[b said:
Quote[/b] ]I duno about the myths you claim are there, but I have been told by doctors that the bad off patients are put on the back burner. Maybe your fiancee hasn;t had a very life threatening illness yet and hasn't experienced it yet
Members of her family *have* had such illnesses, and the UK's Health Service treated them very well. I suspect you've been mis-informed by those who are biased against the system.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]See you have to realize that these doctors with offices have to pay those people from the money they make. You don't realy think those people work for free do you? They are paid by the Dr when he gets paid by insurance or medicare or the patient, so they do have to worry about money. Thats just like asking a business man not to worry about money and hire all the people he wants in his company. That company will go belly up really fast. Dr are no diferent. THEY HAVE TO EAT TOO, and pay for their staff.
So do other people, and for many people, they actually have to choose between 'eating' and 'seeing a doctor' because of the outrageous prices.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Would you spend your entire life till your 30-35 just to make 50,000-70,000? I don't think so.
Bzzt, wrong. I *am* doing precisely that. 4 years of college, 2 years of MS, 5 years of Phd then 4-6 years of post-doctoral work before I even have a *chance* of getting a position that pays 50,000 per year. I know full professors who make barely more than 70k.
Years of school do not automatically entitle you to a large paycheck. Especially when that paycheck has to come out of the pocket of people who have no choice but to pay.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Many of those good DR come here to study and go home to practice because WE ARE THE BEST IN MEDICINE! We produce the best Dr in the world. Why do you think many are coming here to be tought.
I contend that our status as the best in medicine has much more to do with the US's postion as a scientific powerhouse than with the economic aspects of our medical system.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ] Now the long 7 hour wait your fianceee had to wait was because of all those people using the ER as a primary care facility.
Which wouldn't happen if we actually provided people with primary care.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]How is it disscrimination? They should not be here in the first place. Why is it my responsability to foot the bill to educate them?
Did you even read my prior post? You aren't footing the bill; they are. They're paying for it - it's included in every rent payment. Schools are funded with property taxes. If you own a home, you pay property tax. If you rent a home, the landlord pays the tax and passes the expense on to you, the renter. So an illegal immigrant renting an apt is contributing to the local schools.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]We will not have the level of reseach going on for new medicines. We will not have the ammount of medical breakthroughs we have today. they will not go away, but there will be less going on.
I think that's baseless alarmism. Where do these breakthroughs come from? From doctors offices? No. They come from medical universities and from companies. The former don't work from profit at all, beyond tuition; once you publish, it's public domain. The latter will just be getting the money from the government rather than the hospitals, so no big difference.
Besides, American medical inovation is dead; it died when certain parties forced through neandethal laws just eliminate the most useful area of medical research in the past century. If I need a heart transplant in 20 years, I'll just go to Europe, becuase at least there they'll be able to grow me a new heart in a jar using my own cells and no waiting lists, while in the US I'd be forced to rely on a system that thinks simple tissue culture procedures are 'evil'.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Ever wonder why meds cost more here? I;m not saying I agree with it by no means. Hell meds are too expencive, but these companies cannot sell these drugs for those prices in canada or europe, and once we go that same route it will be the same here and then all most all the funding will go bye bye.
Meds cost more here because they can get away with it, and because they spend assloads on advertising drugs so that the *private* healthcare system will prescribe them. The funds that go towards research are a small portion of the drug prices being charged.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ] Not to mention over in the UK and Canada, from what I hear, the tax rate is like 52%. Correct me if I am wrong Canadians, but thats what I remember reading or hearing or something, and thats to pay for the socialized medicine and other public health things. Thats also why cigarrets are 7-8 dollars a pack or more.
Incorrect; like the US, the UK has a graded tax system (you pay more if you're rich), but it's nowhere near 50% for most people. That's just another scrap of propaganda spread by those who thing anything less than total lazie-faire capitalism is a sin (in spite of the fact that between VA benefits, medicare, and medicaid, we're already nearly halfway towards a socialized system).
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Personaly I am not trying to give the goverment any more control over my action than they already have. I don't like the fact of having Big Brother thinking he always knows what is best for me. Sometimes they don't even know what is good for theirselves. What makes them think they know whats good for me.
I could say precisely the same thing about HMOs and other medical insurance systems. At least the government is only the victim of accidental incompetence, rather than purposeful greed.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]the only way to finanace socialized medicine is with higher taxes. im sorry it would be cheaper for me to pay for health insurance.
Are you sure about that? Our taxes already pay for many socialized medical programs, and the increase necessary for a total system is probably minor compared to what we waste invading countries to steal their oil.
Mokele