US Adverts on National Healthcare

yesterday at lunch my friends (here in the states) hammered me about how in the UK when you are old you are put on a long list because they just leave you to die on the NHS.... like serious concern that something is going to happen to me when I move back this fall. Its weird cause I meet SO MANY people at the moment are freaking out about nationalized healthcare, even the girl at work that has her foot in a cast and couldn't have her double joint surgery in one go cause she couldn't afford it.

Not so. The current bill before Congress will not allow you to keep your private insurance.

All set out in section 102 of H.R. 3200, which rather ironically is headed "Protecting the choice to keep current coverage."    This same section imposes the restriction on new coverage. 

Not even the commies in "New Labour" have gone so far as to outlaw private health insurance yet.   Voting for "change" might not always get you the change you wanted.

Interesting, if not very hopeful, Guardian piece today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/us-healthcare-obama-barack-change

Not even the commies in "New Labour" have gone so far as to outlaw private health insurance yet.   Voting for "change" might not always get you the change you wanted.

You seriously believe that New Labour are "commies"?! They are closer to Thatcherism than socialism!

Interesting, if not very hopeful, Guardian piece today:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/us-healthcare-obama-barack-change

I was about to post the same article. Unbelievable - I've done a little browsing as well and found his PBS interview on youtube - now I wonder if the Fox will pick it up

Not so. The current bill before Congress will not allow you to keep your private insurance. You get a grace period of five years to switch over to a government approved program -- less if you buy your own insurance -- upon penalty of swingeing fines at tax time.

This bill was cobbled together in haste and doesn't seem at all like the best of the various models. Not all change is improvement.

I agree. Healthcare reform is a huge issue that will affect every American. The package presented to the people should NOT be a botched job (such as this one is) where nobody has any time to read it (ala 'stimulus'/payoff). Most people agree that there needs to be reform, but 'change' needs to be thought out and not rushed.

yesterday at lunch my friends (here in the states) hammered me about how in the UK when you are old you are put on a long list because they just leave you to die on the NHS.... like serious concern that something is going to happen to me when I move back this fall. Its weird cause I meet SO MANY people at the moment are freaking out about nationalized healthcare, even the girl at work that has her foot in a cast and couldn't have her double joint surgery in one go cause she couldn't afford it.

Poor old people.  I tell you.  Case in point.  My MIL is 71.  So old.  Yeah.  She had a series of tests because she was having some numbness on her left side.  Time to test one = week and a half.  The test showed something odd.  Time to bigger and better test = less than a week.  Non cancerous tumor detected.  Time to surgery = less than a week.  Cost to her=zero.  So... no they don't condemn you to die because you are old. Even if you are in bad health like she is.  All this on the NHS.

My 73 year old uncle recently passed away from cancer.  He had state of the art care, hospice care so he could die at home with dignity.  All on Spain's socialized health care system (where by the way the majority of people also have private health insurance).

Same for our dear friend who died at age 43 in Wales. 

There are horror stories everywhere.  But don't tell me 40 million people without insurance is by any means acceptable. 

Something needs to be done.  I just want them to take their time and do it right.

Now... my other question is this:  Why is one of the main arguments against healthcare in the USA based on keeping government out of our lives....yet many of these same people want to control people's lives by telling them what "marriage" is and who they can love and can't?  Where are the calls against the erosion of freedom under the Patriot Act? 

Why is it acceptable for the government to intervene in some cases and not in others? 

This issue is very dear to me because I have lived without insurance for so many years.  I can't afford to get sick now because we make too much, but not enough to qualify for anything.    We have little or no preventative care coverage. We don't get the latest and greatest medicines because they are not covered under our plan.   My husband works for one of the largest insurance companies in the USA.  With billions in profit (even in this economy). 

To a lot of people it may be politics, but to me it is personal.

Now... my other question is this:  Why is one of the main arguments against healthcare in the USA based on keeping government out of our lives....yet many of these same people want to control people's lives by telling them what "marriage" is and who they can love and can't?  Where are the calls against the erosion of freedom under the Patriot Act? 

YES! thank you! 

The answer to both is: it is incumbent on the advocates of change to demonstrate that the change they're advocating would be an improvement. Change that makes things worse is the most common change of all.

Now... my other question is this:  Why is one of the main arguments against healthcare in the USA based on keeping government out of our lives....yet many of these same people want to control people's lives by telling them what "marriage" is and who they can love and can't?  Where are the calls against the erosion of freedom under the Patriot Act?  

Why is it acceptable for the government to intervene in some cases and not in others?  

You've got a better chance of winning the lottery than getting an answer to that question.

You've got a better chance of winning the lottery than getting an answer to that question.

Yay! You won the lottery.

Yay! You won the lottery.

Well, I was going to say "cure cancer", but considering the subject matter thought better of it.

Not even the commies in "New Labour" have gone so far as to outlaw private health insurance yet.   Voting for "change" might not always get you the change you wanted.

Which 'commies' would those be? There are barely any socialists in New Labour.

Doesn't Canada's system forbid any kind of private medicine? I seem to remember reading that in the context of Canucks coming across the border as medical tourists.

Poor old people.  I tell you.  Case in point...  All this on the NHS.

Whereas my elderly mom in the USA, when she was still living on her own, used to get to choose between buying her prescriptions and buying food.  Well she's dead now, so no longer burdening that 'socialist' Medicare system that wasn't sufficient to cover her medications.