Thursday, July 7, 2011

Why do opponents of Universal Health Care only seem to focus on Canada and Britain


Why do opponents of Universal Health Care only seem to focus on Canada and Britain?
I am confused. I know that both of those countries have terrible flaws with their systems, but we hear about them all the time, and hardly ever hear about Switzerland, Israel, Ireland, Norway, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Luxembourg, Malta, Finland, Austria, etc. The focus is so slanted towards Britain and Canada and not the others. Don't they have some great horror stories from Japan and Israel to frighten the conservatives? I heard someone say it's because Americans can relate more easily to Britain and Canada, but that's not entirely true ----Canada only has 30,000.000 people and is part of the British Commonwealth. Britain is a monarchy with 60.000.000 people. I would think that Australia has enough similarities with America as well as our cultures have a few things in common, Japan has similarities with us as they have a large, hard-working population and value the free market, like we do. Switzerland is also very capitalistic and they are rather libertarian in regards to guns. So, why Canada and Britain only? Why aren't we hearing about how miserable the people in Japan and Australia and Switzerland are and how they wish they had American style health insurance/care and how they're all fleeing to America for care? We have the most information on Canada and Britain? Huh...in the information age, we can access info on any country, particularly another English-speaking one like Australia. No, there's an agenda on focusing on Britain and Canada obsessively. As for info, how can you say we don't the equivalent information on Ireland or Israel. That's absurd. I agree, this is a massive undertaking, but it's not single payer, it's mandated purchasing from private health insurance providers, not socialist, but rather intrusive, I agree. Can you also get me a survey of the numbers of Australians, Swiss and Japanese who want to get rid of their system and replace it with ours. Oh, are you sure someone can't find numerous horror stories similar to what you found in Japan? I can dig up hundreds, if not thousands, from the "greatest healthcare system on Earth."
Politics - 11 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Because the proponents of health care focus on those countries.
2 :
Why did you ignore Germany who has had UHC since the 19th Century and it has worked well? j/k. good points.
3 :
The new American health care system is more like the one in the Netherlands, where health insurance is compulsory and you must buy a policy from a private health insurer. The British, Canadian, Australian ones are all public financed. People just pay taxes to cover health costs, and don't need insurance at all. Its completely different.
4 :
Maybe because we have the most information on those two countries, UK and Canada, eh. What are you getting at? The other countries have Utopian universal health care systems? That doesn't matter. Nationalized health care is UNamerican. Free health care is NOT in the Constitution; it's NOT a right. Yes, people should have affordable access and government should regulate the heck out of insurance companies, but this nation isn't all about handing out such entitlements. Besides, we truly can't afford it. Please realize that no program this large has ever come in under budget. To believe that's possible is, well, a little far out there kind of in fantasy land. Name one government program this large that's been run smoothly and hasn't eventually cost more than expected. Name just one.
5 :
Australia is fiscally responsible to a degree and worlds apart in fiscal responsibility to America. Australia is only slightly corrupt compared to the disgusting american way of doing things in the WH. America and Australia are so far apart it is too obvious.
6 :
Ok look what happen to Massachusetts when they tried Universal Health Care they went broke.
7 :
Thalia - you should look again at the Australian system. It is a hybrid with both public and private insurance options - and those on a higher income are expected to take private options or pay significantly more for the public option. It is not a simple single payer option as you suggest
8 :
"and hardly ever hear about Switzerland, Israel, Ireland, Norway, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Luxembourg, Malta, Finland, Austria, etc" Sure, I heard of those places. Universal health care is equally a failure in those places too "The focus is so slanted towards Britain and Canada and not the others. Don't they have some great horror stories from Japan and Israel to frighten the conservatives?" Sure, I got a great one from Japan: Injured Japanese Man Dies After 14 Hospitals Refuse to Admit Him A 69-year-old Japanese man injured in a traffic accident died after paramedics spent more than an hour negotiating with 14 hospitals before finding one to admit him, a fire department official said Wednesday. The man, whose bicycle collided with a motorcycle in the western city of Itami, waited at the scene in an ambulance because the hospitals said they could not accept him, citing a lack of specialists, equipment, beds and staff, according to Mitsuhisa Ikemoto. It was the latest in a string of recent cases in Japan in which patients were denied treatment, underscoring the country's health care woes that include a shortage of doctors. The man, who suffered head and back injuries, initially showed stable vital signs, but his condition gradually deteriorated. He died from hemorrhagic shock about an hour and half after arriving at the hospital, Ikemoto said. More here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,487747,00.html And here's more from many other countries: http://www.angelfire.com/pa/sergeman/issues/healthcare/socialized.html "Can you also get me a survey of the numbers of Australians, Swiss and Japanese who want to get rid of their system and replace it with ours" Can you get me a survey of american that wanted to get rid of our system and replace it with a system that they have in other countries? Thats right, most american are against this, against changing this system, and are perfectly satisfied with their health care. "Oh, are you sure someone can't find numerous horror stories similar to what you found in Japan? I can dig up hundreds, if not thousands, from the "greatest healthcare system on Earth." Oh, I know that health care horror stories exist in the United States, but compared to other countries, those horror stories are far and few between. They are much more numerous in foreign countries. For example, how many injured people have been turned away by 14 hospitals in a row in the united States like that poor 69 year old guy in Japan? None. Its unheard of in the US. In Great Britain an old woman is made to wait 13 YEARS for a hip replacement. In the United States thats completely unheard of, even for the uninsured!
9 :
Yay, come join us canadians in the poor house! We have good soup and crackers!
10 :
because they are large countries
11 :
about Switzerland, Israel, Ireland, Norway, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Luxembourg, Malta, Finland, Austria I can only speak for the countries I lived in and my wife's country. I lived in more countries but will just list ones I actually used the healthcare or had some experience with. In order I lived in Singapore, Belgium(my wifes country), Sweden. I was required to have private insurance before I could even move to Singapore(3 years) so I never really had to experience there national healthcare since it is limited to citizens and there spouses only. Belgium was horrible. I had to way 2 years before I could even see a doctor, the checkup was only 17 minutes, no shots, no questions allowed, it was a total joke. didnt even do the "cough" When my father inlaw pulled his back he had to wait 7 weeks to see his primary doctor, so he lost his job and laid in bed the entire time in pain. My wifes grandmother died waiting for basic heart surgery, she was put on a 3 year waiting list. The older she got the longer it took. I never used Swedish healthcare but my wife did. She sliced open the palm of her hand with a broken glass cup. She had to wait 8 days for stitches. She was turned away at the emergency room. So she actually stitched it herself. Now one thing youll notice once you been to these countries is people learn to self treat alot of things. Like my wife knew how to stitch herself. She did it for her brothers growing up. People also realign broken bones since it will take forever to get it treated. It isnt like in the US where you just got to the emergency room and wait several hours, it is out of the question in the countries I mentioned. And seeing your primary doctor even the next day isnt going to happen. Also when you go to bookstores in these countries, youll find self treatment books having one of the largest aisles. And someone always has a relative that flew to Boston for some treatment since it would take too long in there own country. So that's my experience with national healthcare, no thanks