Short answer: Everyone. Long answer: Everyone, now. It's hard to believe out of all the topics of debate in this country, universal (or "Socialized", as the GOP calls it) medicine is still under any sort of contention. Why is it so hard to get our heads around the fact that just because something doesn't make a profit, that does not mean that it A: Isn't morally correct and B: Can be achieved more or less overnight. Having a movement that is so vehemently against doing something as simple as allowing families to survive when the breadwinner gets ill or injured at work is abhorrent and insulting, and really, you have to wonder how they can consider themselves American at all. If this country is so convinced that economics equal freedom, then the core of America can now be boiled down to "Freedom is exclusive to those that can afford it." At the very fundamental level, every human needs the following to function: Water, Food, Shelter, and soundness of body, which, unless everyone was a doctor, cannot be achieved without a system in place that gives everyone equal access to it. Without this system, even the most minute problem that could be taken care of in an hour, becomes a debilitating and even fatal malady. One of my students, for example, went to Nigeria twice on a medical/surgical trip, and documented his patients coming in with what should have been minor tumors and cysts, now swollen to the point that they were blinding and suffocating their victims. Link removed- discuss it here. Is this what is to become of us? In what is supposed to be a first-world country? Where getting treated for low-grade medical issues upsets the balance of a household and - Darwin forbid - getting a serious illness can cast a family into the streets? What kind of country is that anyways?
I dont agree with our current "healthcare" we really need to focus on living a healthy lifestyle, instead of living the lives we all live now.
That's why I want to move to Canada. Then I wouldn't have to be struggling to get the medication I need to live. The government doesn't give a shit. I've been denied for Medicaid a million times.
I agree the health cares system is shit. The people who really need coverage are just screwed then the ones who really dont need it or could afford their own insurance get it. I just dont understand it at all. Like my family needs it really bad, my husband has a serious injury & they bcuz of his age & the fact that we dont have children he does not qaulify. He has a 30% compound fracture in his spine!!! I just think the way the whole thing is ran is just total shittiness It's just like give & give to the rich & make them richer & 4get about middle class & the poor..ggrrr...
The real hard to grasp thing for me, is that while Canada has universal healthcare, the US spends far more money per person on healthcare, and that's the real failure of the system. That we're unable to kick out the middle men who are profiteering on what should be a universal guarantee from a developed country. Of all the conservative philosophy, making the majority of Americans think government guaranteeing healthcare amounts to big brother is the most egregious.
no criticism intended ... but no universal medical!? I 've even heard that some of you see universal medical as 'socialism' and ... over-governing. you Yanks sure seem hard on one another.
Yeah,not All OF US. Just the stingy-ass right. Socialized medicine scares the hell out of them. Once that was put in place and shown to work---we might get other ideas. Education,for example. Law for another. Also there's a reason the right keeps wanting to turn Social Security into a "choice" system. They can't wait for the opportunity for Wall street to get their grubby mitts on it. Imagine what my social security check would look like now if I'd invested it in the stock market.
i'm confused, this should never be an issue. medic care must be available to everyone, for free if they can't afford, forever, for a good reason: having healthy people around is good for everyone and society. tolerating the fact that there is sick people on the streets cut off from medical care is dangerous, detrimental for the economy, it is just middle age bullshit. sparing money over the health service will only bring in woes and pointless spending. save money from the budget reserved to murdering people, instead.
And those in power in America that make these decisions about not having universal healthcare, because it's socialist or whatever bullshit, well those people don't need it, your taxpayer dollars make sure they are well cared for when the time arises. They don't need universal health care, and neither should you.
Here in the UK we've had free universal healthcare since 1945. Most of my life I've just taken it for granted. Now it seems our present Govt would like very much to privatize it, mainly for ideological reasons. I think this is an area where America has lagged behind, again, mainly for ideological reasons.
in italy we took this shit a whole new step further: we STILL pay freakin'high taxes as if we enjoyed our universal health care, but the governments are steady in their goal to eradicate , step by step, all the health system benefits while raising taxes. imagine that you pay for healthcare in your taxes, then again when you sign an insurance for your car, then again for the local govts, and when finally you hit the hospital, go figure... you have to pay again for an increasing number of things. and this only for the public health system... in a word, we're being robbed , ripped off by the govt in a way most of you would never believe.
I know this is an old post, but I'd just like to point out that medication is not covered by our health care system in Canada. You either pay out of pocket for it, purchase private insurance, or receive insurance through your employer or post-secondary educational institution. If you want a country with a real universal system, you're going to have to find somewhere in Europe. Or Cuba, which is a bit closer for you
I think the way the issues are posited are all mixed up. Saying someone deserves health care is like saying someone deserves to be sick. Health care is required by the sick. Are we all sick? Health insurance is a distortion about requirements. A health care system is not required only that we care for health and not rely on sickness to be our guide. Treating illness and preserving health are not the same thing. Health is not an economic reality but rather a biological one. If you believe health care is the right of everyone then let that be your investment. We can't protect people against themselves and caring for someone else's health more than they care for their own is a black hole of an investment. At the same time the well have the capacity to lend strength to those reaching out for help.
Not really. The generic stuff is, but patented medications are still expensive. For example, I was taking extended release Tramadol for my arthritis, 90 pills (a 3 month supply if you're taking them every day as prescribed) comes to just under $230. My school health plan covers most of it, so I end up paying about $23. I just switched Celebrex for my arthritis and 30 pills (1 per day) would cost $63 without a health plan. I pay just under $7 with my plan. My plaquenil, which is a generic, comes to $65 for 3 months, I end up paying about $7.
those prices are far less than you would pay out of pocket in the US for the EXACT same pills if you are not insured. and everyone deserves to have access to medical attention yes, just like everyone should get clean water/food, clothes, toilet and a place to stay out of the weather.
According to a website I googled that showed several listings of celebrex (60 capsules of 200mg... I don't want to post it because it might be violating the rules since it's just a bunch of ads) and it was going for about $400 US. Not sure if the mg is right but if it is it'd be more than double the price per pill.