[ingelein]

Originally Posted by Katie91

Yes, and how long can we expect to wait for the improvement to come to fruition??

Good question.I have hope, that in a new Democratic government things can change, yes it the C word. As a young person you may be less willing to wait.Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

[Elvish]

My dh and I have seriously talked about chucking it all & moving to Finland - education, healthcare, and housing are all free or at least affordable, mothers get 9mo paid maternity leave (unpaid x 3 YEARS if they choose), fathers get leave as well, public transportation is nice and safe, the people are far healthier than here, and their kids blasted US kids out of the water on intelligence tests.

I don't mind higher taxes going to pay for things like these. I have a problem with my taxes going to line my politicians' pockets when it's not clear that they even represent me.

[GinRN]

I'm not the smartest cookee in the jar, but has anyone looked at England, where they wait months to years to see a doctor or dentist, and pull their own teeth with plyers? That is universal health care at work. I have my reservations about letting Uncle Sam control my health care.

[CO2emission]

Originally Posted by GinRN

I'm not the smartest cookee in the jar, but has anyone looked at England, where they wait months to years to see a doctor or dentist, and pull their own teeth with plyers? That is universal health care at work. I have my reservations about letting Uncle Sam control my health care.

Stay in that cookie jar......What absolute rubbish! I don't need to look at England, I've worked there in the health care system as have many of my colleages. Not only that, while I was there, I received non-urgent dental care and saw a doctor both within a week for something that was routine. I wasn't even a British citizen but I was paying British taxes and so was treated by The National Health System. I am Australian where universal health care (Medicare) serves us well. Every one pays 1% of their gross income PA to Medicare. If you earn over $50,000 PA there is a levy surcharge which is incremental. I have never seen a patient denied health care based on their capacity to pay or because they didn't have health insurance.

[CO2emission]

It would seem from reading most of the posts, that universal health care is not really the problem, it is the administration or the government. Universal healthcare models are in existence and successful in many countries.
Why not learn from others?
By the way... I just heard that the Iraq war has cost the US three trillion dollars! Did anyone mention universal health care?

[Katie91]

Originally Posted by Arwen_U

My dh and I have seriously talked about chucking it all & moving to Finland - education, healthcare, and housing are all free or at least affordable, mothers get 9mo paid maternity leave (unpaid x 3 YEARS if they choose), fathers get leave as well, public transportation is nice and safe, the people are far healthier than here, and their kids blasted US kids out of the water on intelligence tests.

I don't mind higher taxes going to pay for things like these. I have a problem with my taxes going to line my politicians' pockets when it's not clear that they even represent me.

This is my thought, exactly. Although is sounds great in theory, we have to do A LOT of research before we take the plunge and move to a foreign country. I don't want to wind up in the middle of nowhere, scratching my head and thinking to myself, "OMG! WHAT HAVE I DONE??!!"

[Katie91]

Originally Posted by GinRN

I'm not the smartest cookee in the jar, but has anyone looked at England, where they wait months to years to see a doctor or dentist, and pull their own teeth with plyers? That is universal health care at work. I have my reservations about letting Uncle Sam control my health care.

I'm skeptical about things I hear on TV read in the paper, etc... but I watched Michael More's Sicko last week and it truly struck a chord with me. If you haven't seen it yet, I would highly recommend buying or renting the DVD. It openeded my eyes wide regarding the horror stories we hear about people waiting for, ie., an acute cholecystitis in need of surgical intervention.

Perhaps it's our own gov't putting these ideas into our heads. Keeping the people afraid keeps them submissive. This is the highest form of terrorism I can imagine.
Hmmm....

[Katie91]

Originally Posted by CO2emission

It would seem from reading most of the posts, that universal health care is not really the problem, it is the administration or the government. Universal healthcare models are in existence and successful in many countries.
Why not learn from others?

Exactly!!

By the way... I just heard that the Iraq war has cost the US three trillion dollars! Did anyone mention universal health care?

Could you imagine if we spent this money on our own citizen's healthcare and other necessities of daily living??

[pickledpepperRN]

Are we still building hospitals and providing supplies for Iraq?

http://www.usabuildingiraq.com/

[HM2Viking]

Originally Posted by GinRN

I'm not the smartest cookee in the jar, but has anyone looked at England, where they wait months to years to see a doctor or dentist, and pull their own teeth with plyers? That is universal health care at work. I have my reservations about letting Uncle Sam control my health care.

The evidence does not support this assertion. See:



Furthermore, the NHS outperforms the US (non)system on almost every dimension.


http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publ...?doc_id=482678 accessed today.

We should ask what other countries are doing right and use that to inform our own redesign of the health care system.

The point is that most UHC activists are not attempting to put Uncle Sam in charge. The best single payer proposals have a federal funding stream IN PLACE OF PREMIUMS and the plans are state managed. The mixed partnership models envision the OPTION for businesses and individuals to purchase coverage directly from Medicare.