Do You Want Universal Healthcare?

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I know this topic has been discussed before on this site..but, I was curious for an updated response. How many of you would be willing to pay more taxes for universal healthcare? I find it egregious that the US has put a cost on maintaining/saving ones life! I traveled to Europe and the thought of them having to bring their checkbook to the hospital aroused literal laughs. It's the same notion that we'd have to whip out our debit card to firefighters before they turned the hoses on our burning homes. It's sad. I think the overall costs of UH would be beneficial...in fact, the raised taxes would still probably be lower than our rising premiums every 2 weeks! Thoughts?

, "They like the way he talks" etc.

There are many people who acknowledge that they are voting for Obama for the same reason and cannot articulate any other reason.

I would never characterize or generalize about the people who are going to vote for Obama.

I have many liberal friends who are voting for him and I respect their intelligence . . I just disagree with them.

My beef with your statements is that people who voted for Bush must be in one of the categories you provide and cannot therefore be smart, not confused, etc.

I voted for Bush the first time with some reservations - he is not a true conservative politician and I'm been open and vocal about where I disagree with him.

However the alternate choices were not people I had even less in common with and so voted for Bush.

You will never find a candidate with which you agree 100%. I go with the person who is more conservative . . . . that means Bush over Kerry to be sure.

That means McCain over Obama for sure.

Just because I'm conservative doesn't mean I'm stupid. My own dear husband thinks liberals are stupid - he characterizes them like coolpeach characterizes conservatives.

I do not think he is right - nor do I think coolpeach is right. You cannot broadly call people names simply because they vote a certain way.

Intelligent people can see things from different perspectives and STILL BE INTELLIGENT.

steph

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Where I live, they would be classified as "private pay" but the facility eats the bill, because there's no way to get the money out of the family. So we all wind up paying for them. Now I MIGHT feel better about paying IF the family were legally here, but have a harder time if they are here illegally.

I'd rather decide where my tax dollars go, say to people who are truly disabled, instead of those who just to be inactive (as in working, looking for work, learning how to eat properly, etc.)

It's always possible too that the family is here legally, but they're just over the income limit for Medicaid and don't have insurance through their employers for whatever reason. Or they might be tourists.

Sending a CHILD home with a broken arm that wasn't set, just because the parents don't speak English, is beyond despicable! I hope that doctor loses his license and the facility that hired him gets in trouble too.

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I belittle people all the time. Especially for their 'choice' of president. Just not on allnurses... And never publicly!!! :) Inner monologues are wonderful things!

Some things are just inexcusable...

The delivery of a message does NOT impact the message's accuracy however. People never seem to understand that...

My gosh you sound like my husband . . . . . except he prattles on about liberals.:argue:

steph

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Well my happiness is quite ok... My 'anger' has never been a problem at work as a CNA or anything else. I am not even angry. I just don't censor myself as much as other people do. All feelings come out. Of course, interaction anonymously online is always a bit different than real life.

In any case, I think my posts are all over the place. Some are happy, some crazily manic, some angry, some apologetic and some plain silly.

I am also 'weird' about my military service because I absolutely did not do it to be called a 'hero' or thanked. That irks me. It's a citizen's duty to serve as far as I am concerned. I don't want thanks. No veteran joined to be a hero. It just makes me uncomfortable. That's all. Kinda like I get uncomfortable when people want to thank us nursing staff and say we are heroes. No, I am just doing a job that I feel satisfies my duty to other people. Any extra attachments and expectations makes me nervous. I am already skittish enough...

Back on topic...

Helping people help themselves notwithstanding, the better everyone in this country does the better the country will do. The era of 'everyone for themselves' is quickly coming to an end. A dash of socialism will go a long way towards improving the world. I don't suggest crazy 60s marxism. Only a dash. Basic things. Healthcare, education (which we already have), job training maybe.

If basic things are taken care of, it puts us on better standing to compete with other countries.

Some people are here arguing minor details or how to implement things or make sure there is no fraud but these are just details. Overall, if we can come up with a lower cost, fraud proof system that is fair no one could deny that UHC would be better for this country... I even think Jolie would like it if it was run in a manner satisfactory to her.

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My gosh you sound like my husband . . . . . except he prattles on about liberals.:argue:

steph

Heheheheheh. It's not really the conservatives I have a problem with but some groups that fall under that title. I can't very well point them out without raising EVERYONE'S hackles so I just pick on 'conservatives.'

Notice I am an ultraconservative liberal though. Some things the conservatives have dead on and one of my heroes was Mr. Heston!!!

Not all conservatives are bad and some liberals irk me to no end.

It's just easier to say conservative and leave it at that.

If someone said they supported Bush because of X,Y and Z policy I would respect it but say and how is that working out for us and expect to see his failed policies and admit it.

When someone says they picked him solely because he is conservative or Christian or southern it drives me crazy. Um why do they think we keep electing bad officials. Conservatives are especially bad for this. Voting on their morals and convictions. That's always a disaster.

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So because you contend that Medicare fraud apparently costs less than private insurance inefficiency, we should accept it??!!

It is the height of irresponsibility and arrogance to demand for more funding from the taxpayers (for anything) when the dollars currently being paid are being misappropriated.

Unfortunately, you can't with-hold federal taxes, regardless of how irresponsible the spending is.

I believe that I have quite consistently argued for a pattern of smart spending on this and many other threads. I wasn't belittling the import of fixing problems in medicare reimbursement as they are found rather that it is a more efficient use of time to chase the biggest savings first.

I do believe that if we are going to collectively fix a system that the first place to start is where the big dollars can be found and that is in the area of administrative waste of the private health care system. By all means we should fix problems whenever/wherever they are found but this is a matter of prioritization.

With private health insurance you have no more choice to withhold premium dollars than taxes. Most of the people who have health insurance pay their share of their premiums through payroll deducation. (A tax by any other name is still a tax...)

The evidence shows that states with an emphasis on universal care spend less per capita on health care than the states without. (Less is spent in MN per capita on Medicare than in TX as one example.) (Part of the savings is attained through good primary care models as well as the reduced usage of specialty care.)

(In all the hoopla about the Florida criminals I think we have lost sight of the fact that the criminals were eventually caught by the Medicare oversight process. I think if you look at white collar crime that it would be very easy to discover hundreds of cases where employers and employees have defrauded businesses for years before internal control systems discovered the crime.)

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

Of course no one here wants to accept fraud and curruption. Not falsely charging the governmant or in surance companies.

Not denying healthcare by companies that people pay for that care if they need it.

LOS ANGELES - A hospital CEO was arrested Wednesday in what authorities said was a scheme to recruit homeless people as phony patients and bill government programs for millions of dollars in unnecessary health services.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080806/...caWI8lMsNH2ocA

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I don't vote based on a person's faith or personality or skin color or sex or geographic region.

Voting for the most conservative person makes perfect sense to this conservative.

That means he/she believes in lower taxes, line-item veto, cutting pork, strict interpretation of the Constitution and Bill of Rights (which means believing there is no right to abortion in the Constitution and therefore Roe vs. Wade is BAD LAW). I'm conservative when it comes to immigration. Global warming. UHC. Emminent Domain.

I share some of Ron Paul's idea . . . some of which he shares with Conservatives . . love of liberty and frugal government and resentment of Big Brother government.

There are exact conservative principles that I have in mind when I vote and there is nothing wrong with voting for those principles.

steph

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

The delivery of a message does NOT impact the message's accuracy however. People never seem to understand that...

As the "Queen of Sarcasm" I get that.

But by any delivery method, coolpeaches' characterization of her political opponents as uneducated hayseeds is inaccurate and offensive.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
I belittle people all the time. Especially for their 'choice' of president. Just not on allnurses... And never publicly!!! :) Inner monologues are wonderful things!

Funny. One of the things I have to keep drilling into my 10-year-old's head is that there are many things that are perfectly OK to think in one's mind that will cause unending grief if spoken aloud. Most of that grief coming from the principal. She'll get it someday, or she'll be one heck of a stand-up comic.

Now, to the chalkboard, both of you! 100 times, "I will not make remarks about my less witty classmates/fellow posters!"

She actually had an original short story published in a magazine about this topic. I'd love to tell you where to read it, but then you'd know who I am :eek:

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Discussing critical thinking skills was not meant as a pejorative rather that on occasion people vote on emotions rather than after careful reflection about the impact of their electoral choices on their lives and that of their neighbors.

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Of course no one here wants to accept fraud and curruption. Not falsely charging the governmant or in surance companies.

Not denying healthcare by companies that people pay for that care if they need it.

or paying for medical errors that result in direct harm to patients....

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