Congressional Budget Office: 24 million would lose insurance under RepubliCare
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it does make you wonder if the Europeans are actually looking out for someone's health and well-being or just being greedy cheap pricks.
I mean sure a Big Mac fries and a Coke are probably high in empty calories but just in case you've never seen reruns of Julia Child...
WSS
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How much is a pack of 20 cigarettes over there? Best I can find is it's about $6 or so, right? Here it's about $10, and rules have recently been introduced to make all packaging plain (and therefore less eye-catching) to reduce the amount of smokers and the severity of the condition.
Same kind of deal with things like fast food, sugary drinks - they're much cheaper in my (admittedly limited) experience over there than here, and yet more expensive in the rest of Europe. A big mac meal for example in switzerland costs about $12, and only comes in small or medium. None of the free refills etc.
How much is a pack of 20 cigarettes over there? Best I can find is it's about $6 or so, right? Here it's about $10, and rules have recently been introduced to make all packaging plain (and therefore less eye-catching) to reduce the amount of smokers and the severity of the condition.
Same kind of deal with things like fast food, sugary drinks - they're much cheaper in my (admittedly limited) experience over there than here, and yet more expensive in the rest of Europe. A big mac meal for example in switzerland costs about $12, and only comes in small or medium. None of the free refills etc.
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I've been right, I've been wrong and I've been gone for far too long.
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I'm still for straight up socialized medicine. If you want to pay for more have at it but everybody should have access to healthcare. Everyone.
Early man walked away as modern man took control. Their minds weren't all the same and to conquer was their goal. So He built his great empires and he slaughtered his own kind, and he died a confused man and killed himself in his own mind... -
I'm still for straight up socialized medicine. If you want to pay for more have at it but everybody should have access to healthcare. Everyone.
I'm still for straight up socialized medicine. If you want to pay for more have at it but everybody should have access to healthcare. Everyone.
That's exactly how it is in Europe. It's free for everyone (obviously paid out of taxes), but then a lot of companies offer private health insurance including mine. So if you don't have health insurance, you're still fine, but if you want to pay more, you can.
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I guess I could live with that kind of two tier medical system. When I was in college and broke I remember sitting for hours at the free clinic. How long do you suppose it would be before the left, well the American left, makes a giant issue of the fact that the rich get better treatment then the poor?
WSS
www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons -
I guess I could live with that kind of two tier medical system. When I was in college and broke I remember sitting for hours at the free clinic. How long do you suppose it would be before the left, well the American left, makes a giant issue of the fact that the rich get better treatment then the poor?
WSS
I guess I could live with that kind of two tier medical system. When I was in college and broke I remember sitting for hours at the free clinic. How long do you suppose it would be before the left, well the American left, makes a giant issue of the fact that the rich get better treatment then the poor?
WSS
It's basically a non-issue here. More of an issue is the funding cuts on the NHS. I guess it's about the only thing people here are as rabid about as gun ownership in the US, except it's not really partisan, most people are pro-NHS.
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Some vague figures I can quickly find, the UK health insurance total premiums is around £3-4bn, in the US it's apparently $1.2tn. Population-wise, there are about five times as many people in the US. So, even if these figures are off by a decent chunk, you can still get the idea that the private health industry here is pretty small compared to there.
There's also the fixed cost of medicine. Any prescription you have to buy yourself (not including things like paracetamol or whatever) is fixed at like £9.
The NHS is paid for out of National Insurance - which covers a lot of stuff besides healthcare - which works out at around £2.6k for someone earning £30k, £4.5k at £50k, you get the idea. In fact, according to HMRC, a salary of £50k means an NHS contribution of about £2.7k. And obviously there's no deductable, no disqualification for conditions etc.
How does that compare with your premiums and deductables?
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I guess I could live with that kind of two tier medical system. When I was in college and broke I remember sitting for hours at the free clinic. How long do you suppose it would be before the left, well the American left, makes a giant issue of the fact that the rich get better treatment then the poor?
WSS
It's basically a non-issue here. More of an issue is the funding cuts on the NHS. I guess it's about the only thing people here are as rabid about as gun ownership in the US, except it's not really partisan, most people are pro-NHS.
It's basically a non-issue here. More of an issue is the funding cuts on the NHS. I guess it's about the only thing people here are as rabid about as gun ownership in the US, except it's not really partisan, most people are pro-NHS.
I certainly understand that it's just that we here in the US are used to a certain level of service. Most people don't pay for their own so they don't care. Kind of like in your situation where you just assume someone else is taking care of it. But you should hear what happens if a particular Union needs to increase employee participation or raise a copay. It gets ugly pretty quickly. I doubt that if we switched completely to a single-payer system we would have as streamlined Service as we have now. Sure after a couple or three generations that will just become and place and not such a shock but switch now? Give everyone the Canadian system? Most people would not stand for it.
And it is similar to gun ownership. It's hard to take away anybody's rights, or dramatically decrease their entitlements too quickly.
WSS
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I guess I could live with that kind of two tier medical system. When I was in college and broke I remember sitting for hours at the free clinic. How long do you suppose it would be before the left, well the American left, makes a giant issue of the fact that the rich get better treatment then the poor?
WSS
It's basically a non-issue here. More of an issue is the funding cuts on the NHS. I guess it's about the only thing people here are as rabid about as gun ownership in the US, except it's not really partisan, most people are pro-NHS.
It's basically a non-issue here. More of an issue is the funding cuts on the NHS. I guess it's about the only thing people here are as rabid about as gun ownership in the US, except it's not really partisan, most people are pro-NHS.
nobodies rabid. People are determined to be able to protect themselves, and people don't want our gov debt to
completely crash our economy. Owning guns is our RIGHT, and it isn't government funded.
Just another liberal complete change of subject. Free hc turns into leftist perverts wanting sex change operations, nose jobs,
breast implants, and all sorts of weird optional no-good-reason-for-it cosmetic surgeries. No country can afford free
everything. Not even free everything for liberal twinkle-toe victims of something or another.
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Average premiums here are apparently a little over £1k. So not exactly the crippling amount people have been citing as criticisms of either the 'affordable healthcare act' or the 'american healthcare act'
As for your 'certain level of service' - does that mean you go to the doctor when you have a sniffle and get 'treated' right away? Because you can probably live without that. If you have things actually wrong, you're taken care of pretty well, despite what the horror stories would have you believe.
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Average premiums here are apparently a little over £1k. So not exactly the crippling amount people have been citing as criticisms of either the 'affordable healthcare act' or the 'american healthcare act'
As for your 'certain level of service' - does that mean you go to the doctor when you have a sniffle and get 'treated' right away? Because you can probably live without that. If you have things actually wrong, you're taken care of pretty well, despite what the horror stories would have you believe.
People can certainly live without the ability to go to the doctor immediately with a sniffle. And that my friend applies more to those on Medicaid than it does to those of us who pay for healthcare, they pay nothing and we'll take the kids to the Stat Care Clinic at the drop of a hat.Average premiums here are apparently a little over £1k. So not exactly the crippling amount people have been citing as criticisms of either the 'affordable healthcare act' or the 'american healthcare act'
As for your 'certain level of service' - does that mean you go to the doctor when you have a sniffle and get 'treated' right away? Because you can probably live without that. If you have things actually wrong, you're taken care of pretty well, despite what the horror stories would have you believe.
As for myself as you know I've had some recent serious problems and service was the best in the world and amazingly fast.
WSS
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If you mean stories of inconvenience and not actual horror stories we've experienced those and our money working trips to Canada.
U.s. Hospital make a lot of money from Canadians coming over for Orthopedic Service.
WSS
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And UK hospitals lose a decent chunk of money to healthcare tourism. It goes both ways. If you're a US citizen with insurance, but like a $15k deductable or whatever, you're not going to go to a doctor who says "ok sir, I can see you have the sniffles, but to be sure I want to send you for a CAT scan, MRI and a series of biopsies" and come out with a bill for thousands. So maybe you cross over and get checked out by the Canadians, then go American if it's something serious.
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If you can't pay for medical supplies or medicine step back to the end of the line. If there's some left over you'll get your handouts. If you don't like it then get a job and pay like everyone else.
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But that's the problem. The orthopedic work is usually meant to relieve something extremely painful sooner rather than waiting months or years. My deductible for a case of the sniffles would be a reasonably small amount of money certainly not worth A2 or 3 hour drive to Canada and a hotel room and a multiple hour wait to see a physician or a nurse or a nurse's aide.
My father-in-law lived in a retirement Village on the Texas border and many people crossed into Mexico to see a doctor or a dentist. Mexico pays for their citizens to go to medical school or dental school in the US but they have to work in Mexico for at least 2 years, maybe more. So they set up shop right across the border for older retired Americans to visit. Still we are talking about Minor medicine. Not cardiac surgery or knee replacement or hip replacements.
WSS
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Another thing is that few years ago I read that there were more MRI machines in Greater Cleveland than there are in Canada.
So I don't know how feasible it would be to drive up to Toronto for a quick MRI.
WSS
www.westsidesteve.com www.myspace.com/westsidestevemusic www.cdbaby.com/artist/westsidestevesimmons -
Obamacare will pay for an open MRI, but the health insurance I pay $5500 annually for will not.
Sound fair?
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Obamacare will pay for an open MRI, but the health insurance I pay $5500 annually for will not.
Sound fair?
Obamacare will pay for an open MRI, but the health insurance I pay $5500 annually for will not.
Sound fair?
5500 is pretty cheap. That's half what I pay just for premiums.
Did you qualify for a subsidy?
WSS
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WSS, the $5500 is for single coverage, not counting my $6k deductible.
I work at a large company in NEO, and there are guys that work here with a family plan that is costing them $1100 a month.
No, I don't qualify for a subsidy.
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