The FOX NEWS Shits Will Explode

[pocaracas]

Oh, those silly backward europeans... -.-'

Turns out... they may be right about somethings, huh? who knew?!
Yes global healthcare is a burden to the central government.
But I think it's a burden they happily sustain as it keeps the workforce healthy and, as a result, you know... working and buying stuff, keeping the economy moving!
Instead of waiting in a hospital, dying for lack of funds to treat themselves and other nasties you capitalists have over on that side of the pond...
And when anyone wants to implement such a system over there, what do you guys do? shoot it down! -.-'

Portugal alone, with its 10 million people, spends some 8000 million euros of healthcare every year (page 107 of that pdf). An average of 800€ per person... to get some 1000€ back... I'd say it's a sound investment.

[KichigaiNeko]

Oh, those silly backward europeans... -.-'

Turns out... they may be right about somethings, huh? who knew?!
Yes global healthcare is a burden to the central government.
But I think it's a burden they happily sustain as it keeps the workforce healthy and, as a result, you know... working and buying stuff, keeping the economy moving!
Instead of waiting in a hospital, dying for lack of funds to treat themselves and other nasties you capitalists have over on that side of the pond...
And when anyone wants to implement such a system over there, what do you guys do? shoot it down! -.-'

Portugal alone, with its 10 million people, spends some 8000 million euros of healthcare every year (page 107 of that pdf). An average of 800€ per person... to get some 1000€ back... I'd say it's a sound investment.

Couldn't have said it better pocaracas !

[xpastor]

The USA seems to have the worst healthcare of any advanced industrialized nation, unless you are a multi-millionaire.

In the international ratings France does come out ahead of Canada (I think mainly because of wait times) but we are still light years ahead of the USA.

Because of my folly in going into the ministry around age 40, I had spent all my savings and when I came to my senses, in spite of all my degrees I could only find unskilled manual labor jobs for the last 22 years of my working life: construction worker, truck driver, forklift operator, eventually gas fitter. So I am by no means well to do.

About 13 years ago tests detected a small but aggressive cancer in my prostate. I was referred for 9 weeks of radiation treatment 5 days a week at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, which is among the top five cancer clinics in the world. In the years after the treatment there was regular follow up with the radiation specialist.

Eventually the cancer recurred, and in 2010 I was offered a prostatectomy as an option. My radiation oncologist referred me to a surgeon who is regarded as the top man in Canada for this specialty. Three years later it appears the cancer is completely gone.

I was not billed one cent for all this treatment.

[Crossless2.0]

The USA seems to have the worst healthcare of any advanced industrialized nation, unless you are a multi-millionaire.

In the international ratings France does come out ahead of Canada (I think mainly because of wait times) but we are still light years ahead of the USA.

Because of my folly in going into the ministry around age 40, I had spent all my savings and when I came to my senses, in spite of all my degrees I could only find unskilled manual labor jobs for the last 22 years of my working life: construction worker, truck driver, forklift operator, eventually gas fitter. So I am by no means well to do.

About 13 years ago tests detected a small but aggressive cancer in my prostate. I was referred for 9 weeks of radiation treatment 5 days a week at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, which is among the top five cancer clinics in the world. In the years after the treatment there was regular follow up with the radiation specialist.

Eventually the cancer recurred, and in 2010 I was offered a prostatectomy as an option. My radiation oncologist referred me to a surgeon who is regarded as the top man in Canada for this specialty. Three years later it appears the cancer is completely gone.

I was not billed one cent for all this treatment.

I am glad to hear that you appear to be out of the woods. Congratulations!

Of course, if you had gone in for similar treatments here, you would have been in the unenviable position of possibly saving your life at the risk of losing everything.

I remember some few years back when Congress decided to make declaring bankruptcy more difficult. The conservative talking point was that the "reforms" they wanted to push through were meant to cut down on the number of people who filed for bankruptcy after foolishly and irresponsibly running up their credit, in spite of the fact that an overwhelming majority of private bankruptcy filings were the result of crippling medical bills.

I lack the words the express my contempt for those corporate shill fucks.

[DeistPaladin]

Even putting the humanitarian concerns aside, the way the US healthcare system is structured is insane, guaranteed to cost the most and deliver the least.

In business school, when I took my first course in organizational behavior, the number one rule I learned is that you get what you reward. Don't hope for "A" while rewarding "B". If you're not getting the results you want from your employees, take a hard look at what you're rewarding and punishing.

Our healthcare system is run by for-profit health insurance companies. These companies make money by NOT providing healthcare. They have a vested interest to deny coverage, to stonewall, to delay, to knock sick people off the roles, to deny care for pre-existing conditions and to make doctors jump through as many administrative hoops as possible to delay reimbursement.

So what do we think is supposed to happen? Are we hoping that these for-profit health insurance companies will take care of sick people out of the goodness of their hearts? Companies are soulless money-making machines, nothing more. They can be expected to move toward making more money. This can be a good thing if that goal coincides with the good of the economy but not in this case.

It's like we've put foxes in charge of the chicken coup and hope the foxes will take care of the chickens instead of eating them. Then we talk of band-aid "reforms" which involve trying to regulate the foxes so they don't eat so many chickens. But foxes are clever, as are for-profit corps, and they will find ways around the regulations. Foxes won't take care of the chickens because it's not in their nature. For-profit corps won't forego making money to take care of sick people because it's not in their nature.

Our system can't be reformed. It is so fundamentally broken that it must be overhauled. Healthcare is a community function, not a product. It needs to be run by the government the same way that other community functions are.

Let me also add that as a business owner, I would happily pay more in taxes as an alternative to the gouging I get from the insurance companies. Government healthcare is actually more efficient, since it cuts out the useless middle man of the heath insurance companies, so my new taxes are bound to be lower than the premiums I would no longer have to pay. I would save money under such a system.

I'm not making light of the humanitarian side and the stories of suffering averted in other countries (or how I had to deplete my life savings when my asthmatic wife was taken to the ICU when a chest cold turned into pneumonia). I'm just pointing out that even from the standpoint of the cold numbers on a spreadsheet, government run healthcare is much more preferable.

[Whateverist]

That's right, bitches. Here in Murica we got the most exceptional healthcare in the whole wide world, at least for those profiteering in insurance.

[Minimalist]

So what you are saying is that USA health care is abysmal compared to French health care? And that the French have greater monetary power and humanity than the USoA?

This is why I love you, darlin'.

You cut right to the chase!

[bladevalant546]

Gotta love America...best country in the world. I swear I going to leave this dumb before they make it illegal or to expensive to leave this country. America will become a third world oligarcy controled by corporations.....aka Libertarians dreamland. I cannot wait to see the liberatarians face once they realize their "rich" people are their masters.

[Clueless Morgan]

In NI, I had a fairly bad motorbike crash when I was in my late 20s. Nothing horrific - a few minor fractures, road rash, that sort of thing. I was in hospital for 6 days, had 4 weeks of physical therapy, and was on pain meds for about 3 months.

Total billing: £11 500.

My costs: £200 (cab fare to and from PT).

A socialist nightmare, that was.

Boru

About 13 years ago tests detected a small but aggressive cancer in my prostate. I was referred for 9 weeks of radiation treatment 5 days a week at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, which is among the top five cancer clinics in the world. In the years after the treatment there was regular follow up with the radiation specialist.

Eventually the cancer recurred, and in 2010 I was offered a prostatectomy as an option. My radiation oncologist referred me to a surgeon who is regarded as the top man in Canada for this specialty. Three years later it appears the cancer is completely gone.

I was not billed one cent for all this treatment.

Contrast that with me having to go to the hospital for an emergency MRI (as in, this can't wait or she might die) because my heart rate would plummet just standing up and I would get light-headed and feel faint laying down and because my doctor couldn't get preapproval from my insurance company (who wanted to review my case and would get back to my doctor in a week) the MRI cost me $2500.

I could pay $2500 out of pocket or risk my life waiting a week for preapproval and die of a pulmonary embolism or something in the meantime.

American health insurance is a scam.

[Minimalist]

The USA seems to have the worst healthcare of any advanced industrialized nation, unless you are a multi-millionaire.

In the international ratings France does come out ahead of Canada (I think mainly because of wait times) but we are still light years ahead of the USA.

Because of my folly in going into the ministry around age 40, I had spent all my savings and when I came to my senses, in spite of all my degrees I could only find unskilled manual labor jobs for the last 22 years of my working life: construction worker, truck driver, forklift operator, eventually gas fitter. So I am by no means well to do.

About 13 years ago tests detected a small but aggressive cancer in my prostate. I was referred for 9 weeks of radiation treatment 5 days a week at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, which is among the top five cancer clinics in the world. In the years after the treatment there was regular follow up with the radiation specialist.

Eventually the cancer recurred, and in 2010 I was offered a prostatectomy as an option. My radiation oncologist referred me to a surgeon who is regarded as the top man in Canada for this specialty. Three years later it appears the cancer is completely gone.

I was not billed one cent for all this treatment.

Obviously, X-P that's SOCIALISM.... and the shitheads in this country think that is far worse than cancer!