Well paid doctors with a high standard of self-funded healthcare cover perhaps . . .

It is unfair to compare the proposed US Healthcare plan to NHS; they are two different plans run by two different goverments. Our system does need fixing; but count the government among the "fear mongers' too. You have Congressmen voting on the bill that have admitted to not reading it, and key Democrats accusing opponents of the plan of being "un-American". Whitehouse.gov has an email address for loyal Americans to use to snitch on people who diss the plan.
Last week, a black man selling "Don't Tread on Me" buttons was beaten up by pro-Healthcare union thugs, outside a town hall meeting in Missouri. And while the plan does not mention "death panels", it does talk about limiting health care to special needs people and the elderly.
I agree with Bloodrinker; it's not all cut and dry.

No thanks, I don't like that. I want to FULLY have control over who my specialists are. I can't trust any recomandations. Not everything sounds bad, but this strikes me as bad.

This is what the issue was when my wife was diagnosed with a tumor and was on an HMO. They misdiagnosed it, sent her to a specialist, one they had to choose, we had no say, it was HMO. The specialist said "your other doctor was right!" If we stayed with them, her tumor would have grown/killed her because they felt she didn't NEED surgery and that taking some pill would shrink it and it'd go away.

But we couldn't CHOOSE another specialist. SO we dropped that plan and put her on my PPO where she could choose WHOEVER she wanted and didn't have to wait 3 weeks to get in, she got in within a week. They re-diagnosed it, found out what it REALLY was, took it out, saved her life. Downside- I was on the phone for months arguing with the insurance company to get them to pay for the p90% they claimed they would, and they did.

That's where choice is 100% the biggest issue I have with ANY healthcare is. I'm the one in need, if I say you're full of crap doctor I'm dropping you, I should be able to and be able to move on to who I want. If I want to switch plans, I should be able to. If I want to have NO insurance for some screwed up reason, I should be able to. Choice.

Insurance companies suck. The US govt. doesn't want to stop them and destroy that, they want to become them and rake in all the money for themselves. That's how I see it, and so far not ONE politician is putting forth proposals or plans that represent me but rather ones that only benefit them in the sense of money and votes regardless of what's REALLY best for the people. Band-aid solutions. Just like they wanted to take control over the oil companies, what's more profitable? Healthcare. It just seems like another scam.

I think something can be worked out that benefits everyone, but it's going to take time & cooperation and I wish they wouldn't try RUSHING it and fucking it up like the Democrats want or ignoring it and brushing it off like the Republicans want. They're all damned idiots with green in their eyes.

More a statement on what she thought of care outside the US,
and by well paid, for the amount of hours she currently works to her amount of pay, she is far below minimum wage here in the uS.

But still financially secure enough to contribute to the system . . . I imagine if she was on welfare and 'out of the loop' she would have a very different opinion . . . big picture!

Blood, you can still get second opinions over here. If you think your doctor is'nt checking you out properly, you can get to see another, simple. Plus you won't have to spend months on the phone to the insurance company(which could cause a illness in it's own right).
I think the main problem you are high lighting, is that your politicians are under pressure to keep these unscrupulous company's in business. But when your two main political parties recieve so much lobby money from said company's, you have to look where their loyalties lie. Which i do think Obama is trying to address, as he knows how corrupt it looks.
It's the same thoughout the US, with business. You want something fixed, throw money at it. Look at you car industry, so tied up with the oil well's that they have successfully lobbied the govenment so they don't have to produce a car that will do over 12 miles to the gallon and you wonder why that industry is on it's knees. You can't give American cars away, what would you rather have, a Chevy, or a BMW or Audi. I know what i'd rather have. Plus most US cars a built in Mexico anyway now, so not very American really.
It all stinks of the same old nepotism and back handers as it always has. It's just America is waking up to the fact that capitalism in the present form does'nt work for the majority. Just the very few rich people.

I agree, as I said before, for me this is about clearing up a few misconceptions I have heard and showing you guys that it can and does work.


I'm unclear on what is actually being proposed, anyone?


Otherwise, I know Americans go apeshit crazy at the mere mention of the word socialism or government control and all that cold war era, left over McCarthyism crap, but that's not really what is being discussed here.
It's not State Control, it is State run, much like say your Post Office, or the military... Do you want to privatise the military?
With state run armed forces you have no say over what country you will and won't attack/defend... oh wait.... sorry...

The NHS works, pretty much every Brit will tell you that (except for that one fuckin idiot MEP that Fox News [oh all trustworthy news sources] managed to dig up).
Yes, there is a bit more tax, and yes there are certain avenues that you need to go down, but ultimately they in no way remove any freedom from you or limit your choices.
It's in their best interest to keep you healthy.

Just the otherday, my colleagues 89 year old mother got a phone call out of the blue asking her to come in so that they could check her blood pressure again.
89. They rung her.

My friend with the mole, I referenced earlier, his doctor got swine flu this week, he was meant to go in on Wednesday, but the doctor cancelled, they have arranged for him to come in first thing on Saturday to get it sorted.

Just saying...

Well said that man.

From my understanding we will have more options than our neighbors in Canada and Europe. You all have a single payer system. The government i.e. taxpayers, pay for a government run healthcare system.

Here the proposal is for a modified two tiered system. There will be a public option, where the government pays for your insurance and you can choose from private or state run practices that are within the government's system. If you choose to go outside of that system you, or your employer can choose from any insurance company and subsequently any medical care provider you can pay for. It will be alot like medicare and medicaid. If you don't want it, you just pay for your own. If you need it, it's there.

Hell, I maybe wrong, it could be we all just go into a warehouse where they chop is into meat pies for all I know, but this is how I understand it.

Based on that, that sounds like the system we have here in the UK.
And to be fair, Europe is a collection of different countries and we all have different systems of healthcare. I am unfamiler with what goes on in France or Germany, but I think they have free healthcare as well.
I think you need to pay in Italy though, not positive.

But in the UK, you are NOT forced to use the NHS, plenty of people use private services. A lot of the time the private services are staffed by people who work in both the private and public health care services.
We have choices. We can choose to pay and we can choose not to. Most people choose not to, obviously.
But even if you choose to pay to see a Dr, you will still go to the pharmacy and get your meds on the NHS and you never pay more that £5-£10 for your scripts.
My mother, back in the states, pays out nearly $750 a month in meds. Here? It would cost here £25.
Hell. she could come and visit me every month and get get her meds for £25...

yes,,it is the same in italy,,france,,,holland etc etc etc...(all three of them have top notch systems i hear,,probably better than the NHS)

free-healthcare services for citizens is mandatory in all EEA countries (and it extends to all EEA citizens)

everybody in the UK should get a EHIC (european health insurance card)...you will be covered when travelling in europe..

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/Healthcare ... About.aspx

it is free & allows you access to state-run healthcare systems in the following countries:
• Austria
• Belgium
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Liechtenstein
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• The Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain (including the Canary and Balearic Islands)
• Sweden
• Switzerland

nothing to shake a stick at...

Sorry folks been in Italy and missed this ....

45 million American have NO health insurance
25 million Americans are UNDER insured

These are US goverment fugures so we could assume that they are conservative at best

so close of 100 million Americans could NOT get the cover they needed.

Last time there was a free heath check in Washington people camped out for four days to be seen 1000's of people actually.

Thing that strikes me is the amount of misreporting that is going on in the US. The republican advert that is running features one lady how was duped into appearing in it (she belived she was taking part in a documentary) Kate Spall story here http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/NHS-Attack-Adverts-Kate-Spall-A-British-Woman-Featured-Said-She-Was-Duped-By-Producers/Article/200908215361262lpos=Politics_Second_Home_Page_Article_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15361262_NHS_Attack_Adverts%3A_Kate_Spall%2C_A_British_Woman_Featured%2C_Said_She_Was_Duped_By_Producers

I am sure that hasnt been widely reported on Fox?

to me it shows the race/money divide is as big as ever in the US which makes me sad.

Is white America scared that these reforms might bring to much strain on the country.

To deny a simple human right to people because they do not earn enough in this day and age is disgusting, and smacks of something that the USA would lambast (and attack) a country for IMO....

In the health care stakes America is miles behind most third world countries.

The NHS saved both my mother and father from cancer, gave my father a hip replacement and nursed him through Polio. It also looked after my cancer ravaged grandma until her dying day.

As Bill Hicks once said ' go back to bed America'

DO NOT BELEIVE THE LIES THAT ARE BEING SPUN ON YOUR TV SETS AT THE MOMENT ....

Do some research yourself, for all it's faults the NHS serves millions and for those with money the option to go private is always there....