I want the honest truth on this.

[DamienHell]

1. No, the only times I hear of people going to america for medical stuff is when they have alot of money and theres a waitlist (cat scans, MRI's, etc)
2. Dunno
3. American health care is bad, and should be reformed A.S.A.P.
4. Dunno only read the summary

 

[dragonflygirl]

Well that would be a brillant way of getting rid of the Americans

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

Personally, I'd rather that as a healthy indivdual i don't have to pay for people who aren't healthy.

My house isn't currently on fire, yet I pay taxes to fund the fire department.

I'm not being mugged or murdered at the moment, yet the police department is paid for out of my taxes.

I don't have kids, yet a portion of the taxes on everything I buy goes towards local public schools.

I don't have a car, yet I'm one of the millions of people kicking in money to keep the roads and highways repaired.

These things are the price of living in a healthy functioning society. There's no reason for health care to be different.

 

[Spitfire175]

I understood that thousands of Americans cross the border each year to get subsidized drugs from the Canadians and that the only Canadians who went south were the ones who afford expensive treatments and didn't want to wait. If this is untrue I'd be interested for anyone to clear it up.

I saw a documentary on this (canadian) which seemed to confirm what you said.

 

[Chipperz]

I'm just gonna answer about the "would you have died in England" part. I've completely skipped all but the first page.

The way my mum tells it, I was "born blue". I was early, tiny, and had severe respiratory problems as a child which extended into asthma as I grew up, but even that went into remission before I became a teenager. I spent the first month or so of my life in an incubator with no contact to the outside world. Now, I'm healthy, smart enough to survive and very happy. I'm also here because of the NHS.

My cousin was born even earlier than me. She was absolutely tiny when she was born and now, at the age of sixteen, isn't quite five foot. I'm aware that she had complications at childbirth, but I also know that she didn't die, and is now at least smart enough to be on a Graphic Design course as well as healthy enough to train to race motorbikes (the crazy cow). Again, this is all thanks to the NHS.

To be honest, everything I've heard labels the American healthcare system as the one that will leave people to die if they don't have enough money. Unless every hospital has their version of House or Dr Cox, who will treat people, no matter what their insurance is, that is...

 

[TheCameraman]

I'm from Norway so I cannot really answer from personal experience on number 1 and 2. I bet it's some skewed news and some propaganda flying around about it though.

Anyway:

3.The American System seems a little skewed, at least for me and most people I've talked about it with. Basically it seems that many people over in the US have no second thoughts about paying more for healthcare if it means that they pay for their own instead of paying less for a system which covers all. And it seems like the hospitals over there don't care if they have to leave terminally ill people to die if they can't pay for themselves. On the other hand, I suppose the wait times might be a little lower seing as there are less people using it compared to the total number of inhabitants, but the waiting time in UK and France is not that long, especially not if you are in need of immediate treatment. It seems to me that the system here is more about saving lives, while the system over in america is more about making money (I'm biased as hell, prove me wrong please).

4.I don't know, it's impossible to say what could have happened, but I highly doubt that you would have been left to die. The survival rate for infants born 24+ weeks to early in Britain is 42%, and it was 18% back in 1994 (couldnt find anything older), and since you said you were part of an experimental procedure, I think they would have paid for it.

Now for a little question to you americans. When I was 6 years old I got a severe case of pneumonia and had to be rushed to a hospital. I had to stay there for about 3 weeks before I was healthy enough to return home, everything was paid for by the government, they even paid for some days off for my mother so she could be there. How much would this have cost if it were in the states?

 

[historybuff]

Just wanted to comment that I'm from America and I wish we could get this health thing passed too.

I have no health insurance. It'd be nice not to have to choose between having a vehicle and being able to go to the doctor. Because I'll choose the vehicle every time.

I wish people would stop being so paranoid about this sort of thing. Americans are always leery of anything that's free.

I think the big problem is that the lower and middle class--who this would benefit--can't afford to go to Europe and see what they're missing. They only have the word of the rich and politicians and they don't care about the lower classes.

I hope Obama gets this passed. He's actually trying to do something for the people of this country.

 

[demmalition1]

Part 3 soon.

Also, would it be o.k. if I went into other political topics on this forum? (different threads than this to reduce clutter obviously)

Thanks for all of the responses so far guys/gals!

 

[Hexenwolf]

My impression of American healthcare can be summarised in Michael Moore's film Sicko: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386032/

Overpriced, unfair, and elitist. Good if you are rich I suppose. However, only 1% percent of the population is so...

Yup.
Sicko just makes you want to nuke America's healthcare system.
Its the type of documentary that makes me think' if i were ever going to move to america, i would move to somewhere near the canadian border, just for the health care'

Ew, Sicko. Even Michael Moore himself has claimed that his films are overexagerated and inflammatory. He himself is actually considerably more open-minded, though you wouldn't know it from his films. But it's not a bad thing, he makes them that way on purpose. The point is to shock the public, and get them interested in the problem. If he had presented a moderate, even-eyed view of the healthcare system, it still wouldn't have been positive (after all, he's trying to attract attention to a problem), but it would have been a lot more boring. So he intentionally presented it in the worst light possible, using the most extreme cases.

Now, by no means am I saying the American health care system is good, it definitely needs reform. However! When someone starts citing Sicko in a debate about healthcare, it always bothers me. Every time. Because some people take it as gospel.

Joos, you said "Good if you are rich I suppose. However, only 1% percent of the population is so..." Really it's more like great if you're rich, good if you're middle class, terrible if you're poor. Rich and middle class makes up a little over half the nation (which you'll notice is just about the amount of people covered by insurance), and is substantially more than 1%.

 

[demmalition1]

I'd like to see your source on Moore's comment, it seems strange that he would say that.

Also, poor get it better than the middle because they HAVE insurance through medicare (or is it aid?).
The only people here who don't have insurance are mid class and unemployed or work at a job with less than 10 employees (10 or more require mandatory insurance). HOWEVER preexisting conditions denies you insurance (my mom's boss is over 250 lbs.) or a change in insurance can cause it (I can't have my 4 wisdom teeth out b/c of this, it's been 2 months since diagnosis).

 

[ben---neb]

Personally, I'd rather that as a healthy indivdual i don't have to pay for people who aren't healthy.

My house isn't currently on fire, yet I pay taxes to fund the fire department.

I'm not being mugged or murdered at the moment, yet the police department is paid for out of my taxes.

I don't have kids, yet a portion of the taxes on everything I buy goes towards local public schools.

I don't have a car, yet I'm one of the millions of people kicking in money to keep the roads and highways repaired.

These things are the price of living in a healthy functioning society. There's no reason for health care to be different.

You have opened my eyes. So mnay more things I now wish I didn't pay for! If only education, roads, fire and police were privatised as well. Then I could be free to donate my hard earned money to charity in order to help those less privledged than me rather than being forced to give it to the inefficicent, incompantant, good for nothing scumbags otherwise called The GOvernment.

 

[theshadavid]

Doctors have imo one of the most difficult jobs on the planet, peoples well being are put into their hands, and they have to go through years of extra training. The amount they get paid is not only fair but attractive to intelligent people who want to make a good living.

A lot of people think that you should only become of a doctor because "you want to help people" or some bollocks like that. That's a good reason and for some people it works but just because a person goes into the profession because he wants to make lots of money doesn't mean he/she is a bad person.

I know this is off topic but I don't know shit about health care and that part of your post pissed me off.

 

[demmalition1]

Are you angry at me?

 

[quiet_samurai]

1. No that's just a buch of misinformation and bullshit. I personally know some Canadians and they actually have healthcare plans for short term visits for when they come to the US. If they are here for a week they get insured for a week because our healthcare system is so fucked. And the whole thing about having to "wait in line" is true, only because in Canada when people need care they treat everybody so of course your going to have to wait in line, your not special.

2. I don't know, but from what I ahve heard form Europeans is that they are happy with their systems and deplore ours.

3. I'm an American and I think universal healthcare would be fine. Most americans that are against it don't realize that you still have the option for private health care if you wish.

4. I don't know, but I'm sure they wouldn't have just let you die.

 

[Captain Pancake]

doctors probably do get paid too much.

You can't put a price on saving lives.

The British system isn't that bad at all, it works well, people get treatment when they need it, and any money they do spend on it is just through taxes. even so, there is the option for privatised healthcare, but that's neither here nor there. The only real quarrel I have with it is the unreasonable waiting lists, it can take a good few months just to get booked in for a simple surgery, although there are exceptions for more urgent cases. If we built more hospitals, we could solve this problem, but I digress, I'm missing the point now.

I don't think you would have died. There is extensive training for doctors in britain, about 7 years in university in a medicine course, 10 for a surgeon. You would be in safe hands in britain, and your dad would still have his 80K. but still, you can't place a price on saving lives...

Personally, I'd rather that as a healthy indivdual i don't have to pay for people who aren't healthy.

My house isn't currently on fire, yet I pay taxes to fund the fire department.

I'm not being mugged or murdered at the moment, yet the police department is paid for out of my taxes.

I don't have kids, yet a portion of the taxes on everything I buy goes towards local public schools.

I don't have a car, yet I'm one of the millions of people kicking in money to keep the roads and highways repaired.

These things are the price of living in a healthy functioning society. There's no reason for health care to be different.

You have opened my eyes. So mnay more things I now wish I didn't pay for! If only education, roads, fire and police were privatised as well. Then I could be free to donate my hard earned money to charity in order to help those less privledged than me rather than being forced to give it to the inefficicent, incompantant, good for nothing scumbags otherwise called The Government.

Please tell me you're not serious. If you privatised the fire department and police department, you would have to pay for their coverage, and they would increase their fees, just because that's the way capitalism works. If everybody thought like you, America wouldn't be so united, and more in just a state. And calling the Government scumbags is biting the hand that feeds you. Without Government, you wouldn't have the house you live in, the electricity that runs your computer, the water you drink or the food that you eat. Do you think the men and women that are the government have enough time out of running your country to entertain your every whim? No system is perfect, but you are treated as fairly as everyone else in your nation.

 

[dsau]

47 million people don't even have healthcare.

your forgetting that many people choose to not have healthcare.

im all for taking care of people, but im not for spending another trillion and then more that we dont have. where will they get this money? from us.

not to mention if china calls up our debts we will be fucked so lets not add to the deficit. im not a conservative, i actually lean towards the liberals, although i dont LIKE either side. i liked clinton, and bush pissed all that money away. so we cant afford it, his fault, our burden. Be ready to hear this a lot when the new generation takes over.

i know it doesn't fully answer your questions, but whatever