Thread: Opinions On Gov. Sponsored Health Care Outside of the USA

Originally Posted by Sailor

Little off topic, but have to ask, because i do not know.

In the U.S. is it mandatory for the employers to take a health insurance for their workers or does it base on the goodwill, tax reduction or something like that?

No it is not mandatory. Totally up to the employer. In better times it was more or less the norm for larger companies to offer it as a benefit. In the past decade more and more employers are finding it unaffordable due to the escalating cost of health care and the insurance to pay for it.

Originally Posted by Pyment

If you get free samples, you have benefited from this system.

Free samples? There's no such thing as a free lunch! They aren't giving stuff away for free benevolently -- they want, they expect, something in return. IMO, a doctor interested in providing the best care at the best value for money for his/her patient will make decisions that are based on clinical factors.

It doesn't surprise me to read about the training of pharma reps -- it adds to the sense that they will do anything to get under the doctor's skin, to work their way into the doctor's thinking next time they prescribe, to make some connection even at a subconscious level to try to have an effect on doctors' decision-making with respect to drugs. The best way to avoid the temptation and that slippery path is to prevent them from entering the practice uninvited.

This is totally comparing it to US, but since it's for comparison purposes I think it may be OK.

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Its interesting to note that every time you guys mention having to pay into the system the amounts are about the same as what I pay with my employer provided plan and the costs of that plan are similar as well.

If I'm not mistaken you were unemployed a while ago. How did that work at that time? Did you have to use your working wife's insurance? Do you think all american families should have two working partners?

Originally Posted by Navaja

Just like any government Health Care System will. those who think otherwise are due for a rude awakening

Hmm, have you read one more post in this thread? They are are 1st hand recollections of exactly the opposite. You must have a way to explain exactly what differences between US and non-US would produce totally opposite results. Otherwise you make as much sense as if you are telling us we all live on Jupiter.

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Its interesting to note that every time you guys mention having to pay into the system the amounts are about the same as what I pay with my employer provided plan and the costs of that plan are similar as well.

In Australia everyone who works pays a medicare levy of 1.5% of their wage, in my case that is $12.50 per week. I don,t know what your paying but I bet it is more than that.

What I do not like is when people argue but what if I earn $500,000 a year, why should I contribute $6,000 a year to medicare and also pay my private insurance? Well all I can say is if I earnt that kind of money I would gladly pay double that so that pensioners, veterans, the disabled, and the out of work can have access to medical treatment when they need it. Hell if people can not all chip in a few dollars to have quality medical care for fellow human beings who for some reason cannot afford private insurance, it is a sad enditment of that society.

Originally Posted by Navaja

Just like any government Health Care System will. those who think otherwise are due for a rude awakening

really? So when all the people in this thread had their great experiences with government assisted health care...that was all a magical DREAM??!!!?

Thank you for invalidating my actual experiences with your cynical worldview! I have been a fool!

/sarcasm.

Originally Posted by AussiePostie

if I earn $500,000 a year, why should I contribute $6,000 a year to medicare and also pay my private insurance? Well all I can say is if I earnt that kind of money I would gladly pay double that

I don't know, may be that mindset is just what's preventing you from earning $500,000 a year...

cynical, yes, but I often tend to be that way... i don't earn that much, but i suspect that if i did i may not be willing to contribute 3% without getting any credit and thanks for it.

Originally Posted by Navaja

Just like any government Health Care System will. those who think otherwise are due for a rude awakening

I don,t think so! My father fell 25 metres from a tree he was felling, his ankle and leg below the knee were shattered. Now the doctors could have just amputated the leg and no one would have questioned it because it was so bad, end of story. But instead gave him the option of trying to repair it, bottom line is seven months later he hobbled out of there on crutches under his own steam. Admittingly his ankle is fused solid so he now walks with a limp. But he is first to admit its better than a wooden leg.

[QUOTE=gugi;427122]I don't know, may be that mindset is just what's preventing you from earning $500,000 a year...

cynical, yes, but I often tend to be that way... i don't earn that much, but i suspect that if i did i may not be willing to contribute 3% without getting any credit and thanks for it.[/QUOT

I personally don,t help fellow human beings to gain credit or thanks for my actions, I do it because it is just and morally right to do so. I dislike the dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, sod you jack i,m all right attitude of society these days. Dissent allways starts in the impoverished classes and to deny these people free basic health care is unjust. Remember "there but for the grace of your god go I"

P.S I haven,t allways been a postie, just to old to go climbing the corperate ladder again, plus I,ve got better things to do with my time now than work.

[QUOTE=AussiePostie;427144]

Originally Posted by gugi

I don't know, may be that mindset is just what's preventing you from earning $500,000 a year...

cynical, yes, but I often tend to be that way... i don't earn that much, but i suspect that if i did i may not be willing to contribute 3% without getting any credit and thanks for it.[/QUOT

I personally don,t help fellow human beings to gain credit or thanks for my actions, I do it because it is just and morally right to do so. I dislike the dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, sod you jack i,m all right attitude of society these days. Dissent allways starts in the impoverished classes and to deny these people free basic health care is unjust. Remember "there but for the grace of your god go I"

P.S I haven,t allways been a postie, just to old to go climbing the corperate ladder again, plus I,ve got better things to do with my time now than work.

Free basic health care? Who said countries with healthcare is free? Even the impoverished classes pay there part to the system. If someone has any income, he pays his dues.

And about the 'government based heathcare' over here. It's actually corporate. The company's decide which procedures and medicines are covered and which aren't. The government makes the rules what should be in the basic coverage. As a rule of thumb, almost everything is covered if a doctor said it's needed.

The US are in a bad position on this. Switching to an entire different system for their healthcare plan is incredibly expensive. 'We' have the luxury that we've had this system for years now. Obama's commitment to this massive overhaul goes further than his 4 years of precidency. We talk about decades here.

Well, I mustn't grumble about my health, but my brother and mother have chronic conditioins that would have bankrupted us and in the US system. That would have prevented all of us from getting a decent education, and set us back for the rest of our lives.

The only time we had a rude awakening was when my brother was in the US to hold a lecture at a computer science conference.
He needed an emergency root canal treatment, and the public dentist wouldn't touch it (malpractise and all... he only did easy cases. wonderful system) so he needed to go private... and pay an advance of 2000$ in advance... for a root canal what are -you- supposed to do? shop around when a dental root is inflamed? Cost him 3000$ in the end with meds.

Yes. That was a rude awakening indeed, and a good indication that our system is working a lot better than yours.