Is Obama's plan for nationalized health care a complete blunder?

Question

He's basically trying to carbon copy Canada's current health care system which speaks volumes because Canadians are coming south to the states to get medical treatment because of the waiting period involved.

Answer 1

As a small businessman I love the idea of national health care. Why should I have the burden of providing heath care to my employees? Health care shouldn't be my problem. Nor MY EXPENSE!

Answer 2

Yes it is a complete blunder! I have been in the healthcare business for 17 years and I can tell you if the Medicare program is any indication of the way a federal health care system would operate in this country I have one word for you.......RUN! Also remember it will not be FREE, you will have to pay something. Pacifist Warmonger posted a comment here regarding Canadians and this person is living in the clouds! Sure the Canadian healthcare system works if you have tonisilitis but it doesn't work if you have something seriously wrong with you. I used to work for a large hospital in Seattle and I cannot tell you the number of Canadians who would bus over weekly from Vancouver to have their chemo treatments for their cancer. They paid CASH to have treatment. My husband is from England and he can tell you how the National Health System in England sucks. 12 to 14 months waiting lists to get a triple bypass surgery. Most people end up dead before they have surgery or take 2nd mortgages out on their houses to pay for private care in the UK. There are 4 million people in Ireland and 12 neurologists in the country. That means everyone who has MS, a brain tumor, migraines or any neurological problem are WAITING and WAITING to get in for speciality care. WHY? Because it doesnt' matter if the doc sees 20 or 80 patients per day....he is paid a flat rate by the NHS. Who the h**l would want to be a doctor in the UK?  What Obama doesn't tell you is that docs do not have to contract or participate with his national health plan just as they do not have to participate with Medicare. Why are there more and more docs who do not accept Medicare patients? Because they do not pay docs anything and if his staff bills incorrectly he can be fined up to 10k per incident. The bottom line is you get what you pay for. Our health care system has some SERIOUS flaws but I promise you a nationalized health care system is not the answer!

Answer 3

no he is not u get educated. His plan is more like that of France and switzerland where the uninsured are given help with buyin insurance. Sadly exxon may have to forgo yet another a taxbreak on their record profits to make this happen boo hoo

Answer 4

Our stupid *** federal government has no business taking care of our health care. The End.  

Answer 5

If you are going to make claims about Canadians, you should probably actually go to Canadians to find out if its true or not; rather than Rush Limbaugh, who is nearly always wrong.  Even when his conclusion is right, his reasoning is wrong.

Every Canadian I have ever talked to loves their health care system.  They don't have long waiting periods as you are led to believe, either.

And every Canadian is covered, and can actually get health care.  Not every American can say that they can get health care.  Its too expensive.  

And one must remember that the health insurance company is a business.  They don't make money if they have to pay it out, so every chance they get they refuse to pay.  This is especially true on big ticket items like heart attacks, strokes, and long-term care for the aged, infirm, and those suffering from cancer.

And they know they can get away with this because of how expensive and long the wait is in court.  Yes, the patient sues them; but it doesn't matter because they almost always have to drop the lawsuit.  They can't afford to pay their medical bills and the attorney fees.  So the health insurance company gets away without paying.

Which means that the hospital either has to go to the patient, who usually cannot pay because they thought they were covered and so don't have the money; or they have to take the loss and make up for it elsewhere.

They usually do the latter, since most patients also default on payment.  And to make up for it, they have to raise the price of various lab tests and procedures to the rest of us.

It is our healthcare system that suffers from most of the problems you claim the Canadian system suffers.  The only one ours doesn't suffer is long lines, and again that is only because so many can't afford it and so stay home and stay sick and/or die instead of waiting in a line.

I understand your fear.  But you have a choice.  You can either fight to make sure the rich get the best care, or you can fight to make sure everyone gets care.  But Obama's plan, which allows for health insurance companies to continue, means you get both.

The rich get the best care, but the poor also get some care and don't have to die simply because they are too poor to stand up for themselves in court and make the health insurance company do what it should have been doing all along.

Answer 6

I don't believe the government should be paying for anyone's health care.  Leave it to private charity or pay for it yourself.  That's my belief.  Health care is not a *constitutional right*.

Answer 7

If only !!! Canadian healthcare is better than the US - they have longer life expectancy, and everyone is covered all the time, whatever job they have ! Canadians never go bankrupt because of illness, and you dont see people walking around with huge untreated tumours !

The US government already pays for most health insurance anyway - through tax deductions for companies and people, and through different Federal, State & County programs. So, big news, we already pay for it !!

Most countries in the world have grown up and moved away from using taxes to give to big insurance companies to provide health. Altho the US is a rich country, its quality of health care isnt good. And its and VERY VERY expensive, which is one of the reasons why we're losing out to so many countries in the world.

By the way, Costa Rica also has nationalised health insurance, and they have a better system than most in the US. Obama's plan isnt radical- it just forces the insurers to play fair.  

Answer 8

Nope.  Every partly civilised country in the world except the US has some sort of nationalised health care.  Some much poorer countries than America have better systems; Cuba for instance.  I lived in Ian Smith's Rhodesia in 1976.  Black people in this white supremacist country had better health figures than American blacks.  America spends more per capita on health care than any other country on Earth, but last I heard, their health system rated about 40th.  The only Canadians who come south for health care are the very wealthy who want elective surgery.  If I was sick, I'd sooner be in Britain, NZ, Canada, Cuba, France, Germany or any other developed country than America.  

Answer 9

I think you don't know your health policy very well.  Canada's national health insurance covers EVERYBODY, and few people rely on private coverage. Yes, they have wait lists, but their system is much more cost effective than ours is, and people there live longer, they have lower infant mortality, etc. The WHO ranks the Canadian system well above ours in health outcomes - and even critics of that ranking methodology still put Canada ahead of the US.

Obama's plan resembles Hillary's plan in some aspects, but will not REQUIRE people to buy insurance. Obama, unlike McCain, does not want to remove the federal tax exemption for employers providing health insurance to workers - he will leave the employer-funded system in place. What he proposes is to create a national plan that people can sign up for voluntarily (and pay into) if they have no good access to a private plan.

Please educate yourself before making erroneous statements like this.

EDIT: I happen to work in the industry, was a consultant for drug co's. What do YOU do for a living?

Answer 10

Most people who are FOR universal health care have no idea what it's really about, they think it means "free". All it will do is cost us more in taxes, have a longer wait period to see a physician, and elective surgeries will become cash based. You will have much less control over your health than you do now. Obama has the right idea, but the wrong country. We don't like to pay more and more taxes here, especially for a lesser service. The US has the best health care in the world, why would we lower or standards, and pay more for it, to get less than what we already have? Obama, you silly little man.

Answer 11

It won't be a carbon copy. If you have private health care you will still have private health care it will just be more affordable.

A lot of Canadians come here because they can get frivolous things that aren't really necessary. (i.e. in normal pregnancy w/o complications pregnant women receive one ultrasound as opposed to 3 to 4 you get in the US).

Canada and a lot of European countries has universal health care and are quite successful with it.