If anyone has not been looking, there is a big healthcare debate going on in the USA now.  I´ll be going to a Town Hall meeting in a hour or so to listen, and perhaps offer an opinion.

I´m curious about the health care options in other countries.  Are alternative treatments possible with the health care of your country?  By alternative, I mean acupuncture, chiropracty or other types of treatments.  I was amazed to find acupuncture is not allowed in the US Medicare or Medicaid.  How about your country?

Affordable Healthcare in the USA

Hmmm....no comments.  Too bad. 

The meeting was "interesting" there were some real disruptors spewing lies, shouting, not waiting their turn to ask questions, or comment.  They got there very early so as to insure getting in the room and having a space in the front. 

There are few tribes more loathsome than the American right, and their vicious use of the shortcomings in the NHS to attack Barack Obama´s attempts at health reform are a useful reminder.

That was a strange link     - one paragraph in a seven paragraph article - the rest of which had nothing to do with healthcare in America.

You asked what healthcare is like in other countries.  The NHS was and still could be a great institution but the downslide started when it was decided it was a ´business´, patients became ´clients´ and it became more important to meet targets than actually spend money on caring for sick people.  NHS doctors, nurses and ancillary staff are great - the trouble is that there are no longer enough of them to go round while there are far too many highly paid non-medical management staff who spend their days attending meetings to arrange more meetings.    - while the medical staff try to cope and are also wasting a lot of their valuable and skilled time filling out (in the most part) ridiculously unnecessary paperwork.  

Almost any type of alternative healthcare you could think of is available - but this would be in the private sector.

Well, I´m sure what you have is a LOT better than what we have, which is all private for profit insurance.  Most of us pay mega bucks for insurance...which still has pretty high co-pays and is only too fast to deny coverage based on pre existing condition exclusions.

Hmmm....is chiropractic covered? Some of the treatments covered there, may only be considered alternative here. 

Is Acupuncture, or massage covered?  

Not sure - because obviously I no longer live in the UK.  I would think that acupuncture would not be covered but that massage - under the guise of physio probably - would be covered. I used a chiropracter in the UK but had to see him privately - however I had some physio for a back problem under the NHS.

 What you say is indeed reality and that is exactely why people fear NHC....Sorry I don´t believe once again that our government SHOULD take care of everyone.  If you work you pay for it...if you sit on your ass well WE still pay for it.  98% of the United States are responsible enough to have healthcare..once you get the government involved they will screw it up, like everything else they touch.  Currently, no one is denied emergency care from the ER, whether you have health insurance or not.  Do you know that the ARP, who fully supports NHC, who blasts insurance companies also sells insurance themselves?  How hyprocritical is that..You really think these doctors here are going to be content being paid x amount dollars dictated by the government.  No wonder there is a shortage of doctors...the problems you mention LIR...is reality and that´s the reality I don´t want to face...including a hundred more reasons why.  We have such a nanny syndrome here in the states...the mind set that we should be taken care of.  How about personal responsiblity?  God forbid!

 I agree with you in part, Teas.  I have been in healthcare for 20 years, my brother is a physician and I have many other relatives in healthcare.  I can tell you that many hospitals, physicians, and other healthcare professionals are very opposed to any kind of national healthcare plan.  I personally believe that insurance and tort reform along with mechanisms to prevent fraud need to be in place before any huge plan is put in place.  Something definately needs to be done to control cost.....however, national healthcare will not control cost.  I can go on and on......but the truth is I like my healthcare.  It is not healthcare that is broken....it is insurance and attornys that are the problem.  Unfortunately, too many politicians are attornys and they get to pick and choose their clients....unlike doctors who are required BY LAW (see EMTALA act - you can proabably google it yourself) to see anyone who comes thru the door.   

The reason healthcare is so expensive here is because Medicare and Medicaid (government run programs) reimburse hospitals at the LOWEST possible rate.  This makes hospitals and other healthcare providers raise their rates to make up the difference.  A government option will make the rates for those of us who carry private insurance go up even more.....people will be forced to choose the government option and hospitals will no longer be able to deliver high quality care for ANYONE. 

  In addition to driven costs,  physicians now have to pay higher medical malpractice insurance because we are in a suing frenzy here.  Some of these physicians can no longer afford to have a single practice and now are part of big group practice. 

I simply I don´t trust our goverment to decide what cloths I should wear, where I should live, what is healthy or unhealthy for me, what perscriptions they decide what is best for me.  It hasn´t been that long ago they passed a second stimulous plan without any delay so we could avoid going to 8.7 unemployment.  We are now currently at 10%I can´t even imagine having the government drive our healthcare...like I said I´m not willing to put my life in our governments hands...I would rather have some control of my destiny.

Here we do have a compulsary health insurance (only a few people like homeless ones or strict religious one that refuse to have any insurance don´t have, about 300.000 on a population of 16,4 million) which covers basics: GP, hospital, generic medication, 9 physiotherapist treatments, gynaecological help, psychological/psychiatric help etc. You can add an extra part that covers more. There are dozens of insurance companies with all extra packages numbered from 1-5 mostly. Dental care is always extra and also devided in 1-4 number packages. The basic part costs about 90 euro per person per month, the extra packages can go up to (including the basic) 150 euro. The most extensive packages cover chiropractors, massage, unlimited physiotherapist treatments, other alternative care like acupressure, antroposophic treatment, eye lasering, travelers vaccination etc. I now have a number 2 extra package (paying 125), covering almost all but I´m going to extend that from January. People with a lower income get some money back from the tax office and children upto 18 are free. Still, a lot of people find it very expensive because before 2006 we had a different system that for some people was cheaper. If your employer has a contract with a certain insurance company or when you´re a union member (I am) you get a discount of about 10%.

 Teas, for me, this isn´t a matter of whether or not to trust the goverment (not that I do).  It is a simple matter of the constitutionality of being free of government infringement and involvement in our lives.  It goes against my basic core principles to have government run healthcare and although they say that this is  and will be an option, I think people are naive to believe that insurance companies will be able to compete and that we will be able to keep our private insurance.  This bill is merely a prelude to nationalized healthcare for everyone simply because it will eliminate competition. 

I went to a bipartisan townhall meeting at our hospital last night.  There were both Republican and Democratic congressman and senators, the audience was mainly physicians and other healthcare professionals and some patients of the facility.   I can tell you that none of our representatives could answer anything beyond very general questions.  Our docs had very pointed questions and not one person could answer them.  I hope that our government will stop and listen to healthcare experts and not lobbists before doing anything.  Healthcare reform needs to happen, but it needs to happen in the right way and for the right reasons.  It needs to help people and not hurt them.  One of our congress woman actual said that they plan on implementing the reform and then fix things as they break......ummmm....I don´t know about you guys, but that is not acceptable to me.  We need to get this right because you can´t just go back and "fix" things in healthcare.....you either get it right or people die. 

 Clever cloggies!

This is a difficult issue to solve, and as long as you are looking for a solution that primarily satisfies the insurence and drug companies, there wont´ be a solution that really works. However, I think that something has to be done, because in a country like this, it is absolutely unacceptable that only the rich get quality healthcare and they say tough love to everyone else. We clearly do not live in a democracy here, because if we did, we would hear more from teh people and their perspective on this and not only what the powerful in the society think (businesses). What we see is barbaric, people who work hard all their lives lose their homes when they become middle aged and get a heart attack or stroke and need treatment, while all this could have been prevented. A lot of mentally ill people don´t get treatment and end up on the streets, and then we say to them "you are the worthless parts of the society, you deserve what you have".

I think that a good solution would be to give a universal primary and mental health care coverage to everyone, raise taxes on the rich, and keep private insurence for specialty care. 

I disagree with some of your points, cat.  First of all, most American do have health insurance and like what they have.  Some Americans really need some help.  Don´t you think it would be a better idea to fix what is broken rather than blow the whole thing up and start over?  Why do some many people think that it is OK to unfairly tax "rich" people?  Most people in our country who have money have worked very hard to get there and to tax people disproportionately is completely unfair.  This is what starts civil unrest.....and who decides who is rich? 

 Do you only know that now?

 "Seventy-eight percent are dissatisfied with the cost of the nation´s health care system, including 54 percent "very" dissatisfied. Indeed, most Americans, or 54 percent, are now dissatisfied with the overall quality of health care in the United States."

I am yet to see a patient who is totally happy with their insurance or have no complaints about the system! hehe

I think what is broken in the system is the lack of primary care, so that´s why I think that´s what should be fixed.

I think that civil unrest should have happened long time ago with teh politicians catering to the businesses and none to the people.

 Cat, I´ve read a lot of studies about how many people are satisfied and how many are not....most of what I have read and heard are saying that most are happy.  I don´t think that we can say just how many either way because opinion polls are squewed in favor of whoever is asking.  In other words, I don´t think there are acurate studies to that point.  I don´t personally know anyone who is unhappy with their coverage, which leads me to believe that circumstances may be different in your part of the US......which is another concern in my eyes. 

I absolutely agree that lack of primary care is very concerning BUT you have to look at the underlying reasons for the lack of new docs getting into primary care......one of the main reasons is reimbursement and another is the fear of lawsuits.  We need to fix what is in place and see what we have before we do anything.

I think you are right too about government and business.....but what do you think healthcare will become to the government?  We are a free people and we should be free of government entanglements in our lives.....at least that is my feeling.  I don´t want the government deciding because I am not looking for help or a handout, that I am rich and can therefore pay a higher tax rate.  It is simply unconstitutional.  If we fix what is broken, there will be plenty to go around for everyone.

1.  Stop medical fraud

2.  Tort reform

3.  Stop putting caps on reimbursments

So far, I think from what Trudy said, the Netherlands has a fairly decent idea.  Make the people who want government healthcare pay for what they choose.  Don´t just blindly tax some citizens.

We recently did a colleague survey on our benefits.  To my surprise 99% of our $7,000 + colleagues were very happy with their insurance.   The overall feeling I have heard from my co-workers is that they do not want a universal healthcare plan.  In fact most are scared...I just wonder who are these people that are so unhappy?  Ok..I´ll refrain from answering this..

 Good idea....I will send you my thoughts on this in a PM.  The truth hurts too much.

 +++++

Elisabeth, you seem to live on some alternative universe.  Your view certainly does not resemble what I see.  I believe you work in the health care industry, don´t you?  From your perspective you most probably get a different view. 

Many of those rich people DID NOT work for it.....they inherited it.   As to deciding who is rich....it´s really not that hard now, is it?  Of course those who have more should pay more.  Why should they get tax breaks...while the rest of the poor schleps pay proportionally?

Another thing to consider is those who have grown up in privileged environment have advantages in many areas such as; learning, nutritional benefits that developed healthier bodies, helpful social contacts, knowledge of beneficial social etiquette  and many other areas.  You can not in any way compare a poor black descendent of field slaves, or an indigenous person to a wealthy privileged person of European heritage.

 Look alameda, you asked for thoughts and I gave them to you.  I already said that different people, in different parts of our country have a different view.  I don´t think it is constructive to the conversation to insinuate that I come from a privilaged European heritage and that is the reason for my view.  You don´t know my background and you are not a friend, so keep your personal attacks to yourself.  I don´t quite understand why you are so ugly toward me when I do have some first hand experience with the issue and was being quite civil even when Cat and I were disagreeing. 

In any case, I mentioned that healthcare reform is needed, but I think we can do better than a government run plan.  Anyone who has spent time at a VA hospital (worked in one) understands what the government considers good healthcare.  I can assure you that it falls well below what most people would consider good care.   

So what if they inherited it, congrats to them.  Can´t you put your jealousy aside?  You want to know why people don´t comment on your posts, well just look how your response was to Lis.  Who wants to have a civil conversation with such a condescending individual like yourself.  

 Good post, Teas!

 +10000000000000000000 on your comments on VA care.  It is an abomination! 

I don´t know what the right answer is but I do know SOMETHING has to be done about health care (ie: insurance companies)!! 

I do wonder though...when I see all those people who are spouting thier rhetoric at the town hall meetings...how many of them actually KNOW what they are talking about?  How many of them are touting "death panels" because they heard Sarah Palin say it?  How many are actually doing their homework instead of just jumping on the "Obama´s wrong" bandwagon.  And how many of those that the media show screaming that they don´t want public healthcare, the elderly ones, realize that they are already in a public health system...because 10 - 1, I bet almost everyone of them are on Medicare!

God you are so slow!  Alameda tells us all the time that she doesn´t resort to personal attacks!!  

I was not referring to you regarding my European comment....although....remembering the photo of you (and your husband) you used to have here, it´s clear you are of European decent.  Of course, that was before you decided  to get "cute" with it and post the photographic work of someone else as your own personal photo.  As to your being from a privileged background, I made no comment regarding your background and I really could care less what your background is.

After all, it is a matter of perspective now, isn´t it? Don´t take things so personally....it´s not all about you...or me....

You don´t expect much of government; I do expect government to perform.  I see you are enjoying the use of the Internet, which is a government developed product.  If citizens kept up with what their government is doing, perhaps things would be different.  As long as it is secretive and does not divulge what is going on, we can´t expect a lot. 

I don´t think some things should be profit motivated and health care is on top of the list.  Anyone who makes profits off of others misery is very low on my scale of humanity.

 Well now, isn´t it funny how YOUR perspective changes when someone has taken offense to something YOU said to them!!!  You are a straight up hypocrite. 

 ............my perspective has not changed.....

Nice try to deflect the actual issue....which is that you are a hypocrite! 

You cry like a little baby when someone dares to insult you but when YOU do it......you tell them not to take it personally.   That is a change in perspective.  ...or should I give you a link so you can understand it? 

I am not sure what my lineage or my profile pic has to do with healthcare, alameda.  I was hoping that you were genuinely interested in other peoples perspectives, since you asked.  You obviously just want to beat your own drum and are not really interested in a dialog if it doesn´t subcribe to your liberal/socialist ideals. 

That´s fine, I gracefully bow out of the discussion at this point. 

Canim, every single day I see people losing health insurance, or their insurance not being taken by their doctors. I also see every single day people not being able to take their medications because they can´t afford them. In any primary care setting, I´d like to see a person who is happy with their insurance..

I don´t think that lack of primary care doctors is the only problem, lots of people cannot afford to go to even a family doctor...... of course there are many other issues as well, and government reinbursement is one of them. If they are going to put everybody on medicaid and then not pay doctors the 10% of what they are asking for then that´s not gonna solve anything...

I think that this problem can only be solved by the government, government OWES this to people. No private business will ever care about you if the government won´t require them to, as they do now.

Clearly, more has to be done though... I am not sure what the best solution is..

A friend of mine sent this to me today...

Let me get this straight.
Obama´s health care plan will be written by a committee whose head says he doesn´t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn´t read it and whose members will be exempt from it, signed by a president who smokes, funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that is broke.

What could possibly go wrong?

A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll addresses my earlier comment wondering how many of the people opposing reform actually know what it is they are opposing........

On health care, the numbers favor the Obama plan but also aren´t overwhelming. Without being given a description, 33% said that Mr. Obama´s plan is a good idea, versus 26% who said it´s a bad idea. When given a description, 56% said they favored the plan, versus just 33% who opposed it.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124095605121565495.html

 Which proves the (Dutch) proverb that ´a lot of people scream ough even before they get hit!´.

Look at some of the polls on Rasmussen.  There are several on healthcare.  Just to show you how inaccurate polls are:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/

I don´t usually trust them, as they are always slanted by the ones who are doing the asking. 

Anyway, everyone needs to do a lot of research....not by watching the news either.  There are many good points in this bill (reimbursing medical students for school if they practice in rural areas, ect......) but there are many things that are not feasible either.  Like I said, we need reform...but we need reform that makes it better, not worse. 

I belong to a hospital committee that has hosted two town hall meetings with our local representatives.  The meetings have been and will continue to be bipartisan so members from both parties and both houses have been present.  Our physicians and healthcare workers are making excellent recommendations and asking great questions.  Our next meeting with our reps is scheduled for August 25th.  I would be happy to share results of this meeting with anyone who is interested.  Just send me a PM.

 I tend to agree with you about polls.  I just thought it was interesting that.....once given factual information regarding the plan.....rather than Palin/Limbaugh/Fox news bites, people actually changed their viewpoint. 

It´s really a sad commentary that so many in the public will take a quote or soundbite and turn it into "truth".  Most people rely on the media to give them a 5 minute spin and then base their stance on that instead of informing themselves with REAL information about the issues.

 Your ancestry has nothing to do with it.  I mentioned a hypothetical situation, which you interjected yourself into.  The point in fact remains, those from privilege have an unfair head start in all areas from health to wealth.

Many people are uninsurable.  For instance, if one has a "pre-existing condition, their insurance costs are all but unaffordable.  The definition of pre-existing condition is quite flexible, in particular,  when used to deny claims. 

If one works for a company that offers health insurance, they are lucky, but if they loose their job, they also loose insurance.  That sort of looks like slavery to me.

Then there is the matter of sky high deductables (the amount of money you have to pay before the insurance company will pay a penny), lifetime caps (the total amount a insurance company will pay for your care even if you are remain insured by them)

Have you heard of the case of Natalie Sarkisian?

"An insurance company that initially refused to pay for a liver transplant for a 17-year-old Northridge girl who died in a hospital should face criminal charges and pay civil damages, an attorney for the girl´s family said Friday."

Then there is this:

Disability by Denial: Blue Cross Rejects Critical Surgery for Orange County ICU Nurse

"Nurses from around the country have vowed to take up the case of 46-year-old Kim Kutcher, RN, as she battles Blue Cross and its decision to sentence her to a possible lifetime of disability by denying her back surgery that doctors and nurses believe is critically important. 

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee have put out a call to flood to flood Blue Cross´ office with calls and faxes, in an urgent appeal to the insurance company to overturn its decision and save the health of their colleague.  They will be joined in the effort by other patients, friends, and family of Kutcher from Orange County, as well as advocates for the kind of "Medicare for all" healthcare that would end the ability of health insurance corporations like Blue Cross from making life-and-death decisions like this one.

Kutcher has degenerative disc disease — related to her years of nursing — and her neurosurgeon recommends an artificial disc to solve the problem, and allow her to return to work as a critical care nurse.  Calling the procedure "investigational," despite the FDA’s approval of it, Blue Cross is instead pushing a different high-risk procedure that will fuse two of her discs together.  She is scheduled once again for the surgery on March 11 and plans to go through with it even if it means paying out of pocket and losing her home. "

I could go on, but I think this gives a pretty good view.

As for my ideals being liberal/socialist, I am proud to be a liberal.  Why don´t we look up the definition of liberal?

"synonyms liberal, generous, bountiful, munificent mean giving or given freely and unstintingly. liberal suggests openhandedness in the giver and largeness in the thing or amount given <a teacher liberal with her praise>. generous stresses warmhearted readiness to give more than size or importance of the gift <a generous offer of help>. bountiful suggests lavish, unremitting giving or providing <children spoiled by bountiful presents>. munificent suggests a scale of giving appropriate to lords or princes <a munificent foundation grant>.

My point is, health care should not be in the hands of those whose primary goal is to deliver profits to their share holders.  The current system we have is inhumane and barbaric in the extreme. 

A new insight into the healthcare debate... from the point of view of children!! Check it out...

healthcare for children

I´ve never had any experience with the American Health Services but I´ve seen Moore´s Sicko and that made me happy I am not in that system. Since we´re discussing medical care in different countries, here are my two cents:

Poland - theoretically medical services are free. Everybody pays contribution to National Health Fund if they work (about 150pln=$5. This grants you free access to your GP and specialists, also free hospitalisation. Too bad specialists have contracts with the NHF for a limited number of procvedures. For instance, a dentist is contracted for 2,000 extractions a year. So, if he runs out of free extractions in April and you need to have it, you won´t be seen to. You need to look for a different dentist or pay. In practice it is only the GP that Poles go to using the public (free) system. Gyns, dentists etc are usually preferred to be seen privately. One of the reasons is that it takes you ages to have an appointment with a public specialist. Fortunately private fees are not very high, for example, a filling at the dentist´s is less than $40 (that´s why loads of Brits go to Poland to have their teeth done - the standards and services are high but the prices are low). There´s loads of bribery in hospitals, basically to make sure a relative of yours is taken proper care of, you need to give bribes to the personnel. Sad but true. Sueing a doc in Poland is hard as Medical Board consists of other doctors who hardly ever sentence one of theirs..

Ireland - you may have a private insurance (about €700/year/3 people family), or you may decide to be a private patient. A visit to a GP is about €50, a night in hospital in a public bed is about €60. There´s a law that says you cannot spend more than €100/month/family on medicine, everything over that sum is covered by Drugs Payment Scheme. Also, you can not spend more than €600/year for medical services like hospitalisation and all money above that is covered by the state. If you are a low-income family or are over 70 you get a medical card that entitles you to a free medical services.

 DD, these prices are they extra? I mean you pay your insurance PLUS these amounts? Or is it one or another? In case of the latter a GP is very expensive in my view, if I go privately to a GP it´ll cost me 21 euro, but a hospital bed is cheap. That costs me here around 600 per night, without medical help or medication, just the nurse, bed and food. There is no maximum here.

 Sigh....sounds great!  The thing about bribery....doesn´t sound so great though.  The reality of the situation here is if you have to be in a care institution for any time, you really need an advocate (careing friend, family member or loved one) around.  That is someone to be there to see that you are getting good care. 

Nursing homes are the worst.  One does NOT want to go to one of those places without an advocate.  I have visited, and still visit a few people who have been in nursing homes recovering or finishing their lives.  The facilities are  horrors!  I´m not disparaging the workers, theydeserve much more than they get and should get medals for what they do, as they  are over worked and underpaid.   The enviornment is depressing, it´s not a healthy one either. It is hard just to visit them and not come out depressed.   They smell of urine and feces, someone is always screaming and you don´t know if they are having a psychotic episode or really in trouble.  One time I heard a woman screaming and screaming over and over again.  When left the person I was actually visiting to peek in her room, it turned out her bed was badly broken.  I was able to call and get help for her. 

You do not want to get sick or injured in the USA.  We need a better system.  From what I´ve read about Netherlands care, it´s really enviable.  We need some sort of Universal Healthcare...NOW!....actually yesterday...but now will do...We are the ONLY industrialized country without a universal health care system.

I will agree and disagree with you alameda -

On getting sick or injured in the US - We do have some of the finest medical centers in the world in the US.  We have places like MD Anderson where people come from all over the world to get cancer treatments they can´t get anywhere else.  Some of our level one trauma centers set the standards for traumatic injury treatments that occur all over the world.  We are and always have been on the cutting edge of transplant surgery technology, so on and so forth.  YES, we do have a lot of things wrong but we DO have a lot of things right.  

On nursing homes - Nursing homes are horrendous places but not just the US.  Nursing homes have older and/or sicker patients whose families for whatever reason, can´t or won´t take care of their family members.  Many of them are bed ridden and incontinent.  They are always sad places because most people go there to die or they are recovering from a devasting illness or trauma.  Many of these patients are on Medicare/Medicaid (government run programs) which reimburse very poorly.  Nursing homes have very high overhead and can´t afford to give quality care because they don´t get very much money for doing what a lot of family members won´t do for their loved ones. 

Don´t misunderstand me alameda, I know we need to improve our system and there are many good aspects to the healthcare bill that is currently on the table....however, I have worked in healthcare long enough (and worked in VA and military hospitals) to know that OUR government is probably not the best suited choice to run healthcare.   The insurance industry needs to be reformed, pharmaceutical companies need to be reformed (government grants them 20 year monopoly on all new drugs!!), but I think our government is far too corrupt to take care of the people I love. 

I do hear you when you say people need help.  I agree.  People do need help.  My office is located in the Emergency Room of a downtown hospital.  I see the need everyday.  But I am concerned that many aspects of the bill are not meant to help these people but to pay lip service to those of us who are demanding change.

 You are right Elisabeth; we do have some of the best and most cutting edge research.  We also have some amazing facilities, it´s just that not everyone can afford them, or even know about them or are able to get into them.

As for trusting our government, we are our government.  If it´s corrupt and inefficient, whose fault is it? I have been involved in grass roots programs and have noticed our main fault is our pass the buck syndrome.  We always seem to want someone else to take care of the problems.  

Maybe another issue is that some have an unrealistic idea of just what to expect.  However, I do think basic preventative care, and maintenance should be available to all.  By the time things get to the emergency level, a lot of productive time has been wasted, and what perhaps could have been a relatively inexpensive problem becomes very expensive.

I think we are drug crazy. We want symptomatic relief...and NOW....we don´t like to feel any pain.  Sometimes a little pain is good, it tells you where the problem is, you know? 

 I don´t think the private insurance industry would do any better at the job of keeping us healthy, and....they have the incentive of making money in the mix. 

The sicker we are...the more profits they can make.  This I have experienced first hand.  Give you this, that causes that, for which we can give you this...and on and on and on.....were as if they hadn´t given "thisnthat" in the first place none of the rest would have been necessary.  

I am not sure what the percentage is, alameda, but as I am sure you know, only a very small percentage of Americans participate in our government.  Perhaps if more people where involved, we wouldn´t be in this mess. 

As for whether to put my health in the hands of the insurance companies or the government....tough call!  Government is big and will look to save money....insurance companies are smaller but look to make money!  The fact of the matter is, people need to be more concerned about government and their health and less concerned about the latest celebrity gossip (just my opinion!)

 Perhaps if we had more education on healthy living it would help....things like eating healthy food, healthy life styles.  Things like food combinations, what´s in the food we eat.

You know, if I could, I´d make visiting nursing homes mandatory for everyone, but in particular young people.....so they can see what can happen.  Maybe having students do some simple tasks for credit could reduce the load?....but of course you get into labor laws....and all that...argh

As for the celebrity gossip.....I agree with you on that....however maybe seeing the results of some of the bad decisions those celebrities make could teach a lesson?  Anna Nicole Smith was a tragic story, Britney is another.  Sadly, it´s only the glamour that is focused on......and the recent story of Jasmin Fiore.....glamorous model suspected of being murdered by her reality show Megan Wants  a Millionaire contestent husband Ryan Jenkins.....

All that glitters is not gold....and maybe gold really is not that desirable anyway?

May  Senator Edward Kennedy rest in peace....

he understood the lesson from his parents.........

"much is expected of those to whom much has been given"

"This is the cause of my life. It is a key reason that I defied my illness last summer to speak at the Democratic convention in Denver—to support Barack Obama, but also to make sure, as I said, "that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American...will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not just a privilege." For four decades I have carried this cause—from the floor of the United States Senate to every part of this country. It has never been merely a question of policy; it goes to the heart of my belief in a just society. Now the issue has more meaning for me—and more urgency—than ever before. But it´s always been deeply personal, because the importance of health care has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years. "

— Ted Kennedy

Ted Kennedy on Health Care

Thank you Ted....

This isn´t reform, it´s robbery!!

Capitalists, as my friend Father Michael Doyle says, should never be allowed near a health care system. They hold sick children hostage as they force parents to bankrupt themselves in the desperate scramble to pay for medical care. The sick do not have a choice. Medical care is not a consumable good. We can choose to buy a used car or a new car, shop at a boutique or a thrift store, but there is no choice between illness and health. And any debate about health care must acknowledge that the for-profit health care industry is the problem and must be destroyed. This is an industry that hires doctors and analysts to deny care to patients in order to increase profits. It is an industry that causes half of all bankruptcies. And the 20,000 Americans who died last year because they did not receive adequate care condemn these corporations as complicit in murder.

The current health care debate in Congress has nothing to do with death panels or public options or socialized medicine. The real debate, the only one that counts, is how much money our blood-sucking insurance, pharmaceutical and for-profit health services are going to be able to siphon off from new health care legislation. The proposed plans rattling around Congress all ensure that the profits for these corporations will increase and the misery for ordinary Americans will be compounded. The corporate state, enabled by both Democrats and Republicans, is yet again cannibalizing the Treasury. It is yet again pushing Americans, especially the poor and the working class, into levels of despair and rage that will continue to fuel the violent, proto-fascist movements leaping up around the edges of American society. And the traditional watchdogs—those in public office, the press and citizens groups—are as useless as the perfumed fops of another era who busied their days with court intrigue at Versailles. Canada never looked so good.

(...)

read more: This isn´t reform, it´s robbery!

The private hospitals in Turkey are generally well-built and well organized facilities usually designed for the needs of richer people or those with private healthcare coverage. Despite I have a right to use some of the more expensive ones, I opt for a modest hospital on account that they work like a geniune healthcare instution and not like a money trap unlike most others.  

Some time ago, I visited a fashionable hospitable which had just been acquired by a Jewish investment group. Since I had known the hospital which is notorious for its high prices, I had astounded at witnessing the numerous cost saving measures that involved things like poorer quality water being served to patients. They were acting as if they were trying to avoid an imminent bankruptcy. When it came to prices however, they were a couple of times more expensive than the average healthcare facility. The same hospital was in the headlines several times when they did nothing other than watching when say a pizza delivery guy was hit by a car just in front of them.

State hospitals are usually overcrowded. There is an appointment system in place. Say, your child has a hard to fix problem in his jaw, you have to plan forward and apply for an appointment when he is five-six years  old so that he can have an appointment when he becomes operable at the age of 9 or 10.

The national healthcare system in Turkey has been being abused by almost everyone involved in it. Remarkably, there are patients whose conditions would hardly justify coming to a hospital or medication. There are never ending lines of people waiting to benefit from a highly inefficient healthcare system.

 Things aren´t so perfect in Canada either.  What we need is a balanced system...something better than anything that is in place anywhere else in the world.  I hope that we can learn from other countries.  After our town hall meeting on Tuesday with our congresswoman, I get a little better feeling that our congress is at least LISTENING to physicians and hospitals about how to solve some of the issues. 

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/08/26/u-s-hospitals-save-canadians-lives/

 You are lucky then. In Turkey, politicians generally just listen to their local organizations in each town where they get the information about which doctor supports which party. Head doctors and administrators supporting other parties are immediately passivized, appointed to a hospital in a remote part of the country, forced to resign or ask for retirement. Those supporting their party on the other hand is usually given a quick promotion regardless of their merit or experience.

This unfortunately does not only apply to the healthcare system only. Upon rising to power, they usually spend the first year for undoing the favours done by the previous government to their own supporters. Once they are done with them, the new guys begin to ride the gravy train.

If it weren´t for these corrupt people, Turkey could have long been a wealthier and a much  more stable country.

 The link doesn´t work.

 BILL MOYERS: The editors of THE ECONOMIST magazine say America´s health care debate has become a touch delirious, with people accusing each other of being evil-mongers, dealers in death, and un-American.

    Well, that´s charitable.

    I would say it´s more deranged than delirious, and definitely not un-American.

    Those crackpots on the right praying for Obama to die and be sent to hell — they´re the warp and woof of home-grown nuttiness. So is the creature from the Second Amendment who showed up at the President´s rally armed to the teeth. He´s certainly one of us. Red, white, and blue kooks are as American as apple pie and conspiracy theories.

    Bill Maher asked me on his show last week if America is still a great nation. I should´ve said it´s the greatest show on earth. Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers — we´re the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con-men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today´s talk radio.

More...and a video if you don´t want to read....