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I wish the US had Medicare For All. We are the ONLY developed country without universal healthcare, and there's no excuse for it.
Yes, I know universal healthcare has its flaws, but I think it's a hell-of-a lot better than a for-profit healthcare system.
Did you see how our government ran it's own security on Jan6 2021 or our exit from Afghanistan? That's how well they'd run the health care system.
Basic military health insurance. It 100% sucks, yes we all got coverage, but it was crappy coverage. Wait a few months to get a diagnostic which the cheapest (not necessarily the best) drugs will be used
They gave me a medicine that increased my chance for stroke by 50% when the version that didnt do it costs only 20 bucks more.
Private is the best. With govetment mandated you would get the cheapest meds for the same cost since you have to cover someone who makes less than you.
We have universal healthcare here and while it does has its flaws it is great. There are also private hospitals and health insurance. So, if you can afford an insurance you go to private hospitals and if you can't you still get healthcare.
I really believe that our system is great.
Yeah the VA is run perfectly. Our troops have great government healthcare.
Also where theres all these government programs peep the taxes. For a person middle class in Germany you are paying 42% of your income in just income tax alone. In the US if you are middleclass your effective rate is like 16% of your income. Im paying 18% this year and I'm upper middleclass. This isnt counting their ridiculous sales tax. You are paying for those handouts. Thats why if you are a competitive person that can have a high paying job you're better off here because you dont need those handouts and you wont have to pay for them for life.
If you'd like I can give you a list of companies that will give you better coverage than the handout coverage you get in germany. You'll have to work for it tho. No handouts.
We should have, and would have if most of our lawmakers weren't in the pockets of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
Forget Universal and US health care. Forget Medicare. Open medical market.
have you ever wondered why people from around the world come to America for health?? reason is social medicine is not what people say it is. know some people in europe and they wait sometimes a year to see the doctor, and by that time the problem they have cant be fixed.
I'm certainly aware of that. However, as I've mentioned in some of my other comments, our healthcare system has bankrupted and even killed people. On top of that, we pay more for our system than people in other countries do, and we are still less satisfied with it than they are.
I'll take a flawed healthcare system over one that puts profits above people.
Caution Soap Box:
How about working for what you want.
Each adult that wants a handout (that is not disabled to a point of not being able to do anything. Or have hit your magic age of retirement whatever that happens to be). Should be required to work a certain amount of hours for their handout. 60 hours for housing, 40 hours for medical care, base it on $12 per hour, you want $360 assistance for food then you must work 30 hours. Child care, cell phones, education, all these things that you want free from your government. The work should only be used in normal government paid positions litter control, groundskeeper, administration filing or answering phones.
Benefits to the tax payer and you may actually teach a person a viable trade and work ethic. If you don't come to work or do a poor job the amount you receive would reflect it.
Question for you, why do you think a working person should pay twice for their medical care, while someone else doesn't pay at all or gets it at 25 percent of the cost?
I'm not asking for handouts, I'm just asking for a few things that the rest of the developed world guarantees its citizens, such as....HEALTHCARE!
Okay so who pays the doctors , nurses, and other staff. Who pays the hospital.
The money has to come from some where. Either you pay for it or you pay taxes so the government can pay for it.
Wanting something for nothing equates to free handout to me.
That's fine, send your government $500 per month more in taxes and ask them if there is some way they can enroll you in part A of your medicare and another $170 if you want part B. Maybe they'll make an exception for you!
Granted the cost would be less if everybody had to pay for it, but you still have all the deductibles and co-pays that go with it, as stated in an earlier post.
Most people don't want to pay an additional 400 a month in taxes.
Okay while I don't disagree with the premise, why do you think everyone who is not working 60 hours a week should be homeless. I worked 60 hours and was going to school full time. I got barely any sleep and was half dead most of the time. 40 is considered a normal work week so you are basically saying full time workers deserve to be homeless.
Not sure where you get this from. My numbers were based on per month the way most people pay for housing or medical care.
Add the numbers 60+40+30=130, a person working a full time job of 40 hours per week works 160 hours or more per month. So you have housing, medical, and food and you've only worked four days each week.
If you want more, you work more, or get a better job. A government handout job is not meant to be a career job. It's what you have to work to get free handouts.
Maybe 60 hours seems a lot for rent to you, but most people working unskilled low level jobs are lucky if they can afford rent on 60 hrs.
The government foots the bill, not you. So, while your taxes may go up, you'll no longer have to pay premiums, deductibles, and copays. Nor will you have to worry about insurance denying you coverage. Thus, you'll save money in the end.
Oh, and did I mention you still get to keep your doctor?
Where do you get your information.
Who said or told you there would be no deductibles, copays, or denying of coverage.
Read older dude's comment!
Government programs will decide if you are over 75 or some magic age that you don't get treated for cancer or hip replacement. There is no return for the time and money spent. Same could apply for terminal health issues at any age.
You are way under informed or mis informed.
Who's going to pay for it. I would rather spend my money and buy my own health insurance. And not give free insurance to illegals who don't help to pay for it.
This is coming from the same group of people who dont want to take care of people who are in the hospital for covid when they are unvaccinated.
Such a compassionate group those dems
Who's going to pay for our neverending wars, or bailing out corporations who won't pay taxes? I'm guessing you have no problem with those things, you just don't like things that help people.
I might mention that our current system bankrupts and even kills people. Are you in favor of that?
I agree with your comment on illegals.
I believe that you have a serious misunderstanding about Medicare. It's not even close to what most countries consider universal health care.
Medicare in the USA consist of:
Part A: Hospitalization. You pay the 1st $1,556 (2022 - it goes up every year) for every hospitalization. It then covers all in hospital cost for "approved" conditions and treatments for 60 days. You pay $389 per day (2022 cost) of the hospitalization cost for 61-90 days per hospitalization.
If you exceed 90 days of hospitalization, you have a life time limit of 60 days @ $778 per day (2022 cost).
You pay 100% of all hospitalization cost past 90 days if you exceed your 60 days in your lifetime of extended hospitalization care.
None of the above covers the cost of your Doctors in the hospital; just hospital costs. Doctor Cost is under Part B.
Part B: Doctor Cost, non-Dr Medical Clinic appointments, outpatient care, nursing homes.
$170.10/ month premium (2022 cost - goes up every year).
Up front $233 deductible (2022 cost). Pays 80% of approved costs. You are responsible for the other 20% of cost, and 100% of non approved medical services.
They are really tight on what is approved; and in many cases requires you to re-validate your medical condition. Example; I have severe sleep apnea; and have a sleep study that shows my blood O2 reached 42% during my sleep study.
Medicare will not cover sleep apnea treatment unless you have a sleep study done after you go on Medicare. All previous sleep studies do not count.
So you get to pay 20% of the cost of a sleep study if its done on an outpatient basis; and may have to pay up to $1485 if the sleep study is done in an hospital which then falls under part A.
Sleep apnea is not the only medical condition with such requirements.
Note: Part B does not include any prescription drug cost. You pay all prescription drug costs.
Medicare does not cover Dental, Hearing, and Vision.
Another major issue with Medicare is that the government is only paying the medical providers about 1/2 the cost of providing service. Many medical providers opt out of handling Medicare patients except on a cash basis (only those who are rich can afford that). So if you need a real expert specialist... they may only accept cash payment and will only accept you as a patient if you have the money to pay them.
You can buy private insurance for prescription drug coverage and to reduce the initial up front cost and your share.
I just recently priced it all; and to get something that is similar to our current deductibles is in the $450 per month range (Medicare part B, Gap Insurance, Prescription Drugs). This still leaves me paying at least a thousand dollars a year out of pocket (and several times that in the worst cases).
If you want a private plan that expands to cover the medical treatments that Medicare does not cover, and significantly minimizes out of pocket expense... you are in the range of $1000/month.
So, no to Medicare for all. Its a system that fails most of its members and overburdens them financially.
However, your point that the USA health care system is a mess compared to the rest of the world. I would agree.
I have a sister who lives in Canada (and is a Canadian Citizen). She tells me about the limitations of the Canadian health care system; and many Canadians who have the money cross over into the USA or fly to Europe for medical treatment they cannot get in Canada, or cannot timely get in Canada (in some cases the waiting list for certain treatments are well beyond the life expectancy of a person with the condition).
I studied health care plans among the western countries some years ago. The one I liked best was where the government provided a modest level of medical services to all people, and then there were I believe 2 levels of private insurance to cover medical services above that.
That takes care of the routine stuff, and allows people to opt in or out of more advanced care options without over-burdening the government and requiring them to ration care to all (which is what all the "Universal" Health care plans do).
Also, note that my wife is from Ukraine. You will die in a hospital from starvation there if you do not have friends and family who bring you food (unless you can afford to privately pay for one of the few "western" hospitals in Ukraine). But, they have "universal" health care for all.
I forgot to mention that the "Medicare Advantage" Plans offered by some health care system with low or zero dollar monthly cost... will eat you alive financially with all the copay's if you need any kind of routine medical care.
I have a friend who tried one of those... and he almost bankrupted himself within the 1st year when a new modest medical issue showed up. He changed to just Medicare Part A, Part B, reasonable gap insurance, and a prescription drug plan.
Be very careful about private Medicare "Advantage" plans. Also, they are of no help if you need a specialist outside of their system.