Why is it that America stands almost totally alone in the industrialized world with its lack of Universal (single payer) Health Care?
Why is it that so many Americans now LEAVE the United States for offshore medical tourism? Tens of thousands per year, at least. This is ironic considering how long Conservatives have been talking about the trickle of foreigners that come here for medical care.
Why is America’s health care system treated as a pariah by the rest of the world?
Strangely people think they have good coverage ,until they need it. Then it is too late. It is low quality very expensive healthcare system that keeps America from being more competitive. Putting the burden of companies to buy a for profit system for their employees ,is harmful to the country.
The wealthy are able to afford great health care. That is why they like the system. The best care in the world is available for them. Take your health card to a local doctor or hospital and you will not get the same care.
Our insurance companies do not provide health care at all. They sell you access to varying levels of care. They are door keepers who meter out care to the chosen ones. That is not a health system.
You have a God given American right to decide which one of dozens of companies will overcharge you just for being female.
You have a God given American right to decide which one of dozens of companies will take your premiums for years and then drop you when you actually get sick.
You have a God given American right to decide which one of dozens of companies will deny you the coverage you need to pay for a liver transplant despite 10 doctors saying it will save your life.
In America, you have a God given right to decide who will screw you!
Wow! You could have saved yourself a lot of research and cut-paste time by posting a simple query in GQ. You might have learned that the present Parties have rather little relationship to those of even 60 years ago, let alone the times of Jackson or Lincoln.
White collar vs. Blue collar? Tendency used to be white=GOP, blue=Dem; now it’s about 50-50.
Geography? The “red-vs-blue map” in Eastern and Southern states did an almost complete reversal, which I find uncanny and almost frightening.
Social and economic liberalism? Again, a stark shift.
Your post did accomplish one purpose. It confirms that much support for the GOP comes from Rip Van Winkle types who supported great men like Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, but have only an ignorant grasp of current affairs.
It’s a complex question. A big part of the answer is the way we’ve turned politics over to big money.
I’ve proposed that elections be canceled and Congressional seats simply sold to the highest bidder. This would raise money for the Treasury, and lower the political bullshit since America is now always in political campaign mode.
If Congressional seats were simply sold to the highest bidder, we’d get essentially the same economic policies as now, but with less of the redneck social agenda.
Very, very few people are sneaking into the US from countries with socialized medicine (well, I can’t speak for the Chinese but it’s true of the rest of them). A seriously flawed healthcare system + a job still trumps a seriously flawed healthcare system + no job.
2 million Americans are about to lose their unemployment benefits this month.
That’s 2 million Americans who are about to learn the hard way why voting Republican is 100% BAD survival tactics. (Whether they actually voted Republican or not.)
Meanwhile fuckturds like Hellestal are out there saying “but don’t bring back American jobs… it’ll hurt the Chinese!!!”
If you’re out of work this may also make all this go down even better: we’re sending tens of millions of dollars in aid to China. While they’re taking your jobs, too.
So I am not in the midst of Open Enrollment at my employer (and my wife’s) with a choice of several health plans to use? I didn’t just make some plans with my flexible spending account based on known upcoming medical costs for 2011? I am not currently being seen by someone out of my HMO network, instead leveraging the PPO option in my selected health plan so that I can see a different specialist?
I have a choice of health insurance firms, and a choice of different providers at different rates. I don’t consider this a perfect system (and have posted my recommendations in the past), but I DO have a choice in how it all works. Why has America not switched? Because our current system works well enough for the Middle and Upper Classes, and through Medicaid and Medicare for the retired and the lowest tiers. The people left on the sidelines are not enough to force change in Washington DC. That is the sad truth.
