Holy crap! We would have to start being polite!
Oh, Anglophone Canada? That’s not so bad. The Francophones are rude as heck.
Apples and oranges.
We could try the crack-smoking drunken stupor thing, too.
So you are one of those people who think apples and oranges can not be compared. I suspected as much.
I am seriously peeved by people who say that I can’t compare apples and oranges. They are both fruit, dammit. They both grow on trees. They have comparable contents (i.e. vitamins, carbohydrates, fiber, and so on) and grow to comparable sizes. So puh-leez don’t tell me that apples and oranges can’t be compared. They are prime candidates for comparison.
Apples and oranges have in fact been subjected to rigorous scientific comparison (cite) and have been found to be quite similar.
To add a quote from my cite, “Thus, it would appear that the comparing apples and oranges defense should no longer be considered valid.”
Yes. That is my point. That and a little bit more.
Take the British NHS as an example. In these discussions, people sometimes forget that the NHS isn’t something the British have that Americans totally lack. It is something the UK has instead of Medicare, Medicaid, IHA, VHA, etc.
That grouping of health care providers together covers 28 % of the US population. The NHS covers 100 % of the UK population. Americas government health care programs costs 4000 per American per year. The NHS costs 2900 per citizen per year. $ 1100 less per citizen.
That is not a small difference. That is an enormous difference.
To the US, that difference represents 340 billion dollars per year. To add some scale, the US military budget is 680 billion. Anyone here ever thought the US was overspending on the miitary budget?
The US spends the equivalent of half the military budget on government healthcare **over and above **what the UK spends on government healthcare. Per person. And UK government healthcare covers everyone.
And over 70 % of Americans have to spend money on private healthcare in addition to that. And that is 4500 $ per person. Even more money.
Its not that “everyone could be well covered for what we already pay in taxes” its that everyone could be well covered for** a lot** less**.
Well, obviously the harm is to the checkbook of insurance execs, for-profit health organizations folks and their respective lobbyists. And surely you can’t wish to harm checkbooks, unless you’re a Red.
So when did you start hating America, exactly ?
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We could try the crack-smoking drunken stupor thing, too.
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Well the thing is, the American health care system as it stands seems to me to have involved crack-smoking drunken stupor extensively already.
You know, if it wouldn’t be so annoying to all the people involved, I’d love to read/see more dialogue between American conservatives and countries with single payer/universal-type systems — to see how the former would express to the latter why they’re so oppressed and the American system (pre-ACA) is so superior, and how the latter would respond.
They would gob-smack their foreheads and say “Shit! Why didn’t I see that!” and rush out to join the movement to repeal. Which they hadn’t done before because nobody told them how miserable they were. 'Cause, you know, our health care system is the envy of the world.
US may soon lower the difference between average wait times to see specialists in the US and in Canada - by hiking up the US wait times.
Obamacare tries to fake the doctors out by temporarily increasing Medicaid payments to lure them in. They must think physicians are stupid.
Well, here’s the problem:
Offer doctors peanuts for treating Medicaid patients, and of course they’ll balk.
And for this, we pay over $4,000 per taxpayer? To hell with that.
Belgium would likely have more advanced equipment and facilities. So, yes a richer country would tend to have better health care because they can afford to spend on it. Surprise surprise.
The US does indeed have the advanced equipment and facilities, but not everyone has access to it. So, if you are rich and well off, the US health care is grade A. If you’re poor, not so good. Like accidentally cutting off two fingers, you can only afford to pay to save one, which finger to chose?
In Belgium, you would keep both.
By the way, I’d like to point out that some doctors could still continue private practices in Vermont for elective health care, such as plastic surgery, or so I would assume. Electives wouldn’t be covered under single payer. Correct me if I’m wrong.