Posted on 07/30/2012 6:26:24 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
JERUSALEM — Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney offered praise for the Israeli health care system today — a medical plan that has been socialized since its founding in 1948.
Romney, who championed the Massachusetts health care mandate, but is an opponent of the federal mandate passed by President Barack Obama, marveled at how little Israel spends on health care relative to the United States.
“Do you realize what health care spending is as a percentage of the GDP in Israel? eight percent," Romney told donors at a fundraiser at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, speaking of a health care system that is compulsory for Israelis and funded by the government. "You spend eight percent of GDP on health care. You're a pretty healthy nation. We spend 18% of our GDP on health care. Ten percentage points more. That gap, that 10 percent cost, compare that with the size of our military — our military which is four percent — four percent. Our gap with Israel is 10 points of GDP. We have to find ways — not just to provide health care to more people, but to find ways to find and manage our health care costs."
Romney has explained that he opposes ObamaCare because what worked in Massachusetts may not work for other states. Highlighting the success of the Israeli system — in a country that enjoys one of the highest life expectancy rates in the world — could complicate matters for Romney at home.
Rights of the Insured under the National Health Insurance Law
-—Every Israeli citizen is entitled to health care services under the National Health Insurance Law.
—Every resident has a right to register as a member of an HMO of his/her choice, free of any preconditions or limitations stemming from his/her age or the state of his/her health.
—Every resident has a right to receive, via the HMO of which he or she is a member, all of the services included in the medical services basket, subject to medical discretion, and at a reasonable quality level, within a reasonable period of time and at a reasonable distance from his/her home.
—Each member has a right to receive the health services while preserving the member’s dignity, privacy and medical confidentiality.
—Every Israeli resident has the right to transfer from one HMO to another.
—Each member has a right to select the service providers, such as doctors, caregivers, therapists, hospitals and institutes, from within a list of service providers who have entered into an agreement with the HMO to which the member belongs, and within the arrangements in place for the selection of the service providers, and which the HMO publishes from time to time.
—Each member has a right to know which hospitals and institutes, and other service providers, are included in the agreement with the HMO, and what are the selection processes at the HMO.
—Each member has a right to see and to receive a copy of the HMO regulations.
—Each resident has a right to receive from the HMO complete information concerning the payment arrangements in place in the HMO for health services as well as the HMO’s plans offered for additional health services (CIP).
—Each member has a right to complain with the Public Inquiries commissioner at the medical institute that treated the member, to the person in charge of investigating member complaints at the HMO of which s/he is a member, or to the complaints commissioner for the national health insurance law in the Ministry of Health.
—Each member has a right to file suit at the district labor court.
To be fair to Mitt, I suspect it's the cost aspect that he was thinking about, but the fact remains he's praising a system which guarantees health care to every Israeli regardless of ability to pay.
Doctors in Israel all belong to a union. In the past when they have gone on strike the mortality rate in the country actually went DOWN!
Romney Praises Israel’s Socialized Health Care System
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Does it have free and $50 abortions too like RomneyCare ???
“marveled at how little Israel spends on health care relative to the United States.”
Amazing what billions in U.S foreign aid can do.
They don't have thousands of new Dreamers every-day entitled.
Tell you what, let California enact a state wide socialized system and lets see how it works.
No doubt, we will have to spend the next four years fighting Romney back to the right every step of the way. But let’s get rid of Obama first!
I like your thinking.
By the way, if Romney does a little research he may find out what he doesn’t want to know.
In our system, we pay for research of pharmaceuticals and equipment which we share with countries like Israel.
Just a guess.
In any case, watch research and development take a nosedive over the next years after this Obama scare.
He will bring Romney care to us if elected...it only makes sense...he will use the guise of ...well its state mandated...but it will still be mandated...
I am voting for Constitution Party for POTUS...GOP for US Senator here in Florida in hopes of overturning health care disaster...but I have had it with E GOP...Cheney’s remarks about Palin were typical E GOP circular firing squad instead of going after Obama
freegards LEX
They went after her because mitt has been not nominated yet. They will live in fear of her until he is.
foreign aid is to be spent on US weapons
its a mixture of public and private.
Israel is a tiny country....alot of things would work there that would not work here!!!
Every time I begin to warm towards Mittens, the vapid dork once again demonstrates that he has the mind of a pea.
But, at least he does have a mind...unlike our Cretin-in-Chief.
The percentage of people on the dole, living on welfare in Israel is probably lower than what it is in the US, thereby making their healthcare more affordable.
How many illegals enter Israel every year who all qualify for medical care?
This is standard POTUS campaign stuff. It doesn't faze me.
Fox and Friends reported on this today and they pointed out that Romney is 30% to 40% below Obama in polling of US Jewish voters. It remains to be seen how much this helps them with him.
One of the unstated and whispered goals of invading Iraq was to help Israel (yet Bush never tried to sell that to general voters even as that war became very unpopular) and maybe it did help them, or maybe not in the long run, but Jewish voters who tend to be liberal, probably wanted Hillary more than Obama but then voted for Obama, were largely turned off by that war (Iraq) the way it turned out. Now if Nuke based WMDs were found and displayed on TV it may have played out differently. Another ironic miscalculation.
I cannot find the "right" to healthcare in the Constitution. You have the right to purchase healthcare, but you do not have the right to force me to purchase your healthcare. You also do not have the right to force doctors to provide healthcare for you. Unless you believe in slavery.
ObamaCare = RomneyCare = IsraeliCare
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