Are you for or against "healthcare reform"? I think everyone is possibly for reform but everyone has different ideas on what the reform should be. I support the public option legislation because that is the only way the private insurance companies will understand that they can no longer continue to rip us off. I think a lot of the people against the public option really have no clue what it is. It's an OPTION, meaning if you don't want to pay into government run INSURANCE you dont have to. The government is not going to take over the hospitals or the medical industry. Theyre just trying to start a government run insurance, like medicare, but one that anybody can join. I am interested on hearing your opinions on this. It's something I am very passionate about.
Now, I don't know how the healthcare system works in America all the way through, but I do know from what I've heard that it doesn't work. I mean, where I live, we have absolutely free healthcare, not via insurance but through taxes. We do however pay extremely high taxes (like 70% of your salery I think). But this also goes to roads, completely free school system etc. To me it's so absurd that when you go into a hospital you have to PAY to get treatment O_. it's you HEALTH!! Here, you can go into ANY Hospital ANYWHERE in the country and get treatment nomatter WHO you are, as it has already been paid through taxes. It's a really good thing to me. So yes, healthcare should be free ^^
Yeah see, here in the USA, nobody is going to pay 70%. Not even the most liberal person is willing to give up that much of their income. We need to legalize things that people are getting on the black market that we can collect tax revenue from. Like marijuana and prostitution. People are doing it anyway and we should be taxing it to pay off our debt and provide healthcare to all.
Well, we are also paid higher here than in USA. And our cars cost maybe 50-75% more than yours, so some of the tax money are gain from there. But I don't think you should legalize that to get more money, we didn't do that here and we go along fine Oo I think America can learn alot from Europe, basically we have a way better society here.. and it's because we don't go by the saying "everyone make their own happiness" - here we help those who can't, we don't just reject them XD it may seem harsh, but that's how I see things..
A better society is impossible to say, because it is an opinion. A rich person would definitely say that the US is better. I personally think that no one should have to pay for anyone else to live, because the people with the money obviously earned it. USA is the land of opportunity, so everyone has the opportunity to make enough money to provide for themselves.
That is the exact point of world view I just despice.. Yeah, sorry, but how can you say that? Not EVERYONE has the opportunity to make money - what about the disabled? Are they just going to die of hunger because they weren't born healthy? Someone has to pay for them to have a life worth living, and it's OUR duty to make sure that they do. "USA is the land of opportunity" lol .. And not everyone with money earned it by themselves.. Ew, liberalism XD
I totally agree. The real US unemployment rate is about 16% so people obviously dont have the opportunity to earn for themselves. And even if they do manage to find a job, and their employer is generous to offer health coverage, a good 80% of those people wouldnt be able to afford it anyway. A public option would be cheaper and must be offered to all employees.
I love the United States to death, I truly do - but the US approach to healthcare is the most resoundingly hypocritical and senseless one of any nation on the planet. People decrying social healthcare complain that people shouldn't have to pay extra taxes to fund a service they're not using/that someone else is using. And yet, education, police, fire and other services are all socialised and paid for by taxes. If a house across the street catches fire and yours doesn't, then yes, your taxes are very much paying for a service that someone else is using, but you are not. The same applies to education & police. And what is the argument for the acceptability of taxing these things? That they're for the public good. As if public healthcare wouldn't be good for the public? I once heard someone argue that it wouldn't be very nice to call the police to report an assault or burglary, only to receive a bill. This is apparently far more acceptable than going to the doctor to be diagnosed with a terminal illness, then receiving a bill for that. But, the sheer hilarity of the situation comes from the US politicians decrying public healthcare as "evil". They tout the practice of giving treatment based on severity of condition as evil (I.E., giving someone who may have cancer an MRI ahead of someone who may have swallowed a penny) - as opposed to the true, good and honest method of applying preferential treatment to whomever has the largest wallet. I recall one US politician shouting about the story of a British man who was forced to fix his teeth with super glue because he couldn't stand to wait two weeks to see a dentist. Sounds pretty awful, right? What the genius politician in this situation was missing is this; public healthcare can exist alongside private healthcare. If the British man in question wanted to, he could have gone to a private dentist much more quickly and paid for treatment. If that wasn't an option for him due to lack of funds, he still had the option of waiting two weeks to see a free, socially-funded dentist. However, should anyone in the US be in this situation, they have only one choice - pay or suffer, with no third option for those that cannot pay. In a massive burst of irony, this politician chose to decry the practices of free healthcare in said situation only two days after CNN ran a story about an American man who was forced to re-set the broken bones in his own arm and strap it up with an old belt, because his healthcare package - which he could already barely afford to pay - would not cover the cost of the operation. Ho yes, public healthcare is evil alright. Don't pay for anything you're not using. I hope anyone that genuinely believes in that school of thought is the first person to receive a $4,000 bill from the fire department shortly after their house burns to the ground with their car in the garage and their family in their beds.
You don't understand, for the people that are disabled are given money that comes from every person's taxes. Also, most of these people are able to work some sort of job with their disability, no matter what it may be. So the US does make sure they can live. And the people who did not earn their own money inherited it from family members, so their family worked for it. So as i was saying, everyone that is in the US has the opportunity to make money. Apparently you don't understand the economy. We are in a recession, which is caused by a lack of circulation of money throughout the economy. The people caused themselves to lose their jobs because they were not willing to put the money they earned back into the economy. Still the unemployed can live on welfare, and these people are unemployed because they arent willing to settle for the lower level jobs. And apparently you don't understand American health care. These people with health care would only need to provide a copay, which these people can afford.A public option would reward people who do not deserve to be rewarded, like the people who spend all of their money on alcohol.
You can't put EVERYONE in a box you know, lol. You don't know that's how it is. Also, if you spent 7+ years educating yourself, would you go getting a job as a street cleaner. See my point? So i'ts not that they wont "settle for lower level jobs" Not every disabled person can just go out and find a job. Not many will take them in, and no there isn't a lot of jobs for all disabled people. To me, it seems like you have this point of view: Rich people earned their own money. Poor people are lazy, don't want to work. Therefore, rich people who worked hard for their money shouldn't give them out to lazy poor people. And that is just.. so FAR from my point of view, arg, it kinda makes me mad when people think of the world like that. You should go out in the world and see what's going on. Some people might be a single parent with 5 kids, nomatter how many jobs they have, they can't support them. And they don't have time for them. Often, poor people work just as hard as "rich" people.
Well usually it's not the matter of working hard if you want to make a lot of money, usually it's just intelligence. Let's face it, it's much easier for smart people to make money. So it's pretty much the question of whether you find THAT fair. Anyway, I think they should reform it, because of the exact point arkley put forward. It simply makes sense, that's how it works here too. Though there are some flaws with it. For example, some people go see a doctor for every cough, and they don't have to pay extra. And as a result of that, other people have to pay more even though they never go there, even if they feel a bit sick. So I think there should be some middle way.
You obviously don't live in the Us, so don't understand the policies of the US. If an employer doesn't take a person because they are disabled, the employer would be sued for discrimination. And yes i would take the job as a street cleaner after 7 years of school if that was the only job i could get at the time. And a single parent with 5 kids obviously made the mistake of having 5 kids and not finding a parent to stay with them. And if the other parent died, then they should have gotten life insurance. And i am not saying that they are all lazy, but as i said, this is the land of opportunity. They all have had the opportunity to make the money, but whether or not they followed the right path to their opportunity is the question. Any person can overcome a degree of unintelligence with hard work and perseverance. And that is why universal health care is not a good idea. Some people, such as me, who hasn't been to the doctor except for physicals for sports in 7 years, will have to pay as much as hypochondriacs. Also, why should people get free healthcare when they are not putting their equal share into the economy?
"made the mistake of having 5 kids" - lol, not going to comment that, I think you know what I mean. You put things so simple. Like, well they could've just gotten life insurance. What if they couldn't pay? Because they just didn't think of it, they should be punished? People make mistakes! And because of that they should get a crappy life? Maybe they have to give their kids away, yayyy, one big happy american dream right there. And yes, you should pay the same as the hypochondriacs. If they feel sick, they should get it checked up on. And everyone should pay for it. It works so damn good here, why wouldnt it work in America. It really is a good investment, and we don't have poor or rich people here. Everybody is "middle-class" (even the billionaires) because we all have the equal rights..
Everyone has equal rights in America, we were the ones who came up with that obviously. But lets look at it a new way. So if there is universal health care, and someone is poor, why should that poor person have to pay for everyone else's heath care if he doesn't get sick as often. That could just make the poor poorer.
Obviously if someone is poor they're not going to be unfairly taxed for their healthcare, whether they use it or not. It's the rich people we are asking to pay a little more for. Or legalize the things I mentioned because it has to be paid for somehow. I am highly against a 70% income tax rate though. That is just insane regarless what you make, and it doesnt matter how good the healthcare, roads, schools, and parks are. There are some countries in europe that understand this. Like Holland.
I mean that if everyone is going to be taxed the same, it is going to hurt the poor more. And i agree about the 70% sales tax, there is almost no reason to work, because you get none of the money lol
No I am aware of the higher income tax rate across europe. Im saying you guys know that the morality pc crap is overdone. You dont make thinks illegal just because the bible says so. You do the smart thing and tax the crap out of it. And bsb, not everyone is going to be taxed the same, never. If you had to pay what a currently rich person pays in taxes, you would be in the whole, so yeah its impossible to tax everyone the same.
I am all for the reform, it doesn't take a genious to see there is something wrong with our current healthcare The only people losing on this would be the senior citizens and considering they already get by far the best "Healthcare" out there it's just like Rich people "Crying" because they get taxed so much, it comes with the territory.