Australia has Universal Health Care, but the current goverment, the Liberals (they aren't actually liberals, they are conservative), want to take it away :cry:
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Australia has Universal Health Care, but the current goverment, the Liberals (they aren't actually liberals, they are conservative), want to take it away :cry:
Eh...Quote:
Originally Posted by Brisco Bold
Seeing how I live in Washington state and my mother is an RN in the health-care industry, I like to presume I've a reasonable handle on the health-care issues facing US/Canada. The waiting lists for major operations are long, according to my friends in school up in Canada. Many Canadians (who can afford it) come to this country for highly specialized medical care (opthometry, internal medicine, etc). Here in Washington state plenty of wealthy Canadians cross the border for private care in America. I haven't heard of any Americans going to Canada for operations/care (though some do to take advantage of subsidized prescription drugs...which directly forces American drug companies to charge more).
Public care might very well COVER more ppl. But is the standard of health care better than private care? I would say no (based on speaking to my mother and anecdotal evidence). Should the quality of health care be measured by the quantity of ppl covered? When considered in total, Canada could very well claim it has an overall better system b/c they cover more ppl. But I'm unconvinced that our American system is inferior from a quality standpoint.
One reason health coverage is so expensive here is due to an increase in demand. Many ppl abuse the insurance system and backlog healthcare services w/sore-throat/slight fever complaints, increasing insurance costs.
But the most significant reason for high health care costs in this country is due to R&D. Research and Development costs are ENORMOUS. When miracle drugs are found, the costs of failed experiments are (rightfully) passed on to consumers. It's rough, but that's the price of progress.
Anyways, I'll try and track down some of the texts Brisco has offered for further reading. And maybe come back w/some links supporting my view.
DiffX's story certainly shows the downside to free market health care. :|
I worry, though, that publicly funded health care would discourage innovation, raise the tax burden and decrease the quality of health care available.
Yea The_Meach, it definitely does. The problem is that the downside is too significant: I was once like all about the "There's a reason why it's free up North" type of person, but after all that happened and the realization came to me that Im one of 45 million who has suffered like that, I got very very very sour on our health care system.
To be sure, our doctors are the best in the world by far (all the smartest come from other countries to study and practice medicine here, my roommate is applying to med schools now, the competition is ridiculous), our facilities are the best in the world, etc., but at what cost? It's not accessible to everybody. Not even close. And if anything, anything, anything should be accessible to everyone in this day and age, it's health care.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Saddam and the Taliban must have been laughing about this question a few years back.
Heh... answered 'disagree' on that one. Not strongly because what if the enemy of your enemy is or would be 'friend' on some other level as it is?
I answered strongly agree. It's totally worked for America adopting that stance throughout the years...Quote:
Originally Posted by Tracer
Anyway...
Me on Sunday:
Me Today:Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroBlue
Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62
Must be that Brie and Cranberry sandwhich I ate after finishing Homer's Odyssey...
Me on Sunday:
Me Today:Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroBlue
Economic Left/Right: -6.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.62
Must be that Brie and Cranberry sandwhich I ate after finishing Homer's Odyssey... :\
Is that sarcastic?Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroBlue
We armed Saddam Hussien and put the Taliban in power because they were the enemies our our enemies (Iran and Russia, respectively) and it turned out to be a fucking nightmare.
Let me correct my statement. Given the evidence I've read, private health care systems aren't as efficient as publicly run ones. Now, how good the health is... I shouldn't have assumed. I know about money and about efficiency of the systems but not about actual quality of care compared to the US. But I know our's is not mediocre. And the line-ups you're talking about and decrease in the quality in care is because our neo-liberal government is trying to turn our system into the American system. But I want to your evidence, too. Civil debates rock.Quote:
Originally Posted by The_Meach
Also check out Allyson Pollock's piece, "Will primary care trusts lead to US-style health care?" (http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m09...05/print.jhtml)