So which do YOU prefer?

[Mojo]

One of the biggest problems in the USA with our medical system is that it is a for profit industry and we allow health agencies to rape us. A perfect example is my chemo drug which runs around $ 4,000 per month. The same drug runs $ 500 per month in Europe on the open market. A hip replacement in Germany is around $ 20 K. In the USA it is well over $ 100 K.

We have three hospitals within a 10 mile radius of our home yet the population is small enough for one big one. We have MRI machines on every corner and imaging centers all over the place. We have emergency rooms being used as redi care clinic's where a sniffle is treated and the insurance company charged $ 1,000.

People will claim we have the best medical care in the world yet we are far below Canada, Australia, Japan, Europe and other countries in regards to longevity. Most of the new cancer discoveries are being made in other countries. With the new ACA there were scare tactics of " death panels " and people going without surgeries, etc....... BullSH**.

We are the richest nation in the world yet one of the very few where if your hit with a catastrophic illness such as cancer then everything you worked hard for ( home and other assets ) can be gone in a flash.

I find our medical system is based on who can pay and who cannot versus who is in need. Talking about death panels, the insurance companies have run them for years. If your treatment is going to be expensive they will do whatever it takes to keep from approving and paying. I have seen dozens of fellow patients in my support group die because they could not afford treatment or the drugs.

Say what you want about other countries health systems but no one goes without treatment and no one loses their home and valuables. The ones who have to wait for surgeries are the same ones who have hobbled around on a bad knee for 3 years and then decide to get it fixed. There is so much mis-information out there.

I have a question for you Scotty and some of the Canadians we have on here. How many friends or family members have you heard of going without needed surgery or medications ?

Do I think ACA is the answer ? Nope. But it is a start.

Chris

[bobbin]

Eric, a republic is a form of government where elected officials represent the majority of the population.  In the United States the population votes (democratically) for officials to represent the views and desires of the general population.  The United States is a democratic republic, also considered a constitutional republic.  ("...and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all".  I have quoted it as it was written, BTW, not in the amended version which was the product of the Eisenhauer administration) 

Count me in with the rest of you on the subject of health care.  Lots of questions, no easy answers, and it isn't going to be pretty before it's finally all hashed out.  So many other countries administer health care so much more effectively than does the USA, and as Mojo pointed out, their outcomes are leagues ahead of those in our country.  It's all about compromise and tough decisions and by definition that means that no one is going to get everything that they want.  That's life!

On the subject of individual rights... I like them too!  But when the rights of the individual stand in the way of the greater good and safety I think we need to look carefully at amending them to work in concert with changing times.  Great example with liability insurance for motorists.  I offer the example of immunization against easily controlled diseases... in spite of no evidence that immunization causes autism many families refuse to immunize their kids.  Look at the recent outbreak of measles in TX (I think) when Kenneth Copeland's organization spoke out against immunization... there was a fully preventable outbreak of it.  Silly, silly, silly! no thought for the greater good, whatsoever.   And now those who refuse to immunize their kids are whining and suing doctors who refuse to allow unimmunized children into their practices.  Whose rights are being infringed? is not the doctor within his rights to refuse to allow potential carriers into his workplace and infect the most vulnerable members of the population? (I think he is well within his rights, frankly, and is considering the greater good).   

[gene]

"I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsL6mKxtOlQ

gene

[sofadoc]

OK Gene, you're not being an obedient worker. I'm going to have to tell the owners. :(

BTW In all fairness, I'm sure that the Jimmy Kimmel show probably asked over a hundred people that question, and then only showed us the stupid ones.

[bobbin]

The death of George Carlin was a loss for the USA.  That last performance was really raw.  Some of it was pretty crude.  But he always called it the way he saw it, he was always articulate, and his humor was not for dummies!

Thanks for a great link, Gene. 

[SteveA]

Yep - Jimmys going for ratings.  The public votes for the folks who make the changes.  Majority rules right !  Sure health care was struggling but why couldn't the law makers tweak the system to help low income families  and waive pre-existing issues.  I'm worried that the government won't do a good job.  Look at their current balance sheet - everything is in the red. Every thing takes much too long to do with them involved.   Now will the government also cover - prescription drugs, dental, eyes, chiropratic care, pet care, ........ there's no end to people's needs.  Free market services can handle this better if they weren't so greedy.  They have to be run cleaner, more honest, less greed to survive rather than the government doing it for us. We're not doing a good job with services and this ACA is the government solution for our mis- steps.
SA

[bobbin]

One word, Steve:  L O B B Y I S T S.  And they damn sure don't represent those of us struggling.  I share your worries.   

[sofadoc]

One problem I see. No president is going to unveil such a drastic change during their FIRST term. Because if they do, they won't get a second term. So they wait until their second term. By then, they've got 4 years tops to make it work before the next president comes in and blows the whole thing up and starts over.

I'm afraid that there are too many people with their own agendas to ever allow Obamacare to get off the ground.

[SteveA]

Sofa Doc

Tell me why if the ACA is the solution .... congress opts out and anyone else with a phone line into the white house can get a waiver.  If it's going to work all should be on board. I'm not against universal health/ single payer if I though it could be run efficiently - it seems it's own creators don't have faith in the program.
SA

[bobbin]

L O B B Y I S T S

Pretty simple. 

[sofadoc]

Sofa Doc

Tell me why if the ACA is the solution .... congress opts out and anyone else with a phone line into the white house can get a waiver.

A G E N D A S
Even simpler

But please don't get me wrong. I'm neither defending nor condemning ACA. I think that 10 years from now, some highly tweaked, hybrid form of ACA will still be in place.
But by then, no one will even remember it's origin. And someone else will get all the blame/credit for it

[bobbin]

Agendas are set by lobbyists.  The uncontrolled power of paid lobbys is so out of control that it basically runs "our" government now.  And laws that used to keep them "sort of" within bounds (you used to have to actually declare who you were and who paid you) have now been overturned by the Supreme Court and they're now free to run amok and wreak whatever havoc they may. 

Et voici! nous sommes ici!  (and  here it is, we're here!)

[Eric]

Bobbin, I'm well aware what form of government we are. And it's not a democratic republic. In your doctor example, he is excersising individual rights. I agree, the people who didn't immunize should quit there whining.
I agree Steve, we should have tried a couple of your described things, instead of passing a bill so we can find out what is in it (per pelosi).
Eric

[bobbin]

Please Eric, explain to me what exactly our country's form of government is...

[Eric]

Bobbin, we are a Republic, some may say Constitutional Republic. No where in the constitution does it mention democracy.
Eric