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[Armok]

This thread is making me sick. This thread is making me happy I don't live in the US. This thread is making me unhappy that some people I care about (Toady, many of you, some other peaple at internet forums, artist making webocis I enjoy, but still) do live in the US. 

[Sensei]

This thread is making me sick.

Are you going to need to go to the hospital over it?

I hope it's not expensive, what with the health care these days!

[ToonyMan]

ToonyMan don't need hos-pit-al.  ToonyMan take pain and deal with.

[Jude]

And so we should just roll with it even though it's a bad way of going about things in this particular case?

I never said anything of the sort, or that America wasn't made up largely of jackasses.

Also, a truly terrifying aspect of this "debate" is that people like Sarah Palin can basically pull blatant lies out of their ass and be believed by a large portion of the population. People don't even THINK about how they're voting against their interests.

[redacted123]

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[ChairmanPoo]

I tend to favour private healthcare simply because it will provide better service than the NHS

I dont know about the british system, but here at least, this seldom is so, because the average public hospital has more resources than the average private one, barring honorable exceptions (cun).

[Taniec]

This thread is making me sick. This thread is making me happy I don't live in the US. This thread is making me unhappy that some people I care about (Toady, many of you, some other peaple at internet forums, artist making webocis I enjoy, but still) do live in the US. 

Right, because the United States is the worst country in the world. Every citizen is just an ignorant fool with the IQ of a chimp. I think we would all agree the world would be better place if our country just got nuked off the face of the earth; Civilization IV style.

[ToonyMan]

Heh, I don't blame anyone.

[Jreengus]

Right, because the United States is the worst country in the world. Every citizen is just an ignorant fool with the IQ of a chimp. I think we would all agree the world would be better place if our country just got nuked off the face of the earth; Civilization IV style.

Congratulations! You just proved yourself right!
Seriously are you so stuck up that you take any criticism of your country as a complete and utter insult that slanders every aspect of it or are you just trolling?

[ChairmanPoo]

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is far better than any of the games in the civilization series. Zakharov FTW

[Taniec]

Been a rough couple of weeks. I think the beer is getting to my head.

[Ai Shizuka]

Main problem about this topic in the US is the twisted belief that everything public = communism.
Followed by a strong inclination to see everything black or white. Different shades of gray do not exist in the US.

You don't have to have a 100% public health system. We have a lot of problems in my country (Italy) but we've recently been ranked #2 for the best health system in the world, behind France. Over here healthcare is completely public with minimal fixed charges for everything (never seen anything above 40 euros, and I'm talking about stuff like 10 sessions of physiotherapy + specialistic visit). Over 60 years old (or 65, not sure) and below XX (kids, I don't remember the age), everything's free.

But you are NOT forced to go public. There are plenty of private clinics, wich have to be approved by the public system, but are 100% autonomous. Those are expensive, obviously (up to 200 euros for a simple orthopedic visit), but usually things are a lot faster.
So basically it's a choice between "almost free but somewhat slow" or "faster but you pay".
Obviously emergencies don't have to wait at all, even with a public system.

I'm talking from personal experience here. A year ago I've totally fucked up my right elbow in a horse accident. Exposited dislocation with multiple broken ligaments, and the wound was full of sand and small pebbles to boot. Urgent surgery was necessary, obviously, and I didn't pay a cent. No questions asked, nothing about my insurance, nothing. You fuck yourself, you go to the hospital, they fix you.
In the US this thing would've costed something between 15,000 and 20,000 dollars. And I'm talking about the surgery alone, not the following 80 sessions of therapy and 20 of ultrasounds. No idea about those, but I've paid 36 euros for each 10 sessions. And guess what? My insurance refunded those.

I'm far from done with this elbow (joint-wise, the thing was basically amputated) and I need more surgery. This time I'm going private to speed things up and my insurance is going to pay everything. But it's my choice. I could easily continue with the doctor who fixed me the first time. A bit slower, but free.


Now my country is totally fucked up in other aspects, but I'm pretty darn proud of our healthcare.
What you have now in the US is a disgrace. Any modern western country should be ashamed of that monstrosity, even more so a great country like the US. I've never managed to understand what's so HORRIBLY wrong about a public healthcare. I can't even imagine the consequences of a hypotetical total privatization here in Italy or any other western european country.

[Nilocy]

Ok, seems in my total disregard for internet protocol, i forgot to say, DON'T GET PERSONAL.

At Taniec: Your figures are wrong, britain spends about 8% of its GDP on healthcare, and america spends 16%. Go figure, prescriptions (for most drugs at the pharmacy) only cost £4 per item.

The cost to my parents for my braces I had put in when i was a youngin? Free. A guy i was talking to in america forked out $6000 for his daughters braces, and that was just the braces alone, not the dentist treatement afterwards.

And guess how much we (as in each british citizen) pay for this? Nothing more than you guys in america pay in taxes.

Edit: I forgot to mention, why is it that every republican completely forgets theres 47 odd million people (nearly the population of the UK) without health insurance? Idiots.

[Taniec]

At Taniec: Your figures are wrong, britain spends about 8% of its GDP on healthcare, and america spends 16%. Go figure, prescriptions (for most drugs at the pharmacy) only cost £4 per item.

Gotcha, misread something then. Anyway I'm still not convinced but meh, what happens, happens.

[Realmfighter]

At Taniec: Your figures are wrong, britain spends about 8% of its GDP on healthcare, and america spends 16%. Go figure, prescriptions (for most drugs at the pharmacy) only cost £4 per item.

Gotcha, misread something then. Anyway I'm still not convinced but meh, what happens, happens.

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Why are you  not convinced?