Quote:
Originally Posted by Elfwreck
There is not basic healthcare for all. There is basic healthcare offered for the most impoverished, after much hassles with forms & paperwork to prove they are impoverished. This may or may not include dental or vision services, depending on the state. If, however, they have a job, that "right" to healthcare vanishes--they either get it through their jobs (I pay about 30% of my wages for health insurance for my family), or they go without.
I get to choose between healthcare, and the ability to afford rent in a neighborhood where car windows don't get smashed regularly. (I suppose there are safe and friendly neighborhoods at my current rent level... that are so far from my job in downtown San Francisco that I'd lose the same level of money paying for transportation.) So far, I've chosen health care; next year, I think I'll go the other way, and hope nobody in the family is badly damaged by that choice.
Emergency health services are available to everyone, at the cost of possible bankruptcy later. Hospitals have to supply it, but they bill you; if you can't pay, you can go bankrupt. Between half and 2/3 of the bankruptcies in the US are caused by medical bills.
A lot of us are boggled that health care isn't considered the same as education of our children--something that used to be reserved for the wealthy elite, and is now extended to the general public because we have the resources & technology to allow it, and the nation as a whole is enhanced by having it freely available.
We are forced to think of health care as a commodity of the wealthy, which is offered to the less-wealthy if they're willing to make sacrifices to get it, and offered to the poor as charitable hand-me-downs which may not fit well, but at least is better than nothing.
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I won't pretend to be nearly as well-informed on healthcare issues as I should be, however even I have some opinion.
I agree with a lot of what's been said here by elfwreck. I was confused by the quote (not included) about a basic level of healthcare provided in the US. As elfwreck mentioned, the only basic healthcare if provided to people who meet poverty guidelines. We met those guidelines at one point, and the healthcare provided was more comprehensive and FREE, as compared to my current situation where I pay about 25% of my check each month to health care for my family. Then I still pay 20% of all office visits and minor surgeries, etc. it would be a lot cheaper, in all likelihood, if I didn't have insurance and just paid out of pocket (the docs usually charge a less expensive rate for self-pay than insurance billings) for visits. However, I'm sure that the minute I did that, I'd need major surgery and I'd be next in the bankruptcy line. There is a good portion of society that is worse off than those in poverty; the working poor. With no public assistance, and having to pay insurance, etc, they actually take home less *with* working their full-time jobs than those who are on welfare. I think that is one messed-up system. Where is the impetus to get off welfare? Then taxes go up for the rest of us.
I agree that many Americans do believe health care is a right, not a privilege for the lucky few. However, I have seen that money speaks louder than anything else in this country, and those who have the money have other concerns besides health care.
I do believe there are some things so right about America. And then there are those things that are oh-so-wrong.