Fingers crossed and magic pleas to the godesses let some kind of compassionate practical vote occur tomorrow. The thing is I had no idea how mickey mouse and fiscally unsound healthcare is here in U.S....and ass backwards until I saw the system helping Stagg get a doc etc. Canada has such an amazing health care system...which I took for granted until I saw first hand how corrupt and poorly run the U.S. healthcare system works.
216 votes is a start...
9 comments:
I'm with you 100% on this Candy. This is the most significant vote in recent memory and will mean so much for so many Americans. The bill may not be perfect, but it will revolutionize health care in the US. I've never understood conservative opposition to universal health care. If anything, it makes the economy more flexible to ups and downs. People don't have to fear losing health care if they lose a job.
You know it's funny that folks in the states complain at health care in Canada or the UK or France or Germany...that if you have health care in the states, you are entitled to health care at any age, but say in germany, if you are in your 70s and you have prostate cancer you aren't treated for survival cause of your age. I can't imagine that. And I have no idea if it's true, but it's what I've heard.
Been running across old classmates who have expat-ted (not a word, I'm sure) to Canada. I sort of wish I had too, if for medical care alone. And here you are reversing the trend. (Migrations) :)
But, yes, I do hope the health care passes, not only for the good of the people, but to show many in my circles of acquaintances that it is not a sin to provide health care to those who can't pay $800 or more a month for insurance, the situation of a friend who STILL does not want the health care to pass, and is sole breadwinner of her family - I can't figure out some thinking. But we shall see. My only concern is how much further can we commit financially when we have no money but borrowed money (our country?). I know that some money that is supposed to balance it out will be by routing out "fraud" - of which there is much with Medicare, but I wonder.
Being a socialistic social security recipient because of looming age issues like hitting 65 (lol!) and a back that won't sit 8-12 hours in a secretarial chair anymore, I have become one of those dang socialists that many in my circles mumble disdain. While they collect their "benefits."
Even with that, am finding that I can't afford the copays on the meds that keep the Crohns' in remission. Our medical system is so convoluted in so many ways...
But even minimal medical care is better than none at all!
Gardenia, I see it this way finacially...if there are say 50 million people without health care in the U.S. and they are given health care plan say at $5 a year....thats money that ISN"T in the system now. It's win-win.
Janet, I've heard the same thing as the idea about a guy in Germany with prostate cancer at 70 not getting treatment as rumoured in Canada. That is NOT true in Canada. As soon as you're born you have health insurance. Everyone pays for it on a scale relating to their income via their tax filing every year. I can't speak for Germany...but I suspect the story is an urban myth in order to scare people about health care options.
And I must add...Janet, I'm sure for some peopel with certain insurance plans the health care is excellent. BUT most people do not have all-inclusive insurance coverage, it's very unusual in the U.S to have full coverage...even with insurance!
Greg S.I'm an absolute wreck waiting to hear about this vote today.
I'm with you Candy. I myself am 100% uninsured right now after losing my own job last April and starting my own business (my kids are covered under a state run program here in NJ). I don't feel entitled for the program, just that in seeing the coverage my children have received has been 900X better then any of the coverage I've ever been able to provide for them working a full time job. Call me a socialist, I don't care. I just want my children cared for.
Damnation, I'm glad that bill finally passed.
Well, its Monday - I haven't had the TV on - am anxious to see how this all shakes out, I hope immediately we start putting health info into computers - and then I hope the doctors read the info better than they read our charts! Hopefully this will encourage more doctors, more access to life saving drugs at an affordable cost - and more, or if not more, just coverage for people. I am remembering back when we had no coverages after moving down here and rather than getting treatment for severe kidney stones, my daughter would get a prescription for pain pills and be sent home to be billed for emergency room services she couldn't pay for because she couldn't work because she was so sick. Not long ago when I dropped that can on my toe and cut and bruised the bone, I went to three clinics who could not, would not take me (and I have insurance!) - was told to go to ER - where I really did not want to pay $200 copay for some stiches, nor wait 8 hours for treatment. If other countries can do it, we can too. I think our President's organizing skills are to thank for this! Hopefully this will not only mean coverage, but more effeciency, and more doctor mandated treatments rather than drug company and insurance company mandated treatments. I know doctors were also frustrated out of their minds, and those who treated for free would be run out of town by the hierarchies. Won't all straighten up immediately but if its socialism to get medical care for people who are not wealthy - then so be it. What people don't realize is as the world shifts economically, people with insurance are becoming the minority in our country. They wished to cut off their foot to spite their face, so to speak.
furiousball, thanks for sharing your experience with state-run health care.
Greg, whew!
Gardenia, most of us forget that socialism is a facet of capitalism. It s communism that is at odds with capitalism. Socialism is part of capitalism with a focus on small business.
From wiki: "Socialism refers to the various theories of economic organization which advocate either public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources.[1][2][3] A more comprehensive definition of socialism is an economic system that has transcended commodity production and wage labor, where economic activity is carried out to maximize use-value as opposed to exchange-value, including in its definition a corresponding change in social and economic relations; such as the organization of economic institutions and resource allocation;[4] often implying advocacy for a method of compensation based on the amount of labor expended."
So...it's not a dirty word like communism (a dirty word especialy for U.S. to qauntify)
But ultimately, it's just a word and more important is that the people who do not have health care can get into a doctor and start to stimulate the economy. This vote yesterday just might be the most significant economic stimulus to happen in many years.
I know people who are staying at crappy work environments just because of health care coverage...can you imagine, and using your anecdote about your daughter...making decisions about work and where to live based on ones feelings and income rather than on an employer holding you hostage with medical insurance.
Hmm, healthcare. What can I say, I live in Canada. I have heard that our system sucks, but you know what - I'm not complaining.
I haven't had to have complicated medical care, but I have seen it at work as a by stander. It hasn't always been perfect, nor has it been awful. Human health has many variations and we live in many locations, the latter being a big health issue in Canada - often those in remote areas cannot access healthcare the way urban dwellers can.
But good, solid health care is available, depending on need, no matter what my income.
That isn't to say that Canada's health care system doesn't have problems. I think it is good considering the huge problems it is burdened with.
Also, I don't know about the states, but having babies in Canada seems pretty easy in terms of knowing that you have medical help if necessary. Again, this is from my own experiences in an urban enviroment. I know it may not be the same everywhere.
Anyway, all I know is that when Candy starts talking about accessing health care in the States it always sounds so complicated.
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