What, No Medical

[medicinal]

http://The daily kos Maybe this is why I'm for John Edwards: Single payer medical insurance now: The American healthcare meltdown has lodged itself right in the heart of upper middle class Manhattan. What is known as the Upper East Side. What is known as one of the most wealthy zip codes in the United States, 10021.

A roomful of college educated, hard working American citizens. The folks whom Bill Clinton used to descibe as the ones who "work hard and play by the rules".

I was invited to a birthday celebration last night. A group of the supposedly privileged among us. There was an uninsured Wellesley graduate, another uninsured Vasser graduate.

An acclaimed and self-employed uninsured artist. This woman is represented by a major Manhattan gallery.
A freelance writer and editor (has edited several well known books), uninsured.
A recent college graduate, uninsured and now too old to be on her Bush-loving parents health insurance.
A sixty-four year old semi-retired former teacher, waiting and hoping she stays healthy until she becomes eligible for Medicare in about a year.
Her boyfriend, a computer programmer, lost his job and his insurance. Can't afford the COBRA payments. Kinda winging it.
So in a room of about fifteen people, over half, maybe two-thirds, allegedly squarely middle class people had no access to basic healthcare.

Are all these people stupid, lazy, immoral, idiots, jerks, irresponsbile or garden variety victims of our broken system?

Lest you think this grotesque reality is unique to the Upper East Side of Manhattan, not having access to basic healthcare is a malignancy which has metastasized across our nation and burrowed deep into the fabric of our society. This doesn't even begin to address the working poor who can't afford med. ins.

medicinal Reviewed by medicinal on 04-11-2007. What, No Medical http://The daily kos Maybe this is why I'm for John Edwards: Single payer medical insurance now: The American healthcare meltdown has lodged itself right in the heart of upper middle class Manhattan. What is known as the Upper East Side. What is known as one of the most wealthy zip codes in the United States, 10021. A roomful of college educated, hard working American citizens. The folks whom Bill Clinton used to descibe as the ones who "work hard and play by the rules". I was Rating: 5

[Zimzum]

Romney before he left the governors office here passed a new law which requires all people to be insured medically. The employer pays an added tax if they don't offer it and your eligible to buy into the state plan. It just started 1/1/07 so its still a bit early to tell how successful it is. If there was a republican that was to make president he had my vote until he flip/flopped on all the issues to fit the republican party mold .

Health Care for Everyone?
We've found a way.
BY MITT ROMNEY

[medicinal]

Romney before he left the governors office here passed a new law which requires all people to be insured medically. The employer pays an added tax if they don't offer it and your eligible to buy into the state plan. It just started 1/1/07 so its still a bit early to tell how successful it is. If there was a republican that was to make president he had my vote until he flip/flopped on all the issues to fit the republican party mold .

Health Care for Everyone?
We've found a way.
BY MITT ROMNEY

After reading the article, I'm convinced that it is nothing but a stop gap measure that will leave the Pirate insurance companies still raping the people and the HMOs still dictating your medical care. The only solution is to get rid of these two entities and provide single payer medical. It works in a few other countries very well. The rich could still pay for their medical and recieve the elite care they think they deserve, but everyone would be covered and the money spent on insurance and HMOs could be translated into higher taxes to pay for it. The people who are against this are the rich, and the insurance companies and the HMOs, The congressmen that recieve payolla and wealthy libertarians that see any government as bad. You can bet the poor working stiff that just had to fork out his life savings, or is filing Bankruptcy because of medical bills is for single payer. I have one of the best plans available to retirees from my union and I pay 250.00 a month, and that is going up every year. If the average worker paid half that a month in added taxes, I'm pretty sure we could fund a very good medical plan. By eliminating all the paperwork and infrastructure of the Ins. co.s and HMOs, and BTW the overpaid CEO salaries, a government managed Medical plan with civilian oversight built in would allow corporations and workers to lighten their load. The highest expense in a new GM car is not the materials but the medical insurance for the workers. I wonder why corporations are not pushing this agenda, oh thats right, they just pass it on to the consumer

[fishman3811]

medicinal im in Canada and as you know we have free health care.But we are taxed for it big time.you pay 250.00 a month thats nothing how would you like to pay a dollar a litre for gas it goes into general revenues.How would you like to pay ten dollars for a pack of smokes.twenty dollars for a 12 pack beer.14% tax everytime you buy something at wally world.plus income tax and high property tax.Its said 55% of our income goes to some form of taxes here.But hey i love Canada and thats the price we have to pay to live here,so im not bitching just letting you guys know its not cheap having universal health care.Also our health care is not great you have waiting lists for any kinda of medical operation excample hip replacement you can wait 18 months,knee surgery 1-2 years.People have died in emergency waiting rooms waiting to see a doctor.You guys have the best health care bare none,but only if you have the money.At least here both rich and poor can die in waiting rooms.

[bongerstonerd00d]

Is this the same trial lawyer John Edwards who made millions from malpractice lawsuits commenting on health insurance ???

That link doesn't work, Medicinal.



b0nger

[medicinal]

medicinal im in Canada and as you know we have free health care.But we are taxed for it big time.you pay 250.00 a month thats nothing how would you like to pay a dollar a litre for gas it goes into general revenues.How would you like to pay ten dollars for a pack of smokes.twenty dollars for a 12 pack beer.14% tax everytime you buy something at wally world.plus income tax and high property tax.Its said 55% of our income goes to some form of taxes here.But hey i love Canada and thats the price we have to pay to live here,so im not bitching just letting you guys know its not cheap having universal health care.Also our health care is not great you have waiting lists for any kinda of medical operation excample hip replacement you can wait 18 months,knee surgery 1-2 years.People have died in emergency waiting rooms waiting to see a doctor.You guys have the best health care bare none,but only if you have the money.At least here both rich and poor can die in waiting rooms.

I've heard the rich in Canada come here for medical care. I have VA (Veterans Administration) coverage along with my medical plan. I keep the medical plan mostly for my wife as where she works they don't offer any coverage.. I don't smoke and I don't drink so those two Items would not affect me, the 1.00 a liter translates into about 0.75 cents American , right. approximately 4 liters to a gallon and you have 3.00 American a gallon, we're already there, and there is no end in sight. Our biggest rip off on gasoline is the oil companies themselves. We pay about 1/2 of the 0.14 cents tax per dollar and that is a state tax. With the HMO that I have, any optional surgery, like knee or hip surgery, you also have to wait, having never scheduled one, I don't know how long but from what I can gather it's from 3 months to over a year, and you first have to be approved and you could be turned down if found that it wasn't absolutely necessary for your survival. The emergency care is sufficient, but just barely. The HMOs are constantly raising premiums and co-pays while denigrating services. When I retired 4 years ago I was informed that my free retirement medical was now going to cost me 450.00 a month, a decision made by The union medical plan. Up untill that time it had been free to retirees, that just lowered my retirement pay by 450.00, you can imagine how happy I was about that. When I hit 65, they lowered it to 250.00 because I went on Medicare. It would be free, but my wife is not old enough to go on medicare yet. When she is, I will only have to pay 85.00 a month for dental and optical, so you can see that it is a pretty good plan, (Teamsters). If every family could have this plan here, I believe it would be acceptable. Our reserve fund goes up every year, it was going down for a few years, but they raised the premiums. I believe that working members (Teamsters) pay like 120.00 a month, and the company pays like 450.00, so the medical fund recieves 570.00 per person. If you were to purchase this plan, it would be about 900.00 a month.

[fishman3811]

Medicinal your right the rich do go to the states for medical services.Our dollar is around .85 to your dollar could be a little bit higher than that it hasnt been .75 in a couple of years.Ithink it was as high as .90 a short while ago.Dental and eye care is not part of universal health care here so if your work doesnt offer insurance then itll cost big time.But lucky for us most jobs in Canada offer insurance for dental and eye care.I do believe the America could fund health care for everyone,look at the budget for the military,NASA,CIA,FBI,NSA,.I read somewhere that Canada spends 95 billion on health care,since your population is ten times ours you guys could spend 950 billion on health care for everyone.Idont know what your elected officials are saying how much it would cost for health care but that figure seems about right.Another thing our prescription drugs are a hell of a lot cheaper thAN yours.But thats only because our government has strict price controls on drugs.Yes we have to pay for our drugs here until we retire then we get covered by how much i dont know.

[medicinal]

Is this the same trial lawyer John Edwards who made millions from malpractice lawsuits commenting on health insurance ???

That link doesn't work, Medicinal.



b0nger

This is the guy that says if elected President, his highest priority is single payer medical. Now it is the current system that allows attorneys to reap such high rewards. If the government took over Medical, you'd see no multimillion dollar lawsuits. I don't know how it works in Canada, but I'm pretty sure there is a cap on claims and there would also be one here. He made a lot of money in malpractice, and class action lawsuits, don't forget that he got a lot of victims a lot of money also. John Edwards is not in the race for money, but to give back to a society that has given him so much.

[fishman3811]

Malpractice suits against doctors is very minimal in Canada.For example my wife got her gallbladder removed,the doctor who did the operation cut her kidney by accident and didnt know,anyway she was in recovery and she had internal bleeding she lost soo much blood she almost died.24 hours after the operation she was put under the knife again to fix her kidney.Needless to say their wasnt anything we could of done for compensation because she was off work for a much longer period due to the doctors incompetance.Doctors dont get sued in Canada very often for some reason and if they do its kept quiet.Thats why i cant name any in the city i live or in Canada.

[higher4hockey]

shhh~dont tell anybody , but i like edwards too!