Government-run health care

[zack1234]

If your car is broken it cost's you to fix.
If you cannot afford to fix it walk.
A person who is ill cost money to cure.
If you cannot afford the bill dig a 6 foot hole and lie in it.

[Angus]

I live in one of those countries where we have government run health care.
Works okay.
Some branches are private though, but the basics are government-run.
It is the most expensive ministry as well as the toughest one to run. And a very unpopular job being the minister of it.
In my area the system works excellently. Superbly if anything.
So, I'm good with it.

[zack1234]

hurrah!

[Stoney]

Yet that system ranks 37th in overall care, and we rank 50th in lifespan (Dead last in industrialized nations)..

Yeah, and we also have a bunch of food blisters living at McDonalds while they puff away on Marlboro Reds.  Its no coincidence that the 2 largest demographics in the VA Hospital system are diabetics and vets with emphazema.  Don't make the mistake of comparing the U.S. to a country like Norway, where most people live a healthier lifestyle.

[eagl]

Don't make the mistake of comparing the U.S. to a country like Norway, where most people live a healthier lifestyle.

QFT.

[Xasthur]

< Australian. Public health care system very much like Germany's by the sound of SirFrance's post.

Free basic cover:
It has benefits....eg: Lose your job? Can't afford your health insurance for 6 months? Get hit by a car? You'll still be looked after.

But there are people who leach the system.

All too often do you see idiots in the ER because it's free to be seen by a doctor there.

Introducing a charge for obvious abuse of this could a way to escape this.

The last time I was in an ER I saw a woman with a baby that had a fever. The baby dropped its pacifier on the floor at the triage desk (where there was dirt and blood on the floor from the drunk guy who was standing there before her). The stupid cow just picked it up and put it straight back in the baby's mouth.

NO WONDER THE BABY HAS A FEVER YOU RETARD!

So... you get peasants and scammers clogging up ERs.


You'd be stupid not to have private health insurance, though.



A successful public health system for a population of 300 million will be a monumental challenge and I just hope that your government pays very, very close attention to what every other country has done and learns from their successes and mistakes.

[eagl]

One obvious benefit of "free" (it's not free because SOMEONE gets stuck with the bill, but dumb people like to think anything coming from the govt is free) health care is that it would halt some of the biggest abuses in the US.  We have the same problem with ERs crowded with people who can't afford any kind of care, including every illegal immigrant in the country who uses the ER as their primary care provider.  A national basic health care system would formally account for those people who are currently bleeding hospitals dry, raising costs for everyone else and forcing ER closures everywhere there are large illegal immigrant populations.

That would be a good side benefit IMHO.  Quit making the hospitals pay for govt mis-handling of a whole range of social and legal problems that lead to hospital ERs having to do a lot of work and deal with huge expenses without any compensation.  If the govt is going to force hospitals to see anyone who shows up in the ER (and allow into the country a huge un-insurable non-citizen migrant labor population), they need to pay for it and right now they don't.

[Anaxogoras]

I caught bronchitis on an airplane to France when I was 16.  Because I was in a rural area, the doctor came to visit me, promptly, instead of me visiting him, twice.  I walked to the village pharmacist, gave them the doctors note, and received the prescribed medication without paying a penny.  This was in 1995.

I have a Japanese friend and he has a very favorable opinion of health-care in Japan, where there is both private and public insurance.

[eagl]

If we're going to provide limited free health care to visitors to the US, I think there ought to be a small fee added on to the cost of the tourist visa or whatever program they're using to come here.  It wouldn't have to be much, a couple of bucks ought to do it and be a reasonable buy-in to insure non-citizen visitors during a brief visit.  The trick will be getting the fee sent to the health care program and not diverted to other govt spending.

Others visiting the US for a longer time ought to pay into the system if they expect to get any services.  If they have the money to travel here or are coming here for a job, they certainly ought to have enough money to buy into a national health care insurance fund.

[Shuffler]

Germany has one of the highest population density within the European Union. In December 2005 the number of doctors was 373 per 100,000 inhabitants. Healthcare is funded by a statutory contribution system that ensures free healthcare for all via sickness funds. Insurance payments are based on a percentage of income, divided between employee and employer. About 14.5% of your income before tax goes into healthcare.  Healthcare insurance in Germany is divided between statutory and private schemes.

The statutory health insurance occupies a central position in the Healthcare system in the Germany. About 90 % of the population are covered by the statutory health insurance which is compulsory for all who earn less than 4.050,00 € (in 2009) before tax. Private healthcare schemes can either provide to complete health service for those who opt out for the statutory scheme or top-up cover for those who remain within it.

In Germany, the provision of healthcare can be broadly separated into ambulatory and in patient sectors. Outpatient services supplied to the public are largely the responsibility of independent doctors practicing on a freelance basis under contract to the statutory health insurance. Doctors caring for patients who have sickfunds must be registered by law by the regional association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians .

Hospitals in Germany are grouped into three main types:

    * Public hospitals run by the local authorities, the towns and the states
    * Voluntary non-profit making hospitals run by the churches or non-profit making organizations such as the German Red Cross
    * Private Hospitals run as free commercial enterprises

Is it good or bad? Good thing is, that everyone is insured. So nobody is without "free" health care. But public healthcare only covers minimal treatment. So only that will be payed, what is necessary to make you able to work again. Everything else you want, so not basic medicine, must be covered by extra private insurance. If you are earning more then 4.050 € a month or your husband or wife has this income, you can leave the statutory health insurance. Then you can decide what kind of treatment you want. I pay for my health insurance (not statutory) about 210,- € a month, with a deductible of 1000,- € per year.

(sorry if something is hard to understand, but my English is not that good, that I know all the right terms)

Thank you for your post. Your post was easy to read and understand.

[MORAY37]

I don't believe we have a right to healthcare any more than we have a right to HDTV, sports cars, or golf club memberships.  What we have a right to is our exercise of our consumer power in a free market system... remember that one kids... you're not entitled to everything you want or think you should have, but you are entitled to the opportunity to acquire what you want in a free market.  Government "options" are disruptors to a functioning free market.

I expect you to deny your social security when you retire then, if this is how you truly feel.  Nobody will be making you take that money.

To compare one's health to an HDTV..... that is disgusting. 

Entitlement?  At the base level we disagree, because I feel that "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is more important.  If one cannot have their health, they cannot have any of those.

[ghi]

 If you need to send a parcel from California to Maine, would you use US postal services or FedEx ? The Health care it's a bit different ,but most of the government controlled services are like making a blood transfusion from  your left  to your right arm, but spilling half of it during process.

[zack1234]

What is this nonsense about free health care in the UK it is not free we pay for it through national insurance when we get our monthly salary.

I am not a liberal if you are a illegal you should be booted, if you are a drug addict you should shot and if you do not want to work you should be birched.

UK health service is not free i pay for it and scum who don't contribute to it is sad, we pay for helping those in our society who require help

[Dago]

With the gov't record and the future projections for medicare and social security, do we really want the gov't handling our medical care?

[Wayout]

Entitlement?  At the base level we disagree, because I feel that "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is more important.  If one cannot have their health, they cannot have any of those.

Americans have the right to bear arms but I don't see the government buying everyone a gun.

Americans have the right to freedom of religion but I don't see the government building everyone a church.

Americans have the right to freedom of assembly but I don't see the government buying everyone a car so we can attend rallies.

If you put health care under "Life, Liberty and the Persuit of Happyness" then whay not free food for everyone - can't live without food. Why not free housing for everyone - can't live or be happy without shelter.   And there is no way I can ever acheive the right of "Happiness" without the government providing me with 2 young ladies to travel with me on a  6 month round the world cruise (paid for, of course, with your tax dollar).  

From your own statement it's clear you have no idea what a "Right" is and what it means to have rights.  Unfortunately you're not in that boat alone. Far to many think that way and it's going to spell disaster for everyone.