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.
Amazing what billions in U.S foreign aid can do.
In the U.S. millions are out of work, lost homes, lost medical benefits, wide open borders, millions of jobs shipped to Commie China, and the U.S. Government is sending billions of tax dollars to Israel and every other country on earth?
What a twisted evil this has become.
I cannot find "Foreign Aid" in the Constitution.
I'd rather the money go to our own American brothers and sisters than foreign countries that hate us.
Bull chet. Millions of illegal aliens do, as your government showers them with coupons, benefits and prizes.
Seems foreigners, foreign countries and illegal aliens of every description are receiving U.S. tax paid assistance, cash as prizes, but God forbid anything goes to helping U.S. citizens in legitimate need. .
Heh. The low cost is precisely because of its socialist nature — all advanced socialized medicine systems have lower costs than the U.S. non-system.
BTW, in praising Israeli economic performance, he omitted the billions in stimulus spending pumped into the Israeli economy over many decades, courtesy of U.S. tax payers — per capita, vastly, vastly greater than any of Obama’s tyrannical, budget-busting boondoggles.
Would you please refund the tax dollars I have contributed to the roads you drive on, the police and firemen and military that protect you, the inspectors who inspect your meat and eggs, and the teachers who taught you. I’m tired of being your slave, you moocher.
The first difference and the biggest, is you would have to have complete Tort Reform first. You cant sue for silly stuff in Israel. So the doctors don't have to waste time testing for every possible bit of crap before they get down to helping you.
Secondly, the entire medical profession has a different mindset. When you go to the doctor and the visit with one is done, he hands you all your records. You are responsible to follow up everything. He tells you where to go, hands you your folder and its done. He is not responsible for you, YOU are. That does not work in America either. People are not assumed to be brain dead in Israel.
I had a procedure done that would have cost $30,000 in the US. It cost me $750 bucks. But there is a bit of a difference. I was handed a box of syringes and drugs and was shown how to give my wife shots. It was up to me to do it and do it right, we did not have to go in for weekly visits. This frees up a heck of a lot of doctor time.
Comparing Israeli health care to the US is completely apples and oranges. It shows Mitt is CLUELESS, or dishonest. I vote clueless, due to not understanding the cultural differences.
Can you imagine handing a box of drugs and syringes to a welfare recipient and giving the doctor immunity from lawyers? In Israel if you slip on a sidewalk, you are considered a klutz, not criminally attacked by the owner of the sidewalk.
Uh, the foreign aid is military hardware. You know, Egypt gets four new tanks, the Saudi's get four new airplanes and the Jews get a Jeep.
Ever tried to do surgery with a F16?
Are you f***ing serious? You are an idiot. I did not say force, I said I would vote for it. If you want to live back in colonial America then go pump your own water and sH*t in your outhouse.
America has evolved and some things necessarily change. A central bank isn’t in the Constitution either but don’t we have one? Our own founding fathers screwed this country with that action.
If the people of this country (a democracy and a republic) VOTE for certain things then we have to live with it. I am totally against Obamacare and will do everything to overcome it....but common sense says that if our country is spending 18% of our GDP on healthcare, 10% would me much better. Get real!
No, but they do give health care to Palestinians. Who usually stiff them for the bill. Health care is NOT free in Israel, even Isreali's have to help foot the costs. Its just that without the Government trying to control the Hospitals, the costs are reasonable, like they were before Bush voted in the Pharma act.
The only problem with health care in the USA is not health care costs, it is Lawyers and Politicians.
Furthermore, a point I forgot to mention. I am forced to buy auto insurance if I own a car. Where is that in the constitution?
Interesting that you should mention that, as Israel leads the world in medical R and D! Because they cannot have their pants sued off because some idiot swallowed a whole bottle of pills at once, they can actually make a profit with innovation. And medical research goes very well with the Jewish Psyche, its a real mitzva, a good deed, to save lives!
That is why they offer medical assistance to Palestinians, it is honorable to save the life of even your enemies. The more you get to know the Jews, the more you find to like, trust me.
NOT even close. ObamaCare may be a clone of RomneyCare, but HMO's are services you pay for, and choose if you want it or not. You know, American Health care before Obama "fixed" it.
Health Care is fixed alright, just like WWF wrestling matches. Back in the old days, insurance was considered a Mafia scam. Now the Government and lawyers have stolen the scam from the Mafia. (Well, the Chicago Mafia is the government but lets not go there...)
All money given to Israel is in military arms. Something that they would not need if we did not also give 5 times as much to the Muslims. It is not a stimulus to Israel to give the latest version of the M1A1 Abrams Tanks to Egypt. The fricking Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood now controls more modern tanks than some of the ones our troops drive!
And if you think "stimulus" works, you are sadly mistaken. The US always garners a price for everything it gives Israel. Like Gaza, which now is stimulating nearby Israeli cities with missiles daily.
I am all for foreign aid to our allies, but do not understand why we spend Billions more on our enemies.
Obama is "stimulating" his Mafia Buddies, follow the money trail. America is not being stimulated. After Obama emptied the treasury, he borrowed a few trillion more to hand out to his Mafia buddies. Heck, he gave more money to Peloi's brother in laws fake solar company than he gave the Nation of Israel.
The low cost is precisely because of its socialist nature — all advanced socialized medicine systems have lower costs than the U.S. non-system.
EVERY single socialist health care system costs much more than simple health care, someone has to pay for all the overhead of the socialist masters. When they socialized health care, did your payments go down, or up? Are you going to believe what you see, or what Obama tells you?
History shows that central planning is always a mess and costs more. The more masters you have, the more massa's you gotta work for. And Massa's always figure they are worth a whole lot more than Peons that actually produce something.
You got a lot to learn.
In the U.S. millions of Americans are out of work, are losing hope, their homes and medical benefits; we have wide open borders w/ millions pouring in to ride the US gravy train; millions of jobs are being shipped to Commie China.......yet vote-crazed politicans are sending billions of our tax dollars to Israel, and every other country on earth. What a twisted evil this has become.
======================================
SIGH---these are my two fave foreign aid stories....enjoy:
REFERENCE In 1995 (the year Newt Gingrich became the powerful Speaker of the US House), his then-wife Marianne Gingrich landed a plum job with the Israel Export Development Company (IEDC).
Marianne's previous job was a “makeup consultant” for a door-to-door cosmetics company. Larry now employed Marianne as IEDC’s Vice President. Talk about affirmative action (/snix).
Marianne's boss at IEDC was Larry Silverstein---lessee of the World Trade Center. Among Marianne's tasks for Silverstein and his Israel Export Development Company were (1) to develop Americans to relocate jobs and businesses to Israel, and, (2) to get jobs for Israeli interns in Congressional offices.
Wouldn't you love to see the paper trail of numerous financial bombs the IEDC interns planted in US govt agencies to jetstream zillions of US tax dollars to Israel? Zillions over and above the "piddling" $10 billion foreign aid appropriation "ceremoniously" announced each year.
BTW, WTC developer LARRY SILVERSTEIN was the biggest winner of the "9/11 Lottery." Larry fought like hell to get insurance billions "he said" was for "two accidents" from the 9/11 bombing---AND Larry got billions more from the Port Authority govt agency's budget (supposedly for (cough) rebuilding.
Seems Larry's not too good at math (/snix) b/c the World Trade Center rebuilding is set to cost $14.8 billion, 35% more than the 2008 estimate of $11 billion....So the PA "says" it has to raise tolls on the working class to pay Larry for the increases.
=========================================================
REFERENCE: The Mérida Initiative (also called Plan Mexico by critics) is a so-called "security cooperation agreement" between the United States and the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering. The assistance includes training, equipment and intelligence.
In seeking partnership with the United States, Mexican officials point out that the illicit drug trade is a shared problem in need of a shared solution, and remark that most of the financing for the Mexican traffickers comes from American drug consumers. U.S. law enforcement officials estimate that US$12 to 15 billion per year flows from the United States to the Mexican traffickers, and that is just in cash, i.e., not including the money sent by wire transfers.
The U.S. Congress passed legislation in late June 2008 to provide Mexico with $400 million and Central American countries with $65 million that year for the Mérida Initiative. The initiative was announced on 22 October 2007 and signed into law on June 30, 2008.
No need to try and pigeon hole me, been putting up with customers all day who are angry that I speak no spanish.
I said it was a guess, you can see that.
Am glad to have input, And I can certainly imagine that Israel has advanced R&D in medical. Glad to learn something new.
Am anxious about our future in this respect looking at the events of the past three or so years, that’s all.
I guess all the Romney supporters missed this thread.
“Uh, the foreign aid is military hardware. You know, Egypt gets four new tanks, the Saudi’s get four new airplanes and the Jews get a Jeep.
Ever tried to do surgery with a F16?”
Which means money that Israel would normally spend on military can be diverted to health care. But you’re not the first poster to fail to realize that.
The Consitution doesn't guarantee your right to a car, and your car insurance isn't for YOUR protection or for the protection of your car, it's for the protection of anyone or any property you may happen to injure/damage with your car. Your car insurance is not required for the upkeep of your car.
No one is forcing you to buy a car, therefore ultimately, no one is forcing you to buy car insurance. However, the Constitutin does guarantee your right to life; Obama/RomneyCare forces you to buy health insurance just by virtue of your being alive, and that health insurance isn't for the protection of others you might make sick, but for the upkeep of your own self.
I don't like being forced to buy car insurance, but it's part of the price of owning a car, and my owning a car is optional. When the Federal or State government forces me to buy health insurance simply because I live, it is a far cry from forcing me to buy car insurance because I've opted to own a car.
The comparison of being forced to buy car insurance to being forced to buy health insurance, is fundamentally flawed.
I get your point. Thanks.
You’re so gracious! :^)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.