Obama's Health Care plan. Is it a stepping stone to H.R 676, or a road to nowhere?

I for one would love to hear from some of our international Allnurses members who currently live in a country with government run healthcare.

Topics of interest that you might be able to share from your experiences:
- Rationing of healthcare (age related, co-morbidity related, etc.)
no rationing that I have seen.
- Waiting lists for care - how often, how long, etc.
Sometimes waiting is an issue but this is blown out of proportion in the media. Urgent and emergency care has no wait time. A friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and she was in surgery within 48 hours. A coworker needed hip surgery and he was in within 4 weeks.
- Is it really free to residents, or is there some sort of copay?
Well not "free", it is paid for by our taxes, but free at point of access.
- Do you also have private insurance available?
People still can supplement with private insurance for dental and eye care if they have no coverage through their employer.There are programs that cover kids dental care and you are covered for eye care if you have certain conditions( I am covered as I have diabetes).There is a free foot care clinic in my area where anyone can get free nail care and chiropodist examinations.
What does that do for citizens who chose to use it over the public healthcare system?
There isn't an option to not use the public system.
And what percent of the populace (estimated) use private insurance if it is available?
I don't know. I don't know anyone personally who uses private.
- How would you compare nursing salaries to US? (Tough one, I know, as cost of living varies so much as well...) How would you compare nursing shortage, responsibilites, etc. as well?
I Not having worked in the US I can't compare the two.Certainly no shortage of nurses where I am.
Anyone?

Thanks!!

Thanks for the responses from all.

Regardless, we should expect a lot of the same to come. The government could do a lot better in regards to health care, but most likely they will not, at least for the time being. That is why we should all, as concerned citizens at least, continue to voice our opinions.

I do not know about the rest of you, but I will not be satisfied until every American citizen has insurance comparable to what H.R 676, offers.

I for one would love to hear from some of our international Allnurses members who currently live in a country with government run healthcare.

Topics of interest that you might be able to share from your experiences:
- Rationing of healthcare (age related, co-morbidity related, etc.)
- Waiting lists for care - how often, how long, etc.
- Is it really free to residents, or is there some sort of copay?
- Do you also have private insurance available? What does that do for citizens who chose to use it over the public healthcare system? And what percent of the populace (estimated) use private insurance if it is available?
- How would you compare nursing salaries to US? (Tough one, I know, as cost of living varies so much as well...) How would you compare nursing shortage, responsibilites, etc. as well?

Anyone?

Thanks!!

Actually what I failed to mention is that practitioners cannot provide care to privately insured people if that care is covered by UHC. There is no question of ever being denied care so you don't need private for most care.Private insurance cannot provide duplicate coverage. But if you wanted something done like Botox injections you would have to pay or have private insurance.

So does that effectively prohibit one from using private insurance to speed access to a necessary (but non emergent) procedure such as joint replacement, repair of torn ligaments, gall bladder removal, etc?
These things are covered by UHC so you couyldn't get private insurance for them. UHC is not just for emergency tx but all neccessary tx and procedures. Cosmetic and IVF is about the only things not covered.

If private insurance is used only for elective procedures (cosmetic, eye refraction, etc.), isn't it cost prohibitive? I can't imagine anyone purchasing private insurance unless they plan to have an elective procedure done, which, it seems, would make the cost of such coverage very expensive.