Just wondering about Socialized Medicine...?

Question

If socialized medicine is so good....
Why then do so many from the Carribean and Latin states fly past Cuba to get free medical help in the USA ?

"What! Free Medical in the USA you say?????

Yes... They just fly back home without paying the bill!!!!!

Hmmmmm... I wonder..
Could THAT be a big reason why medicine is expensive for US CITIZENS ? That WE have to pay for YOU?

Answer 1

Socialized medicine would put the budget further in the red. Those that have it are deep in debt. You have to wait to have a surgery that is NEEDED--heart,fractured hip,etc....
I have insurance but I DO NOT DO THE HMO--I do the PPO. I just have to make sure the doctor is on my insurance;don't have to worry about checking for ok for a proceedure. While I am limited to cetain hospitals --there are 15 in the Dallas/Ft worth area that I can use. Plus I can go to an Emergency Room in the town where I live--if it is an emegency. I can use that hospital for out patient proceedures
We have to pay for all of those that do not have insurance--which includes illegal aliens.
Most of the insurance companies pay a fixed amount for each diagnosis--pnuemonia,hip fracture,whatever. So if you are in for 3 days or a month tkhe hospital gets a flat amount unless there is a diagnosis change.

Answer 2

We have socialized medicine now, but is run by insurance companies for profit, and only covers those who pay or who's employers pay. The insurance companies have created a system that makes them a lot of money and restricts what the doctor can do for you. They have created an enormous, complicated and costly billing/paying "industry" that also makes money (which you or your employer are paying for). The goal of the system is not to keep you healthy but to avoid paying medical costs, or make someone else pay.

We have a system in which almost no one will be denied treatment. That is good. But we also have a system that is guaranteed to bankrupt anyone with a major injury or illness, even if they are covered by insurance. We have a system that most businesses are paying dearly for and is not protecting their workforce from catastrophic medical events.

When businesses realize that the insurance they pay per employee is larger than any tax, when the public realizes that the very system designed to deny them payment for care is also designed to make money in fees, when conservatives realize that the complete unaffordability of medical care is actually stifling entrepreneurial risk and destabilizing the entry level workforce, then we will make the changes needed: Universal health care.

Answer 3

That depends on which Caribbean staes you are referring to. Puerto Rico, for instance is the source of many travelers to the U.S. mainland. Puerto Ricans are, in fact, American citizens because Puerto Rico is a territory of the U.S.
Cuba does have socialized medicine, for Cubans, as in people that are Cuban citizens and live there. It is the same in all nations with socialized medicine. The Cuban system works fairly well for Cubans, but the Cuban medical services are strapped for supplies and sophisticated equipment. These are not a problem in France, Canada, or the UK, all with thriving socialized medicine programs.
Medicine is expensive for U.S. citizens because medical costs are not regulated. WE do not pay for THEM. We pay an enormous network of insurance, drug, and medical corporations.
If you really want to know the true cost of a medical procedure, look at the price your health insurance provider pays. The rest is additional profit for the medical facility, drug company. The insurance provider can get the better rate because it pays a portion of its profits to the individual health care providers and drug producers. Socialized medicine merely removes the middlemen.

Answer 4

For-profit-HMOs is what ruined the health care system.
And btw, why is there an increase of Americans flying overseas for surgeries? Lower costs, perhaps?

Answer 5

Why to politicians accept money from HMOs to defraud US Citizens out of health care.

Answer 6

SO the mad dash of a few thousand people is what is destroying health care and not the Insurance companies , lawyers , and government .