Obama's Health Care Overhaul: Your Opinions

[betenoire]

I'm interested to see how this all plays out. I do hope that eventually your government moves toward a more Canadian model of healthcare.

Because then you won't have less power and control over your lives than what you have now - you will have more.

Imagine how nice it would be to go to ANY doctor you wanted to go to, rather than only being able to choose from one of the half-dozen doctors mandated by your shitty insurance policy?

Those of you who think that you'll be taxed out the ass for this health care don't know what you are talking about. You just don't. I am married to an american who still lives in the US. I know what I pay in taxes a month. I also know what he pays for his insurance. Between his insurance and "copays" he pays out MORE than I do a month in taxes. Add to that his taxes and he pays out way WAY more a month than I do. Just to survive and have something that resembles a good quality of living. What kind of bullshit is that?

[Linus]

Originally Posted by betenoire

I'm interested to see how this all plays out. I do hope that eventually your government moves toward a more Canadian model of healthcare.

Because then you won't have less power and control over your lives than what you have now - you will have more.

Imagine how nice it would be to go to ANY doctor you wanted to go to, rather than only being able to choose from one of the half-dozen doctors mandated by your shitty insurance policy?

Those of you who think that you'll be taxed out the ass for this health care don't know what you are talking about. You just don't. I am married to an american who still lives in the US. I know what I pay in taxes a month. I also know what he pays for his insurance. Between his insurance and "copays" he pays out MORE than I do a month in taxes. Add to that his taxes and he pays out way WAY more a month than I do. Just to survive and have something that resembles a good quality of living. What kind of bullshit is that?

As a Canadian living here, I've discovered that as well. The quality of doctor I see (I go to the Callen-Lorde Center in Manhattan) is equal to what I got in Toronto. It boggles my mind why I pay for insurance and then, on top of that, I have to do a co-pay. K and I have discussed it and we'll likely move to the likes of either BC or Halifax when we have kids. I've determined there is no way we could afford all the coughs, scrapped knees, broken bones and the like if we remained in the US.

[betenoire]

Originally Posted by Linus

As a Canadian living here, I've discovered that as well. The quality of doctor I see (I go to the Callen-Lorde Center in Manhattan) is equal to what I got in Toronto. It boggles my mind why I pay for insurance and then, on top of that, I have to do a co-pay. K and I have discussed it and we'll likely move to the likes of either BC or Halifax when we have kids. I've determined there is no way we could afford all the coughs, scrapped knees, broken bones and the like if we remained in the US.

Exactly. That's another one of the lies that people are told and then pass on. Health Care in the US is -not- better quality care than it is in Canada.

People sometimes ask if I would move to the US rather than have Nick move to Canada. I always look at them as though they are insane. Of COURSE not.

When I moved back to Ontario after a year in BC I forgot to let OHIP know that I was back in the province. So after 3 months of not living in BC I lost my BC coverage, and I didn't have coverage from Ontario yet because I didn't remember to go ask for it. Anyway. Long story short I had to go see my family doctor once and pay for it out of pocket. It cost me $27 dollars. I'm pretty sure that Nick's COPAY is higher in the US than my uninsured doctor visit in Canada cost.

Damn, healthcare in the US must be really not be cost-efficient at all. I guess that's what you get when healthcare is overseen by people out to make lots and lots of money.

[theoddz]

Originally Posted by betenoire

Exactly. That's another one of the lies that people are told and then pass on. Health Care in the US is -not- better quality care than it is in Canada.

People sometimes ask if I would move to the US rather than have Nick move to Canada. I always look at them as though they are insane. Of COURSE not.

When I moved back to Ontario after a year in BC I forgot to let OHIP know that I was back in the province. So after 3 months of not living in BC I lost my BC coverage, and I didn't have coverage from Ontario yet because I didn't remember to go ask for it. Anyway. Long story short I had to go see my family doctor once and pay for it out of pocket. It cost me $27 dollars. I'm pretty sure that Nick's COPAY is higher in the US than my uninsured doctor visit in Canada cost.

Damn, healthcare in the US must be really not be cost-efficient at all. I guess that's what you get when healthcare is overseen by people out to make lots and lots of money.

Interesting that you should bring up the "profit factor" in the American health care system. It wasn't always like this. Here's the originations of the idea that American health care should be a means for big business to make enormous amounts of money for not caring for Americans.



I find it uniquely interesting that Kaiser Permanente has this huge ol' website "explaining" how Obama's health care legislation can "work". And if this recent legislation is so damned "good", why are the likes of Kasier (which runs the largest of the FOR profit health care systems ) in favor of it??

See why I don't trust any of them?? That ol' "if it looks too good to be true...." keeps rumbling around in the back of my brain.

~Theo~

[Toughy]

Kaiser is a funny animal.........it is both for-profit and not-for profit.........

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaiser_Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care organization, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser Permanente is a consortium of three distinct groups of entities: the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and its regional operating subsidiaries, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, and the autonomous regional Permanente Medical Groups. As of 2006, Kaiser Permanente operates in nine states and the District of Columbia, and is the largest managed care organization in the United States.

Kaiser Permanente has 8.6 million health plan members,[2] 167,300 employees,[2] 14,600 physicians,[2] 35 medical centers,[2] 431 medical offices,[2] and $1.3 billion in net income on $34.4 billion in operating revenues.[1] The Health Plan and Hospitals operate under state and federal non-profit tax status, while the Medical Groups operate as for-profit partnerships or professional corporations in their respective regions.

[betenoire]

I've seen that clip from Sicko before, but it didn't strike me as any less sick this time. I'm sorry, but anybody who can hear "All the incentives are toward less medical care, because the less care they give them the more money they make" and think "I like that!" is just an appallingly terrible person.

And did you see how much Nixon blinked when he said "And I want every american to be able to have that care when they need it"? Excessive blinking is one of the ways to tell someone is lying.