How Will Universal Health Care Change Nursing?

MamaKitty13214 · Jun 26, 2009

The increases we see today in our health care system IS NOT the result of a free market. It's the result of FAILED government policies that have DESTROYED our health care market. ANYONE DISAGREE??? And your remedy to this is more and more government... That's a true definition of INSANITY!

Our health should not be treated as a commodity ("market") to be exploited for corporate profits. Please specify what "failed government policies" have destroyed our "health care market".

Health care should not be a "market" where our health and well being are bought and sold by corporate interests.

Corporate greed and Wall Street have destroyed our "health care market". Numerous posts of people's real-life, real-world experiences in this thread alone are testimony to that.

Health insurance premiums just keep increasing 20-30% or more every year and wages remain stagnant or people lose their jobs. I don't know what world you live in, but you sound like you are clearly anti-government, pro-Wall Street, against working people, travel on the Right Wing Swift Boat, are completely out of touch with what ordinary working people are going through and really don't care about anything but maintaining Wall Street "free market" profits.

If you don't like how things are in this country, perhaps you and your wife should go back to Brazil. That's what right wingers always tell any "foreigner" who doesn't agree with them. Sorry, what you say is totally biased toward sacrificing human beings for corporate profits and maintaining status quo. The U.S. Government, particularly for the past 8 years, has been a travesty beyond descriptionand NO, NO way could I ever "trust the government" the way it is, totally in the hands of corporate interests.

BUT certain programs, like Medicare, worked quite well until the likes of Senator Bill Frist (MD, hotshot heart surgeon with mega interests in Humana HMOs -- http://effectmeasure.blogspot.com/2005/05/frist-family-values.html ) twisted arms in Congress to pass laws favoring health care legislation that opened the door for FOR PROFIT health care corporations to take over parts of Medicare and Medicaid. So, yeah, here is just one of your "failed" "government" programs -- MEDICARE D -- it is a HUGE barrier to medical treatment because it is so complicated & requires being locked in to very confusing "plans" run by private insurers who profit from restricting your access to what you need. Failed because corporate interests in Congress decided that Old People & Disabled People needed to be exploited. You obviously want more of the same.

U.S. Government is imperfect with a great deal of corruption and a few good people like John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Eric Massa, and others who DO want to do the right thing for all of us, which is their ethical responsibility to do. THEY deserve our support because THEY are swimming upstream for us to pass legislation that will help PEOPLE and NOT CORPORATIONS!!

Your free market privateers are making all the laws that are making "government" fail. So, let's keep letting the entities that are CAUSING the problem keep running the show that -- "free" markets.

That's a true definition of INSANITY!!!

Pierrette · Jun 26, 2009

If you don't like how things are in this country, perhaps you and your wife should go back to Brazil.

Rude statement.

I think he does like how things are in this country right now.

allnurses Guide · Jun 26, 2009

I found John Stossel's report on youtube . . .one of my favorite parts is below (insurance for groceries) and the rest are in the link at the bottom of this post.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpsEAVbCkMM[/YOUTUBE]

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=john+stossel+sick+in+america&search_type=&aq=8&oq=john+stossel+

steph

MamaKitty13214 · Jun 26, 2009

Rude statement.
I think he does like how things are in this country right now.

OK. You are right, he is perfectly OK with how things are in this country right now. But I don't think my statement was rude. He is anti-government & anti-change and offers no productive solutions to the desperate problems that so many of us are facing. He is part of the problem, not part of the answer. Things in this country right now are in a desparate state and in need of change. Too many people are dying unnecessarily just because they cannot access basic health care because they don't have the money or insurance and this is simply WRONG on any ethical or spiritual level. Again, I have to ask, how is money more important than human beings?? Is it right for people to die because they don't have money? Is money the only measure of worth for our existence on this planet? That is what it comes down to and it gets very complicated.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." ... Albert Einstein

MamaKitty13214 · Jun 26, 2009

I found John Stossel's report on youtube . . .one of my favorite parts is below (insurance for groceries) and the rest are in the link at the bottom of this post.
BpsEAVbCkMM
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=john+stossel+sick+in+america&search_type=&aq=8&oq=john+stossel+
steph

Swift Boat Propaganda:down: Don't look at that man behind the curtain.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." ... Albert Einstein

dtp232323 · Jun 26, 2009

No major urban center, Digby, Nova Scotia

The doctor drove from a southern city Ya?mouth????? I forgot the rest. I never said a major city. ARe you Canadian?

dtp232323 · Jun 26, 2009

Yarsmouth.

Saúde · Jun 26, 2009

I'm not sure if labeling me as a "right winger" or affiliating me with men who have voted repeatedly to fund YOUR failed government programs is fair to me. IMO - It shows your ignorance and lack of understanding of the issue because the last time I checked Republicans offered very few solutions and Democrats, well what can I say, their idea of a remedy is to pump steroids into our current failed health care programs. It time for change, that I can agree with you on...

Pierrette · Jun 26, 2009

Is it right for people to die because they don't have money? Is money the only measure of worth for our existence on this planet? That is what it comes down to and it gets very complicated.

I would phrase the above differently: Is it wrong for people to die because they don't have money?

nursecassia · Jun 26, 2009

I am no expert on the Canadian system, but I did spend 10 hours in an ER chatting with nurses, receptionist and aides. They had one doctor who drove 45 KM (about 100 miles) from his home to reach the hospital and they were happy to have the one. The equipment (computers included) appeared to be over 20 years old. There was no soap in the room or restrooms. It seems there was only one size gloves available. The admitting lady told me they were very close to having to close their doors due to lack of funding. The nurse seemed embarssed after scotch taping my arm ID band to hold in it place. I shouldn't have told her ours (in the states) had to be cut off with scissors. I asked what locals did when they were ill. They said the GP's accepted a certain number of patients and other people did without. This is not what I would like to become accustomed to.
I fell down 20 stairs, fractured a bone in my elbow (I had no idea if there were internal injuries) and chose to fly back to the state to use more modern facilities with soap, better lighting and probably a more rested staff. I also did not want to bring staph with me from Canada. I was so happy to go to my local ER and wait 2 hours. At least I knew there would be a CT, MRI, or ultrasound available if needed.
We do need to fix our system. I don't think government control is the way to do so.

I work in Canada and I can attest to the fact that we do have HUGE staffing shortages with nurses and doctors, our equipment in some areas is older...The wait time was horrible, and we do often have to wait hours to get into emergency departments however can you complain about the care you recieved by these staff?? They clearly assessed you and triaged you according to your injury, and let the more acutely ill in ahead of you...You fell down the stairs and thought you would have internal injuries, in 10 hours of waiting you would have presented with some other symptoms demonstrating this..I have full confidence that you were 100 percent safe while you were waiting. That fractured bone, if you needed surgery for it how much would it cost you?? Canada= 0 dollars, no loans nothing... as for the soap etc, that is housekeepings responsibility, if it were that bad I would have complained so maybe they would get more housekeeping staff..( we dont have enough where I am either) As for the staph, you are KIDDING YOURSELF if you think that the hospital you then went to for 2 hours doesnt have any.....Sounds like you were in a little hole in the wall and not an urban centre city. Im not saying that our system isnt flawed, it is and sometimes I just want to bang my head on the wall because I know what we need and there isnt enough funds to get it...but at the end of the day it may not be perfect but it is free. And this business about government control?? it is all government controlled no matter how you look at it...the governement controls everything, they are foolish to let the major corporations have a say on who gets care and who doesnt...those private companies dont want to pay for prevention because the sicker you people get the more money they make. Open your eyes people, dont buy into all the crap they have been shoving down your throats for years...No System is perfect but there is a lesser of the two evils.

Fiona59 · Jun 26, 2009

No major urban center, Digby, Nova Scotia
The doctor drove from a southern city Ya?mouth????? I forgot the rest. I never said a major city. ARe you Canadian?

Yup I'm Canadian but I don't drink Molsons. Every province is responsible for managing their health care funds and allocate them to the regions. Nova Scotians brag about their healthcare being better than the rest of the country due their size. I work with nurses who trained there and they are still laughing at your post.

jdub3 · Jun 26, 2009

Universal Health Care will equal less jobs and lower pay. Patient care will ultimately end up suffering whether it be to an underpaid physician or an angry underpaid overworked employees. This whole scheme has been set up to fail so the Social health care system will prevail. Americans will take the bait hook, line and sinker. They don't know enough about european healthcare and "for some reason" think its better.

Scenerio: Patient goes to the Dr. for minor problems a few times in a row, maybe not sick at all. They end up getting denied healthcare b/c they seem to be crazy by the provider, or worse jail, psych facility.

Intergrated Patient Record Data Base Scenerio: Background checks have reveiled that you were prescribed xanax back in 95 and you were seeing a psychiatrist. Can you tell me a little about what was going on in your life then and why it won't affect your job.

That was the worst case "big brother" scenerio of course. My wife is from Romania and she would be happy to tell you about Socialized health care. The hospital is a place you DO NOT want to be. You have to pay each nurse every shift cash so they will provide better care. All surgeries are negotiated behind closed doors. The question is "how much should I pay this Dr.?, did I underpay or overpay?" If you don't have money to buy off "people" god help you. Now we are well ahead of Romania as a society but this Universal "social" healthcare system ultimely leads to this type stuff. Oh on a final note, nursing isn't even considered a profession, its a joke to the people in Europe as a general whole from my experience.