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Forums - General Discussion - Does National Health Care Really Work?

luinil said:
^Or the methodology of the study was flawed.
Or that the USA can't feasibly do what smaller nations can.
Or what HappySquirrel said.

Clearly it's not a simple task, but I fail to believe that in a country with the money and resources of the United States anything is not 'feasible'.



The only teeth strong enough to eat other teeth.

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With the current way things are run, which is not to fix problems to to perpetuate them by throwing more money at them, they can quickly spiral out of control and become a money sink hole. The current budget is unsustainable. If we were going to add this, it would take an overhaul of the way government is run, which is not likely to happen. Therefore such a change is not feasible.



hsrob said:
Tyrannical said:

Now you're just being silly.

World class medical colleges produce world class doctors.

 

world class doctors ≠ world class health system.

 

 

 Good luck providing a world class health system without it. But if you're more comfortable beleiving the lies about the US health care system, go ahead. I have health insurance, I don't care. If I get sick, I know the quality of health care I will receive is top notch.



Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

SuperDave said:
Personally, I don't even understand how someone can get sick and walk out of a hospital down there with 100k in hospital bills and be expected to pay that.

I guess I just take universal health care for granted, because the alternative seems crazy.

 

Suppose 1 in 5 people had a catastrophic non-preventable illness or injury that took $250,000 to "cure" once in their lifetime, people had $50,000 work in major medical expenses toward the diagnosis and cure of their illnesses over their lifetime, and people had access to $1,000 worth of doctors checkups (and whatnot) per year ... If you assume a lifespan of 50 years, this would only cost $3000 per person per year and would represent 45% of the cost associated with the healthcare system in the united states today (and under 40% of the cost it would be to cover everyone under the current cost structure of the healthcare system).

This should give a basic idea of just how out of control the costs associated with the healthcare system are ...



Tyrannical said:
hsrob said:
Tyrannical said:

Now you're just being silly.

World class medical colleges produce world class doctors.

 

world class doctors ≠ world class health system.

 

 

Good luck providing a world class health system without it. But if you're more comfortable beleiving the lies about the US health care system, go ahead. I have health insurance, I don't care. If I get sick, I know the quality of health care I will receive is top notch.

Ahaha, me and my housemates (three nurses) were talking about this the other day. They said anybody that doesn't believe in national health is obviously.

A. Not over the age of 65.

B. do not have serious medical problems.

Both situations mean that you cannot work so you are to old or ill to earn money like the rest of the healthy population and because you are ill or more suseptable to disease then you have skyrocketing insurance costs. That coupled with having to have more trips to the hospital means that you have to spend A LOT of money and have no way to pay for all the checkups because they are expensive. Therefore the old and sick will get heavily into debt or have to forgo medical care.

Basically, they are f**ked and anyone in their situation will immediately support national health.

And you can't say that medicaid would help these people because that would just varify that national health does work.

so if you were Ill or old with expensive insurance or in a lot of debt due to private health, would you still support private health? I don't think so...

 

The people that said this see the same old and ill people walk through the doors of their hospital everyday, so I think they should know whats best due to first hand experience.

 



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^And that is why you need a strong social network to help your friends and family. A strong community tied together is better than a government run system providing the funds.



luinil said:
^And that is why you need a strong social network to help your friends and family. A strong community tied together is better than a government run system providing the funds.

Many old people don't have friends or family, and I'm sure that goes for a few seriously ill people too.

for example their is an old guy who live on my street called Derek. He never got married and never had any kids and outside of saying hello to the neighbors once in a while he doesn't have much interaction with people. He would have no-one who would pay his bills. I'm sure tens of thousands are people are in the same situation, whether their family died or they are hermits etc... Who pays then?

The sad thing is that I can actually think of maybe 10 people off the top of my head I know in this situation, and that's just the ones I know about.

--edit--

some people are just naturally don't like socialising in the community, they are just hardwired that way and you can't change them



I am a very reclusive person usually but I still have friends I can depend on. People like him should be able to go to a local charity and sign up for help if they need it. Kinda like a free insurance plan for big ticket items in emergencies. Encourage such places to exist and keep the government out. If you think about it like a health bank, similar to a food bank, you would be close to what I am thinking.



^ would you happily pay the bills of your seriously ill neighbor when it costs a good portion of you income in the name of community?

And if it was a very poor community would everyone put together be able to pay the extremely expensive hospital bills for the elderly and sick?



I'm all for a national healthcare system, I live in Canada and I think it works fantastic. I've never heard any complaints about someone that is actually in NEED of healthcare.

Although, the entire thread is properly summed up in HappySqurriel's comment.