The USA is getting ripped off with health care. I spend $3600 a year on health insurance that only covers myself and my three children, have a $700 family deductible, pay 80% of office visit costs, get huge deductibles on certain procedures or treatment options, and I can STILL wind up going medically bankrupt if my insurance company decides to find a way to dance around coverage of a dread disease, heaven forbid I should get one. I spend about $5000 a year on health costs in a normal year and I’m not getting treatment for everything I need treatment for.
The solution to our health care problem really does lie outside our borders.
Frontline recently ran a documentary on health care around the world. If I spent the same $5000 per year on taxes to support health care, I could get my entire family covered, pay no deductibles, and have zero chance of being turned away for a dread disease, let alone going bankrupt for having one.
And before the Republicans jump up and scream blue murder over socialism, I want them to shut up for a second and realize that one of the rightest of the right-wingers, a guy that makes Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck look like a bunch of Commie preverts, the very OTTO VON BISMARCK himself, created the idea of a government-run health care system.
That’s right. The guy that made conquering France cool and who popularized helmets with spears on them cooked up government-run health care. The German system has short wait times, lower costs, plenty of drugs, plenty of care, house calls, you name it. It’s awesome, and it’s so far to the right, it’s ridiculous.
Listen to Bismarck’s impeccable right-winger credentials: not only did he invade France and militarize Germany, he also said all kinds of horrible racist stuff about Poles. He passed the Anti-Socialist Laws in Germany. He didn’t just argue against Socialism – he outlawed it! He used a secret slush fund to bribe journalists and rip apart his political enemies. Bismarck persecuted the Catholics, imprisoned the Liberals, and ran roughshod over any sort of hippie socialism that dared raise its head. He survived a democrat’s assassination attempt – that’s right, a democrat tried and failed to kill him, he was that right-wing.
And he cooked up nationwide government health coverage in 1883, the first system of its kind in the world. From a right-winger who not only owned guns, he used them in combat against the enemies of his nation. Eat your heart out, Charlton Heston.
And if that’s not good enough for you, there’s the Taiwanese system, which was made up by the ultra-right Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek.
We in America could learn a lot from the ultra-right extremists. So there ya go. Discuss.
The healthcare issue in the United States has always been quite a controversy. A couple years ago i watched a documentary called Sicko which shocked me and is similar to the ideas shown in this Frontline video. With the amount of health insurance we pay here, it kind of makes me want to move to Canada…or Europe 🙂
Boo! Down with socialism!
But, wait a second! I really enjoy this story about the self-reliant Mr and Mrs. Conservative:
“Get up at 6:AM to prepare morning coffee. The water they fill the pot with is cleaner because liberals fought for minimum clean water standards.
They take daily medication with the first swallow of coffee. Presumably medications are safer to take because some liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised. All but $10.00 of their medications are paid for by his employers medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance, now Mr. & Mrs. Conservative enjoy those benefits too.
They take their morning showers reaching for the shampoo. Today the bottle is better labeled with ingredients because some liberal fought for the right to know what they are putting on their bodies.
After Mr. & Mrs. dress they walk outside and take a deep breath. The air is cleaner because some tree hugging liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
They walk to the subway station for the government-subsidized ride to work; it saves them considerable money in parking and transportation fees. You see, some liberal fought for affordable public transportation.
They start the workday; they have good jobs with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some liberal union members fought and died for these working standards.
If Mr. or Mrs. Conservative is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed they will get a worker
compensation or an unemployment check because some Liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
Its noon, Mr. Conservative needs to make a Bank Deposit so he can pay some bills. His deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some liberal wanted to protect peoples’ money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the depression.
Mr. & Mrs. Conservative has to pay the Fannie Mae underwritten mortgage and a below market federal student loan because some stupid liberal decided people and the government would be better off if they were educated and earned more money over his life-time.
Mr. Conservative is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive to Dad’s; his car is among the safest in the world because some liberal fought for car safety standards.
He arrives at his boyhood home. He was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans. The house didn’t have electricity until some big government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification. (Those rural conservatives would still be sitting in the dark!)
He is happy to see his dad who is now retired. His dad lives on Social Security and his union pension because some liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Mr. Conservative wouldn’t have to.
After his visit with Dad he gets back in his car for the ride home. He turns on a radio talk show, the host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. (He doesn’t say that his beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Mr. Conservative enjoys throughout his day) Mr. & Mrs. Conservative agree. We don’t need those big government liberals ruining our lives; after all, we are self made and believe that everyone should take care of themselves, just like we have.”
source: http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/35475/view
Why are Republican so opposed to universal health? I know they think its so socialist and all, but the money that consumers can save if we switch would be spent in other areas thereby increasing the velocity of money, and making the economy better. This boost would be especially welcome since upcoming cuts in 10 troubled states will cost the GDP almost 1 point.
Another, not really economical, up side will be doctors will get less money and there will be less people that are in the medical field just for the money and don’t actually want to help people.
I heard somewhere that a big chunk of medical costs come from the fact that doctors tend to order unnecessary test to make sure that the patient doesn’t angry with the doctor and sue him later for medical malpractice when the patient finds some problem with himself (which they hardly do and when they do, it is a minuscule problem). This whole ordeal would cause premiums to just in general be naturally high in the first place (absolutely ridiculous).
I think at some level the people who want to be doctors (in medical school or near it, not high school students) are in it to help others. I mean, is it really worth 8-14 more years of school just for money? They must be at least a little compassionate.
The reason as to why the Republicans don’t like the aspect of a universal health care is because the large companies that are mainly conservative Republicans that fund our Republicans in government. Over all by the government being in control of health care they lose the opportunity to tax people by collecting deductibles.
Doctors do tend to take test that are unnecessary to gain a buck just to ensure that the patient is a okay. Which means an extra cost for goods that are unneeded or wanted because we all know how doctors function and that they tend to take test without us even knowing.
After doing a little research, I found that 1 out of every $5 of national goes towards health care! Yet we are ranked lasted in preventable mortality and still have over 47 million Americans without health insurance!
Doctors are over paid, which is why I want to become one 🙂
There are a lot of democrats that get health industry funding. The health companies aren’t stupid, you know.