Universal Healthcare..

@soccermom (3198)
United States
February 24, 2007 7:49pm CST
A few times today I have run across the mention of universal healthcare. It sounds like a good idea in theory, I'm interested in how it works on a national level though. Here in Illinois we have KidCare which is kind of like universal healthcare for children. It is on a sliding scale based on income, so it is affordable to all who desire to sign up. We didn't have health coverage while I was pregnant with my kids and this program was a godsend. Now we have health/dental insurance through my husbands employer and sometimes it can be a real hassle. My son had to see a heart specialist when he was a year old and it was like jumping through hoops of fire to get the claim paid. I work in insurance and the premiums for people to obtain private health coverage is astronomical. I'm also interested as to what happens to malpractice laws if healthcare is provided by the government. It seems to me that if doctors didn't have to pay an outrageous amount for malpractice insurance our healthcare costs would go down. So my question is how would Universal Healthcare work? I'm especially interested in reading our friends in Canada's view on it.
3 people like this
2 responses
25 Feb 07
In the UK we have the national health service which means a lot of healthcare is free. Some is based on income such as if you have a lot of money you have to pay for prescriptions, dental treatment and eyecare. The problem with this system is that there are long waiting lists for non-emergency treatment such as hip replacements. A lot of people go private for things like this instead of waiting for years.
1 person likes this
• United States
10 Nov 08
Nothing is free. It upsets me when people constantly refer to UHCs as "free." Nothing is free. Not one ounce of anything having to do with UHCs are free. The public pays for the UHCs through higher taxes. The public also pays for UHCs through sub-standard care and long lines to receive medical attention. When the money runs out within the first week of the month, you'll be hard pressed to find one doctor who will slip you a Tylenol let alone look at you or examine you to find out what might be wrong. Nothing in life is ever free, especially UHCs.
@men82in (1268)
• India
25 Feb 07
Universal Health Care provides health care for US citizens residing in 8 states (Florida, South Carolina, Utah and five more). You need not pay any amount upfront while receiving any service from the doctors. Please visit www.univhc.com for more details.(I am not sure whether UHC is serving in Canada)
1 person likes this