Comments on: The Many Myths Of European Health Care

The New Republic: Statistics Show That Arguments Against Universal Coverage Are Weak

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and id rather pay that much more in taxes then have my head shot off by an invading muslim jihadist army!

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No. Your workplace. They will rip your check in half and give it to that janitor who works half as much time. You won't own a car, house, or computer. That will be "timeshared" out for everyones use.

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It is widely known that the future debt obligations of the federal government's entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security) are upwards of $50-75 TRILLION, and these programs will likely bankrupt the country sometime in the not-too-distant future.
Our country is already bankrupt? We have been since the foundations of our country! You mean "Total economic collapse". This collapse would lead to a power struggle with the party coming on top being the elitists due to their design of the collapse and takeover.

[usbrit-2009]

Hober Mallow - does your sis-in-law have any idea how much 4 doctor's appointments will cost in this country? $300 - $500. God forbid if there's anything wrong.

Having been under the tender care of both the UK and US systems I have to say that there must be a happy medium. I had a similar kidney operation under both regimes. The first in GB in 1974; two weeks in hospital, 14-person ward with 1 TV set, no electric beds, good follow-up, no further probs, $0. Second 1981 US (L.A. Cedar Sinai) 1 week, private room personal TV, bed that would do anything at the press of a button, good follow-up, no further probs, $13,000 out of pocket (inc. $5 for a cup of water!!). Now there are better hospitals in GB and cheaper ones over here than LACS but over all, the fact that your average street person in GB can afford healthcare while they can't over here would suggest the GB/Europe system is fairer if not much better.

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And when your taxes come, please have 15 thousand on hand. The government is highly inefficient and are incapable of doing things cheaply(almost every branch...the Armed Forces do not have this problem as much).

[hober_mallow]

I don't think we'd be too happy with the English style of universal health care.

I recently visited my sis-in-law in England, along with her husband and two small children. She was none to happy with the state of the English health care system.

Once you get INTO the system for a particular ailment, it works pretty well.

Getting INTO the system for a condition is tedious and takes a long time.

My sis-in-law is planning a vacation back to the U.S. this summer. For each of her children, and herself and hubby, she's made doctor's appointments and a list of things to have checked.

If English health care was all that good, then my sis-in-law wouldn't be needing to do that.

[huanaco]

THERE IS A MISUNDERSTANDING ABOUT THE WORD " SOCIALIZED MEDICINE ". IT DIESN,T MEAN A LEFTIST TENDENCY . IT MEANS SOCIETY , SO DON,T GET SCARE ABOUT THIS WORD THAT IN HEALTH TEND TO COVER EVERYBODY WITHOUT HIGH COST. I RETIRED IN CHILE,SOUTH AMERICA, HERE THE SYSTEM IS PUBLIC WHICH COVER 75% OF THE PEOPLE AND PRIVATE FOR THE REST. THOSE WHO DON,T HAVE THE MEANS QUALIFY FOR SPECIAL CARD. ALL BEGIN AT COMUNITY MEDICAL CENTERS, IF THE PROBLEM IS SERIOUS, SPECIALISTS. NEXT STEP , HOSPITALS . AS A RESIDENT I PAID THE AMOUNT 40 BUCKS EVERY OTHER MONTH , IF THIS LITTLE COUNTRY COULD DO IT WHY DON,T WE DO IN THE RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD ?

[alaprst]

God forbid if the author of this piece gets hit by a medical bill that costs him tehs of thousands of dollars that he can't pay because the United States is the only industrialized country in the world that doesn't provide health insurance for all its citizens. All his claims are nothing more than sorry excuses to keep the same old, morally irresponsible, and fatally flawed for profit health insurance system we've had that the insurance and pharmacertical companies (along with the Republican party and the Bush White House) want to preserve. It's time we had a system that put people first and the profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies dead last.

[annefrank10]

I've never met a Republican willing to opt out of Medicare. Have you?

[annefrank10]

We already have socialized police and fire departments that freely respond without requiring a fee because it's in the community's best interest.
A healthy populace is also in the community's best interest. Most bankruptcies are due to medical bills - not shopping at the mall as rightwingers would have us believe.

John Edwards has the most viable health care plan - www.JohnEdwards.com/issues/health-care - and has fought for the little guys and WON! against the powerful Insurance and Pharma industries - CORPORATE sponsors of the CORPORATE media.
Oh and btw - Hillary spent $3,000 in campaign funds for 2 hairdos (per WaPo) - and Romney spends $300 for haircuts (Politico).

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"Most bankruptcies are due to medical bills - not shopping at the mall as rightwingers would have us believe."
I have many friends who have just been shoved out of their "nests" and due to excessive spending habits, are now well over 10k in debt. What did you say again?

[taxguydave]

I wonder how many of these critics of "socialized medicine" are going to pass on their Medicare benefits when they reach the age of eligibility.

We already have "socialized medicine", and it provides quality care at lower cost. It just isn't available to everyone, even though it could be made so fairly easily.