Thoughts on Universal healthcare

[conradpdx]

Sicko is the best of the Moore films by far (Rodger and Me was great--the others are pretty much garbage). But it does open ones eyes to the problem when Cuba makes a mockery of our system, and not by words but by actions for those unfamiliar with the film.

 

[yotetrapper]

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hahahaha I need to watch a movie so I can understand how health care systems work? Did you ever consider the people producing/funding these "documentaries" may have a political motive ? I prefer to get my information from places other than the entertainment industry.

 

[redhen]

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Cuba?! who cares what the commies think over there? *okay..okay..not nice..UGH!..sorry!*

BTW..IS Fidel dead yet or what??

 

[yotetrapper]

Ahhh you know what commies are redhen? Socialism is the step right before communism.

 

[redhen]

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[Xtina]

I read almost all the pages since my first reply way back on page one. I don't have too much more to add, since I said a mouthful the first time, but I wanted to add a few things after having read everyone else's opinions.

The first thing I notice is people pointing at the health coverage in nations with universal coverage and saying it doesn't work. I'm not sure where you get your information, but I have heard overwhelmingly good things. Sure, no system works seamlessly, but they work a heck of a lot better than ours.

Second, lots of people wanted to point fingers at irresponsible Americans raising the cost of healthcare for everyone and not wanting to pay for your neighbor's bad choices. I have to say that in every system, even the one we currently have, we all pay for the health of the nation. Both in our premiums and in our tax dollars. It's been well publicized that America spends the most per capita on health care now and that we get the least return for our investment. That extra money goes to malpractice lawyers and insurance company profits. If you want cheaper health care, the solution is not to lower government involvement, it's to take the profiteers out of the picture. If you want to trust your doctor more, we need to take the medical community's fears of litigation away. This situation is improved through state-managed coverage.

Third, people are bringing up mismanagement in other systems without realizing that even though it was probably wrong for America to hesitate on implementing national healthcare, we stand to benefit from the ability to analyze the things that went wrong in other nations' systems. We aren't starting from zero, and we can build a better system. It's quite something that normal, everyday people have been convinced that a public service for all would do them a disservice, and that somehow what they have now is good, when it's in fact worse than any other industrialized nation, even though none of them have a GDP to match ours.

Finally, after all this talk of how some people feel like they're being scammed by their lazy neighbors who make bad decisions and want health coverage when the nation can't afford it, I didn't see anyone pointing out that our government spends money on things that are far less beneficial to the American taxpayers than preventative treatment and healthcare, and that the second the irresponsible bankers needed a handout, the money miraculously appeared very quickly to try to fix the financial crisis. I just want fairness. At that time, someone said "it's socialism for the rich, and dog-eat-dog capitalism for the rest of us." Well, I'm not ok with that. I'd rather stop funding certain things that I view as a misappropriation of my tax dollars and spend that money instead on things that have immediate benefit on me and my community. At the very least, if Iraq gets healthcare paid for by my taxes, then I also want healthcare paid for by my taxes. I don't want to begrudge them what they have, I just want to be covered too. I'm not asking for a handout, I'm asking for a redistribution of spending. Back when the bailout happened, I did a simple calculation and found that the OECD average per capita expenditure on health insurance is $2100. If we implemented a similar model, we could insure every American for $58 billion less than the financial bailout cost us.

So for all this crazy scaremongering talk about socialism and capitalism, let's look at how our nation really runs.

 

[conradpdx]

"commies" you all crack me up. All them commies like England, France, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands. We gotta look out for all them "commies" coming in from the north!!!

(uh oh--there flag is red and what's that with the maple leaf---some sorta Marxist symbol I'm sure). Or was I talking about every commie (aka citizen) in Alaska that cashes them oil checks every year.

Duck and cover, here they come.


And just because one sees a movie doesn't mean that they base their beliefs on it. I've seen Star Wars and don't believe in aliens. I've seen the 10 commandments and don't believe in God, I've seen Poltergeist and don't believe in Ghosts, I've seen Deliverance and don't believe all back country folk are......we'll ok I might believe that one.

I've been in favor of a national health care system (socialistic or otherwise) for most my life. I honestly don't understand why people are so against sick and injured people getting proper medical treatment when they need it. Did Jesus ask for the medical id number of the leapers? No, he healed them even if they were the unwashed and unclean heathens.

 

[yotetrapper]

I dont imagine many if any of the people opposed to National Health Care will be in support of the bailout, I oppose health care, and am utterly disgusted with the people in this country who elected the cngressmen who voted to pass this bailout. And that includes myself, as I'm sure some of the congress people I've voted for in the past voted to approve it (I've not checked it out yet) but they surely will never get another vote from me.

Those that think talk of socialism is fear mongering truly have their heads buried in the sand. Look at history, it tells you all you need to know about the states and conditions of countries before socialist and communist governments/dictators/etc. took control. You'll see a terrifying resemblence.

 

[redhen]

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isnt Cuba still communist?

... and dont be rude to me..i am simply trying to learn...

 

[gckiddhouse]

"We can't expect the American People to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism,until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism." Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) Premier of the Soviet Union