I was just listening to some asshole on BBC radio...

telling us how great the American health system is.

Paraphrasing parts of the interview...

Brit-- "I can't imagine how Americans can be satisfied with their system. Here, we do not live in fear that our ills will go untreated.

American asshole-- Well, a lot of our uninsured are illegal immigrants, people between jobs, and the like, so it's not so bad.

Brit-- But, we spend far less of our GDP on our system and get far more for our money.

AA-- Our problem is that we spend too much tax money and not enough private money. We need more competition and health savings accounts to solve the few problems we have.

The Brits, while admitting their system was not perfect (because no system is perfect) were astounded at his insanity.

people between jobs don't count either. :eyes:

The people that spout off this garbage are truly bottom of the barrel.

:puke:

are illegal immigrants. They would still not be given health care under any reform act (except I guess in emergency circumstances, or for having babies...I'm not sure of the Medicaid rules).

That still leaves millions uninsured. But it is true, I think, that the biggest # we hear (50 million) includes the illegals.

I have heard we spend something like 7 grand per person on health care. How much of that is private pay, and how much is coming out of our taxes, does anyone know?

do you consider the police department or teacher health plan as coming out of taxes?

How much of the ER cost is subsidized-- public hospitals obviously pay from the public trough, but are private hospitals getting subsidies?

Employer health plans are tax deductible-- how does that compute?

The VA, SCHIP, Indian Health Services, Medicare, Medicaid, and whatever public health hospitals are still around are most of the Federal programs, and it's easy to total the costs there, but the local costs and other subsidies are much tougher to get at.

why couldn't someone split it up between what the govt puts in and what is private pay

part of the GDP paid for health care and divide it up by the population. Comes out to around 7 grand.

It's the details of just who paid that we got stuck on.

If you insist, you can dig up the total costs of Medicare, the VA, and Medicaid as the bigest gummint programs out there and get some idea where to start.

You'll still have problems digging out the unreimbursed money spent by all organizations like the the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation and defining other tax costs.

(And, I still haven't seen a good answer as to whether or not the 2.2 trillion bespoken for the nations's health expenses includes Botox and boob jobs.)

It takes away all their fun when they can't wheel and deal with our health as if it were simply a commodity.

that Amerikan is a wanker..

hot issue.

I'm positive this jughead is insured very well, getting far more than basic health care and at a cost that is most likely employer paid for at the 80-90% level. If this goomer actually paid for what he received, he'd be squealing.

What the vast majority of people don't realize is that under insurance, others are paying for for their care! The money comes from a pool of other insured individuals, no one person under insurance pays for their covered care on their own...if they had to, the death rate would be horrific as virtually no one could afford to see a physician/get treatment. The bottom line, everyone who receives care under insurance is receiving a form of subsidized care already.

When one adds that people who make decisions on the care that will be paid for are individuals sitting behind desks w/o a notion of what the real problem is and getting bonuses for saving the company money...(so much for the "government bureaucrat" argument, private "bureaucrats beat them hands down in bad decisions), the argument against government health-care falls flat.

People are dying and suffering every day, and they don't have to, because people who are terrified they might "lose something" are creating an atmosphere of fear and despair. Weeding out fraud and abuse from Dr's and institutions that overcharge Medicare and Medicaid would save billions; getting a decent Rx plan would save many more billions; this can be done w/good good government oversight and legislation that would benefit everyone. The R's and Bluedogs have much to lose if there is actual health-care reform. They would sacrifice this nation just to get a few more bucks in their pocket, (well, that's part of it). They work cheap too, $10,000 in their war chest means tens of millions for the insurance/pharma industries...they are not even good thieves...:eyes:

I guess these idiots fail to realize this is the entire problem. Too much money IS being spent.