How can a second-world country such as Costa Rica provide universal health care, but we can't in the U.S.?

Question

How can we eliminate corporate lobbyists from the evils they impose on the U.S. people?

Answer 1

It will be a long hard fight.

Unless you are willing and able to lead a hot war against the establishment, for now there is only an almost two party system. The first thing is to never vote for those blessed by the big money.

As the Republicans are mostly hopeless, you must find and help take over the Democratic party in your area. In most places that is not difficult, but then you have to make sure that REAL Democrats run and get elected, and that will take a lot more work, money has the big megaphone, but as long as we can stop election fraud, we will still have that votes.

Costa Rica had a third world health care system far behind the United States in 1960 with a life expectancy (LE) of only 62 compared to the US at 70 but by 1990 the US had risen to a LE of 75 But Costa Rica with its Socialist government had risen the LE to 77.

Then the CIA /contra crowd helped elect a Neocon and by the end of his term the LE had fallen to 76, but they restored things eventually and their LE is now 78 compared to the US 77LE with most of that progress happening in the Clinton years.

The Gapminder link below verifys this, and shows slower progress in health care than almost any other country, with many third worlders who have Government Health care catching up in a major way and even passing us, despite not having or spending anywhere near what the US has spent.

It is also useful to note that in countries that a run by folks who believe that Government is incompetent and corrupt,,, for them it is. Those run by European style Socialists work much better. The UK has better stats by far than the US but not near as good as Scandinavia for example.

When power is unaccountable, things go badly, whether you are talking Russian Communist, or American Neocon. The Communists were no more Socialist than they were Democratic, though they claimed both equally.

Answer 2

Why do you believe the WHO or any other statistics which places the US in the middle of the pack when it comes to health care. You have to look how everything is measured. For instance, you say Singapore has the lowest infant mortality rate in the world. How do they measure that? In the US it's about 5% but did you know the majority of infant deaths in the US are as a result of accidents? Did you know the US has the highest cancer survivability rates in the world? Why do you think that is? The World Health Organization (WHO) has the lot of you believing that the US is ranked somewhere in the 30s for health care compared to other countries. That's a bunch of crap. Go out and see how and what they measure. the data is definitely skewed to make countries, like the US, look bad. The US has the best health care in the world, bar none.

Answer 3

Costa Rica is the most thriving and progressive of the nations of Central America today. The government there has different priorities than does ours. There the government is probably not so influenced by the medical and insurance industries. We in the USA would be better off with the old fashioned pay as you go that we used to have, than with the madness of paying $2,500 per person per year that we are expected to carry (or that people like Hillary Clinton are proposing to MAKE US pay---hey, UNCONSTITUTIONAL!---for the benefit , profits, of the insurance industry). That for life, and you may go to the hospital ONE time---makes a lot of sense (and dollars!), ACTUARIALLY!
Socialized medicine is no answer either. It's like managed care but always with priority given to whenever doctors have a chance to treat you and at the cheapest they can get away with.
We have too many people in the USA running to the doctor or hospital for little or no reasons. The doctors and hospitals overcharge and claim to be using (and are thus charging for) treatments and medicines that they are not really using. The costs get passed on to all because the insurance industry will not check up on all the fraud. In turn, the insurance companies just pass the costs on to customers who have little choice but to pay.
We need ONLY pay-as-you-go, and some sort of government-supervized catastrophic health plight coverage or program. If government would stop wasting money, free health care could be provided for every individual in the country.

Answer 4

Well Shaun --
It all boils down to the fact that the Doctors in Costa Rica are willing to live their life doing extremely well on what they're paid and the doctors in THIS country are not happy getting filthy-- rolling ---bloody--stinking--- rich !!!!
They have sunk mega millions into the lobbying efforts to keep a universal health care of ANY kind from happening in the USA --- it would mean that their days of writing their own ticket would be over !!!
If the doctors in this country cared a tenth as much about their patients as they do about their mutual funds there would have already BEEN a universal health care adopted in the USA years ago !!!
Many of these same doctors are invested up to their eyebrows in the very insurance companies that set the rates that they get paid by ---- it is one of the ONLY industries in the entire country that is allowed this CONFLICT OF INTEREST to be a part of the NORMAL EVERYDAY WAY THEY DO BUSINESS !!!!

The insurance companies come to you and I and say they have to "go up on our rates because of the high cost of the medical care" SO --- we pay the higher cost --- the doctors get paid more --- the insurance company gets paid more -- and WE get far less each year for the money we put out !!!
And, alot of this comes from the shear FACT that the doctors are in bed with the insurance companies ---- WE ARE THE OUTSIDERS HERE !!!!
And, all of this is supported whole heartedly BY the Congress because --- DOCTORS AND MEDICAL CONGOMERATES ARE AMONG THE NATIONS HIGHEST CATEGORY OF POLITICAL CONTRIBUTORS !!!!!!!!!!!!! Case in point -- End of Discussion !!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

Just like the other conglomerates who must go overboard in making profits the Pharms are having a field day. Obviously each is patting the other on the back. While convincing us of all sort of peculiar ailments, I heard it's now illegal to even mention the hint of a home remedy. But it's OK to re-invent the same medication with a different name on it to make millions.
Is it so hard for some of us to admit we have MAJOR dilemmas here that ARE affecting millions?

Answer 6

You seem to be under the mistaken impression that Universal Health Care is a good idea. I know it sounds good but deep underneath it is just an element of Communism. If Communism is what you want, there's a great country for that, it's called Cuba. You can get in easily, people get into America from there all the time. You just have to go 80 miles on a raft.

Answer 7

Universal health care is a myth. One way another you pay.
Did you know for instance that in Canada if you have kidney disease the cut off for a replacement is 55. Now both my parents are in their early 70s and still pretty strong but if at age 56 one of them developed this problem they would now be dead.

As far as eliminating govt evil one of our founding fathers said out loud that we should keep the revolution alive and should have a fresh blood letting every 20 to 30 years which means we are about 200 years behind.

That was my hero Thomas Jefferson

Answer 8

Because the U.S. is a free country, where the government cannot simply vote to impose slavery upon some minority (like doctors).

Governments never "provide" anything!
All they can do is use their guns and courts and jails to force some people to work for others.

In a free country, people decide for themselves, and the government has nothing tom do with it.

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Answer 9

I'm in the military and live under a government run universal healthcare system...and it sucks. If I were not required to see military doctors because of my careerfield, I would carry private insurance and see a private doctor. Just remember, you get what you pay for.


Insurance is, and should always be, optional. Healthcare, on the otherhand, is universal. My brother was a broke college student that was in a car wreck about 10 years ago. After 2 days in a coma and over $50k in medical bills, he walked out of the hospital not having to pay a penny.

Answer 10

we could have it, but too many politicians are in the pocket of big HMO companies. Most conservitives do not understand that they can retain their current healthcare plans and the people who can not afford them could get some kind of assistance from the government. I am a current student, working part time in a factory. I have not had healthcare since I turned 22, it not the greatest feeling in the world to know that I am screwed if I get hurt.