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Access to healthcare is a relative thing. If you go to an emergency room you still get the bill if you have no healthcare. They can’t deny you the service but you still have to pay. The average emergency room visit here is $400 to $600 and if you are admitted, the sky’s the limit. They will hound you and send you to collection. My son has been down that road after coming off our insurance. The average single insured here is about $325 a month, and there are many that cannot afford it. Family plans can go $600 and more. So there is an argument for universal healthcare. One of the best ways, my own doctor once suggested, is to have the government set up their plan and have private insurance compete. This should bring down the rates, although services may suffer somewhat, at least those not covered now will have access to healthcare.
A little story about affording healthcare and what it means to not be able to. And this is absolutely true. My son worked in a pharmacy where he had to deliver some medication to a gentleman who was quite ill at home. My son suggested he go to a hospital because he did not look all that good. He said he did not have health insurance because he could not afford it and did not want to pay to go to the hospital. He said he had these symptoms before and it should pass. Well, he died the next day of an inflamed pancreas.
So as much as I don’t like socialized (public) or “Government” run healthcare, there is a need for it in the wealthiest country on earth as there is in poorer nations. There may not be a perfect system out there, but there has to be a way for people to have affordable access to at least life saving services.
I think we can agree if we have to bear the taxes in order to pay for healthcare, It would be a small price to pay to save our fellow countrymen’s lives. And who knows, someday we may find ourselves in a position of need too.Case in point, in my business (12,000+ employees), MANY, MANY opt out of company-sponsored health coverage, because no matter how cheap we try to make it for them (very cheap), there’s a certain age group (about18-30+) who think they are invincible and do not need any coverage whatsoever.
Wish there were stats on how many of the supposed 45mil this encompassed…
Beth.maybe those folks are the freedom and responsibility promoters. no govt., corporate socialist programs for me! i can’t buy private health insurance due to pre-existing conditions, from kaiser, whom my union provided for 35 years. multiple physical conditions resulting from my employment have left me unable to keep the pace in construction, so no more bennies. at 60 with an out of date college degree and an inability to perform at my former well paid job options are limited. no program will sell me health insurance except the one offered at 90$ per month that offers a 10-30% discount at some drs. what a deal. you do the math roark. last emergency room visit was 900$ for two tests and no treatment. cat scan on elbow 1600$ sans treatment. sure you can get treatment if you have NO assets, if you do you’ll soon lose them.hsa promoted by bush and others. well try to get quotes from any dr.to spend wisely. i have.try it! so i’m one of those faceless 45 million. and my job is one of the most dangerous and hard working available.now it’s poverty or health. what a deal! i don’t mind paying taxes and never did. we should pay more to exercise social responsibility, just as we should pay more for gasoline to offset the damage it does. the most wretched 3rd world countries are the free-est ones around. they don’t collect much in the way taxes and don’t offer much service. live in the philippines, i did.very poor tax collection and poor people laying in the streets and against the concrete wall surrounding your house in cardboard boxes. just your kind of country. and as far as foreign aid, well most goes to u.s. contractors and their co-horts in the countries we’re so generous to. do you travel much? i mean spending time there with the masses. nothing’s perfect but…..
I think everyone has one of these stories, my son was rushed into the hospital at 1am. Turned out he needed his appendix taken out…$6800 and he currently is uninsured. Another very good friend while in-between jobs, but had COBRA was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is now in remission and working freelance, the cobra is ending? or she has to pay for it or something, $750 per month! This is a young woman who ran a major magazine with a big income now can’t sell her home, the illness side tracked her career and she is broke and TRYING to sell her home so she can pay her insurance and un covered hospital bills. We already do pay big taxes, not only federal, state and for some of us city. We also pay taxes on gas, food, all non-luxury items, cell phones, stock sales, property, real estate gains; we pay plenty of taxes!! So don’t tell me we pay very little tax in the US, we should have medical coverage, stop politicizing it-one way or the other all US citizens should have health insurance period!
The long and the short of it is that the financial means to pay for health care is the primary obstacle or enabler to obtaining that care. And almost no one has the financial means to pay cash for major events.
I have a friend in that 18 – 30 age group who, unlike the employees of some large companies, has no choice about buying health care insurance. Her employer offers none and she could never pay for it as an individual. She relates that she and her friends in a similar position put off going to the doctor until they are almost too sick to walk, and then they present themselves to the Emergency Room. What follows has been well documented above.
My brother-in-law is retired from a major consulting firm. He and my wife’s sister have done very, very well financially. Nevertheless, Marcia’s sister pays (are you sitting down?) $1,500 per month to buy into Jim’s health plan, and she faces a $5,000 per year deductible. And, of course, Jim has co-pays and deductibles as well.
Ask yourself, how many folks do you know who could pay those costs? How many 18 – 30 year-olds could? How many of America’s 45 million could?
It has been proven over and over again that illegal aliens over all use far more in public service dollars than what they contribute, so it is a mute argument that illegals are contributing tax dollars. You have to take into account the vast number of illegals clogging the US legal system and jails, all of which our tax dollars go to support. The numbers are not even close as to contribution versus how much illegals cost the people of the United States.
Almost everyone in the United States has access to some level of healthcare. Every major city has county hospitals that rarely turn anyone away, no matter what their income level or insurance status. We have many Canadian friends that describe the Canadian system as basically a failure. You may have access to healthcare in Canada, but you do not have access to the best healthcare. Those that can afford it use private care, just as they do here in Costa Rica because the level of service and quality of service in the public system is marginal at best and major proceedures can take months if not years to schedule, both here and in the Canadian system.
Let’s stop talking about how everyone else’s health care system is a failure and start putting together one that works for all US citizens…we deserve it!!!! Sure anyone can walk into a hospital and get emergency service, that is not a substitute for “health care”. And those who care about there credit rating etc…don’t want some over inflated bill that they can’t pay and then get a collection agency breathing down there necks. I just don’t get how anyone can be against US citizens having affordable health coverage? You don’t mind trillions being spent on wars, corporate subsidies, farm subsidies etc..god forbid we want our tax dollars to go towards a comprehensive health insurance plan and the sh.. hits the fan!!
Your insinuation that I think illegal aliens are subhuman is absurd and is way off point. Who are the 45 million uninsured is the point. 14 million make over 50K a year, 7 million make over 70k a year. 18 million are the 18-35 crowd.
My transmission went out on my car the other day. $1800 it cost to replace it. I don’t have the cash on hand. Can’t get to work with no car. Perhaps there is a government plan that can help me.
The road to serfdom is paved by all these kind of stories.
Roark, It is not a question of “Serfdom,” or anything of the sort. In a civilized country like ours, it is natural for us to want to be helpful and benevolent to all people whether they are here illegally or not. If they got here illegally it is our fault they got here by not protecting our borders. I don’t want to sound like a Spiderman movie but “With great power comes great responsibility.” The government is of, by and FOR the people. When did it stop being for the people? At the very least for its citizens. They created this mess of high healthcare over the last 40 or 50 years anyway. So why not do something about it. With all the Porkbarrel waste you think some of the funds could be redirected.
If you are in Costa Rica, visiting for example, and need emergency services, they will provide it I’m told. Civilized isn’t it? And you didn’t have to be a contributor to their tax base.
Lotus is right about not making this a political football. In the US everyone should have healthcare. End of story. I don’t like putting a price on compassion and human kindness.As far as the transmission, you’re mixing apples with oranges. I’ll let it go at that.
Lotus, I agree. Healthcare, if it can be managed with minimal corruption, is beneficial to this country, not detrimental. We all benefit by a healthier populous.
Sometimes the losers in government run healthcare turn out to be Doctors. By being told what they can and cannot charge for services. This has always been the rub with governmental healthcare. Some doctors, and I know I’ll get some heat on this, have run the business of medicine like an elite club. $200k or more for medical school and you’re in. I can understand how they feel they are entitled to make a good living, but why do you think most hospitals are bringing over residents from countries like India, only having to pay them $80k a year. The cost of educating an MD is too high here, and they expect to be paid at a higher rate. Consequently, the patient or the insurance company ultimately bears that cost. The entire system needs to be looked at and revamped.
Here’s another thing I’ll catch a tongue lashing on. In Cuba, they educate doctors all day long for free, if they are intellectually qualified. As was reported this week in the English speaking Costa Rica media, 100 US students attend Cuba’s medical school and 18 more will join them this year. Total cost charged by Cuba, $0. It may be a publicity stunt by Fidel, but you can’t argue with the outcome.
If a doctor did not have student loans as big as a mortgage, maybe it would be a little cheaper to visit one.
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