Posted on 12/23/2024 3:41:58 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET
The Canadians have banned private health insurance for anything deemed medically necessary by the state. That has not resulted in a socialist paradise, where no medical claim is ever denied. The state keeps a lid on spending by forcing Canadians to wait for care.
The story is similar in Britain. Private insurance is legal. 1 in 8 Britons has it. They buy it because wait times for care in the publicly run health care system are interminable.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
So tell me. Should Obamacare be eliminated entirely with a one year provision to correct the problem? Trump could fix it. We've got the upper hand now. I say put the nurses in charge with Ben Carson as a consultant. Market based.
The only difference between US Healthcare and socialized medicine is the you pay for it. Those who have socialized medicine are always paying for it, whether or not they use it. Americans pay at the time of service.
I agree.
America’s bloated, corrupt, crony-capitalist, quasi-socialist healthcare system can not be reformed head-on
Rather, what we need is health-care “free trade zones.” Perhaps on someplace like Indian territory, like we have permitted gambling. Allow doctors, hospitals, pharmacies to operate in this area on a cash-only basis. Give them maximum freedom from FDA regulations and ambulance chasing-lawyers.
Patients and Doctors can go to those places, or they can stay in America’s present bloated, broken system. Full freedom of choice.
Watch how quickly they develop as a high-quality, inexpensive alternative.
This is a strange intro. Aren’t banning private medicine and allowing it the direct opposites?
**Rather, what we need is health-care “free trade zones.” Perhaps on someplace like Indian territory**
Very good. Surprised it hasn’t happened already. Build them next to the casinos.
You pretty much have that in Mexico.
A lot of care in Mexico is pretty good. It tends to be much cheaper than in the USA.
There is no such thing as “Malpractice” in Mexico. If your DR or Dentist screws up, you have no recourse. To sue, your Dr or Dentist has to have done the wrong intentionally.
So, lots of care in Mexico is substandard to that in the USA.
The more basic policies usually pick up the costs of most in-patient treatments – such as tests and surgery – and day-care surgery.
Some policies extend to out-patient treatments – such as specialists and consultants – and might pay you a small fixed amount for each night you spend in an NHS hospital.
Your healthcare insurance won’t usually cover private treatment for:
organ transplants
pre-existing medical conditions
normal pregnancy and childbirth costs
cosmetic surgery to improve your appearance
injuries relating to dangerous sports or arising from war or war-like hostilities
chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDs-related illnesses, diabetes, epilepsy, hypertension (high blood pressure) and related illnesses.
You might be able to choose a policy that covers mental health, depression and sports injuries, but these aren’t always covered.
https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/everyday-money/insurance/do-you-need-private-medical-insurance
That’s not true. Almost all Americans are covered by some sort of medical insurance (Medicare, mandated employer plans, etc). Somebody pays constantly through taxation or premiums.
Most countries with “socialized” medicine really aren’t that much different from the US as far as payment goes, such as France and Germany. Medical services are largely private there also.
Fine. So someone who knows nothing but thinks they’re insured gets turned away. They end up thinking the guy who denied treatment ought to get shot.
Perhaps insurance should cover emergencies and life saving treatments only. Car insurance doesn’t pay for tune ups or oil changes so patients should pay for blood tests and check ups. Health savings accounts are the answer,
If us healthcare is so great why do we have a near third world life expectancy? It is only the world’s most expensive and profitable. Comparing to some of the free world’s worst healthcare does not make ours good.?
My former neighbor Sylvia grew up in England. Her parents lived their older adult years there.
I never heard her complain about the NHS.
Sylvia was turned down for BC/BS insurance because she didn’t weigh enough.
For those who have private healthcare, you’re correct. You have a socialist-like healthcare if you have one with the similar paying as you go, for life, in the event that you need it. However, if you don’t have a healthcare system, you pay when you need it.
However, I have paid over $200,000 for a healthcare system that I don’t use. The money is spent, so I get no benefits whatsoever should I ever need it unless I agree with the liberal that I should rob somebody of their future for my present benefit.
“Perhaps insurance should cover emergencies and life saving treatments only.”
I grew up with hospitalization only coverage.
My mom paid for the doctor visits and prescriptions by check.
I have yet to have had an outpatient prescription paid for by insurance. I’m 66.
I’ll probably be getting a flu shot soon. It would for me be the first vaccination to be paid for by insurance.
I’ve never been an emergency room patient.
“Health savings accounts are the answer”
Structural reforms are needed - splitting up hospitals, reforming medical & dental education, fixed profit health care cost coverage wherein insureds bear the risk collectively, etc.
Most sick people will tell you they have more skin in the game than they’d like.
That is the essence of every “socialized” system. We both live in it (well, not me, now, as I have private insurance in Spain, but I certainly paid in as much as you have for US Medicare, which I dont use).
The US is 90%+ “socialized” as far as medical payments go, through taxation and employer mandates (France and Germany also have employer mandates), just very, very inefficiently.
The really big difference however, between the US and Europe is that medical care delivery is vastly more expensive in the US, and that has nothing to do with how it is paid for. Everything medical is absurdly expensive in the US.
In the US people have been savagely chewing on each other, for decades, over the wrong things.
I’m not going to say that healthcare is more expensive in the US than Europe, because Europe uses the general tax base to fund healthcare through hidden taxes. If somebody could do an honest evaluation, it’s probably a lot closer than one realizes.
You’re right that the US is more socialized than it used to be, but that’s the corrupting influence of the anti-Christ system of socialism. It corrupts everything and leaves the systems the corrupt eventually bankrupt with no way out.
Europe saves money by relying on the US to subsidize their military and the research the US does also gets piggy-backed on by Europe and other countries.
“why do we have a near third world life expectancy?”
Bad diet, little exercise, deaths by violence probably explain most of it. Some of it may be genetic due to the US racial mix.
“I have paid over $200,000 for a healthcare system that I don’t use.”
Another possibility would be to say buy off of a hospital network $5000 of Medicare scope coverage for say $6,000 annually.
It would be like pre-paid funeral home coverage.
Employers might buy say $1 million worth of Medicare scope in-patient care off a hospital system for say $1.2 million.
Employees might be responsible for the Medicare deductible, co-insurance amounts.
When the balance falls below $200,000 HR might get a phone call to top-up the account.
How many people in Socialist countries get screwed over by their socialized medicine?
I don’t know, but my guess is no more than 20%. The other 80% are healthy enough to not need much care. But the 20% require a knee, hip, transplant, or even MRI to find out what’s wrong.
So, if you need votes, who do you help - the 20% that are EXPENSIVE basket cases (Canada simply does away with them now), or the 80% who show up maybe once a year, need pre-natal, have little kids with little medical issues?
That’s the problem - the 80% WINS, and the 20%, to quote Newt, is left to “Rot on the Vine”.
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.