Why dont we have national health care?

I just have to ask this question, because in reality, it would probably help our economy more than help it. Cause look at how many people pay thousands upon thousands of dollars a year on health care insurance, and still have to pay for their surgery's, because they didn't read the fine print on what their insurance companies contract said.

I mean, there was a friend of mine, who had their nine year old sister get denyed service, because she went to the closest hospital to her house, and the only hospital that worked with her parents insurance company was two hours away in the city. The hospital actually denied her health care for a broken leg, simply because she had a health care provider that covered emergency rooms only in major cities. Dont believe me? My mom handled their claim through the cleveland clinic, she was the one that had to fight for the parents insurance company to pay for her care, when they didnt, she ate their claim, in other words, the clinic collected no cash, and lost money off the deal.

If the government simply requested a number of people that the emergency room saw in a day, and paid them for each person that the hospital helped, and also paid certain amounts for different surgeries, then hospitals would still make their money, not at the expense of the people, but of the government. And our economy would improve drastically, cause people wouldn't be paying massive amounts for their health care provider.

and this is becuase people aren't capable of reading fine print?

Whose money do you think the government is using?

Only communists want socialised health care. You're not a commie, are you?

Duh, because we aren't nearly as good a people, as a whole, as Canadians.

. . .and our maple syrup sucks for the most part too.

[Edited on Feb 12, 2005 by Sexdwarf]

Shhh... people aren't supposed to know about that. I might lose my clearance.

i live in UK where we do have a NHS and well ....i prefer it but, the quilty is far less, our hospitols are dirty, our nurses and doctors are getting less and les and more and more are quiting, its not a perfect system, but maybe it can work over there?-who knows-

In a word, politics and money

Ok, that was three words.

I haveta agree that it'd be a good thing for the country but because the goverment would haveta shell out the bux to pay for it they'd have to raise taxes to cover the tab. and - in the words of George the First - No New Taxes.

Of course, if the feddies paid for our health insurance then all the insurance companies and health plans and Third Party Administrators big and small would go out of business (so they say, anyway) so it'd be BAD for the economy, not good. And even tho every businesses everywhere in the US would STOP shelling out a big chunk of change every month for their employee's health insurance, because they'd haveta take that same money (or probably alittle less or even maybe alot less) and give it to the feddies they're against it because it would cost them more money (one of those "huh?" things).

Another reason the Feds don't is because little bitty companies that couldn't afford insurance would be better able to compete for better talent, and every mom/dad in the country would not only be able to have insurance for the kidz, but for THEMSELVES as well, and since the government is friends with "Big Business" and rich people, but not poor people, they don't want to do it.

Plus those damned canadians do it so it MUST be bad!

(sorry virtual canadian girlfriend!)

Oh - one BAD thing of course is that means the Feddies would be in charge of our health insurance - and they do SUCH good jobs with everything they touch I'm confident they could handle that as well, cheaply and effectively, with only alittle overhead and miminal expenses and weird rules, JUST like they handle our taxes!

Any country that doesn't provide adequate health care to all of its citizens regardless of their economic standing is a country that should be fucking ashamed of itself.

In a few years, I'll no doubt be appropriately ashamed of Australia.

Wait; who gets stuff paid for and who doesn't?

Do you pay for everyone who needs surgery? What about the people who need preventative treatment - treatment that can remove the need for surgery? Do you pay for them too?

What about drunk drivers? If someone causes their own injury should tax payers have to pay for their stupidity? If you do pay for drunk drivers do you pay for, say, insulin for diabetics? Because those people often (not always) haven't done anything to make themselves ill. Why should they pay while the drunk idiot gets off without paying? What about cancer? Do you pay for that? What about lung cancer in someone who smokes 80 a day, do you pay for that?

Also, don't forget that asking for the numbers, and providing the numbers, and paying the money, and receiving the money, and all the other admin adds up to a fuck of a lot of people, all of whom need to be paid and 'housed'.


Having said all that I think the US health "care" system is obscene. Rich fat old people being over-medicated and having too many needless tests while poor people die? That's repugnant.

Fuckhead drunk drivers, punks who don't take their medication, self-harming weirdoes, chain-smoking dumbarses, all of them. They all have a right to healthcare. Healthcare is about health, and health alone. At its core, it's not about the crimes that cause injuries, it's not about the environment that causes illness, it's not about the actions that cause the diseases, it's about making sure people don't die when they don't have to, and ensuring people get better as soon as they can.

And everyone has a right to that, no matter how much of a fuckhead they are. It's not for the healthcare community to judge. It's not an economic issue. It's a matter, obviously, of life and death.

I agree, I'm just trying to find out how far this guy has thought it out.

Damn. All that pithy rhetoric wasted, hehe.

You pretty much summed up the problems with funding a national health care program. If a country is to have socialised medicare and be able to afford it then all citizens must make every effort not to abuse it. That means don't smoke, drive like you're at a race track, make needless appointments because you're old and lonely...etc. All these little things add up and tend to sink national healthcare. I think that it is important to explain to everyone that the money that gets spent is their's. They owe it to themselves and everyone else make every effort to save money.

Because rich greedy republicans don't think that they should have to contribute anything to society in order to live in it.

There is no other fucking excuse, and there never will be.

People don't understand that "life, liberty, and the pursuet of happieness" fucking includes the first word LIFE!

So until you get the rich, greedy, stingy, repulicans out of power, you will never have a national health care system. Face it, your leaders, and the people who voted them into office don't care if you live or die.

It was said earlier--Republicans are far too greedy to let something magnanamous like that happen.

The problem is our country spends too much of its money on every other country. Im not saying that is totally a bad thing but I think the government needs to focus on us a little more.

Yes, Republicans hate poor people.

Maybe not, but they often support measures (via their representatives) that clearly lack compassion for the poor

How much do you think gets spent of foreign aid? clicky here.

EDIT: Welcome to the site!

[Edited on Feb 12, 2005 by demetrius_z]

Communism is a great theory it's what it eventually turns into that sucks.

Commie.

Because to politicians, and the general population, what happens to the individual is more important so they have no interest in funding things that do not (in their perception) benefit them directly.

The greater population is too irresponsible: eating 200 lbs of sugar per year per capita, sitting on their asses watching 7 hours of TV per day, getting no exercise, etc. We are too unhealthy and modern care is too expensive to give it up for everyone.