SocialNumb
Damn Christians!
I do not own a flag of anything. I like to think of myself as part of the human race. Humans draw a lot of imaginary lines in the dirt.
USA healthcare overhaul
- Thread starter ahjteam
- Start date
J.DavisNJ
\m/
Genius Gone Insane, not trying to pick on you, but I just can't stand this self-loathing American mindset that seems to be purely dependent on the past eight years. As if our country never achieved much to be proud of or something.
I enjoy my private healthcare, and yes, I'm lucky enough to have a job that can provide me with that. I get paid peanuts, but have regular benefits that allow me to choose my doctor whom I'm comfortable with, have maybe a 5-10 minute wait when I arrive at the doctor, and receive excellent care.
I think people who aren't provided with these things from their employer do deserve healthcare, but I wish our current administration were a bit more transparent about it. We kept hearing over the past nine months that "healthcare reform is coming, every American is covered, and you will keep your private plan if you already have one...," but we were never told HOW this would actually happen. I have a real hard time believing that my plan will not change at all whatsoever when this bill is passed.
I think Obama and his cronies make their decisions based on how much international and local pressure are on their shoulders, but they don't dig deep to look at the potential consequences first.
Then again, I'm probably one of three conservatives on here.
-Joe
I enjoy my private healthcare, and yes, I'm lucky enough to have a job that can provide me with that. I get paid peanuts, but have regular benefits that allow me to choose my doctor whom I'm comfortable with, have maybe a 5-10 minute wait when I arrive at the doctor, and receive excellent care.
I think people who aren't provided with these things from their employer do deserve healthcare, but I wish our current administration were a bit more transparent about it. We kept hearing over the past nine months that "healthcare reform is coming, every American is covered, and you will keep your private plan if you already have one...," but we were never told HOW this would actually happen. I have a real hard time believing that my plan will not change at all whatsoever when this bill is passed.
I think Obama and his cronies make their decisions based on how much international and local pressure are on their shoulders, but they don't dig deep to look at the potential consequences first.
Then again, I'm probably one of three conservatives on here.
-Joe
J.DavisNJ
\m/
I can understand this, but what is wrong with being proud of where you come from, where you live, or the country that gave you so many opportunities to live freely? I'm not particularly proud of some of the decisions of the current administration, but I still fly my flag outside of my home because I believe in the founding values of our country and have faith in the American people in general.
-Joe
Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
I don't have a home myself, so I can't fly a flag, but I'll just say, AMERICA FUCK YEAH, FREEDOM IS THE ONLY FUCKIN WAY-YEAH.
Erkan
mr-walker.bandcamp
Maybe if you guys spent a little less money on trying to own the whole damn world, you'd be able to get a good healthcare without having your taxes shooting through the ceiling. Just my humble little thought =)
J.DavisNJ
\m/
Haha, the whole damn world? I didn't realize that is what we were after...that's a lot of ground to cover. If you are referring to our current wars, I don't really see why we would want to own Iraq or Afghanistan.
Oil!?
Nope. The majority of our oil comes from Canada and Mexico anyway.
-Joe
Chryst Krispies
Vanilla Gorilla
Well, the way it works here is pretty much explained in Wikipedia quite well, it might go somewhat to similiar approach on the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_compared#Finland
In Finland, public medical services at clinics and hospitals are run by the municipalities (local government) and are funded 78% by taxation, 20% by patients through access charges, and by others 2%. Patient access charges are subject to annual caps. For example GP visits are (11€ per visit with annual 33€ cap), hospital outpatient treatment (22€ per visit), a hospital stay, including food, medical care and medicines (26€ per 24 hours, or 12€ if in a psychiatric hospital). After a patient has spent 590€ per year on public medical services, all treatment and medications thereafter are free. Taxation funding is partly local and partly nationally based. Patients can claim re-imbursement of part of their prescription costs from KELA. Finland also has a much smaller private medical sector which accounts for about 14 percent of total health care spending. Only 8% of doctors choose to work in private practice, and some of these also choose to do some work in the public sector. Private sector patients can claim a contribution from KELA towards their private medical costs (including dentistry) if they choose to be treated in the more expensive private sector, or they can join private insurance funds. However, private sector health care is mainly in the primary care sector. There are virtually no private hospitals, the main hospitals being either municipally owned (funded from local taxes) or run by the teaching universities (funded jointly by the municipalities and the national government). In 2005, Finland spent 7.5% of GDP on health care, or US$2,824 per capita. Of that, approximately 78% was government expenditure.
edit: Kela, or Kansaneläkelaitos (in Finnish) or Social Insurance Institution (in English), is a Finnish government agency in charge of settling benefits under national social security programs.
Erkan
mr-walker.bandcamp
Haha, the whole damn world? I didn't realize that is what we were after...that's a lot of ground to cover. If you are referring to our current wars, I don't really see why we would want to own Iraq or Afghanistan.
Oil!?
Nope. The majority of our oil comes from Canada and Mexico anyway.
-Joe
Hey hey, easy there little american, I did not mean to anger thee!
Well I suppose you are right.. I wrote "you" because it's your tax money that is used for all the bullshitting around but yeah in essence it's those bald fat bastards around fancy tables in a super cool room who decide where to blow all your money =)
The reason I wrote something like that is because I find it funny when americans whine about taxes becoming so high when welfare is improved. I gave it a few seconds to compare the situation to Sweden which has good welfare and healthcare without people whining about the taxes. I quickly realized that we do not use our tax money to force "democracy" down a country that lies on the other side of the globe from us's throat. That was a funnily written sentence... it feels wrong but I felt like writing it that way!
Oi, I hope I'm not being a controversial communist bastard now - I do not mean to start another "Arghhhh, grrrrr, USA is evil!"-discussion.
J.DavisNJ
\m/
Awesome, glad it works for you, and perhaps it is a good model for us, BUT that still doesn't explain what OUR current administration has in mind.
I have no doubt it works for a lot of you guys, but I've also heard a lot of horror stories from different parts of the world regarding their healthcare systems.
I'm just weary and concerned. I like limited government intervention in my daily life. If they keep to their word, and let me keep my private plan WITHOUT some ridiculous stipulations attached to it, then I'll be happy.
We'll see.
-Joe
Erkan
mr-walker.bandcamp
I think you guys are just being extremely paranoid over nothing. By your definition, Sweden should be pretty much like a prison for you. Yet people are saying how awesome it is to live in Sweden. Let me tell you, there are no cameras in my toilet pointing up my ass... not that I'm aware of atleast.
J.DavisNJ
\m/
Hey hey, easy there little american, I did not mean to anger thee!
Well I suppose you are right.. I wrote "you" because it's your tax money that is used for all the bullshitting around but yeah in essence it's those bald fat bastards around fancy tables in a super cool room who decide where to blow all your money =)
The reason I wrote something like that is because I find it funny when americans whine about taxes becoming so high when welfare is improved. I gave it a few seconds to compare the situation to Sweden which has good welfare and healthcare without people whining about the taxes. I quickly realized that we do not use our tax money to force "democracy" down a country that lies on the other side of the globe from us's throat. That was a funnily written sentence... it feels wrong but I felt like writing it that way!
Oi, I hope I'm not being a controversial communist bastard now - I do not mean to start another "Arghhhh, grrrrr, USA is evil!"-discussion.
Oh, that was not me being angry at all Erkan, trust me! I'm all for a friendly debate.
Though I do not appreciate the "little American" comment. Not sure what you wanted to accomplish with that? Do I not have the right to disagree with you guys or express my anger with our current administration?
-Joe
J.DavisNJ
\m/
We might be paranoid, but it is a new system for us so of course we will be a BIT concerned over the whole thing. If it works great for you, cool. But the American people have yet to see it implemented efficiently so I'm remain skeptical until that happens.
I don't think that's such a crazy concept? I guess I'm just more practical than idealistic.
-Joe
SocialNumb
Damn Christians!
#Joe Nothing, so long as I don't have to. It feels as if it's expected of me. It's like a come together in separation mentality. I tend to think in terms of *look at what humans accomplished* NOT *look at what America has accomplished*
Faith
Patriotism
I lump in the same category. I have neither.
The biggest reason I like the Sneap forum is because that line of separation for the most part does not exist.
Now we need to work on the gay rights issue. It's ridiculous, along with the drug situation.
Faith
Patriotism
I lump in the same category. I have neither.
The biggest reason I like the Sneap forum is because that line of separation for the most part does not exist.
Now we need to work on the gay rights issue. It's ridiculous, along with the drug situation.
Erkan
mr-walker.bandcamp
Haha, I'm sorry Joe, that's just me being a dick right now. I've been all "weird" lately so that's probably got to do with that. I did not mean to offend you by that "little american" comment, as if I was something much bigger and better myself.. no, that's not the case. I can't be (physically) bigger than an american anyway, it's not possible! Haha, sorry.. another lame jake about american people and their excess weight =)
Nah but seriously, I did not mean to offend, hope you're cool with that. I'm no saint myself so I'm definately not trying to put myself above "americans".
J.DavisNJ
\m/
J.DavisNJ
\m/
Totally cool Erkan, no worries.
It just pisses me off how people sometimes lump all Americans into the same group. Yeah, we do have a lot of stupid and FAT ass people hahaha, but sometimes people forget what a diverse country we are. I probably have zero in common with Billiejoe redneck from the backwoods of Arkansas.
-Joe
Erkan
mr-walker.bandcamp
SocialNumb
Damn Christians!
No, I mean the over all vibe. No boarders. We are all just humans here. Musicians, AE's ect . . but human. Gotta love the interwebs.
nope not in sweden.
On a serious note though, if anyone had paid any attention to HOW this bill was passed, you might raise your brow and ask, what the fuck are they doing? They had what, 72 hours to read over 1000 pages of the bill before voting? Come on, this is just a bunch of bullshit. And it doesnt even cover everyone, this is not "nationwide" healthcare. This is, if you dont have insurance, you can fuck yourself and pay our fines for not buying insurance.
There is no public option, it's not free care for everyone. This isn't like "yay we are covering our entire nation." It's more like, "hey, we are just going to spend 1 trillion dollars on a bunch of crap." It wouldn't have cost 1 trillion dollars to just cover the 30-somethin million people who are uninsured. And this bill does not even cover all of those 30-something million people.
So don't get all excited about this like its so great and wonderful. It isn't.
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