Time to go to college and learn a thing or two about Universal Health Care tomorrow night at UCI, Monday, May 18, 6:00pm-8:00pm. “Gotcha Covered! America’s New Direction in Health Care” is the event and former Senator Joe Dunn will be there along with E.R. physician Dr. Bill Honigman, health care advocate Cindy Young and surprise guest speaker (Beth Krom – Congressional candidate for the 48th district).
Shouldn’t affordable health care be for EVERYONE and not just our representatives? Come and see for yourself!
Press release:
Contact: Scott McLaughlin
Title: Political Actions Coordinator, Young Democrats at University of California, Irvine
Phone: 714-478-3842
E-Mail: uciObama@gmail.com
The Young Democrats at the University of California, Irvine are an active political force on campus and in their community.
Gotcha Covered! America’s New Direction in Health Care
What is Universal Health Care and why should we care? Why are we seeing hospitals across the nation closing or enduring ever-increasing cutbacks? How does the current cost of health insurance effect small business owners who are struggling to stay afloat amidst a recession? Is there a solution?
Former State Senator Joe Dunn, J.D., Bill Honigman, M.D., emergency room physician at area hospital Kaiser Permanente, health care advocate Cindy Young and a surprise guest speaker will address these questions and more, as well as offer steps we can take toward a solution. The issue of Universal Health Care will be examined and discussed by speakers whose combined experiences offer a rare, comprehensive overview of this complex topic.
When: Monday, May 18, 6:00pm-8:00pm
Where: U.C. Irvine Student Center, Pacific Ballroom (A&B), Irvine, CA 92629
Topic: “Gotcha Covered! America’s New Direction in Health Care”
Speakers: Former State Senator Joe Dunn, E.R. physician Dr. Bill Honigman, health care advocate Cindy Young and surprise guest speaker T.B.A.
For Maps: uci.edu/campus_maps.php
R.S.V.P. uciObama@gmail.com
Admission is free and the event is open to the public. On-campus parking $7.00. Donations gratefully accepted at the door.
Additional information about the UCI Young Democrats can be found by visiting the “UCI Young Democrats” page on Facebook, or by visiting the University’s website at www.uci.edu.
Great job with this post Red! Sounds like a very interesting event.
If you like waiting lists for waiting lists for simple procedures, massive fraud and abuse of the budget on a scale as seen here in the great Demoncrat state of California, guards at the doors of hospitals to handle the throngs who wait hours, and want to see any attempt to buy medicine yourself the government wont pay for denied to the cry of “unequal access!!” – then nationalized health care is for you!
Terry, as usual, your TOTAL IGNORANCE is OVERWHELMING.
I have an idea, instead of getting all your “information” from right-wing radio, you might actually do some research and back your rants up with some REAL FACTS.
Like these;
Per capita health expenditure 2007
Canada-$3,173
Japan-$2,293
U.K.-$2,560
France-$3,040
U.S.-$6,096
Life Expectancy 2009
Canada-81.2
Japan-82.1
U.K.-79
France-81
U.S.-78.1
Number of Americans without health insurance-45 million
Deaths each year caused by lack of insurance-18,314
Percentage by which the death rate of the uninsured exceeds the insured-25%
Percentage of bankruptcies due to illness-50%
Percentage of these bankruptcies happening to the middle class-90%
Percentage in increase of medical bankruptcies between 1981-2001-2,200%
BLOATED BUREAUCRACY
Minimum cost in dollars of medical bureaucracy, per capita U.S.-$1,050
Cost of medical bureaucracy, per capita Canada-$307
Percentage of medical spending eaten up by waste, fraud and excessive prices-50%
Approximate percentage of insurance claims from doctors that insurers reject-30%
Overall rank on a World Health Organization survey of Healthcare systems;
U.S.-37
CostaRica-36
France-1
A tourist in New York’s Greenwich Village had his portrait sketched by a sidewalk artist, who charged him $100.
“That’s expensive,” the tourist said. “But it’s a great sketch, so I’ll pay it. But, really, it took you just five minutes.”
“Twenty years and five minutes,” the artist replied.
The same misconception of costs runs through the much more serious issue of the prices of medicine and government regulation of those prices. When a pill whose ingredients cost a quarter is sold for two dollars, that is an open invitation to demagogues to begin loudly denouncing the pharmaceutical drug company’s “obscene” and “unconscionable” profits at the expense of the sick. But the people who are doing this are counting only the five minutes and ignoring the 20 years.
The physical ingredients of the medicine are its cheapest ingredients. The ingredient that costs millions of dollars — sometimes hundreds of millions — is the knowledge gained from years of research, and trial and error, which finally results in the creation of a new medicine. That is what the price of the pills has to cover, if we expect investors to continue to pour vast sums of money into drug companies that are trying to discover new cures for such diseases as cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer’s.
Other companies, manufacturing generic equivalents, pay only the costs of the physical ingredients, having copied the enormously expensive formula free of charge — legitimately after the patent has expired and not so legitimately in other countries, where patent laws are not taken as seriously as in the United States. The company that simply uses someone else’s formula free of charge can sell the same pill for 35 cents and still make a profit.
Somebody has to pay the high costs of discovery or the development of new drugs will be slower and therefore more people will needlessly suffer and die. While allowing patent laws to be over-ridden by politicians allows some people to buy the drug at low prices, based on the low current costs of manufacturing the medicine, that just leaves the far greater overhead costs of creating these medicines to be paid by others.
Worst of all, it leaves the even higher costs of needless pain, suffering and premature death to be paid by those whose relief is delayed by policies like these, which slow down the development of new medicines to cure their afflictions.
The United States has been one of the few countries resisting political pressures to impose price controls on pharmaceutical drugs, or to water down the patent laws which allow the original discoverer of new drugs to have a monopoly for a fixed number of years, so as to recover the costs of discovery before other companies get to use their formula free of charge.
The United States also produces a wholly disproportionate share of all the new life-saving drugs in the world. But politicians ignore this connection. Other countries have scientists capable of developing new medicines, but the economics and politics of the situation discourage companies in those countries from making the huge investments made by American pharmaceutical companies under American patent law.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration began the cave in to the demagogues at home and abroad. After congressional liberals like Ted Kennedy, Henry Waxman and Charles Schumer began making noises about a need to get the drug Cipro cheaper because of the anthrax scare, the administration threatened to over-ride the patent for the drug unless the manufacturer supplied it at a cheaper rate.
The retail price of Cipro was $5 a pill and the government itself says that someone stricken with anthrax needs to take two pills a day for five days and cheaper antibiotics thereafter. Is $50 too much to pay to save your life? And is it worth jeopardizing a whole system that has made this country the leading creator of life-saving drugs, just to get the demagogues to shut up? I say let them scream.
Foreign countries gained the right to set aside international patent agreements whenever they choose to decree a public health “emergency.” This allows socialists and the rest of the “America haters” a free ride on costly American research, at least until they kill the goose that lays the golden egg — new life-saving medicines in this case.
Mark Twain once quipped, “Facts are stubborn things.” Well, people like anonster are, too.
What we have here is failure to communicate.
Myth One: Government Health Care Is More Efficient
As it turns out, Americans have a better survival rate for 13 of the 16 most common cancers. Among men, an American has nearly a 20-percent better chance of living for five years after being diagnosed with cancer than his European counterpart. American women stand a 7.2-percent better chance of living for five years after a cancer diagnosis than their European counterparts.
Perhaps that’s one reason why tens of thousands of foreigners come to the United States every year for medical treatment. They’re usually seeking advanced and sophisticated procedures that are simply unavailable—or rationed—in their home countries.
Just think if we the public should accept this offer. Would you want to eat government-made food?
Would you want to live in public housing? How about government issued clothes?
Are you game for a government-made car?
If you’re like most Americans, your answer is “No, thank you.”
Myth Two: We’re Spending Too Much on Health Care.
The simple fact is that we are not paying too much for health care in this country.
In the health care debate today, rapidly rising costs are a common refrain. Yet, you’ll almost never hear anyone talk about the dramatic increase in value that Americans have derived from their health care over the last 50 years. As any economist could tell you, there’s a big difference between cost and value. And, in fact, it can be the difference between life and death.
Myth Three: Forty-Six Million Americans Can’t Get Health Care
Nothing could be further from the truth.
45.7 million uninsured.
But 18 million earn more than $50,000.
More than 10 million aren’t U.S. citizens.
And as many as 14 million qualify for government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP.
Obviously, there’s some overlap in these numbers. But the critical question is—who’s left over?
There are roughly eight million of these chronically uninsured, and they really do need help.18 (It should be noted that even though they don’t have insurance, they can still get emergency room care for, say,a broken leg, visit a community hospital, or a community clinic. But they aren’t covered for routine check-ups and preventative care.) Any attempt to solve the uninsured problem should focus on this narrow slice of the 45.7-million pie.
Myth Four: Universal Coverage Can Be Achieved by Forcing Everyone to Buy Insurance
Yeah, how well did that work with car insurance?
To believe that universal health care coverage can be achieved through a legal mandate is to misunderstand how people react to do-good laws and why. The academics, policy experts, media voices, and employers cheering for mandates assume that uninsured Americans either are just too lazy to purchase health insurance, or don’t have the money to pay for it. That makes it easy to fix, so the argument goes. If it’s illegal not to purchase insurance, even the lazy folks will pony up. And for those who can’t afford it—presto!—a government subsidy will make insurance affordable. In other words, if people are threatened with a buck-up-or-pay-up fine, and/or given the chance to purchase a policy at a mere fraction of their monthly wages, they’ll jump through the hoop and become responsible citizens.3 That might make sense in theory. But in reality, Americans are both stubborn, and smart.
When the beneficiaries of a service are insulated from the cost, and that service is easily available, it’s inevitable that expenditures will spiral out of control. To try to keep expenses in check, some form of rationing is required. That usually means limits on access to the priciest medicines and newest technology. Rationing is a standard feature of single-payer systems such as Canada’s. If our learned leaders are going to keep proposing and re-proposing mandated universal health care, the least they can do is be honest about the sacrifices required: Higher taxes, forced premium payments, one-size-fits-all policies, long waiting lists, rationed care, and limited access to cutting-edge medicine.
Likely as not, the voters will say “No thanks!”
Mr. Freedum, a National Science Foundation study of Biomedical patents found that only 17% of key discoveries came from industry, the vast majority were generated from public universities, not-for-profit and foreign labs.
Terry Crawley, let it be noted that THE ONLY wealthy, industrialized nation in the WORLD that does NOT have some form of GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE is the UNITED STATES.
Myth one; We DO NOT have the longest life expectancy, there may be some diseases that we have a better survival rate on, but when ALL risks are factored in the US ranks #45, hardly something to brag about.
Even if we were to have single-payer healthcare that would NOT preclude individuals from paying out of pocket for specialists ,just like they do now.
Myth two; We still are paying nearly TWICE as much as any other industrialized nation and are getting poorer results.
Myth three; 27.8% of americans are covered by some form of government heath plan, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and Tricare these folks are NOT considered uninsured. Many working people are uninsured for a variety of reasons, many employers are no longer providing health insurance, many employees can NOT afford their employers plan as the premiums have risen far faster than wages and many people DO NOT qualify for health insurance do to pre-existing conditions.
Hospitals and emergency rooms are closing do to uncompensated health care, leaving the poor and uninsured to use emergency rooms as their only source of health care HURTS US ALL.
Myth four; If universal healthcare didn’t work, WHY does EVERY other industrialized nation in the WORLD HAVE IT? Most of them are democracies, if they weren’t satisfied they WOULD VOTE IT OUT.
Industry critics claim drug companies get a free ride from spending on basic research by the National Institutes of Health. But according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association, the trade association for the manufacturers of innovative drugs, industry outspent NIH $26 billion to $18 billion in 2000. According to NIH itself, only four out of the 47 best-selling drugs were developed in part with NIH funding.
Researchers found that biomedical research funding increased from $37.1 billion in 1994 to $94.3 billion in 2003 and doubled when adjusted for inflation. Principal research sponsors in 2003 were industry (57 percent) and the National Institutes of Health (28 percent). Relative proportions from all public and private sources did not change. Industry sponsorship of clinical trials increased from $4.0 to $14.2 billion (in real terms) while federal proportions devoted to basic and applied research were unchanged.
The United States spent an estimated 5.6 percent of its total health expenditures on biomedical research, more than any other country, but less than 0.1 percent for health services research. From an economic perspective, biotechnology and medical device companies were most productive, as measured by new diagnostic and therapeutic devices per dollar of research and development cost.
But hey, by the time people like anonster are done all those companies will be doing their research elsewhere. What do they care? Hurt a little more… suffer a little more… as long as government is in charge…
A warning to anybody who cares about freedom in the leaset!!!!
If the government pays for your healthcare, THEY WILL OWN YOU! PERIOD! EVERYTHING YOU DO MAY THEN BE REGULATED TO HELP CUT BACK ON COST FOR THE PUBLIC GOOD!!!
I look forward to the day when the DMV Runs my healthcare! Speaking of cost…how many state workers have been laid off in the past year?
A million year wait for care?
http://www.heartland.org/policybot/results/9317/Britains_MillionYear_Wait.html
Terry Crawley, Apparently the drug companies having been pushing this canard for quite awhile. This is from Public Citizen’s Congress Watch 2001;
The Case Against The Drug Industry’s R&D “Scare Card”
“Major US drug companies and their trade association, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, have carried out a campaign to scare policy makers and the public. The central claim of PhRMA’s campaign is ominous: if anything is done to restrain high US prescription drug prices, then research and development to find new drugs for life threatening diseases will suffer.”
“The drug industry’s “R&D scare card” is built on the premise that drug companies need extraordinary profits- about THREE TIMES those of the average Fortune 500 company- in order to conduct expensive and risky research on innovative new drugs. But evidence shows the research isn’t as expensive, risky or innovative as the industry claims.”
“Instead, the evidence shows that such research may cost far less than the 500 million for every new drug- and may be less than 100 million for every new drug (including failed drugs). The evidence also shows that the drug industry isn’t all that innovative, as it produces far more “me-too” or copycat drugs of little medical importance than life-saving medicines. And, the evidence suggests that drug industry research isn’t all that risky because the industry is awash in profits while LIGHTLY TAXED and HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED. In fact, an internal National Institutes of Health study obtained by Public Citizen shows that TAXPAYER FUNDED SCIENTISTS and FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES CONDUCTED 85% of the PUBLISHED RESEARCH STUDIES, TESTS AND TRIALS leading to the DISCOVERY and DEVELOPMENT of 5 blockbuster drugs. It’s no wonder the drug industry fought all the way to the Supreme Court to keep its R&D records HIDDEN from CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATORS.”
Further more the drug companies spend 24.4% of their BUDGET on ADVERTISING as compared to 13.4% on R&D.
Bigmarkod, EVERY OTHER INDUSTRIALIZED NATION has HEALTHCARE, are you saying that all those people have no freedom?
Right now, in America, 45 million WAIT for care!
I hate to see anyone without health insurance, but we have to stop the freebies because we are going broke. I am losing my job as well and I don’t expect anyone to pay for my healthcare. Now, in a perfect world, one would expect that. I don’t have the answer to this one or the facts, this is just my opinion. I will continue to read up though because now it is a trending topic. Thanks RedVixen as always my partner in crime. 🙂
Anonster,
As I clearly outlined in the article above, you are a LIAR.
This industrialized nation has healthcare. You clearly dont like it.
LEAVE.
Yes anonster. That is exactly what I am saying. If you would like to discuss it, I will play your little game. You have to wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle, or wear a seatbelt while driving in this state…why? the reason given is due to the cost of care to the state if you get into an accident. So we have now established the state if it is paying for your care, it has decided it can tell you what not to do. Fast forward to healthcare if they are paying your medical bills are you stupid enough to think they will not try to control what you eat, drink, smoke, weigh, exercise etc? What you feed your kids? They already try to do this and they are not even paying for it! Also your number of 45 million W/o insurance is a BS # and it was explaind to you earlier, but I guess you are too much of a socialist, freedom hating Nazi to understand the truth!
P.S. 40 Week wait time in Canada of Orthopedic Surgery, that for those who went to public school, is almost 10 months! Here it is a week. Look it up. In Britain they were excited when they got their treatment down to an 18 week wait, for some advanced medical care!
Do us all a fovor, before you destroy my healthcare, by making it “Free” apparently you may Choose ANY OTHER COUNTRY INT HE WORLD, I WILL PAY FOR YOU TO MOVE THERE, SO PLEASE THIS IS THE ONLY PLACE I CAN GET GOOD HEALTHCARE, SO TAKE TERRYS ADVICE, AND JUST LEAVE….I’LL EVEN PAY FOR YOUR 1 WAY TICKET….MEXICO,CUBA,HATI, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, CROATIA, YOU NAME IT!
Terry Crawley, I have no idea how old you are, but I trust that when the time comes and you are eligible for MEDICARE you will REFUSE it.
This country has a healthcare for profit system that leaves millions of Americans to choose between financial ruin or access to the healthcare services they need. You may find this satisfactory, but I do not, America can do better.
I think I’ll STAY, just to needle you.
It has been brought to my attention by several members of the Democratic Party that Phil Bacerra has been busy spreading rumors that I am Red Vixen.
I cannot take credit for any of your posts or comments. I am responsible for my own comments and no one elses and that is why I did not ask Art Pedroza to post a statement that I am not Red Vixen. I speak for myself and I don’t need any help.
While it is my opinion that Phil Bacerra is busy as a bee rumor mongering and spreading lies about me, I am busy working on eight (8) public agency projects with budgets totaling over 30 million dollars, keeping staff employed, finishing my course work to earn my B.A.,mentoring two grade school Latina girls, taking care of my two elderly parents who have dementia and alzheimers disease, babysitting my grandchildren and still continue my philanthropy to worthy causes. Oh I forgot, I also spend time with my boyfriend who helps me with my parents and grandchildren.
Wow! I had to see what all these comments are about. I expected this little item to be a fairly non-controversial public service announcement. I guessed wrong!
Hello Irene and we welcome your comments!
I am guessing that Phil is trying to paint you in a negative light…. I wonder what he finds so threatening about you.
Here’s where I stand: I think the democrat party in OC is run by a bunch of losers. They have been consistently losing for decades and have finally caught a break now that Obama is in. I expect the OC democratic party to overplay its hand by whipping others into submission because “now” the democrats are winning. Despite the fact that those leaders could not even evict that dolt, Dana Rohrbacher in a time of landslide Democrat victories.
I have only come into contact once with Phil and completely by accident. He is not a good listener and he came across as a self-promoting bully type. All Blustery and self-serving in an arrogant way. Maybe he could get a discount from the local teachers’ union for their anger management services 😉
Irene,
Someone recently suggested in a post that I run for SAUSD school board. Maybe that is where the confusion lies. I know that you were a candidate in the last election and that you did not win.
You were willing to step up and try to lend a hand to a district that needs as much help as can be found.
It is sad when an aspiring leader in a downtrodden community gets back stabbed by a democrat “leader”. Shouldn’t he be trying to support and grow leadership?
Best wishes to you and your sweet family. You have so much, it’s not a surprise that small minded haters would be jealous of you.
Thanks for taking the time to read/post at OJ. Our community here continues to grow.
I have been a friend of Irene Ibarra’s for 34 years. I can say that I am truly in awe of her independence along with her tenacity…
It is so sad to see downright ugliness rear it head in politics…especially when you have someone like Irene who just simply wants to give something back to the community.
If Mr. Becerra needs to attack Irene in such a ridiculous way; that speaks VOLUMES about his own being. Such a big man worrying about one single woman. People who bark loud generally have a weak bite….
Phil is constantly trying to figure out a cut for himself. He’s not a nice guy and he’s not talented, either. That’s probably why he picks on other people like Irene.
If he’s hating on you Irene, you must be doing something right!
I have known Irene Ibarra since 5th grade. She has always been a giving person and is not afraid of fighting for what is right. The secret to Irene’s success is HARD WORK.
Those of us who have Irene in our lives are very fortunate to have a loyal and giving person as our friend. The two young ladies she mentors have a strong woman who will teach them self-esteem and open their eyes to a world full of oppportunities.
Tsk tsk tsk. Phil Bacerra should be ashamed of himself. Isn’t this the guy who doesn’t like Michele Martinez and Claudia Alvarez? Two other strong women that Phil Bacerra doesn’t like. I see a pattern here. Could it be Phil Bacerra doesn’t like WOMEN or is it he doesn’t like MEXICANS? Maybe it’s both. What a loser.
anonster,
as Sun-Tzu said… “HUG!!!”
Bigmarkod,
“U.S. Trails Others in Health Care Satisfaction” from Fox News .com
“Americans are more DISSATISFIED than citizens of other nations with their basic healthcare, even while PAYING MORE of their own money for treatment…”
“The study shows that people in the US face LONGER WAIT TIMES to see doctors and have more TROUBLE GETTING CARE on evenings and weekends than do people in other industrialized countries. At the same time, Americans were more likely to receive ADVICE on prevention and self-care than others.”
EEGADS,they’re TELLING us HOW TO LIVE,and we don’t even have socialized medicine yet!!!!!!!! BOLT YOUR DOOR, Bigmarkod!
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE;
“Sixty percent of patients in New Zealand told researchers that they were able to get a SAME-DAY appointment with a doctor when sick, NEARLY DOUBLE the 33% of Americans who got such speedy care.”
OH NO, there ARE other healthcare systems besides Canada’s, Bigmarkod’s LITTLE BRAIN is going to EXPLODE!!!!
And the BAD NEWS KEEPS COMING;
“Americans were also the most likely to have DIFFICULTY getting care on nights, weekends, or holidays without going to an emergency room.”
“Four in ten US adults told researchers that they had GONE WITHOUT NEEDED CARE BECAUSE of COST, including skipping prescriptions, avoiding going to the doctor, or skipping a recommended test or treatment.”
“Meanwhile, 26% of Americans surveyed said that they had faced more than $1,000 dollars in OUT-OF-POCKET HEALTH CARE COSTS in the last year, COMPARED with 14% of Australians, and 4% of Britons.”
Maybe you shouldn’t read this next part Bigmarkod, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for destroying your corporate media induced FANTASIES. But….
“In a National Commonwealth Fund survey, elderly beneficiaries reported GREATER OVERALL SATISFACTION with their health coverage, BETTER access to care and FEWER PROBLEMS paying medical bills THAN people covered by EMPLOYER-SPONSORED plans.”
Imagine that, people LIKE their GOVERNMENT -SPONSORED healthcare plans BETTER than PRIVATE INDUSTRY’S, but if you don’t believe me, just ask Larry Gilbert.
Now, I can’t leave the country quite yet (businesses, properties,family,etc.),but I am willing to go on a fact finding mission to France (as they have one of the BEST healthcare systems), and I’d be HAPPY to ACCEPT ANY OFFER to pay for it and of course, I would provide you with a full report.
That should have read “elderly MEDICARE beneficiaries” .
As an update: The event was attended by 120+ and they are now working on a youtube video for viewing.
Terry and Bigmarkod,
You guys have a chance to attend? 😉
Good lord, the sky has fallen and anonster is quoting Fox News.com.
Well! I will quote NPR, who fact checked Michael Moores Sicko (thats like an anal probe to determine if you have hemorrhoids – its already obvious!) but i digress…
“— The United States ranked highest on patient satisfaction, followed by Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Canada, Norway, Netherlands and Sweden.”
Look, anyone else who reads this. Do you understand what people there are out there? People who want to make others sick and let them die?! There are people who want to tear down the best health care system in the world, simply because it isnt like everybody else!
We are EXCEPTIONAL! We spend a higher proportion of our GDP on medicine because we care! Because we want to do it better! Not the same!
This garbage is from people who would follow a herd off a cliff just so they arent doing things differently. You know those tests where a bunch of people stand on a corner and look in the air at nothing, waiting for people to come by? Anonster is one of those what would stop and say “oh yeah, i see it too!”
Anonster, you CHILD. I will tell you something any teenager knows… a helping hand is a controlling hand. GROW UP.
You cannot delegate to the government any power you cannot do yourself. Can you make your neighbor take care of himself? If you see a neighbor with two cars and one with none, can you take one and give it to the other, so things are equal?
In accordance with the conservation of PERSONAL resources and PERSONAL freedoms, it is FIRST your personal duty to fulfill this obligation, the second level is your family, then your CHURCH, your community, your county and, in times of DISASTER AND EMERGENCY, your state to lend a hand.
Compassion which breeds dependency and weakness is counter productive. – Benjamin Franklin
Sorry annonster how bout a one wat bus ticket to Quebec?
Sorry Rede. I was protesting Taxes at the City Rally, and then had to follow it up at the council meeting….maybe next time…
Terry Crawley, I COULD NOT find ANY article from NPR that had the statistics that you cite “-the United States rated highest on patient satisfaction….”, PLEASE provide a link to that quote.
The original article that Fox News.com referenced came from the Commonwealth Fund, an EXCELLENT source for information on healthcare. In fact ALL of their surveys find that the US has the LOWEST patient satisfaction rate, although no country had the majority of adults satisfied.
You and Bigmarkod seem to believe that all government sponsored healthcare systems are the same, nothing could be further from the truth. Each country has different system type,different coverage and different methods of financing it all. The US can construct its OWN healthcare system, by looking at other countries and seeing what works and what doesn’t.
In my search for Terry’s “facts” I came upon an International Comparison chart on the NPR site; Working For Our Common Good, very interesting and informative.
Unfortunately, I doubt that EITHER of you will take the time to better educate yourselves on this issue, you both get quite AGITATED by ANY NEW INFORMATION, although I can’t say that that surprises me.
Terry Crawley, I usually IGNORE ALL of YOUR posts because I KNOW that it’s going to be a mish-mash of NON-SENSICAL CACA and it is a waste of time and energy trying to reason with someone who is so delusional.
Your latest comment is no different and I know better, but here I go;
“We are EXCEPTIONAL! We spend a higher proportion of our GDP on medicine because we care! Because we want to do it better! Not the same!”, probably your most delusional comment yet.
In the face of ALL EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY you still claim that; “we do it better!”.
I wonder do you think that just shouting ” were the best “, makes it so?
Are you so DEVOID of reasoning skills, that you can call a healthcare system “the best” when it COSTS THE MOST and delivers a RANKING OF 37TH?
The problem with people like you and Bigmarkod, is that you are so invested in right-wing ideology that you willingly TWIST YOURSELVES INTO PRETZELS, DEFENDING THE INDEFENSIBLE.
TORTURE, an ILLEGAL and UNNECESSARY WAR, OUR CRAPPY HEALTHCARE SYSTEM they are all OKAY by your non-existent standards. THINK about your rational; if the US does it, it must be good. You two really SET THE BAR LOW!
YOU ARE MINDLESS PARROTS of the CORPORATE MEDIA, you swallow their B.S. and end up IGNORANTLY SHILLING for CORPORATE GREED!
WISE UP, FOOLS!
Terry Crawley, I’M STILL WAITING FOR THAT LINK, otherwise I’ll be forced to assume that you pulled that “fact” out of your a** ! SUPRISE, SUPRISE!