pay taxes for an NHS. So you are OK while you work, and can buy stuff, when you are not, you are stuffed, literally "propped" up outside a hospital (80's debacle in yank "health care").

And the Australian experience? Well, we pay taxes for health and we are "encouraged" to "buy" health care, Govn't regulated of course, from "health providers". Sounds like a scam to me. Wait!!! Yes it is! I pay for "health care" at least twice...