Obama's recent commentsFollow

I'm sorry. Was there some specific magical proposal you were all agreeing to? Or just a vaguely stated "we want universal health care!"?

Er? I was just questioning a post arguing that "universal health care" was somehow different than "free medical care" or "socialized medicine", etc...

Feel free to expand that into some broad and grandiose diatribe if you wish. All I was really trying to point out is that regardless of what you call it, the end goal of those pushing the agenda is the same.

Edited, Apr 21st 2008 5:54pm by gbaji

Feel free to expand that into some broad and grandiose diatribe if you wish. All I was really trying to point out is that regardless of what you call it, the end goal of those pushing the agenda is the same.

No, fuckstick.

It's not, you weren't. I'm not sure you have any idea at all what your point was.

That may be one of the few things we have in common.

What!

Are you telling me that our new anaesthetic machines arn't actually worth NZ$200,000?

And i might add, I always thought there was something askew with a 'health service' that has a budget of $25,000 for a hip replacement, but only $2 for in-patient meals...

Around here they started making Urgent Care Centers to keep people out of the emergency room. They're significantly cheaper, have a shorter wait time than a doctor's office, and don't require an appointment. I've been there more than once with an abcess or other infection. $65 for the visit fixes you up, and it's $200 less than an emergency room visit with less wait time. Win win win.

My insurance covers $15 of that visit XD So I guess they want to discourage me from doing that, Idunno.

Getting an appointment at my GP is a pain in the fscking ***. They don't open til 8AM, and they may not have an appointment that day, so I call in sick for work I may not even get to see the doctor that day. But the urgent care center is always open, and it's only $15 than my GP copay.

The worst is the gyno. I've gotten so sick of the male chauvinist pig OB/GYNs around here that I've given up on private practices entirely and I rely on the "charity" of the county government. At least they don't try to convince me to breed and they're more than happy to keep me on the pill forever. (Realism: In a county with 30% poverty rate we don't need more kids!)

Joph, putting holes in gbaji's dumb and happyland since 1996.

So are you saying that this *isn't* the model of medical care "being pushed" when people call for "universal health care"?

I'm saying that no one in the US is advocating for the elimination of private health care. Not even me. There are people advocating for government funded free health care of a high level for everyone. The two aren't anywhere near the same.

See if you can't riddle out why on your very own this time. /pat pat.

My family are Canadian. They don't get devastated by medical crises the way that we do in the US. I had a cousin born with a hole in his heart and a great aunt with Alzheimer's, for example--if they were American, my family members would have to sell their house and declare bankruptcy since they are working class people. Instead, it doesn't cost jack sh*t. I think in the US, people on the right mythologize the inefficiencies of Canadian health care--even Canadians do. One of my sister's friends, who eventually died of lupus at 30, couldn't work b/c she needed medicaid desperately to survive--so rather than make enough money and risk not having any medical care, she stayed on welfare--not an uncommon thing for people with chronic illnesses but not really in the interest of society--we'd be better off providing healthcare and have her work than provide everything.

In the absence of universal health care, Americans without insurance are far more likely to use expensive emergency room care than if they were in a system with an infrastructure-- they blow out the free care of most hospitals and as a result, hospitals eat the costs. It's unfortunate, too, that often the problem is that we're paying for catastrophic healthcare since people don't have access to preventative health care and regular doctor's visits. In turn, they bill insurance companies more to make up the short fall. The insurance companies charge more to companies--making it more expensive and less accessible for the working poor to get insurance--and that's who is uninsured, by and large.

So we're paying--the difference is that people want to introduce a system--one that will focus on the cheaper, more effective preventative care model, that will help the uninsured, rather than have them rely on emergency care or catastrophic care.

Of course, some on the right would rather whine about paying more taxes and so we end up paying more. But most of the propaganda about national healthcare plans is propagated by insurance companies and other people who can increase profits by this disorganized healthcare system that we have currently, with the piecemeal private insurance companies. It's frustrating b/c I think people would rather bury their head in the sand and provide empty rhetoric about wait for care in Canada than admit how problematic our insurance system currently is.

Edited, Apr 22nd 2008 10:40am by Annabella

That right thar, is equality! Wouldn't this lead right back down the road that started the American Revolution, taxation without proper representation?

Oh. I thought you were sarcastically giving an asinine suggestion to make a point. Apparently, you're just asinine.

Carry on, then.

Yeah, and that won't cost a thing.