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    Universal Health Care

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    • J Offline
      jbo1
      last edited by

      Also, I just noticed one of the options in your poll is "No, we need Insurance companies to derive profit from our pain, and drive costs up!"

      Price gauging can happen regardless if the system is public or private. This is more a matter of enacting price control measures. Governments tend to have more bargaining power due to volume, but that's not always the case.

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      • D Offline
        Dene
        last edited by

        Australia has had universal health care for over 40 years and it is doing well.. it has its' moments, just like any system. We can pay for extra cover, which is kind of a buffer for what our "medicare" provides. The most notable difference is that our Universal Healthcare has waiting lists for non emergency stuff.

        Price wise, we pay a calculated amount for medical, in our taxes. We then can pay extra on a regular basis to a private health cover company - which is calculated on marital status, age etc - tbh  it is extremely low compared to the US - but then not all US people pay for their insurance (?)

        There are a few things that need fixing - the price of our  "buffer" known as Private Health Cover is gradually increasing and people, obviously do not like that. It is also all over the place on what it covers and how much etc. With our universal healthcare, Dental, physio, podiatry and a few other things are not covered - except for certain groups/situations e.g. pensioners, but, as an example, if your podiatrist says you need an operation on your foot, that is covered but a general visit/in house consultation is not

        There are a few other things that need tweaking but I guess the biggest thing - in my opinion - is the waiting lists in public hospitals

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        • M Offline
          mhorndisk
          last edited by

          Obamacare is not Health Care. It is a TAX. I believe the Supreme Court said that. Trump's plan of Healthcare Savings Plans is much better because you don't actually lose the money you invest each year and it just ads up, which is particularly good when you are young and healthy. Under Obamacare, it's gotten so expensive that nobody can afford it. It will implode. I've known doctors who hated it so much they moved out of the country. Insurance was started by the King of Spain (or England) can't remember, when ships were being decimated by the High Seas, and the King needed to promote trade, so he opted a plan that would allow them to go into the sea without the full risk. This is NOT insurance, period. Obamacare is a total disaster, and again, not insurance. It's a tax. And why should I have to pay for illegal immigrants to have FREE healthcare. Just look at California, a total disaster, hospitals being shut down constantly because of it.

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          • raphjdR Offline
            raphjd Forum Administrator
            last edited by

            The UK has an NHS and it's falling apart, despite throwing tons of cash at it.

            You need private health insurance if you want to be seen within a reasonable amount of time.  If I didn't have private insurance, I would have been dead back at the end of 2008.

            I have permanent nerve damage in both my hands because my, then, GP refused to refer me.  After 20 month of this, he went on vacation and his replacement referred me.

            I have sciatica and I have no idea when I'll see a specialist, since I no longer have private insurance.    I have to take several pain pills every day and inject muscle relaxer into several spots on my leg 6 times a day (and even at night).

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            • D Offline
              Dene
              last edited by

              @jbo1:

              I think eventually Canada will be forced to adopt a two-tier system. IMO the hybrid or multi-payer systems in the UK, Australia, France or Germany seem to fare better in terms of cost and delivery of service.

              Agreed  - I think though the issue with some of the countries, where the hybrid is happening, is the creep is happening - meaning the balance of the hybrid is out of whack, so people feel paying for health via taxes is useless

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              • D Offline
                Dene
                last edited by

                @raphjd:

                The UK has an NHS and it's falling apart, despite throwing tons of cash at it.

                You need private health insurance if you want to be seen within a reasonable amount of time.   If I didn't have private insurance, I would have been dead back at the end of 2008.

                I have permanent nerve damage in both my hands because my, then, GP refused to refer me.  After 20 month of this, he went on vacation and his replacement referred me.

                I have sciatica and I have no idea when I'll see a specialist, since I no longer have private insurance.    I have to take several pain pills every day and inject muscle relaxer into several spots on my leg 6 times a day (and even at night).

                Australia is the same issue - but it has not hit things so drastically, yet. I say yet, because I fear we are going the same way.

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                • M Offline
                  magentas
                  last edited by

                  mhorndisk, you did not read anything I wrote, or address anything I wrote. All you did is repeat standard right-wing propaganda.

                  raphjd, if it was not for Obamacare, I would be dead right now, since insurance companies would not accept people with pre-existing conditions.

                  And you also did not address what I wrote.

                  Police and fire are emergency services, paid by taxes. Why not medical care?

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                  • raphjdR Offline
                    raphjd Forum Administrator
                    last edited by

                    I don't need private fire or police insurance to get them to help when needed.

                    NHS systems are failing all over the world.  They are extreme money pits that bleed the tax payers dry.

                    Think about it.

                    Under the NHS, you pay extremely high taxes and you still need medical insurance.

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                    • M Offline
                      magentas
                      last edited by

                      @raphjd:

                      I don't need private fire or police insurance to get them to help when needed.

                      That did not answer the question, it simply stated the current reality of the system, followed by your talking points, showing you missed the point.

                      THINK about the topic before replying.

                      Should the police and fire departments be privatized, and people have to pay for them on a case by case basis?
                      Or, does it make more sense that we ALL pay for them collectively, in our taxes, even if we never need them?

                      So, why not, for example, Ambulances? Why do we have to pay for an ambulance to take us to the hospital?

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                      • raphjdR Offline
                        raphjd Forum Administrator
                        last edited by

                        How sad, another one demanding people do exactly what they demand.

                        Liberals sure have 'tude.

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                        • H Offline
                          Higgs
                          last edited by

                          I have lived all my life in countries with various forms of "single payer" healthcare systems. The point I would make is that there is huge diversity between different systems. Americans sometimes speak of "single payer" systems as though they are all the same. But in fact they are very different: France and the UK, for instance, both have a "single payer" model but it works in very different ways. The one thing that virtually all of these systems have in common is that they are more economically efficient than the American model, which even under Obamacare seems to represent the worst of both worlds: limited coverage, sub-optimal outcomes and maximum cost.

                          Really the argument you should be having is not simply whether you want a government-operated model, but what sort of government-operated model is likely to best meet the needs and desires of Americans.

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                          • A Offline
                            aadam101
                            last edited by

                            @raphjd:

                            I don't need private fire or police insurance to get them to help when needed.

                            NHS systems are failing all over the world.  They are extreme money pits that bleed the tax payers dry.

                            Think about it.

                            Under the NHS, you pay extremely high taxes and you still need medical insurance.

                            Fair enough but the insurance system in the US was failing long before ObamaCare.  It's a money pit that bleeds the middle class dry. Think about it.  Under insurance you pay extremely high premiums and deductibles and we still have worse health outcomes than most other developed countries.

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