Is this a prime example of US properganda reaching an all time low?  

Interesting; your fellow countrymen, elsewhere on MyLot, are singing the praises of your health system. Can it be that theirs is just the crowing of the rich and privileged?

all the best urban

impoverished? What a load of Cra_! Everyone living in the US whether or not they are here legally gets health care regardless of their ability to pay for services. This is just a lie!. Show me one person who does not receive care, medicine or any care they need! A person on the streets gets health care, the guy who swam across the border last night can get cancer treatment. You are dead WRONG! Stop spreading the Liberals LIES!

Huge numbers of Americans are uninsured. In my case, I'm entering my 42nd year as a public school teacher, fully employed and supposedly well insured. The co-payments required to be made have impoverished me to the extent that I have to choose between prescriptions and groceries more than once in a while. I know literally hundreds of others in the same position, and I certainly have a limited number of friends.
Our unemployment rate is beyond anything ever expected, and many businesses have had to do away with benefits in order to stay afloat.
How is this a wonderful system?

How dare you call me names?!
My co-payments last year were well over $20,000, and I lost pay for days I was ill. I don't know a lot of people who can afford that.
As for free health care, people often wait for not hours, but quite literally days, before getting any care at all, and the best care they can get because of the needs of these crowds is minimal. I volunteer to help out there when I am off work, so I see it often. My friend, who is a nurse at one of these clinics, literally cries over this often. How on earth did you get the idea that anyone who can't afford private care can actually get good care. It's simply not the way it works. Even if they can wait in the lobby all that long, they can't be at work, so they lose more money or their jobs, because they're ill.
I hope you're fortunate enough to be in excellent health, because the rest of us are in deep trouble for our poor health.

Freethinkingagent, am a little shocked, I have often read your comments on other posts with interest and respect, regarding you as an insightful commentator so it is with surprise that I find you indulging in accusations that someone's personal testimony is a lie, without justifying that claim.

all the best urban

Thanks for the support, Urban. I could show the paperwork and payments I've made, but I would never stoop that low when someone is obviously ignorant of the facts of the average American!

I am not calling you a lier. I am saying the lie is that unless you have money you can not get medical help. Anyone regardless of their ability to pay gets medical attention.


But this bill is not going to help anyone by forceing everyone into a public option. I get very upset about the gov writeing a law that says they can have access to my accounts, and puts a dollar amount on my life. Yes we need reform, but this bill is pure crap. All the congrss and senate wants to do is protect trial lawyers and they get to keep their policies at the tax payers expence.

If you saw/heard/read today's news, a compromise is proposed, although not identified, and a public option is not part of it as you outline it. Once again, there hasn't been a bill proposed as yet. All the hubbub is over things that MIGHT be in a proposal, but it is far from ready. The Senate hasn't begun to form their proposals yet. Congress is on vacation at this time. Shall we look at the bill when it has been written, and, at that time, contact our legislators an let them know how they can be responsive to their constituents?

I guess I need a new password, and this person needs a spell check.
cobrateacher I apologize for not keeping my password secure. And Urban, sorry that this person has fouled your post.

Are you serious? Has the usually quite enjoyable Freethinkingagent turned into a less-than-logical one because of a troll? I did think you used to know how to spell. And I hope, however it happens, that the nice, reasonable guy will be back now.

cobrateacher, I am very embarrassed by this, Not only have I occasionally used computers ate work for my online enjoyment, but I have also used "friends" computers and was totally oblivious to the fact I may have stored my pass info on those computers. I was very surprised to find replies in my email to this discussion, and was more surprised to see what "I" had written. I wonder who else I have insulted, and what posts I have not received a reply from.


This being said, I am not a fan of the house bill that has been written and hope some major changes in it will take place. The need for affordable health care is very important, I do not though believe it should be mandatory for all to have it, and I would like more say for the doctors instead of washington bureaucrats having any say in the matter of treatment. They went to law school, not medical school.


It is a shame in a country so wealthy, that so little is spent on health care and disease prevention. I do believe we also need tort reform, too many lawyers getting rich on from suing doctors and hospitals for frivolous things.

He's Back!!! And I'm so glad.
As usual, your points are valid, well reasoned and logical. I keep hoping my medical expenses can dip below $300 per week, especially since the school system has announced that they're going to make us pay for this insurance we have, which they've always said is part of our pay. Co-payments at the pharmacy recently went from $10 to $20, and now to $50! We teachers don't make enough to handle that unless we have the good fortune to be a lot healthier than I am.
I recently had surgery, and this is the 4th time for an injury sustained at work. The surgeon is the sort we need to clone! (LOL) His kids have always gone to some exclusive and expensive private parochial schools, but now the youngest is going to go topublic school. The doctor said he can't, in good conscience, charge his patients more than they make, as the insurance companies tell him to.

If there is to be any health care reform, i would like to see an opt in Gov. Co-Opt instead of a mandatory cover all program as proposed. If they allow an Opt-in for those who can not afford their own coverage, and make too much to get medicaid or medicare, then I would support it if they can also show how it will be funded, and also allow the private insurance companies to be able to make custom made policies that some people need. If they were allowed to sell a catastrophic policy only, that would fit most peoples pocket books. The Gov. Employees can choose from over 100 policies that we the tax payer pays for. Yet they will not make available to the public the kinds of plans they are able to receive. And tort reform must also be on the table. Protectionism of trial lawyers should not be at the expense of the welfare of the general public. I am sorry about your situation, there are many cracks in the system, but if this bill is passed, then many would be forced into this plan and rationing would begin. I don't want to see us become like Canada or Europe, If their systems are so good, how come those who can afford it come to America for their treatments?

The latest proposals seem to be heading right where you propose they should.

cobrateacher-
I'm from the UK but have many friends in the US and I've heard of the horror stories of not being fully insured. I know of someone that was in a motorbike accident and was left with $80,000 of debt. I think both systems have flaws but I'm very happy with the NHS.

It's not likely there will ever be a perfect system, but things MUST improve!

I've been in doctors' offices that if you don't have health care and you don't have the money to pay the doctor, the office staff won't let you see the doctor. Please tell me how that is giving every one medical services. You are correct in saying that the problem arose due to lawsuits and cost of insurances. The problem is what the insurances will and won't cover.

I got turned down for affordable health care, so I don't know where you get the idea that anyone and everyone can get it. I'm unemployed and they STILL wouldn't help me get more affordable health care. Of course, if I was a breeder and had kids, they'd grant it to me, but because I'm SMART and never had kids while I couldn't afford to, I don't get the affordable health care. I don't think that's right at all!

Private doctors may turn you away, but any public hostpital and any doc that accepts medicade by law must accept and treat anyone in need of medical attention. This law has been arouind for fourty years now. and I am not talking about "Affordable health care" which is about insurece, I am talking about health care, medical treatment

I can only assume you know me, as the only way you can have my password is that you are a "friend" of mine and I was stupid enough to use one of you guys computer and it has logged my user and pass info. If you want to comment here on MyLot get your own account. Mine is no longer available to you. And dude, learn how to spell, you are making me look like a complete moron!

Yes it is true that doctors and hospitals that accept medicaid can not refuse service. But that is only for emergency help. It does not include yearly checkups or minor emergency services. If someone is in need of emergency service, they can be seen. But the person who needs extended care and is homeless is lucky if there is a county hospital that may see them as a charity case. And most medicines are out of the reach for such a person. We do need affordable health care, we do need to do something, I agree the current bill is not the right one, but if you are a friend of mine you should know how I feel about this. You are only half correct.

I didn't go to a private doctor. I went to the hospital and spoke to someone there. I'm basically screwed and have to wait until I get a job that gives me medical insurance until I can go see a doctor about an issue I have.

Fortunately, Poison, your condition is evidently not life threatening. The bad news is if it is something that will get worse with time that they will see you on your deathbed. It's a horrible system in place. You may want to check if you have any county clinics. Some hospitals also have sliding fee scales so CALL, the hospitals and ask for the financial office. They may be able to help you. Trust me, even if YOU had kids, YOU wouldn't receive the medicaid only the children would. So it's not a question of the children or your intelligence, it's a question of your income.

No, you have misunderstood I fear. Hawkins was poor when his condition was diagnosed but being British he still received the best treatment available. He would have faired much worse under the American system

all the best urban

Here's the thing, it was a poor comparison, because this is about the house bill as it stands, not the British model. what they are saying is this, IF Hawkins was born in the US now and this bill was law, then because of the language of the bill Hawkins provided care would be less because of his age and what the gov rationing body would consider his value to society. Like wise another good example would be Sen. Kennedy. At his age and having brain cancer, if he was not a Sen, he would also not receive the care he has been receiving because of his worth to society. Like Obama told one person at a town hall meeting, Maybe grandma shouldn't get the expensive surgery, maybe she should just take a pain pill. If as President Obama has said they are going to save money, first of all logically you have to say health care is not spent on the healthy, but on the sick. And if you are going to save money, the only place you can save money is by cutting spending on the sick, so where do you begin? Rom Emanuel's brother, who is a doctor wrote a paper on this which is the template on how the rationing of health care should be practiced and he said it would be the young and the elderly that would be rationed according to the value of their ability to contribute to society, In other words a person 70 years old, that has lived their life and is now a burden on the economy and society would receive less benefits, and should be counseled on end of life hospice care and like wise young and newborns with conditions that would limit their abilities to be a productive citizen should also receive less benefits. This is the language of the bill that has so many upset, and where Sarah Palin's "Death Panel" comes from, because it leaves these decisions not in the hands of Doctors, but in the hands of a bureaucrat rationing body to determine what treatments people should receive based on their age and ability to contribute to society, and not on the bases of human life.

This is why The Obama administration has conceded to throwing out some of these points, because he can not argue with the wording that is in the bill, so they are planning to take out all speech of rationing. But still it will be a hard sale unless they take away the mandatory universal of this bill and maybe make it a gov co-opt instead, but still they will have to show how it will be funded, right now there still is no clear answers on how this can be funded without raising everyone's taxes.

That may be what they intended to say, it is not what they actually said, in which case the author is bad at his craft and deserves not to hold that position

all the best urban