Is it OK that America is #37 when it comes to affordable health care?

Question

America has socialized fire department, socialized police department, socialized schools, socialized libraries, why not socialized medicine? Don't you want America to be #1

http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

OK, I guess most of you like to get ripped off.

You do know under the new proposed systems, people have the option to keep their insurance from the companies that make trillions of dollars off them don't you?

You are all brainwshed into thinking these insurance companies actually care about you.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17819.htm

Answer 1

No, it's not OK. It's a national disgrace. The problem is there's so many people in this country who have been conditioned to be selfish and not give a damn about the "little people". Like the answerer above who says "I've gone to college and made something of myself, I deserve health care!" Oh, and I suppose the people who work 40 hours a week to make your coffee, clean up your public toilets and serve your food deserve to NOT be able to take their children to the doctor when they're sick?

Answer 2

Maybe the fact that Fox News even says Michael Moore's SICKO is brilliant will open the eyes and ears of the conservatives.

I think one of the biggest problems in our country is that since Ronald Reagan ended the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and (Economically Conservative) Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act in 1996 there has been a consolidation in the media where only a handful of Corporations own the media and the owners (GE, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, Fox News Corporation, Clear Channel, Sinclair...) are all ultra conservative. Alot of the same elite people sit on the boards of Insurance and Pharmacuetical Corporations as do on the boards of the media. This is why "Government" is always used in a negative conotation when refering to programs that actually help people: Education programs like Headstart, Social Security, Medicare, Assisted Housing and Day Care. But the word "Government" is not used when discussing where the majority of our non-discretionary taxes have gone for the last 60 years: the Pentagon and the Defense Contractors.

To answer the conservatives worn out slogan "I don't want government running my healthcare."
I DON'T WANT INSURANCE CORPORATIONS DECIDING I'M NOT COVERED! I DON'T WANT PHARMACUETICAL CORPORATIONS CHARGING AMERICAN CITIZENS MORE FOR DRUGS THAN ANY WHERE IN THE WORLD!

Answer 3

Kinda makes sense why people aren't in a hurry to jump on the "Freedom" bandwagon... some of them look at the US and see only poor people unable to see doctors or dentists on a regular basis.

Mr President, you don't promote American interests in other countries by force, or by bribery in the form of Foreign Aid. You SHOW them, by example, WHY America should be considered the Greatest Country on the Planet:

1- Because we care enough about our children (the ones Repubs don't want aborted, but apparently don't want fed or schooled either) to make sure they have the finest public education on the planet, that those same schools are such a source of pride in the community, grade school metal detectors are no longer necessary. The meals they are given in school are nutritious and non fattening and less advantaged children are not penalized for the lack of money their parents have. We also have to have the best Universities and colleges in the world as well;
2. The citizens of the Greatest Nation on Earth SHOULD be the healthiest people on the planet. It's things such as these which make people in other countries say to themselves and each other, "Hey they got it pretty good over there, lets try that out and see if it will work for us too". What we have is a nation of overweight scared kids who are willing to let ANY moron run the show as long as everyone just shuts up about it for a while. All the problems seem so overwhelming we just want to crawl into a hole and shovel in the dirt. What the world sees is a nation which makes good hamburgers and movies, not much else going for it.
3. A fair wage for those (usually migrant workers) who do the jobs we could never afford to do on the pay they receive to do it. Sure your lettuce is gonna get more expensive, but you're not whining about gas being so expensive, shut up and eat your vegetables.
4. Showing the whole world we actually promote a culture of tolerance and acceptance to our own citizens. We dont do this- we are some of the most intolerant people on the planet (especially here in Y/A)

Make Americans' lives so good Mr President, we will have to have guards just to slow down the influx of nations wanting our democratic prosperity, you won't have to enforce democracy with the rifle and torture.

Answer 4

No, Pee Wee.

The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a right of citizenship. 28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems.

The United States spends at least 40% more per capita on health care than any other industrialized country with universal health care.

Single payer universal health care costs would be lower than the current US system due to lower administrative costs. The United States spends 50 to 100% more on administration than single payer systems. By lowering these administrative costs the United States would have the ability to provide universal health care, without managed care, increase benefits and still save money.

Single payer universal health care is not socialized medicine. It is health care payment system, not a health care delivery system. Health care providers would be in fee for service practice, and would not be employees of the government, which would be socialized medicine. Single payer health care is not socialized medicine, any more than the public funding of education is socialized education, or the public funding of the defense industry is socialized defense.

Answer 5

Socialized medicine has its ups and downs. For one thing, if there were a national heatlh system, there wouldn't really be any incentive for U.S. companies to innovate because they wouldn't be able to solicit higher payments for new medicines and diagnostic tests. And there would be waiting lists for elective procedures like there are in other countries. There might even be fewer doctors because college students would be aware that they couldn't have a chance to get high salaries and they would choose other careers.

On the other hand, we already have a national health plan called Medicare and another one called Medicaid. And, every hospital is obligated to treat a person no matter what their manner of payment (or lack thereof). The fact that the poorest and most elderly people qualify for national healthcare while those who are at less risk (healthy adults) pay for it along with their own private insurance is entirely unfair. As with life insurance, normally you want people to sign up when they are young and less likely to use it, to offset the costs of those who do use it. Shared risk.

I think we should have a system where there is a baseline - like Medicare - of care that everyone can have and then allow commercial competition for other benefits (lower copays, higher limits, no referrals, choice of doctors, etc).

Answer 6

No it is not fair that I pay over a $100 every paycheck to have health insurance. I am a divorced mother of three, and the only one on my insurance is me. Two of my children are grown and the other is on his father's insurance because it's cheaper. I shouldn't have to pay that high a price for insurance. And GOD help the people in this country that have families with sick loved ones that really need to have insurance and can't afford it.

Answer 7

Countries with socialized medicine have inferior doctors, inferior equipment, longer waits for treatment, lower quality hospitals, less innovation. Sure - - everyone has access but it's access to 3rd world quality care. That's why people from countries with socialized medicine will often spend lots of money out of their own pocket to come and get treated in the United States.

Statistics can be very useful, but they can also be used to mislead people. Don't believe every number you read about.

Answer 8

Can't believe that I would even talk to infomoron...but did you happen to click the link and see that the countries with socialized health care are like #1 as an example, not to mention they are all higher than the US.

Answer 9

Whoa, dude, did you ever notice that more cheap junk is affordable at Wal-Mart? Didn't you ever stop to think that is because most of it is junk made in China?
Well, our health care system provides more treatment options, better Docs, better hospitals, and better malpractice insurance than other countries. America has so many malpractice lawyers suing the good Docs that a whole bunch of our health care system goes to paying malpractice insurance premiums.
Evidence is John Edwards who made millions suing Docs for something that was NOT their fault. He is part of the reason that women just about can't find an OB/GYN any longer, especially in small towns.
Yeh, we have socialized military as well, but you don't like that one bit do you?

Oh, little addition here. Didn't you read in the paper where that TB spreading scumbag lawyer came BACK to the USA because he was afraid he couldn't get the best treatment for his TB in Europe? He was headed for Denver where the BEST TB treatment in the world is located.
Some years ago, I had cancer. I went to see one of the best Soft tissue Melanoma Docs in the whole world. He was practicing in Buffalo, NY at Roswell Park Hospital (Karakousis). My wife found a tumor in her breast and she went to one of the top breast cancer Docs in the whole world at the Emory Clinic in Atlanta (Wm.Wood). World wide reputations in America, not Canada and not France. Google those names if you don't believe me.

Answer 10

Norman Thomas once said, "The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism. But under the name of 'liberalism' they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."

The road to Socialism is so insidious.

You will hear elected leaders touting some Socialist program as fulfilling the spirit of the great American nation. Instead of identifying it as a Socialist program, they try to make people associate it with generosity, justice, or something noble. People eat this stuff up because they don't realize it is a trap.

Beware of politicians spouting Socialism. They will always make sure their wealth is protected from the Socialist nightmare they create. They want people to become dependent on the government.

Hillary knows that socialized medicine would be a disaster. Just travel around the globe and see for yourself. Right now I live in Europe, and I'm not letting the doctors here operate on me, and even if I had more faith in them, I would have to wait for months. You want socialized medicine? That means you wait in a drab, crowded room with dozens of other people for three hours for that "free" appointment. I value my time, but under Socialism, you wait for everything.

I now live in a country with Socialized medicine, and believe me, it is kind of third-worldish. Doctors and nurses walking around in clunky sandals does not inspire confidence. There is an expression: you get what you pay for. Here is a typical example here: I went to an orthopedist here. Now keep this in mind: a lot of the patients come to the office ON CRUTCHES, and yet there is only enough seating for maybe half of the people who routinely come every day the clinic is open. That means that people who shouldn't be standing around cannot even sit down. This is how Socialized medicine operates. You might think the U.S. is immune from this type of nonsense, but it would as quickly degenerate into these conditions as the American Southwest would degenerate into the prevailing conditions in Mexico if were ceded back to them.

The Democrats are drooling over the prospect of another big, bloated program they can use to get votes. Here is how Socialized medicine would play out:

1) Initially, there would be euphoria, and people would wonder why they waited so long to get Socialized medicine.

2) Problems would quickly start creeping up, so the government would throw massive amounts of money at the problem in order to keep the people placated.

3) The problems would keep getting worse. It would soon be evident that expensive machinery is rapidly breaking down under the weight of so many people using it "for free". Without a budget for more, it would finally sink into peoples' heads that medicine and treatment is being rationed.

4) The democrats will smugly figure that everyone, especially families with children will be forced to vote for them in order to keep the "freebies" flowing.

5) The system will fail. Conservatives will say, "I told you so" while Liberals will say that underfunding and mismanagement was what killed it off.

So, let's be smart and just skip the whole Socialist nightmare, ok? America can never be #1 with Socialism.