http://www.rand.org/cgi-bin/health/hilite.pl?key=2009_215&hi=sood

Healthcare is the Economy!

Check out http://www.who.int/healthinfo/paper30.pdf page 18. This is a stastical analysis of which countries have the best healthcare. We are ranked 37th! What a sad day for America.

Issue; (Illegal immigrants receiving healthcare)
This arguement is about as dumb as they get. Anyone who says too you “Illegal Immegrants do not deserve healthcare” ask them this:
1. Do you want an illegal Immigrant who has turbercoulosis, who cannot get medical help, sitting next to you in a movie theater, restrauant, mall, grocery store coughing all over you?
2. If you get mugged and all your ID has been stolen, should an ambulance pull up and discover that you have no documentation, leave you there for without proof of citizenship for you are considered and illegal alien? I worked as a paramedic on an ambulance for over four years. The reality on the ground is that we are going to get you into the amublance, sustain your life and get you into the Emergency Room asap; hopefully within the golden hour. Illegal Alien or not.

I don’t believe my eyes when I see that you, young people, are supporting such model. You should learn from other’s mistakes instead of happily jumping on a broken boat similar to the one we are on. Don’t make the fool you – exactly the same arguments were used here by socialist.

Geeez…

Americans use weird definitions of liberal, communist, socialist, right and left. What is right in the US would be far-right in the Netherlands. What you call left is here centre or centre-right. The Democrats would be considered centre-right, the Republicans extreme-right. We do have a socialist party, but that party has never taken part in the government. We also have a party that’s nicknamed ‘the Liberals’. It’s usually the only party that agrees with the Republicans and was the only party that agreed with McCain. Communism is a form of government where the state is in control of everything and decides everything. In theory everyone is equal and receives the same. The current Health Care plan doesn’t force everyone to take the same insurance and let everyone pay the same. It also doesn’t force people to use certain hospitals. Therefore it’s not communist.

People often react surprised when you tell them the communist Netherlands doesn’t have a ‘Public Option’. A lot of the anti-healthcare plan protesters react enthusiasts on this. See! Even the socialistic and paternalistic Dutch don’t have a Public Option!
However, it’s wrong to think the government has nothing to do with our health care at all. It is mandatory to have a basic insurance and to make sure everyone can afford a basic insurance the government subsidises the insurance companies. Companies aren’t allowed to refuse customers, except in exceptional circumstances.

This resulted in a system where everyone is insured and where even stories circulate about patients that got a special treatment in a hospital in the states covered, trip and stay covered for the patient and a companion.

As for the ignorance, is it strange that people that get their news from a source that claims we kill babies and elderly against the will of their relatives or of themselves (in the latter case) while standing in front of a Palace of Justice — a remainder of a previous, extreme decentralised state form — which they call the Dutch Parliament and that use nazi posters to illustrate badly-informed blog posts are ignorant?

I was baffled when I was told that in some cases ambulances don’t take everyone. Is that really true? Do they really refuse people without an insurance?

Does it work? Does it make our standard of health better? The answer is neither Yes or No. But the problem is, it’s abused (by both users/citizens and healthcare providers) and unsustainable as the national age average increases and the costs of medicines and health care increases.

Abuse – it doesn’t have a general usage cap. I can get (and expect) free doctor and hospital visits and care for every little sniffle I have and front-up several times a week. As for the healthcare providers (hospitals, doctors, etc) they fudge figures and invent hospital wards that don’t exist to obtain extra government funding. And because of the abuse on both sides, wait times for medical care are extreme – unless you’re prepared to pay extra (top-up) the free government payment or have additional private medical insurance to jump waiting queues. More than 90% of our doctor’s at your local GP clinic charge more than the government paid rate for a standard visit anyway. The government pays almost $40AU for a standard doctor visit, but most doctor’s charge $50-$60, meaning you still have to pay up to $60 out of pocket just to see a doctor and then claim back your almost $40 from the government Medicare office at a later time.

As the cost of healthcare increases, and the quantity and average age of our aging population increases, the government paid healthcare model is also unsustainable in the future. Consultants and governments here are already recognizing that, as well as it being obvious from my Doctor’s charges example above. Our aging population gets larger and living longer lives, requiring more and more medical services, and the net quantity of tax payers whom contribute to the government healthcare system gets smaller and smaller, as a percentage of total population. Final result = less percentage of people paying taxes, and greater percentage of non-tax paying people requiring heatlhcare. Team this with exponentially increasing healthcare costs (medicines, treatments, r&d, etc.) and you have a totally unsustainable model.

The answer, for any country, is a user pays systems subsidised by the government teamed with safeguards for the needy and those in the lower socio-economics. But always with abuse caps!

Let me see a doctor for free but only give me 10 visits a year, after which I have to contribute on an increasing sliding scale, unless I have a disease/conditions which falls under special temporary or permanent exemptions. Almost the same for hospital treatment too. Give me 5 hospital treatments per year for free, after which I have to contribute too on an increasing sliding scale, unless I have a disease/conditions which falls under special temporary or permanent exemptions.

And I can choose to either self-fund or have private healthcare insurance if I want a higher level of care (private hospital vs public hospital) or will incur extra charges once my free usage ‘cap’ is completed and I have to start contributing. Only this sort of system is sustainable in any country that does not want to start paying at least 50% of it’s GDP towards free healthcare.

Where is an example of a country on the gold standard who is conservative, with no national health care that is on the up and up?

It cheaper because they have a 19% VAT. They are still burning through cash too at unprecedented rates too, their healthcare system will fail withing 10 years.

Maybe you should turn on Rush, Hanity or Beck. They are much more compassionate then the type of people you hear on NPR who are filled with hate and bitterness. All people on NPR do is complain instead telling people to take responsibility and control of their own lives. I like my freedom to choose which will go away with the public option. If any of you actually read beyond the table of contents of the bill you would understand how this is going to destroy everything that is awesome out healthcare in the US. This is all about control, not your healtcare. Do you think Obama is going to be using the same doctors you do? Doctors don’t want this, nor should you.

As Steven pointed out initial government intervention in the 60′s is why costs are completely out control today. The government should stay out of the healthcare. I work in a hospital and we get about 17 cents on every dollar we charge to people on medicard/aid. That gets absorbed by the other patients. Not to mention when people get free healthcare they come in for headaches and want MRIs since its all free. They call ambulances at 3am when their back hurts since its all free. That costs a lot of money.

Open your mind. Peace.