The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

sabang

Heh, well thats it then- done and dusted.
TD's most reliable contrarian indicators- brit & Jettie- say it ain't so.
So it's done. Thanks for your input guys.
Better luck with upsetting the Mid East peace process, maybe?

Boon Mee

Got that right!

sabang

BBC NEWS | Health | Healthcare around the world

Every American should see this, and I hope they do.
It speaks for itself.

Jet Gorgon

^ Heard it all before, SB. Guess that's why so many folks go to the US when their govt healthcare rejects them.

They'll maybe pass something, but def nothing in its current state. I can see the unions happy as pigs in sh*t, coz if the govt does take over part of the system, it will be as bloated and costly with lazy union employees as the US postal system, you know the lovely little govt union service that is expected to be $7 billion dollars in debt this year.

And folks are getting too angry about being called mobsters, evil-doers, Nazis, etc by their "leaders". This will not be forgotten at the next election or two.

Begbie

America's healthcare system is so good that people will queue for days to get free healthcare. Flying doctors just like in Africa


The brutal truth about America’s healthcare - Americas, World - The Independent

The brutal truth about America’s healthcare


They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life.

In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an "evil and Orwellian" example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system.
The LA Forum, the arena that once hosted sell-out Madonna concerts, has been transformed – for eight days only – into a vast field hospital. In America, the offer of free healthcare is so rare, that news of the magical medical kingdom spread rapidly and long lines of prospective patients snaked around the venue for the chance of getting everyday treatments that many British people take for granted.

In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists. By the time the makeshift medical centre leaves town on Tuesday, staff expect to have dispensed $2m worth of treatments to 10,000 patients.

The gritty district of Inglewood lies just a few miles from the palm-lined streets of Beverly Hills and the bright lights of Hollywood, but is a world away. And the residents who had flocked for the free medical care, courtesy of mobile charity Remote Area Medical, bore testament to the human cost of the healthcare mess that President Obama is attempting to fix.

Christine Smith arrived at 3am in the hope of seeing a dentist for the first time since she turned 18. That was almost eight years ago. Her need is obvious and pressing: 17 of her teeth are rotten; some have large visible holes in them. She is living in constant pain and has been unable to eat solid food for several years.
"I had a gastric bypass in 2002, but it went wrong, and stomach acid began rotting my teeth. I've had several jobs since, but none with medical insurance, so I've not been able to see a dentist to get it fixed," she told The Independent. "I've not been able to chew food for as long as I can remember. I've been living on soup, and noodles, and blending meals in a food mixer. I'm in constant pain. Normally, it would cost $5,000 to fix it. So if I have to wait a week to get treated for free, I'll do it. This will change my life."

Along the hall, Liz Cruise was one of scores of people waiting for a free eye exam. She works for a major supermarket chain but can't afford the $200 a month that would be deducted from her salary for insurance. "It's a simple choice: pay my rent, or pay my healthcare. What am I supposed to do?" she asked. "I'm one of the working poor: people who do work but can't afford healthcare and are ineligible for any free healthcare or assistance. I can't remember the last time I saw a doctor."
Although the Americans spend more on medicine than any nation on earth, there are an estimated 50 million with no health insurance at all. Many of those who have jobs can't afford coverage, and even those with standard policies often find it doesn't cover commonplace procedures. California's unemployed – who rely on Medicaid – had their dental care axed last month.

see the full article.

Boon Mee

Yeah, well, you’ve got a real marketing problem when your own people are having to publicly pledge not to kill old people.

Jet Gorgon

I moved this to Boonie's new thread.

S Landreth

Well if we’re not getting a public option,……..why not?

Democratic Party strategist James Carville offered up a new strategy for Democrats to follow in their battle to reform health care: Let the GOP defeat it, then defeat the GOP at the ballot box.

Snip

Put a bill out there, make them filibuster it," Carville said. "Make them be what they are — the party of no. ... And you know what? Run on it. Let them kill it. Let them kill it with the interest group money, then run against them. That's what we ought to do.


Link: The Raw Story » Carville: Let GOP kill health care — then run against them

__________________
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Jet Gorgon

Carville is one of your utmost lefty looney tunes. The GOP can't filibuster and he knows it. Face it, folks are just waking up to the fact that they got duped with the stimulus pkg, the bailouts, cash for clunkers (I call that cash for commie cars), and soon healthcare. The working folks and those who are hard-working and now without jobs are speaking up. They have every right to be angry and voice their opinions.

raycarey

if there isn't a public option, dems shouldn't let the bill leave congress.

Milkman

The Health Care public option will change, IMO.

Too many people would shift towards it perhaps, or be pushed into if they were "high risk" or old, but not old enought for Medicare.

I don't have answers.

I just know that the cost explosions for US health care are a big problem as well as the tens of million who cannot get health insurance and care.

__________________
Military men are dumb, stupid animals, to be used as pawns for foreign policy

chitown

No one but the lazy welfare rascals want their plan. The WH is dropping the public option and end of life care as they know they will be run out of DC if they keep pushing it.

chitown

You silly fool.......

Jet Gorgon

Tell ray to move to Canada or the UK and see what he gets for nothing (oh, except the C$54 I pay every month for the welfare bums).

chitown

He thinks I care when he insults me....an unsuccessful turd that has resorted to TEFLing in his later years so he can scrape by. I am so happy I retired in my 30's and can enjoy life while I am still young without the aches and pains and senility that his old age has brought on!!!!

__________________
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

lysander

Something for you folks to ponder on - especially those of you who believe in choice and market solutions:

In the UK we have a choice between 'socialist' and 'private' healthcare. Part of our tax pounds is used to fund the NHS which is free at the point of delivery to every UK citizen and also free at the point of emergency delivery to anyone (wherever they come from) who needs it. We can also pay for 'private' healthcare if we want to.

In the US you have private healthcare. That's it. No one is denying that the very best healthcare in the US is better than healthcare almost anywhere else in the world. It's a fact that 60% of the bankruptcies in the US are driven by healthcare bills. It's also a fact that ~45 million people in the USA have no healthcare insurance at all.

Having visited the US and met lots of wonderful people there I find it hard to understand how it's acceptable that you're willing to spend billions of military dollars on defending yourselves from external enemies yet you're happy to allow 15% of your own population to remain undefended against the much more pressing enemy of disease.

chitown

^ Why is it that my money should go to people that lounge about and do nothing while manipulating the system to its fullest.

lysander

Who are you talking about? The 60% who are bankrupt or the 15% who can't afford insurance?

Spin

UK website, the Daily Mash has some comments on this here

Jet Gorgon

^ Agree. And they will, Chi.

Our ER is free in Canada to anyone, too. Fek that. My sis was in ER and these foreign feks were getting in before her coz they cut their toe.
Don't forget, the US has Medicare/Caid, SCHIPS for kids, VA medicare. But, if folks turn 65, they can't get private insurance anymore. Gotta wait in line with the welfare folks.