How does the Universal Health care system work?
How does the Universal Health care system work? For what country?
I’m trying to compare a system to the system my state is proposing. Many people want Universal Health care here, but most aren’t for the proposed plan. They believe it’s flawed. I don’t want to have flawed health care, I want there to be full benefits for everyone in my state.
Thank you (-:
The Health Care system my state is proposing is exactly like the Canadian Health Care system. The Health insurance companies here have told law makers that their system is flawed, and many people believe them. Their main argument is the rise in taxes.
I guess we have to fix the problem of the wait times and how people are diagnosed. My state is asking Health care providers and insurance companies to volunteer. I know that many Universal Health care systems in other countries don’t cover much dental. There is no debate whether or not we should have Universal Health care or not.
We will have Universal Health care simply because we need it. We have one of the lowest unemployment rate, but not for long. For most people, in order to keep their health care, they must keep working. This won’t leave room for younger people who need to work. People with and without health care insurance are denied health care.
January 28th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Here’s how it works:
Your net income = $xx,xxx.xx …. Send it to the Govt. who will choose for you what Dr.’s you will see, what medications you will take, and if you need surgery or not.
Then comes the medical malpractice suits. Since you are already broke because you send your entire pay to the Govt., you will need to refinance your house to pay for these law suits.
Then sensible Americans move to Mexico.
That’s how it works.
DO this : Google “wait time surgery Canada”. Enjoy.
January 31st, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I was born and raised in Europe. The system varies from country to country. The one I like least is the one in England since you cannot even chose your own doctor most of the time, one is assigned to you. As far as I am concerned the Universal health care in Europe is comparable to a mediocre HMO. When I travel to Europe, I purchase an extra insurance so that I can be flown back to the USA if I get sick.
Some English people have resorted to pulling out their own teeth because they cannot find — or cannot afford — a dentist, a major study has revealed.
Canada’s Health Care System
Long waiting times and the rationing of access to health services are symptoms of a costly health care system in need of a cure. As we head to the polls, Canadians and political leaders continue to debate the question of changes to Canada’s universal public health care system and the proposed privatization of some specialized services.
February 3rd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
The rise in taxes will be minimal compared to what you pay in insurance or what you will save in medical bills. The current unregulated health system allows doctors and hospitals to hold your life for ransom and charge absurd ammounts of $$$. It also discourages proper treatment because they like to milk your life for all it’s worth.
February 6th, 2009 at 4:57 am
The Universal Health Care System in Canada works like this –
My friend blew out her ACL (knee tendon) downhill skiing in February. She had to wait 2 weeks to see her doctor who ordered phsyical therapy (no MRI scans until after a trial of physical therapy). She started that therapy a week later and went for 6 weeks with no improvement. Then she got scheduled for an MRI 2 weeks after that which came back showing a nonhealing torn ACL requiring surgical reapir. She got in to see an Orthopedist a few weeks later. He agreed that surgery was necessary and said she’d have to wait 3 weeks for the first open date. Some of my numbers may have been off a little bit here, but it was the first week in August before she had her surgery for the February injury.
My other friend blew out his ACL skiing in Colorado in February, saw the doctor in the ER that nght, got an MRI and was into see a surgeon the next day who scheduled surgery for later that week.
My Canadian friend got her healthcare for “free” if you don’t count the fact that she is in the top tax bracket and pays 10% more than my US friend who is also in the top bracket.
What good is free if you’re off work for 6 months because of beauracratic delays? My USA friend was better off even though he had a $5000 deductable that had to come out of his own pocket.
Bottom line — keep the government out of healthcare. Let people decide on thier own, with their doctors, how much of their own money they want to spend to reach a diagnosis and definitive treatment in a time frame that they find acceptable. Don’t tax all of us more so we can all get the same level of poor treatment.
February 7th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Very badly if you need any surgery because you may die before you get it. You will pay almost 60% of your income in taxes to pay for it but do not smoke, be fat, or actualy be in bad health. As long as you are healthy it is great I spose.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
You never quite get treated, you just go from one waiting list to another. Usually you get better on your own and if not you better pay your way into an American hospital.
If you go to emergency they have to take you. Druggies use this to get their fix on a long weekend. My girlfriend was taken to emergency with appendicitis and they took druggie after druggie before her until a day and a half later when her appendix burst and she almost died. I wish you better luck than us.
February 10th, 2009 at 9:36 am
Well the crux of Universal Healthcare is “prevention”. Sort of like the concept behind a HMO - where you have a primary physician and would make a co-pay. I have to be upfront with you - I’m didn’t know any state in the US was even considering an Universal Health Care System.
From what I understand from people from the UK and Australia, if you have a real problem - you put your name on a list. They get to you. I have heard of people not being able to get into certain “specialized” hospitals in the UK - apparently there is also some sort of insurance you can buy to ensure better or gives you more options of hospital. I would be worried if I had cancer or something serious - I don’t think they would “let you die” but you are at the mercy of socialized medicine. I’ve read and heard of some scary stuff.
There are 2 main issues the supporters of Universal Health Care never address. The first is - quality. People from Canada are always coming to the states for quality doctors and hospitals (I believe the Canadian Government pays for a large percentage of the care but I’m not an expert about that). It really breaks down to economics - your a great doctor, with great skill - where are you going to do - the US to make money. Hence, we generally have the best doctors and for hospital to attract the best doctors - they get the best equipment - hence the best hospitals. So there is a snow ball effect bring the quality of the health care higher.
Second - this is very important - because of the cost involved in health care, only countries with “workable” populations can universal health care works. Countries like Finland, Sweden, Norway and Canada have finite populations. If you combine all 4 countries populations - I don’t think it would be greater then New York State. The UK health system has major issues as does France because of the influx of immigrants. The cost to all of these countries for this health care system is enormous. The people of the UK are paying insane taxes - beside income taxes but taxes on food, fuel and anything else. England is paying $8.05 for a gallon of gas - think about that - that’s just gas. In the UK, they will tax bacon higher then oats because they take in consideration the health risks.
The Nordic countries seem to be the model of “socialized medicine”. You just can compare those places with the US. I would love for everyone to have access to good health care - I don’t think you would find any American who doesn’t want it. It’s just that socialized medicine isn’t the answer.
Updating Torte Law to control medical insurance costs would be the first step. While I hope no one I know (including myself) is victum of malpractice - if perhaps there were reasonable caps on law suits, cost for doctors go down. Then perhaps the government encouraging small business to offer employees basic health insurance - perhaps over better tax incentives or other tax breaks. For the record, I work for one of the larger Bank’s in the United States and I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield of MN (I live in Florida) - it’s the worst health insurance I’ve ever had (many people with children have left the company because of it’s benifits).
February 11th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
I don’t see that anybody has proposed an actual “plan” for the US. I hear sound bites such as “we need universal health care in America” but I’ve yet to see a detailed plan. And yet you folks keep buying the rhetoric. The founding fathers were brilliant when they left the right of the people to vote for president out of the constitution huh?