Did any Americans change their minds about Universal Healthcare?

Question

after watching "Sicko"?

I'm in the UK and was fascinated by that film, it seems that life can be very tough in the US if you're not either extremely rich or poor enough to qualify for Government assistance. The NHS has its faults but I for one couldn't live without it, having to worry about finances or insurance before I could take my sick child to the Doctors would just be awful!

Do any of you resent your lives hanging in the hands of money-making Insurance corporations who see paying out for your treatment as a "financial loss"?

Answer 1

It is a pity that we are the richest country and treat our poorest citizens worse than many other nations. We need universal health care, but as long as pharmaceutical and health care companies have lobbyists with huge budgets, nothing will change. Why would multi-billionaires settle for being simple billionaires?

Answer 2

Very many do.    But no politician really offers that as an option so it is unlikely to be achieved quickly.

0bama is probably the best hope for a start at least.

Answer 3

because americans have been brainwashed by the right wing media in believing that Universal Healthcare is a bad thing. It's another example of the ignorance that is america. they have been brainwashed into somehow thinking that healthcare isnt a RIGHT, which it certainly is.

we need an economic collapse for people to wake up

Answer 4

In the USA about 60% of folk have no medical insurance and of those that do, the majority have insurance cover paid for by the company who employ them.

When push comes to shove, it is likely that Corporate America, who pick up the medical bills tab, who will most want an American NHS.

Why?

Put simply the cost of paying for medical cover will be greatly reduced when the employee is paying half the cost directly deducted from salary.  

What this will do is reduce the cost of medical cover to Corporate America by about fifty percent - a big saving.

What stops America having an NHS is an unfounded fear of 'Socialism' which in the minds of most Americans is the same thing as 'Communism' - which of course it ain't.

Well, it's up to the Americans to decide - it's their money and it's their future.

If you are an American and you don't have any medical insurance and you cannot afford to buy any, then your next action should be to vote for a political party which plans to install the equivalant of the NHS in the USA.

But please rememember that State owned hospitals etc cost billions of dollars and you'll be paying for it out of your taxes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NHS 60 YEARS YOUNG TODAY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MMqH7utQ1F0

Answer 5

Yes, but that movie is not an accurate representation of healthcare in America. America actually has the best healthcare system in the world. That is why Canada and other countries send their sickest cancer patients to America. America also continues to invent the most advanced diagnostic equipment in the world (Canada sends their patients to American hospitals to use American machines)

Healthcare in the England is far from perfect.

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/southend...

Also, the numbers in the movie are not correct. There are 32 million illegal immigrants in America (most accurate number). They are included in the total number of uninsured.

Canada is increasingly sending patients to the U.S. for treatment. (Canadian government website)

""MW suffered from Stage 3C ovarian cancer with a complication of an impending bowel obstruction. The Appeal Board found that the waiting time in Ontario for the ovarian cancer surgery received in New York was between six to eight weeks. "

http://www.hsarb.on.ca/english/reports/H...

Canadians travel to America when the Canadian government won't agree to pay for U.S. medical care:

Canadian cancer survivor: "There’s no question that going to the United States saved my life"

Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada - CCAC

http://www.ccac-accc.ca/news.php?id=53

"In Canada the average wait for procedures such as neurosurgery is more than four months; for cancer radiation treatment, over two months. The average wait for treatment after consulting a specialist for coronary bypass clocks in at up to 52 weeks, with four to 12 weeks for angioplasty. That’s the reality in our backlogged public health system, according to a recent survey by The Fraser Institute, a think tank based in Vancouver. In the United States, you can often be on an operating table within a week or two of referral to a surgeon."

Canadian government:

"Four years ago when Suzanne Aucoin was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, she had to travel every week to the United States to buy life-saving cancer drugs " Medical Tourism Boosted by Long Wait Times - Embassy - Newspaper

http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?...

Answer 6

The simple answer is fear, and don't listen to the answer about Canada sending their patients to the United States.

Answer 7

This is all just really fun for you, isn't it?

Answer 8

Honestly, it didn't.

I'm not convinced that any European or Canadian national health care model would work on the national level in the US.

However, I do not mind if any individual state would do it.  I fully commend California for trying.