are we ready for nationalized health care?

Question

I'm not a big fan of Michael Moore, but his latest film "Sicko" is so revealing and addresses a need in this country.
We live in the greatest country in the world, why can't we go to the doctor or hospital for free, like in Canada, Britian, Mexico, and Cuba????

I mean think about it, a pharmacy that sells only prescribed medicine, not cat litter, candy, milk or ciggarrets, laundry soap, and a pleathora of other things. Just prescribed medicine.

Answer 1

I do know that I do not like Edward's health care proposal. Particularly people in Congress do not. About store that a only sells prescribed medicine, it will never happen because such a store will go broke. Big competition will be going on this country that we can not afford to have. I have seen such a store and that store was in Guatemala, except it was not a a real store in the sense. Just something along the streets. Then again, I have only been to two places in Gutatemala that maybe there was such a place there that had a real store. I don't agree that a visit to the doctor should be free. I think the the democratic candidates should be seeking out Patch Adams for advice on how a health care should be. I know that the movie Patch Adams was only based on a true story, but the facts presented at the end of the movie were indeed the absolute truth.

Answer 2

Honestly, I don't think so. I agree, having family members in Canada, about the comparison some have made in this forum. Canada's taxes are abominable. Though I think the country definitely has some advantages over the USA, taxes and health care are probably not high on the list. Also, I had a friend who had an issue with a bone fissure, and had to wait three months to get to the specialist for an APPOINTMENT, not the corrective surgery. Go figure. Yet, it WAS free, and that was a definite plus.

I think that people are far too greedy and self-absorbed in America to allow this to happen. These other countries have built their paragigms upon socialism and it is so ingrained in society, they work, think and act differently than here in America. Capitalism is a cancer that has eroded some fundamental rules of society, in my opinion. Besides, the government will not allow it to happen--special interests will buy votes to ensure that no national health care plan goes into effect.

Answer 3

It's not free in here in Canada. We pay a yearly premium based on income. A lot of Employers pay this premium for employees, but not everybody. The medicine is not free. Not every Canadian has a doctor as there just isn't enough. If you go to the ER, expect to wait a minimum of three hours. There is average wait of two months to see a specialist, six months to see a rheumatologist or sought after specialist. Life theatening surgeries are done right aways, but hip replacement surgeries can take an average of three years. With all its flaws, the Canadian system is not too bad if you are very patient. I don't think though that most Americans would be willing to wait 9 months to get an MRI.

Answer 4

US citizens are definitely not ready for universal/nationalized health care, especially in these times where there's no more money in the government. War has taken away the possibility of a UHC plan in the US. China practically owns America. Even if some Americans were ready for nationalized health care, I don't think the American government is prepared for that.

PS Mexico does not have universal health care. Everybody has to pay. There are two medical programs that are for poor people but they have to pay any ways, probably a 30 to 40% of what they would pay to a private doctor, but nobody gets away for free here. Seguro Social and ISSSTE are paid for by the employees and employers, so no, THERE IS NOT nationalized universal free health care here.

Answer 5

I certainly hope not! The government has done quite enough already to mess up the health care system in this country, I shudder to think what they would do to it if they actually had the legitimate authority to control it!

Let's examine the track record of the government in managing large-scale social programs. My personal favorite, the educational system. Not quite 100 years ago when mandatory elementary education started spreading in this country, a fifth-grade education meant that the person could read and write, understood at least the previous 100 years worth of US history, and could add, subtract, multiply and divide. Ninety plus years of government control of the educational system has brought us to high school graduates that need to take rudimentary reading or math classes to go to college or can't pass basic skills tests, college students that can't remember when (to the nearest decade) the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, parents demanding vouchers so they can put their children in private schools, and "No Child Left Behind" (a slogan that clearly admits they left plenty behind for years) to impose more regulations on schools, regulations that force teachers (and administrators) to devote even less attention to their basic job...educating our kids!!...strike one!

How about social security...I was just wondering what it costs taxpayers every year to pay the court costs and legal fees of all those people suing the Social Security Administration for denied benefits (must be big business or I wouldn't see so many ads for lawyers specializing in these cases on TV or in the yellow pages!)? A private insurance company would last about six months if it operated the way the SSA operates...deficit funding, declining value of benefits to customers (esp. relative to cost of living increases), increased denial of coverage...strike two.

Nationalized health care...strike three...and you know what happens after strike three! If a straw can break a camel's back, what would an anvil do to it? I have zero confidence in the ability of our government to take on something as huge as health care (on top of all the other things they already manage) without it becoming FUBAR in less than a decade!

Answer 6

I have thought about it and I would suggest you find out more regarding the "nationalized health care" in Canada and Mexico, as I have, before turning to socialistic agenda driven Michael Moore as a source of reliable information of any subject. How would you like a 55% tax rate on your income to fund the program? That's essentially what Canada has and the service leaves a lot to be desired. Oh yeah, we could nationalize the oil industry since we all have to use it - then there's banking, the list goes on and on until there's nothing left of your income (and mine) to fund anything. So I guess you'll be voting for Hillary - No thanks on both counts!

Answer 7

we are already figuring out to purchase people who're fat, lazy and smoke. Hospitals value people who do pay greater effective to conceal there loses on non payers. The insurance and pharacutical lobbies are spending hundreds of hundreds to defeat any changes indoors the status quo. they do no longer seem to be attempting to grant up any changes by using certainty they like to guard the yankee human beings, they are doing each and every ingredient they are able to to guard their sales. Going to the emergency room will set you decrease returned a minimum of one thousand money. the reason on the returned of this, distinctive those without insurance be conscious of that going to the emergency room is the only way they are able to get scientific care. below the regulation each and every and all the scientific company is had to do is stabilize somebody who comes into the emergency room. they do no longer ought to handle the guy, inspite of the undeniable fact that they routinely grant some constrained scientific care. at present their isn't any shortage of money indoors the well being care industry. We spend greater valuable than any u . s . a . in accordance to guy or lady for well being care. in case you stick to the money you will straight away understand that insurance firms are doing each and every ingredient they are able to to insure that reform would not happen. i think of of a few ingredient will bypass ultimately, yet no longer some thing may be achieved to place across down fees.

Answer 8

The current system is a mess without question. However, besides Moore's set-ups where he didn't tell the truth apparently (I won't go see "Sicko" saw Oprah's tribute and some other clips, some of which had errors), there are too many problems with national health care/universal health care--whatever.

It does NOT work anywhere it exists. That is the truth--their own governments demonstrate it though healthy folks or visitors won't necessarily pick up on the facts.

Canada has lots of problems and besides the long wait times they have as well they are going broke:

The Fraser Institute (Canadian) was hired to determine what was going on in Alberta and said by 2016 that HALF of the province's budget would go to health care if they keep the current system. By 2030, 100% of the budget would be consumed by health care. (“Canada’s health
system dream turns to nightmare,” 11 June 2004, Dr. Glueck).

Let's also realize that enough Canadian doctors find the system so stressful that WE get 500 of them a year from that small country coming to the US. (Bell, “Step into the single-payer rabbit hole,” April 2001, amsa.org). Also a 2003 survey of Canadian doctors found that nearly half were burnt out and 12% had thoughts of suicide (staffweb.uleth.ca).

The government is thinking about delisting some services (not offering them anymore). Thankfully there has been a proliferation of ILLEGAL for-profit health centers through Canada so Canadians can get care without leaving Canada. This is so needed that the president of the Canadian Medical Association headed such an ILLEGAL facility. They're illegal not because these are not qualified doctors, but because if the government offers a service, then the private sector is not supposed to in Canada. ("Individual Freedom vs. Government Control,” 1 August 2007, nationalreview.com).

Great Britain has the oldest national health system started in 1948. “Staff are being laid off, and deficits are at an alltime high (£1.07bn for 2005-2006)” (Hazel Blears, LabourParty Chair and Minister Without Portfolio, labourachievements. blogspot.com/2006/08/23-investment-innhs...
Alex Smallwood of the British Medical Association was quoted in the
Scotsman as saying: “’Rationing is reduction in choice. Rationing has become a necessary evil. We need to formalise rationing to prevent an unregulated, widening, postcodelottery of care. Government no longer has a choice.’” (Moss,
“NHS rationing is ‘necessary evil,’ says doctors,” 26 June 2007).

In France, 80% of the public have supplemental health insurance through their employers according to their web site (ambafrance-us.org). Private medical care in France is providing more than 50% of the surgeries and more than 60% of cancer case treatment. Vision and dental care are not well covered there. “The public system is facing chronic deficits and recent cost containment policies have not proved very successful.” The government is interested in
having more of the tab picked up by private insurance (Buchmueller & Couffinhall, “Private Health Insurance in France,” 2004, oecd.org).

Yes there are problems in Japan, the Netherlands, and Sweden as well for sure. Universal health care does NOT work. Governments overpromise, jack up taxes, ration medicine, and more.

In the US we have too much government micromanagement. The government health we have now (Medicare, Medicaid, IHS, etc. does NOT work. Moore is flat out wrong about the "beauty" of Medicare. Premiums in 1998 were $43.80 and in 2008 they will be $96.40--up well over 100% and benefits have not risen like that. Furthermore with the stupid prescription care plan a lot of HMOs, etc DECREASED the drug benefit to meet the federal model AND the donut hole is another torture trap for the genuinely ill, but a great boon to the pharmaceutical and insurance companies.

IHS the Indian Health Service gets about half of what other government services do, which is killing Indians who rely on it for help. The stories I could tell after talking to Indians who work FOR the IHS as well as those who use IHS would shock you.

Government runs up costs of ALL things it touches. It gives special breaks to the HANDFUL of remaining insurance companies out there who dominate the market. There are special laws of all sorts to protect them. It's rigged.

So, as you seem to want a plan, I think I have found one that would be very hard to achieve POLITICALLY because a lot of power and money is involved in the health care business.

Consider this plan for a new kind of US health care system--the author has a good deal more to say about fixing health care, but this is enough to think about:
http://www.booklocker.com/books/3068.htm...
The PDF has the basics of a plan, including how to finance it. The book itself has much more to say in the lengthy chapter on health care (and also addresses Social Security, taxation, and more).

Universal health care can appear to work if a person is healthy. Most Americans do NOT understand their insurance policies and claim they're covered. If that were so, then explain why more than HALF of ALL bankruptcies in the US are over medical bills and most of those folks ARE insured. Until there is a problem, most people do NOT know the full story.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/02/02/b...

The time is long since come to fix the mess, but NOT by the ones who created the mess in the first place. NO ONE has EVER demonstrated doctors were ripping people off before "managed care" and other nightmares were forced on the public. NO ONE.

Answer 9

If Canadian health care is so great why do pregnant women have to come here to have their babies, because they don't have room for them in Canada? Were will our pregnant women go Mexico (hah). i agree health care needs to be given to those who absolutely can't afford but many can afford but choose not to.
Socialism(Cuba) is not the way to go. Government only adds problems when it gets involved in personal lives. NO we are not ready and hope we never will be.

Answer 10

i am for nationalized health care, but this country has a severe problem with administration.i work in the health care industry and believe me it is an industry. we are not even able to take proper care of our veterans under the watch full eye and financing of our gov. so i think the first thing we need to do is revamp the way we do things with administration