Are the American pepole selfish ?
Are afraid of a tax raise ?
Maybe taking away some of the military budget can do so (and to education)
I'm Greek living in France, and all over Europe whe have socialized health-care, in Greece we even pay 脿 little less taxes than in the US and WHE have it.
I have lived in California (L.A) for a couple years and I was able to get insurance, and my union (i worked in film) insurance wouldn't give it to me... True I'm diabetic, does that mean America just lets pepole die.
That's the reason I had to come back to Europe, couldn't pay anymore for the health bills.
Please, I would like your most honest answers on this question.
Thank you, Efraristo, Merci beaucoup. Sorry, I meant :
Maybe taking away some of the military budget can do so (and also go education) well you pretty much sum it up...
Most American's do not realize that over 70% of our domestic budget goes to the military. With that kind of firepower, we can't afford to take care of our sick or properly educate our children.....so we just have to let private insurance companies profit by denying care, and denying payment for care...while politicians scare the masses by chanting the word "socialism" every chance they get.
I'll take Universal Healthcare over NO HEALTHCARE anyday...
Two words for the nay-sayers... "PRE-EXISTING CONDITION" Missing from the answers, and in response to your suggestion, the Military is a function of the Federal Government defined in the Constitution. Universal healthcare is not. Insurance companies have lobbiests in Washington to make sure it doesn't happen...
If Americans were offfered free healthcare, insurance would dry up overnight...
It's a multi-billion dollar business..... Many americans have been brainwashed by right-wing nut-jobs that universal healthcare is some kind of communist plot... sad, isn't it? You don't even understand the word free. 1) Many Americans do want universal and free health care. They believe that if the "Government" pays for it, then it really is free. Of course they're wrong.
2)This is a radical departure from the American philosophy of only 75 years ago. Back then, we were a nation of independent, self reliant people. Since then, we've sold our votes to the Liberals in exchange for some very expensive government programs. (Have you seen the size of our national debt lately??)
3) Canada has free health care. Many Canadians come to the U.S. for medical care,cecause they can get better care an lot faster than they can get it in Canada.
4)We really should be trying to reduce the cost of health care and improve the quality, with or without government intervention. That can be done best by the private sector. "Selfish", the new cry of those who think they are OWED free anything.
If you don't give them what they want, you must be "Selfish".
We don't owe you. Period. You want free. There is no free.
It costs someone. You want free. You don't want to pay.
We want paid, we are willing to pay.
Thank you, but the "Free but no pay" option has our contempt, deservedly.
Got to Europe. They are suffering terribly under their tax structure, and the medical costs are rising incredibly, because there IS NO COMPETITION! They know they have the taxpayers over a barrel. They HAVE to pay. So there is no brake on costs for medicine.
We have the same problem due to HMOs and other forced insurance programs. You want to make it worse to pay for those who want a free ride.
You don't pay less taxes. You pay less taxes at the end. If the average person looked at what they actually pay each year in total taxes and withholding, they would rise up and do some serious thinking (we're a peaceful country, over all).
We don't owe you. Period. The truth is Americans don't like socialism.
They want the ability to chose and not be controlled by the government. That is why they don't like to vote for Democrats but they might soon because the Republicans are worst. They give money away as if it was free Ice cream.
At least the Democrats gives money back to the American people. The Republicans give it to outside of America. Big difference.
Obama will win this election by a landslide. This is my prediction because I'm a republican voting for a democrat. Almost every country has universal coverage. I agree, it's ridiculous and I am not sure what the big problem is. They just need to figure out the logistics of it and go for it. They can easily read up on how the other countries do it and follow suit. It is really sad. We are one of the richest countries and we can't get medical care for our people. (Hell, we can't even find places to hide our homeless people!)
The people who would be hurt by that are the physicians and surgeons. They make the big bucks based on their specialty and charged a lot for what they do. The problem as I see it is not selfishness but ingnorance. The insurance industry spends millions each year not only on marketing not only their product, but also on disinformation. The system here is definitely broken. At one time healthcare was more about helping people get better. Today it is all about profit. Yes their are still people in the medical profession who do all they can. Still doctors with the high cost of school and medical-malpractice insurance can only do so much. As for putting more money into education that isn't the way to fix that problem. Children here for the most part are not motivated, that is the fault of the parent. Hi
I dont think that most Americans do want Universal Healthcare. I think most Americans dont want the government messing with their private healthcare coverage.
I personally dont think that the Federal Gov't can legally provide Universal Healthcare and I certainly hope it gets shot down.
While I benefitted from socialized healthcare while living in England, I cannot see how that system would work in the USA at this time.
As for you not being able to receive private health insurance when you lived in the USA - they probably had an HMO or something poor in the way of coverage. Bad coverage doesnt allow for pre-existing conditions while most coverage does.
No, America does not just let people die. Hospitals cannot legally refuse to treat people because they cant afford it. For starters, it would not be free. Increased taxes would have to pay for universal care and the populace would have to accept the increase in tax dollars to fund the endeavor.
Unfortunately, it appears at this point in time that public opinion, as defined by the media and pollsters is against an increase in their taxes for universal health care. Provided that the polls accurately reflect broad American public opinion, to which I am dubious of, the cause for the lack of support can be explained by the effective campaign waged by those that oppose it to scare the beJesus out of people by conflating "social medicine" with government funded universal health which in essence could provide us all with the same choices of policies afforded to the members of government. In my opinion doesn't sound like a bad idea.
Secondly, by creating a large group policy with 300 million plus members, insurance companies lose out due to lack of competition and health care providers lose out because they can't charge above the costs in the plan; also stifling competition.
On the other hand, if taxes were increased and redistributed so that every American could afford their coverage of choice; with certain provisions (deductibles, focused preventative care and catastrophic coverage) you still have market competition, and added benefit of providing business with a shot in the arm by reducing their overhead in contributing towards or outright subsidizing health care which impacts their competitive edge in providing affordable goods and services.
American people are far from selfish, my friend. Afraid of taxes? Perhaps, only because they're not presented with a full view of the pros and cons. Instead they see extreme examples and form opinions based on a narrow view of this issue.
Military spending has little to do with the debate because our brave men and women in arms need the coverage as well and should have it as long as they serve, not just when they retire. How do you know that Greeks pay less in taxes than Americans? I don't think I've ever discussed this issue with anyone from Greece before, but I definitely have discussed it with people from England, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. I promise you, every person from those 4 countries pays SIGNIFICANTLY more in income taxes than a person with the same income here. Some friends in the Netherlands pay more than double in income taxes what we pay for the same income.
You don't have free health care. Your government is paying the doctors and labs and hospitals, but they're paying those bills with money that's been taken away from you and the millions of other taxpayers in Greece. When the costs of the system are greater than the taxes taken in (as is happening in Canada, the UK, France, etc etc), the government has 2 choices: raise taxes, or ration health care. Canada and the UK already have waiting lists. The UK has started to deny hip replacements and knee replacements to people who are overweight. How much longer before they decide that you diabetics are too much of a drain on the system? What are you going to do when you develop diabetic retinopathy, but the Greek government says you can't have the laser treatments that will let you keep your vision? Or when you develop chronic kidney problems, but the government says that diabetics can't have dialysis because they're just going to die anyway? When every taxpayer in the country is required to chip in for your health care, every taxpayer in the country has a right to have a say in what they're willing to pay for.
Most Americans are still more interested in being responsible for themselves, than in having any more of our income confiscated to pay for government programs that most of us will never get any benefit from. There hasn't been a federal "entitlement" program yet that has operated within its budget. Most federal programs are so full of corruption and waste that the actual dollars going to the program itself are just a small fraction of the dollars that agency spends.
Frankly, my husband is an insulin-dependent diabetic, and I am not interested in the government or some taxpayer watchdog group telling us what treatments he is or isn't allowed to have. The only people who should be a part of his treatment decisions are his doctors, him, and me. You can keep your money to pay for your own health care, and in exchange you (and the government) can keep your nose out of OUR health care. |
