Universal Health Care

[Addicted.to.Speed]

Thoughts?

 

[Babyjustrun]

Umm yay?
Lol I kind of quite like it...

 

[disneyworldluvr349]

I agree with it completely. No one should have to suffer because they don't have insurance. Health care is a universal need and a program should be made to insure that EVERYONE gets help.

 

[BabyPiglet]

I'm completely for it.

 

[I Am What I Am]

I am completely for it. There's really no reason that we shouldn't have it.

 

[imabrat]

Is it ideal? YES!
Is it realistic? NO!

A lot of people don't realize that universal healthcare means EVERYONE has access to medical tests; IE MRIs, CT scans, Ultrasounds, PET Scans, etc. This means that even though you have a scheduled diagnostic test, you will be waiting up to months to get the test done. If you have cancer, you're screwed. If you don't have any other disease, you're still screwed.
My mother is from Spain, and they have universal healthcare over there. She has seen people die of diseases that didn't get proper medical treatment because they didn't even know they were sick, all because they were on waiting lists for diagnostic testing.
Transplant waiting lists will also be much, much longer.

If someone, somehow can work out those kinks in universal healthcare, then by all means go for it!
If not, I'm not so sure.
Yes, it may not affect you directly, but if effects me directly. That's why I'm on the fence.

 

[crazytp93]

Totally against it.

Like Sonya said, now everyone could have access to medical care.
Of course in a perfect world, everyone would love it. But people who are very sick or have a disease will now be waiting months to get a simple catscan or MRI! During that time period they can fall deeper into their sickness or god forbid die.

 

[imabrat]

And God Forbid, all the crazy people will go in the ER. By "crazy" I mean people who go to the Emergency Room for tiny cuts and scratches. Not only will this make your ER wait longer, your bills/premiums/etc will go up!

 

[chisnpeke]

And God Forbid, all the crazy people will go in the ER. By "crazy" I mean people who go to the Emergency Room for tiny cuts and scratches. Not only will this make your ER wait longer, your bills/premiums/etc will go up!

Exactly! I hate when I see people using the ER as the doctor for the flu or a cold. And they have to be served so the hospital bills that they can't pay get passed on to everyone else. Get over the flu and colds like the rest of the population does.

 

[Babyjustrun]

Is it ideal? YES!
Is it realistic? NO!

A lot of people don't realize that universal healthcare means EVERYONE has access to medical tests; IE MRIs, CT scans, Ultrasounds, PET Scans, etc. This means that even though you have a scheduled diagnostic test, you will be waiting up to months to get the test done. If you have cancer, you're screwed. If you don't have any other disease, you're still screwed.
My mother is from Spain, and they have universal healthcare over there. She has seen people die of diseases that didn't get proper medical treatment because they didn't even know they were sick, all because they were on waiting lists for diagnostic testing.
Transplant waiting lists will also be much, much longer.

If someone, somehow can work out those kinks in universal healthcare, then by all means go for it!
If not, I'm not so sure.
Yes, it may not affect you directly, but if effects me directly. That's why I'm on the fence.

You have a very good point.
But I think it just comes down to you learn to live with it. With the way it is though, if you switched over it would be very hard to cope.
I guess it works here simply because our population is much smaller, and we've been dealing with it longer. I won't lie and say there aren't long waits, as my grandmother waited for YEARS to get knee surgery, but it's not the longest waits ever. I know cancer patients who are getting their treatment, my mother can get foot surgery when she feels like booking it, and I've experienced short waiting times as far as my oral surgery goes.
It just depends on the demand. Doctors appointments, yes those are hard to get, we wait longer for them. But we've learned that if we need an appointment to get a refill on a prescription, we make the appointment well in advance. If we get sick, afterhours clinics.
People do abuse ER's, just hope you never have to go to one I guess.

All I can say, is having universal health care allows for people to get things they could not otherwise afford. I am almost sure, I would not have braces, or I wouldn't be getting glasses every two years, if we weren't covered.
Maybe I won't see the negatives until myself or someone I know is in a situation where I am not getting the help I need.

 

[nk2coolol]

I am for it. however, i do think that if it were ever possible to have this that as heath insurance increases, care decreases. i wouldn't like to think that's what would happen, but it is very likely.

 

[BabyPiglet]

My cousin's wife is dying from cancer. She has no insurance, no money, and is not a candidate for medicaid. She can't find a doctor who will treat her for free. She also happens to have 2 small children.

So am I for universal medical care? Hell yes.

 

[disneyworldluvr349]

I am with you Baby Piglet. By saying "I don't want to wait forever for my treatment," isn't that really just being selfish? What about those who NEVER get treated.

 

[HouseMD1120]

I'm with Sonya on this one.

 

[tower_of_terror_luvr]

I DO NOT agree with it. I would agree with it if it included EVERYTHING. I know someone in Canada who didn't have to pay for anything until she had a foot problem and the Universal health care didn't cover a podiatrist and she had to pay out of pocket for it.

 

[imabrat]

My cousin's wife is dying from cancer. She has no insurance, no money, and is not a candidate for medicaid. She can't find a doctor who will treat her for free. She also happens to have 2 small children.

So am I for universal medical care? Hell yes.

If she's dying from cancer, as in she's been declared terminally ill, there is no treatment. Maybe if by treatment you mean the morphine for those at the end?

The problem with UC, is God Forbid you find a lump in your breast. You schedule a mammogram, but end up having to wait months for that mammogram because now that healthcare is affordable for everyone, everyone and their mother will get one even if they don't need it. In those few precious months, that lump can grow to be cancer. By the time your mammie is performed, reviewed, and you have a diagnosis, (God Forbid it's cancer) it can be in the very high stages or even terminal.

I am with you Baby Piglet. By saying "I don't want to wait forever for my treatment," isn't that really just being selfish? What about those who NEVER get treated.

No, it's not being selfish, and I do not consider myself selfish.
Some people never get treated because there is no treatment. Some people get treated because they can't afford it, which IMO, is a load of bull. I have been up and down this road 20 billion times - there is always some way to pay for chemotherapy! Public assistance, hold fundraisers, oncologists offices frequently give discounts and free sample of medications. Heck, what do you think I did with all my left over medications when I finished chemo? They went straight to my cancer center to give to people who can't afford them.

So yes, I am going to say "I am not waiting forever for my chemotherapy". Call me selfish, call me whatever, but when my cancer is easily cureable, I am not going to wait for chemo.

 

[tower_of_terror_luvr]

you are not beng selfish at all imabrat because what you are saying is the truth because if this does happen the health care everybody will have to wait to even get treatment because if it is free people will go for even the littlest thing

 

[BabyPiglet]

No Sonya, she hasn't been declared terminally ill, but she's not going to get better without treatment. She's tried everything, but nobody can help her. There is not 'always some way to pay for chemotherapy'. It's great that you found support, but not everyone can.

She doesn't really no many people, therefore fundraisers wouldn't work. She has searched and searched for a doctor to give her treatment pro bono. She cannot pay for anything, therefore nobody will treat her.

 

[imabrat]

No Sonya, she hasn't been declared terminally ill, but she's not going to get better without treatment. She's tried everything, but nobody can help her. There is not 'always some way to pay for chemotherapy'. It's great that you found support, but not everyone can.

She doesn't really no many people, therefore fundraisers wouldn't work. She has searched and searched for a doctor to give her treatment pro bono. She cannot pay for anything, therefore nobody will treat her.

Wow. I know my cancer center has and will. For crap's sake, they have inmates in there too. It's not a childrens place though.
Medicaid is a screwed up program with their entrance requirements and whatnot, but she can't even afford COBRA? Yikes.

What does she have?

 

[chisnpeke]

I am with you Baby Piglet. By saying "I don't want to wait forever for my treatment," isn't that really just being selfish? What about those who NEVER get treated.

I think we are all selfish when we are ill. The time it takes to get treatment can be the difference between life and death for some people. I hate to say that if I were paying for my insurance and had to wait for life saving medical treatment because of the long waiting list due to universal healthcare I'd be pretty peeved.