President Obama has promised to reveal some details of ObamaCare II today. It will be different in some respects from ObamaCare I, which more Americans now oppose than support. Which is cool, and I enjoyed this cartoon. In the meantime, I have a few modest suggestions. None were a part of ObamaCare I, and I am willing to bet that none will be included in the new draft.

My wife and I have lived in Panamá for about seven years. Health care is good and inexpensive; it is not perfect, and problems exist due to the topography and population distribution in Panamá as well as the limited funds available. The population of Panamá is about three and a half million, and there are many rural areas, some of them very remote.

Here, there is “free” health care for all full-time employees and their immediate families, including a spouse and unmarried minor children. They and their employers pay for it through the social security system. Health care is provided during their working years as well as after retirement, when they also receive modest retirement payments.

All full-time employees are required by law to participate and to pay approximately 9.2 percent of their salary in social security fees; their employers are required to pay approximately 15.96 percent of salary. The amount which our one full-time employee pays, and which we pay on his behalf, totals $52.21 per month — only part of which goes for health care. People who are self-employed are not automatically covered by the social security system, but they can be by paying a modest amount into the system...

Is Dan Miller a freeper? I am interested. I was deployed to Panama for almost 4 years in the 90's. I visited several hospitals and clinics. They have a "three tier" system. There is fee for service which is generally provided by US trained Panamanians and very reasonably priced. When I was there $25 bought you an actual 30 minutes with the specialist in his office. The hospital in Paitilla was similar in structure and cleanliness to any great US hospital and they brought in JCAHO once a year to do a US type inspection.

The mid-tier was the Social Security system and as he staes if one pays into Social Security you get subsidized care but in Panama City the waits can be hours. There was also a hospital for charity (Santo Thomas) and it was pretty scary. One could get admitted and see a doctor once a day and nurses would provide care but linens, meds, and meals had to be brought in by family or somebody. Women knew that if they went there in labor they had to bring some lidocaine with them for a pelvic block or they got nothing.

Panama tried to encourage gringos to come back in the last ten years and created a new "Retirement Visa" and special tax laws. If you retire there they will let you buy or build a home tax free for something like ten years and their only taxes are retail taxes. On can live there inexpensively. There is a beautiful area near David and it sounds lke that is where Dan lives, Chiriqui. It is on the flanks of a dormant volcano on the Costa Rica border and the weather is fantastic, 70 degrees every day. The houses don't even need AC or heat.

If they had a 2nd AMendment and/or a stable gummint I would sure consider living there.

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You are a liar.

I have lived in Panama most of my live and was born at noon and not at midnight.

Sorry folks, I did not finish reading that mess and the pack of lies. It is great if one wants to stand in line before 5:00 am or before to make an appointment for some weeks later.

I have my own personal private insurance which is great.

Outside the Social Security hospital, we have great medical care here. Many doctors are U.S. trained.

I can’t figure out the purpose of this article…

The author has to be an Obama cheerleader.

I am really upset about this phony article.

Oh yes…“Free” health care? Nothing is “free.”

“It is on the flanks of a dormant volcano on the Costa Rica border and the weather is fantastic, 70 degrees every day. The houses don’t even need AC or heat.”

Many years ago a spent the night at a private home below the area of Cerro Punta...I don’t remember the circumstances other than I was provided with an electric heater for the night. It was wonderful.

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