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Universal Health Care: For or Against?

Chopin-Lover

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If universal health care is introduced, there will most likely be a considerable increase in tax.
Are you for or against universal health care?
 
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Not many probably agree with me but I am for it. I had to pay some huge bills because of not having insurance...took years to pay off. I'd rather pay a tax because it still wouldn't equal what I was paying on those bills. Everyone has the right to health care when they need it, without having to take out loans and make those kinds of payments.
 
Reghead121 said:
Not many probably agree with me but I am for it. I had to pay some huge bills because of not having insurance...took years to pay off. I'd rather pay a tax because it still wouldn't equal what I was paying on those bills. Everyone has the right to health care when they need it, without having to take out loans and make those kinds of payments.
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I'm with you. My parents are both unemployed and pushing 60. Therefore, neither one of them have health insurance. If something were to happen to one of them tomorrow and needed surgery or something, they'd be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars in bills. The doctor is already wanting them to go have their bloodwork done for their perscriptions, but they can't ever go and get it done because they just can't afford it. They're getting their perscriptions from all different drugstores wherever they're cheapest.

Heathcare is just something that shouldn't have to be sacrificed. You can't always control what happens to you whether you get sick or need tests done or emergency surgery. It's something that everyone should be entitled to reardless. It's not meant to be a luxury.
 
I paid $700 for an emergency room visit (laceration, bleeding profusely, required stitches and a tetanus shot) and I have health insurance! And I waited 6 hours to be treated!!! I figure that if we can spend trillions on military and war which bring misery to, and are responsible for the deaths of countless people then we can divert tax revenues to a cause which is actually worthwhile, that is, healthcare. It is absolutely disgusting that seniors who have paid taxes all their lives are dying needlessly because they don't have adequate medical coverage while the US government is spending money hand over first on the military and wars. If you cannot see what's wrong with that picture, you need to get something called compassion.

BTW, Chopin-Lover, you should turn this into a poll.
 
Definitely against. People seem to think that the problem with health care is the tens of millions of people without health insurance. It's not. The real problem is the hundreds of millions of people with health insurance. Third party insurance is what drives health care prices up. If you had grocery insurance all you'd buy is gourmet food. With health insurance, doctors will prescribe the most expensive drugs and procedures and run every single test possible on you to avoid lawsuits. Yet with all the problems that exist because of insurance, the government wants to insure MORE people. If it was up to me I'd get government out of health care, insurance companies out of health care, everyone out of it except the doctor and the patient. That's how it should be. You and your doctor work out what's best for you. You and your doctor work out a plan to pay for it. It would drive up competition, which would drive up quality and drive down prices. It's win-win. We've turned into a world where everything is controlled where everyone wants to control other people's lives. I'd like to go back to the nutty idea that individuals should control their own lives.
 
Hardcastle said:
I paid $700 for an emergency room visit (laceration, bleeding profusely, required stitches and a tetanus shot) and I have health insurance! And I waited 6 hours to be treated!!! I figure that if we can spend trillions on military and war which bring misery to, and are responsible for the deaths of countless people then we can divert tax revenues to a cause which is actually worthwhile, that is, healthcare. It is absolutely disgusting that seniors who have paid taxes all their lives are dying needlessly because they don't have adequate medical coverage while the US government is spending money hand over first on the military and wars. If you cannot see what's wrong with that picture, you need to get something called compassion.

BTW, Chopin-Lover, you should turn this into a poll.
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Well put and if it were not for the TAX PAID health insurance Cheney has, he would have been a dead man by now.
Don't we deserve the same?

Our family can totally relate to your post. We pay monthly for health insurance via my husbands employer and rarely ever use it but when we need it most they bail on us. And if it were not for my husband's employment policy, where all employees are covered under their insurance plan, even if it is a pre-existing condition, we would be not be able to have any sort of insurance for one of our twin son's that has Autism. We would be denied.

I posted up the video because of the what Kaiser has put us through. As of Jan 2008, OREGON's mandated LAW - Mental Health Parity - went into effect. Insurance companies MUST provide speech, occupational, and physical therapy-- instead after waiting MANY MONTHS for help, and going to several expensive run around dead end appointments with huge co pays, all they would offer our son, Cameron at the age of 4 years old was RITALIN!
NO DRUGS FOR CAMERON!

Needless to say I told them to shove it up their wazoo. And Kaiser is not the only pulling this in Oregon.

We are just one hospital visit away from bankruptcy. I am so sick of it all- the games they play on us- Our insurance is only good if we NEVER have to use it. *sigh*


EVEN Cheney and Bush get quality health care paid with OUR TAX DOLLARS. WE THE PEOPLE deserve the same d@mmit!

I am ALL FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.
 
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CindyRilla said:
Well put and if it were not for the TAX PAID health insurance Cheney has, he would have been a dead man by now.
Don't we deserve the same?

Our family can totally relate to your post. We pay monthly for health insurance via my husbands employer and rarely ever use it but when we need it most they bail on us. And if it were not for my husband's employment policy, where all employees are covered under their insurance plan, even if it is a pre-existing condition, we would be not be able to have any sort of insurance for one of our twin son's that has Autism. We would be denied.

I posted up the video because of the what Kaiser has put us through. As of Jan 2008, OREGON's mandated LAW - Mental Health Parity - went into effect. Insurance companies MUST provide speech, occupational, and physical therapy-- instead after waiting MANY MONTHS for help, and going to several expensive run around dead end appointments with huge co pays, all they would offer our son, Cameron at the age of 4 years old was RITALIN!
NO DRUGS FOR CAMERON!

Needless to say I told them to shove it up their wazoo. And Kaiser is not the only pulling this in Oregon.

We are just one hospital visit away from bankruptcy. I am so sick of it all- the games they play on us- Our insurance is only good if we NEVER have to use it. *sigh*


EVEN Cheney and Bush get quality health care paid with OUR TAX DOLLARS. WE THE PEOPLE deserve the same d@mmit!

I am ALL FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.
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Besides agreeing with everything you said, I know you know this, Ritalin is horrible!! One of my best friends, her brother is Autistic. I learned a long time ago when they were playing around with his meds, how important they are. And how important the right ones are. They tried to cut the dose of one in half and holy cow! He ended up manic and suicidal within a week.
They are lucky enough to have great health insurance so Ryan has always had good meds, good doctors and good therapies. I can't imagine what it would be like for him without those things, they are so important to him and his stability.
Your son is adorable btw.
 
Bob George said:
Definitely against. People seem to think that the problem with health care is the tens of millions of people without health insurance. It's not. The real problem is the hundreds of millions of people with health insurance. Third party insurance is what drives health care prices up. If you had grocery insurance all you'd buy is gourmet food. With health insurance, doctors will prescribe the most expensive drugs and procedures and run every single test possible on you to avoid lawsuits. Yet with all the problems that exist because of insurance, the government wants to insure MORE people. If it was up to me I'd get government out of health care, insurance companies out of health care, everyone out of it except the doctor and the patient. That's how it should be. You and your doctor work out what's best for you. You and your doctor work out a plan to pay for it. It would drive up competition, which would drive up quality and drive down prices. It's win-win. We've turned into a world where everything is controlled where everyone wants to control other people's lives. I'd like to go back to the nutty idea that individuals should control their own lives.
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This seems like a reasonable idea, until you've seen the bills for people with serious diseases, like cancer. Do you think you could pay for something like an organ transplant yourself? With or without third party insurance, that would be incredibly expensive. Only the rich would be able to afford treatment for serious diseases.

I would like some sort of universal health care system in the US, but I would be concerned that a government run healthcare system would be inefficient and poorly managed. However, we need to make sure that everyone can get medical treatment when they need it. No one should lose their house or be forced into bankruptcy due to a medical issue. No one should have to choose between medicine or food.

Of course I don't want to pay more in taxes, but I would no longer have to pay for medical insurance. Pemiums, co-pays, and deductibles can get very expensive! So, yes, I'm for universal health care.
 
FOR, and we're very lucky here in Australia to have it... even though our system isn't perfect.

I wouldn't say that my family's wealthy but my mother has a good income and she gets taxed 46%. So yep, almost half her paycheck goes on tax.

But whenever she complains about it I remind her that a few years ago when we were poor and on welfare, it was because of these higher taxes that we were able to get healthcare for free whenever we needed it.

The thought of living in a country without universal healthcare is just scary to me, to be honest.
 
diana79 said:
This seems like a reasonable idea, until you've seen the bills for people with serious diseases, like cancer. Do you think you could pay for something like an organ transplant yourself? With or without third party insurance, that would be incredibly expensive. Only the rich would be able to afford treatment for serious diseases.
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But the point is, without third party insurance, these prices go down dramatically. Doctors and hospitals are forced to compete by lowering their prices and increasing their quality of service. See at the moment insurance companies cover the costs so doctors and hospitals don't care how much something costs. But as soon as they are suddenly responsible for pricing, they'll be forced to make their prices more competitive so they can stay in business. Just like in any other area of the marketplace.

Of course I don't want to pay more in taxes, but I would no longer have to pay for medical insurance. Pemiums, co-pays, and deductibles can get very expensive! So, yes, I'm for universal health care.
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What if you had to option to neither pay higher taxes or premiums, co-pays and deductibles? What if all you had to pay for was the actual medical care you're receiving?

The free-market solution for health care is by far the best I've seen. I encourage anyone who truly wants to see health care fixes around the world to watch John Stossel's 20/20 special called "Sick in America". Here, I'll post a segment of the special here. In this clip Stossel shows how competition works effectively in the health care industry today. I encourage you to watch the whole special on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_KCLm9cekU
 
The problem with US healthcare is the fact that it's a profit based system , to an extend that it's run like any other corporation. People's health should be a right.
 
000cozzie000 said:
FOR, and we're very lucky here in Australia to have it... even though our system isn't perfect.

I wouldn't say that my family's wealthy but my mother has a good income and she gets taxed 46%. So yep, almost half her paycheck goes on tax.

But whenever she complains about it I remind her that a few years ago when we were poor and on welfare, it was because of these higher taxes that we were able to get healthcare for free whenever we needed it.

The thought of living in a country without universal healthcare is just scary to me, to be honest.
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I heard your health care system is very good as well as the benefits for having children and raising them.
 
Bob George said:
In every other area of our live, when profit and competition are involved the consumer wins.
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Actually, health care very much IS just like any other business. The doctors personally may care about you but I don't believe the system does. I worked in a hosptial laboratory for five years where that was made very clear. The bottom line is still the bottom line, not what is best for the consumer.

In south eastern Wisconsin there are two or three major players in the health system field, although one really dominates it. And they have jacked up the prices. There were some really good articles in the Journal Sentinel about how the company I worked for is partially responsible for the area having very high prices that are passed on to the consumer. Part of the reason prices are high is because they have to compensate for those not insured at all that cannot pay the bill. The hospital gets stuck with those. And those costs keep going up as people lose their jobs and their insurance.

It would be great if costs went down. But how is that going to happen? And what happens in the meantime? More end up in medical bankruptcy. It sucks.

If a great way around all that was found without having to resort to universal health care then great but I doubt it will be found. Any system will have it's ups and it's downs. We have some of the best technology and health care in the world...yet how many have no access to it? Isnt our country supposed to take care of it's citizens? Instead of spending billions killing people somewhere else? They need to get the real priorities straight.

Coming to Australia for a while has shown me that universal type health care is OK. I got in faster here for a dental appt than I ever have in America. And they treated me fantastic. It was literally the best dental appointment I ever had. Government run health care isn't the scary monster they are trying to make it out to be......

Seriously those who thing it's all so horrible...or that the coverage in Australia is horrible....has never gone with no coverage for a few years AND had something happen where you had to go to the hospital....with no coverage. You learn really quickly just how fast it will screw up your life. Having health insurance is like a safety net. If you have never gone long with out that safety net, you have no idea how rough it is.

Sorry for rambling....
 
Reghead121 said:
Sorry for rambling....
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Never be sorry for speaking the truth and especially when it is from your heart. Thank you for your post and your kind comment about our twin boys.

There will come a time when the USA will turn around and be a leader in education, heath care and more. (just hope it is in my lifetime)

But WE MUST take care of the USA (ourselves) first in order for us to properly take care and help other countries.

My husband is from the UK and he can't believe the health care mess we face here. He never had it bad like this in the UK. It is utter "scar mongering" and fear that make so many in the USA worried and concerned about universal health care....

IMHO, I think it is mostly the fat cat rich insurance companies that mostly FEED THIS FEAR OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE into our nation.

It's the same sort of "scare" and fear they fed us with communism, Iraq and more.

There are MANY countries that have universal health care.. why is it that the USA is so behind the times (as always) ?
 
For, and happy that we have it... Considering I have quite a few health issues I would be in deep shit without universal health care....
 
CindyRilla said:
IMHO, I think it is mostly the fat cat rich insurance companies that mostly FEED THIS FEAR OF UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE into our nation.
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It has to be. It's PROVEN to be successful in many other countries, so what's stopping America?

I can't remember the presidential debates too well, but isn't Obama going to give free health care, but only to minors or something? Or have I got that wrong?
 
I'm not a fan of public health and I'm not fat cat and I live in a country with a public health service. You don't have to be rich to oppose universal health care. You don't have to be bought-off by the health insurance companies. In fact, the health insurance companies would hate a free-market solution to health care. Because that means the individual is in control of their health care choices, the doctors and hospitals make more money, the patients save more money, and the insurance companies become irrelevant.
 
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