US Health Care Reform

It might be worth a comment that the most powerful country in the world is close to passing very expensive and fairly radical health care reform.
I find it very hard to research accurate information about the bill as most of google results are opinions of Obamaphobes. The only real information I have comes from the wikipedia so feel free to throw me a bone.

Now I would love to see universal healthcare in US in one way or the other. I find it embarassing that US is probably the only country in the western civilization where people can spend rest of their lives in debt because of missing insurance (or being rejected by their insurance company) or even possibly ending up dead.

I'd love to see some form of universal healthcare in the US in one shape or the other since I think going bankrupt and ending up in debt for the rest of your life just because you or member of your family got ill is unacceptable in the 21st century and in the rest of western civilization.
This bill seems to have this system incuded in it as some sort of safety net in addition to the private insurance companies so people who dont have insurance and are in need of medical attention or those who simply cannot have insurance due to the lack of job/money/good physical condition won't end up on the street.

 

so you mean if an american got sick or broke a bone etc. you'll go bankrupt? thats gotta suck. im getting the feeling that shows like jack*** and other shows that involve injury are gonna get hated pretty soon

 

In all honesty the United States Health Care should be like Canada's Health Care. Seriously its free for everyone, isn't that awesome?

 

This is a great reason on why national healthcare should be passed. For those who are tl;dr, 60% of bankruptcies in 2007 were caused by medical bills; 75% of those who went bankrupt from medical problems had a form of private health insurance.

 

Well look at this situation (and it's real ofc).

I'm a 21 year old, athletic, in-shape male. I live in Florida and have never broken a bone or been seriously ill in those 21 years. However, I have a heart murmur and have had it since birth. It's EXTREMELY mild and most doctors can't even detect it. There is little to no chance that I will ever have an illness or other complication because of the condition.

I can't get health insurance unless I get it through school or an employer. Something is wrong with this system.

That is my case for health care reform.

 

ZOMG JON UR HEART GOES DUN DUN DUN INSTED OF DUN DUN?!

*dumb mode off*

Here I was thinking the Health Care system in my country was bad. Hopefully Obama will make it right, and not go broke in the process.

 

It's only risky to some people because they are not accustomed it. Either that or have been completely brainwashed to think Universal Healthcare is EVIL.

Many countries in the world have some form of socialized healthcare and are completely happy and as/more stable than America. As Obama said, he's not trying to change what works, but change what doesn't work. And for some MANY people, American healthcare does not work for them.

I vote a pass for it.

 

how is this bill fairly radical?
that is if you actually read the bill and not listen to some of them conservatist chain-mails(some of them claimed that this bill forced abortion on pregnant teenagers and euthanasia on the elderly)

 

I think this reform is exactly the kind of thing the US needs. It forces tighter restrictions on the insurance companies, and provides them with the task of competing with a public form of health insurance.

 

some lies about healtcare

"If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." is half true
No, abortion is not subsidized under health care
goddamit miss palin
school based health clinics, kids will be indoctrinated, grandchildren aborted.=False
who the hell keeps thinking up this stuff?
no price on life
Obama does not want the government to decide who to euthanize
the health care plan does not earn america money
Many people couldnt get health care, but not that many
Illegal immigrants will not recieve health care
Yes, you do have a choice
No, you dont need to talk about ending your life every five years
Private insurance is not banned

 

not exactly. With lower taxes you can save up money for whatever danger might hit you in the future. However the human nature dictates that if you own something, then spend it., waste it, exploit it. And if you are already saturated, go and create a need for it.
If you dont own it, fight for it, go to war for it, have other ppl to die for it, so you can own it.

So what happens is that in theory there is no difference between healthcare and no healthcare, but in practically the human nature is too focused on consuming. However if you could safe up money, which is impossible, then you would have more freedom. Then its you who decide how much money should be put aside and how much money should be spend.

The freedom is the advantage of not having a healthcare system.
The guranteed healthcare is the advantage of having a healthcare system

 

Exe yet again your viewpoints shivers with originality. How is the need to save money for the entiretiy of your life just so you can afford medical assistance giving you more freedom? Free (well relatively free) healthcare system allows you to spend money on another things and you can continue the persuit of hapiness without the ugly threat of a medical bill lurking behind you on every corner.

 

You could not have gotten a more biased source ijiff. What happened to objective journalism?

How would it task private companies from competing when the bill explicitly prohibits the duplication of any benefits included in the Universal Health Care program? The private companies will have to settle for things deemed not medically necessary.

Health care reform would be good but being rushed through like how it is now? I don't think so. If this bill gets passed in its current form, the government can always step in and make "amendments" to the bill without our knowledge. There is a reason Medicare (a National Insurance Programs) took a year and a half to approve under Truman and his "Great Society"

One concern of mine under this bill is who would be considered as eligible as the bill only states "All Americans", however that term is now ambiguous and many illegals can hop on to the system through loopholes. Another concern is that the whole system's conversion will take up to 15 years to fully implement so those of you thinking you would get instant gratification... NOPE!

There is a much better way to implement this system and it should take time... especially with how the Government handled the banking and auto industries amongst other rushed things...

What is the rush anyway? Obama has 4 years... I guess he is still on the campaign trail.

 

actually its pretty decent, sometimes a little too light on Obama, but most things i read are quite neutral and(well at least according to them) have excellent sources.

you do realize that all the headlines in the articles are the points being called false right?

 

Lets say you have 100 gold nuggets. Then the state comes in a grab 20 and say they must go to health care system. Now comes a storm and you must secure your house. All calculations point out that in order to effectively secure your house you must pay 90 gold nuggets.

So with healthcare you loose your house
Without healthcare you have the freedom to save your house.

This ofcourse was only a simple example, so forgive me on the details, however it explains why no healthcare gives freedom very efficiently.

 

I find it strange how many US citizens are against a free at point of use heath service. The idea that healthcare is reserved for people who can afford it, seems very selfish to me.

But at the same time, politics is corrupt, and I'm wondering whether this reform might have some ulterior motive. Knowing how the world has been over the past few years, I'd be surprised if it was as idealistic as it sounds. There seem to have been various laws passed in the last few years which end up infringing upon freedoms, allowing surveillance and/or data collection of innocent people, imprisonment without trial, etc.

In England, there is this suspect idea in the health service towards "prevention rather than cure", which although it sounds good on the outset, seems more about trying to control lifestyle choices through a series of rewards and penalties.


Of course, we can easily dismiss concerns like this as paranoia. You have nothing to worry about.

 

I hate when people whine about 'the corrupt government' when they live in a democracy. Go and speak out, act against it. You have plenty of tools to use if you live under democratic government. The longer people remain silent and tolerant the more power the government will accumulate and the less freedom will the citizens have. Oh and as jasmine kind of mentioned: the patriot act is a spit in the face to all US patriots.

Anyways back to the topic. The healthcare reform is big and includes more just than 'free healthcare for the uninsured' which I dont necessarily all agree with but thats politics for you, you have to compromise and stick other stuff to your bill to please enough people to pass the law through.

 

The problem with moving toward free healthcare is that private insurance agencies would be losing profits from others switching and being unable to effetively get more customers. What will happen to those who get laid off from private insurance agencies with the job market still shallow? I live in a state where the unemployment is around 18-20%

I'm not saying Im against a national healthcare, just not sure of the negative effects of it.

 

There is no such thing as free healthcare. If you hear anyone saying this then you can be sure they are biased lol.

 

I think that if the free healthcare is done properly we should indeed see significant loss of profit for the insurance companies. Obama doesnt want to abolish the private sector completely though and prepared changes just for them specifically.
Will it have some negative effect on the insurance job industry? Definitely. But I see that as necessary evil and compared to the amount of people that will be saved from life of debt I'd say its worth it.

Trust me it's not easy for me to give away entire industry to the government but I see it as one of the very few exceptions that should be made. In return I wouldnt mind to see the government cutting down on their influence over other sectors of the market.

@exe: No they are not biased. That word doesnt belong into that sentence. 'Free healthcare' is not for free of course but taken from taxes so the cost is diluted over the entire population.