and thank you Thom Hartmann!

ain't that socialism?
How else am I supposed to support those against my own self-interest?

example #1

Healthcare in Switzerland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland

It becomes self evident. Medicare operates at 3% overhead and if everyone had it it would cover dental vision hearing and psy. Nothing is perfict but single payer is the next best thing from it.

From your link to Wiki: Swiss are required to purchase basic health insurance, which covers a range of treatments detailed in the Swiss Federal Law on Health Insurance... It is therefore the same throughout the country and avoids double standards in healthcare. *** Insurers are required to offer this basic insurance to everyone***, regardless of age or medical condition. ***They are not allowed to make a profit off this basic insurance***, but can on supplemental plans.

The insured person pays the insurance premium for the basic plan up to 8% of their personal income. If a premium is higher than this, ***the government gives the insured person a cash subsidy to pay for any additional premium***.

If you are poor or not earning very much money essentially you are paying nothing and are still fully covered for medical care and regular check ups with your doctor. If you are middle-class you might be paying 1 or 2 thousand a year. If you are extremely wealthy (in the multi millionnaire class), you might be paying 10,000 or more to help support the healthcare system.

I have been a student, an unemployed person, a working musician, and a successful computer programmer and at all times my health care needs were fully covered.

I am semi retired now and last year I had a bit of a scare with some chest pain's and shortness of breath. I was admitted to emergency in Ottawa, spent the night there and had multiple tests done at that time which didn't show any problems. Total cost for my nights stay in the hospital? Zero.

Because of the nature of my complaint I was immediately scheduled for multiple tests to determine the health of my heart. Over the next month I had three test done and met with the cardiologist. Thank God nothing was wrong, it appears that it was just a stress related anomaly.

Total cost to me for these tests and the meeting with a specialist? Absolutely nothing. A small minor health care issue that could've easily bankrupted an uninsured American was taken care of professionally, quickly, and for free. The state of health care in your country is a disgrace and a joke. It's time for America to join the rest of the free world in providing healthcare to ALL its citizens.

Makes the greedy greedier.

Never saw a bill for any medical care over the two years my family lived there on my "student" visa (I was playing junior hockey).
And my mom, brother and I weren't even "landed immigrants."

pay the insurance companies directly, with no shopping around for the lowest premiums, no co-pays, no deductibles, I assume.

We folks up here in the GWN pay through our taxes, for medical coverage -- doctor visits, specialist visits, surgeries (but not for medically unnecessary surgeries such as plastics). Most employers provide supplemental health benefits (vision, dental, drugs, physical therapy etc.) as part of the employment package for full-time employees. Us retirees (depending on the company) may or may not have the same benefits package, and if not, many of us pay for supplemental out of our own pockets (but many do not). Our health insurance companies are extremely "healthy" and in fact some have even bought up American companies (SunLife purchased John Hancock several years ago, for example). So the pols who issue the dire warning that insurance companies will go out of business if universal health insurance is brought in are talking through their hats. And oh yes, pharma companies are restricted in their advertising here. An ad for Cialis or Viagra may show up on TV or in magazines, but you'd never know from the ad exactly what either of them are for. It's quite funny, actually -- a man and a woman in separate bathtubs on a beach -- WTF!!!!!!!!

One quibble I have is that our medicare for all does not cover dental, and since our entire gastroenterology system starts in the mouth, I think it's a big mistake not to cover that part of our anatomy.

The GOP likes to spread many lies about our healthcare system, and never differentiates between waiting lists for elective or non-life-threatening conditions and those -- heart, stroke, cancer, and other life-threatening conditions -- where you automatically go to the head of the line. Gee, could that be why we Canucks can expect to live longer than Americans (according to statistics)?

Welcome to the internet.

from Goddard College...

no shit

Not factual. And he's not a Dr.

Ireland has a two tier system with public and private payers - which help to relieve costs on the government for the rest of the population.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland

In Israel, in the area of medications for serious illnesses, private insurance companies give access to a wider range of than the official "basket of medications", as the Israeli government is not financially capable of covering all medications.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Israel#Private_healthcare

Just because it confirms your bias doesn't make it true. We have facts on our side, so we don't need alternative facts.

The meme said "No other country in the developed world," not "many other countries in the developed world, such a Germany..."

Read it again. I'm not cherry picking, I'm just pointing out incorrect generalizations.

As I said - we're supposed to be the party of facts, respecting data. Why not just use facts?

And Thom Hartmann isn't a doctor, either.

Table E1, page iv: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/for-profit-hospitals-and-insurers-in-universal-health-care-countries.pdf

Dr. Thom needs a brain transplant.

The other part of this is our for-profit higher education system.

Truth

I am originally from the UK, have lived in other European countries, never seen anyone worried about the cost of health care, it is either -no cost, or a small fraction of the cost, different European countries have slightly different approaches, but they are all pretty good. Canada is pretty good too. I was astonished when I first learned about the cost of US healthcare, and that people make a profit from illness. The cost of administration is all that happens in many country, the doctors are paid a good salary but do not expect massive salaries like in the US.
I think stockholders in the large insurance companies are like vultures picking the bones of the sick.

Most Americans don't even question it. Its just "the way it is".

This is absolutely correct. Profit has no business in healthcare.

not be near each other. Like in a sentence.

I'd like to get universal medicare for all too but posting complete BS on an image isn't going to get it for us.

It's going to take a bit more effort. Getting people to vote, winning elections, the ramming it through with a simple majority because we no longer need 60 votes to pass controversial legislation. And a Dem president to sign it into law. And some good messaging to get people to want it and understand why it's good for our country

Here's a good bill to start with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Health_Care_Act

Insurance companies are certainly a part of the reason we pay more. But we pay close to twice as much and insurance only takes about 25%. Hospitals are a big problem. Medical supply and drug companies are a big problem. Guns are also a big problem (one study said LA paid more for care of gun patients than it spent on its entire Medicaid program).

With the exception of Canada, for-profit private health insurance remains almost universally present in developed countries, including those with universal-access health care schemes, to deliver supplemental, elective, expedited, and/or alternative care, including Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland, whose health-care outcomes are analyzed in this November 2015 Canadian study:

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/sites/default/files/for-profit-hospitals-and-insurers-in-universal-health-care-countries.pdf

That took a lot longer to explain than to find in google. Maybe Dr. Thom needs to brush up in Facebookology?

"Extras cover." It gets you slightly more comfortable treatment and adds things like dental, wellness treatment, etc. Its cost is modest (maybe AUD 200/month for a family), and is often included in people's pay packets as a recruiting tool.

But it's a relatively small segment of the market compared to primary care, in which insurance companies have nearly no impact.

Whose profession is threatened, but whose work adds no value and keeps the blood flowing for the ghouls.

They'll need to be retrained to useful work when the insurance companies are forced out of healthcare funding.