US Healthcare

That as may be but I would take NHS over wonderful american system anytime. When my dad cut his hand in an accident, he had an operation and therapy for free. If he didn't have it then he would have one useless hand, and if we had to pay for it we owuld be upto our ears in debt. He works now and pays his taxes too, which isnt that bad, compared to uncertainty of living without health insurance like you do.
Still, each to their own, if Americans want to keep it that way, fair enough

I dont understand your healthcare system much, and would rarely talk about something i didnt fully understand, Doesnt the medicare/aid not apply to a large majority? Does it cost?

I know the NHS isnt perfect, by a long shot, but the fact it is available for anyone in need, and also would prevent you from weezing to a full attack must be a good thing.

For you to stand by it aswell, when it discrimnates against you, is a pretty admirable trait or stupid haha

I've been insured before I know it works, and I'm also a premed student looking at the current bill I most likely wouldn't be able to make enough once I got out of med school to pay off my bills.

Medicare doesn't support the large majority that's not what it's used for, its for people that can't afford insurance (not the large majority) But it's so messed up it doesn't provide the cover it should. One of my mentors (a neurosurgeon) just quit his job because he saw where our country was going and got tired of the bureaucracy surrounding nationalized healthcare.

Same here nearly everyone i know have been helped by it in one way, my mum multiple operations, and my dad when he had a heart attack, my uncle when he got assaulted severely, for all its bad press, theres thousands of people its saved

And America critisises Russia & England over healthcare? NHS might not be perfect but it does its job
Whats interesting is that when the debate about NHs was going on, our politicians didnt bother to say "Oh, look at America, they don't have free healthcare at all" whereas Sarah Palin and suchlike feel free to criticise england to support their views

Exactly, most of people I know were helped, regardless of age. It makes me all the more gratefull I live here and not in America- as I already said once, I would rather pay so that someone could be helped, and next time someone could help me if needed.

Would I be correct in saying that the with the American system organised upon "competitive" lines it allows doctors to effectively decide their own salaries allowing them to pocket a substancial sum?

In a private practice not in hospitals, but only to an extent, in a competitive area you can't just set crazy prices they must go with a trend and if you're over priced then the customer will go somewhere else.

Read the fine print at the bottom and you'll see why the numbers are different than some of the stats you posted before.

If you add all the groups together in the cartoon you get something like 60 million because the groups overlap. For example, you could be a very rich, under 25 year old who is in between jobs and you will add to the tally of 3 different groups. I guess it's all about how you collect and group the data.

I also must admit that I am appalled at how most of you Europeans assume that all Americans are idiots because of a few of them, guess what there are idiots everywhere. Our system works just fine, there are some spots that need to be ironed out, but I'll take my privatized capitalistic healthcare over socialized healthcare any day. It creates an environment were companies have to work harder and provide better services at a lower price.

Some of the statistics spouted by obama and some other people on here are ludicrous. The American College of Surgeons has already gotta quite annoyed at some of the crap obama is spouting.

http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/redirect-to/?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facs.org%2Fnews%2Fobama081209.html


Keep in mind that this is from the largest organization of surgeons in the world.

In a private practice not in hospitals, but only to an extent, in a competitive area you can't just set crazy prices they must go with a trend and if you're over priced then the customer will go somewhere else.

We have exactly that in Canada. We have hospitals and private clinics.

If you go to a hospital, you wait a lot, before you get taken care of, but eventually you have quality doctors looking at you and giving you good medical care.

If you go to a private clinic, you pay thousands of dollars for everything you want (nothing if you have private insurance) and you get the same treatment immediately.

I think that most Americans who oppose this fail to understand that they will be getting something for free, but that they will still be able to pay for it as they are doing today and continue to receive the same treatment they are getting today.

Edit: Status quo remains for everyone bar the insurance giants (who have too much money anyway)

In order to drag the debate out of the 'Anti-Obama' Thread, I thought I'd start this one.

So, as we all know, Obama plans for Healthcare reform in the US have been met with, at times, vitriolic debate. The fact that the US spends twice as much per capita on healthcare, without equivalent additional healthcare benefits whilst leaving 75 million people without insurance or underinsured, the system is clearly in need of reform of some sort.

What should America do to fix it's healthcare system?

Wow, someone actually neg repped me for this. £10 says they're American.

Canada Healthcare = One of the Best in the WORLD

Personal experience.

Since NHS spending rose continuously under both Thatcher and Major, was it also chronically underfunded under Callaghan, Wilson, Atlee &c.?

Wasn't me I really don't neg rep for someone bringing up a good point,

our healthcare system is a bit spending but it works, all that's needed is to trim the fat a little (literally and figuratively) It's hard to call into question the actions of the surgeons here, you must also realize that our medical school costs are high enough to where they need to be paid as such to cover the cost. Stop dehumanizing the people that do great jobs and start looking at the actual system that is the problem.