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?

Specializes in Women's health & post-partum.

My husband (now retired) worked for many years as a "bureaucrat" with the welfare department in our state. His experience was there were many (but sadly, not all) young families who wanted to work but would not take jobs because they couldn't afford health care if they lost their medical coverage--which they would if they took a job. They didn't have the skills to qualify for much more than minimum wage jobs. Child care was also an issue, but health care was bigger.

So, I'm in favor. I'm fortunate to not be one of the seniors who is at risk of being impoverished by a medical emergency, but I'm sure we wouldn't need to pay any more in taxes than we now pay to our HMO plus Medicare.

Eh, No. I think we need to cut exhorbitant costs, stop so many docs from going into specialties, get better preventative care and habits, and stop spending so much on healthcare.

I don't feel universal health care is the answer. Is it really going to be universal? I mean -- it will STILL cost somebody something. I just do not trust the save govt. who gave us the Katrina debacle and everything else to be honest with us and provide us our healthcare.

That said, we have had military healthcare all our lives and they haven't killed us off yet. Still, I NEVER, EVER have had my very own doctor who knows me personally. Are you all ready to go to that? It is not fun and I am always, always worried that I'm going to develop some terminal disease without knowing it. I DO go in and demand a once year physical, but it's not like they want me in there or give me reminders to get them. They don't even KNOW ME.

I just cannot imagine Americans with all their obesity and chronic diseases, horrible diet and habits, and the hardworking taxpayers having to fund all their care.

If the govt would put enormous pressure on people to lose weight and take care of themselves, to stop smoking, drinking, and drugging ...well, I might be for it then.

Specializes in ER/OR.

I do think there is a problem with our system -- people have to decide to start working and not qualify for medicaid or not work and have healthcare. Obviously, most mothers opt to have healthcare. This loophole needs to be fixed.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

So folks would work hard, pay exorbitant insurance rates and then be refused care.Sounds good.

I would love universal healthcare. I am not an RN (yet) but I am the mom of two kids, one of whom has a lot of medical issues. It has been a huge struggle for us to pay for her care, especially when she was on elemental formula at $600/month, with regular endoscopies, tube-feeding supplies, not to mention copays, meds, and all that. We don't make enough to qualify for medicaid for her, but we are a single income family (I can't put her in daycare), my husband works for the state so it's not we are paid the big bucks. It's just really really hard.

A parent should not have to have such a financial burden because of medical bills. My other daughter could not take music lessons like she wanted to, or sports because we could not afford it. We don't have cable or get magazines or go out to eat or go to movies (dollar theatre only), and our home needs maintenance that we have put off. We have no savings, a lot of debt, a lot of stress. If not for the medical issues we would be in much better financial shape. At one point we were thinking of getting a paper divorce so she would qualify for medicaid. Sad, huh?

Oh, and even with the system we have now, which is supposed to be better than other countries with universal care, my daughter has to wait months to get into her specialists for regular checkups. The doctor wants her to come in every two months, but when I call to make an appt for two months later the first available is in four months.

You're right, this is another whole issue to be debated, and for the most part, I am with you on the current medical model of treating the natural process of birth.

(For the record, I was born at home with a nurse midwife!)

I work NICU, and see the end results of fertility treatment. These are the kids dying in NICU. 21-year old mom's pregnant with IVF triplets born at 24 weeks. 2 died. 26 y/o mom delivers 26 week triplets. 2 died. The average survival rate of infants born at 23-24 weeks is between 25-35% with today's technology. These are kids who would have been delivered and put in mom's arms, and the door shut behind the doctor. I can't say for sure that prematurity and the fertility boom are solely responsible for the abnormally high infant mortality rates, but I can say that from here, it sure looks like it. The programs and services to prevent mortality are in place, but there are many other cofactors for them not being used.

Oh, and everyone, here's a 38pg thread on UHC currently being discussed.....

https://allnurses.com/forums/f287/universal-healthcare-284055.html

A doctor who would do IVF on a 21-year-old should have their license revoked!

My husband (now retired) worked for many years as a "bureaucrat" with the welfare department in our state. His experience was there were many (but sadly, not all) young families who wanted to work but would not take jobs because they couldn't afford health care if they lost their medical coverage--which they would if they took a job. They didn't have the skills to qualify for much more than minimum wage jobs. Child care was also an issue, but health care was bigger.

So, I'm in favor. I'm fortunate to not be one of the seniors who is at risk of being impoverished by a medical emergency, but I'm sure we wouldn't need to pay any more in taxes than we now pay to our HMO plus Medicare.

Some states give automatic Medicaid coverage, regardless of income, to people who have certain expensive, rare diseases for precisely this reason - they, or their parents, want to work, are often in excellent health otherwise, but they would top out a, say, $1 million policy in a very short time. I understand Massachusetts has this policy for ALS, and am pretty sure Iowa does it for hemophilia. Medicaid may only pay for treatment related to those diseases, but they are covered on some level and are not totally dependent on the taxpayers.

I've heard of more than one couple who got divorced so a chronically ill spouse or child would be eligible for Medicaid. That's just tragic. (Edit: I made this post before reading American Chai's posts.)

Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.

Let's see, I began my nursing education a year before Medicare/Medicaid was passed. Prior to then, if you didn't have the money, you didn't see a doctor unless it was an emergency. Surgery? You had to put down at least 50% of the expected bill to the hospital. And agree to regular payments and sign away your home, if you owned one. If you were poor, you had to depend on public health clinics and charity, in the hospital. Right after Medicare/Medicaid went into effect not many physicians took patients covered by them, not enough money. Then they discovered what a gold mine they could be. Now we are all paying for their greed and the hospitals greed.

I paid for my own health insurance for four years, $100 a quarter, for 100% coverage. Then I went to work for the state for four years. Then I moved to Florida. To obtain BC/BS I would have had to pay $100 a month, gotten only 80% of my hospital bill paid, none of my physician's, 60% of my lab, need I go on. I was young, so I opted out of health care coverage.

In 1991 I qualified for Medicare because I was disabled. I could have opted for Medicare HMO but I haven't. Despite being stuck with paying that 20%, on my fixed income, I prefer the choices fee-for-service allows me. My daughter just finished paying for a cervical laminectomy she had to have done three years ago. Her share for what her insurance didn't pay. She just got notice of an increase in their share of fees and other costs, along with an increase in the cost of the insurance. And it is thru her husbands employer, the city.

My stand today, yesterday and more then thirty five years ago, universal health care. And knowing physicians and hospitals, they will offer private services, for a fee of course.

Woody:twocents:

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Do I want universal health care? YES.

Do I want the federal government to run it? NO.There are far too many ways the feds could, and no doubt would, foul it up. My preference would be for the feds to collect taxes in the usual manner, but the individual states would receive the money to administer their health programs according to the needs of their populations. One size definitely does not fit all; states with, say, a large number of young immigrant families would need to allocate their healthcare dollars differently from a state such as Florida with its population of retirees.

I would also have the state programs run by panels of administrators, which would be made up of health professionals, financial experts, attorneys, and even some ordinary citizens. For one thing, these people are far better equipped than your average bureaucrat to prioritize medical services and to understand the financial and legal ramifications of each procedure or treatment. For another, managing health care at the federal level would probably be a logistical nightmare.......unwieldy at best, and at worst it would be as bad as the current mishmash of thousands of different insurances.

JMHO.

Specializes in Day program consultant DD/MR.

For those that are against universal healthcare and that are using the argument that you are tired of having to "pay for those on welfare or mothers having crack babies" have you thought that as it stands right now that is exactly who you are paying for. If universal healthcare goes through it will benefit so many more people, those working class that are stuck in jobs they hate d/t the fact that they need the healthcare benefits, not to say that they would stop working and get on state aid but they would be able to have a job they like maybe even a "career". It will benefit those who are forced to work more than one job because they do have ins but they also have to pay out @** for copays, medications, and deductable so the $$ from the second job pay for this.

Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

My daughter needed specialized care that totalled well over a million dollars when she was born.It didn't matter that I worked at a low paying job. I never paid a cent for any hospital care or any follow up appointments with specialists, whom we got in to see as soon as we neede to. Any treatment she neede was done immediately without having to consult any insurance company.

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