Page 4 of 4 FirstFirst 1234
Results 31 to 39 of 39

Thread: Healthcare

  1. #31
    One Eye, Sixteen Cores. Kayin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Birmingham, AL
    Posts
    1,921

    Default Re: Healthcare

    From what I know of the judicial systems of other countries, frivolous lawsuitsd can get you in legal trouble in the EU, and there are caps set on damages sought AND awarded.

    By the other token, in the US, the RIAA sued a person and sought damages per song that would have totaled more than the entire total of money on Earth. Tort reform indeed.
    Project:Mithril, sponsored by Petra's Tech Shop and Sidewinder Computers-MOTM Nominee October '08




  2. #32
    Will YOU be ready when the zombies rise? x88x's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    MD, USA
    Posts
    6,334

    Default Re: Healthcare

    Quote Originally Posted by Kayin View Post
    By the other token, in the US, the RIAA sued a person and sought damages per song that would have totaled more than the entire total of money on Earth.
    Hurray for abysmally out of date legal code.
    That we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours, and this we should do freely and generously.
    --Benjamin Franklin
    TBCS 5TB Club :: coilgun :: bench PSU :: mightyMite :: Zeus :: E15 Magna EV

  3. #33
    If it isn't stock, it's modded! slaveofconvention's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, UK
    Posts
    2,816

    Default Re: Healthcare

    People keep referring to the health system in the UK as free - it really isn't. We have a special "tax" called "National Insurance Contributions" which is in place specifically to pay for healthcare and retirement benefits - this is a payment we make out of our base wage on top of income tax and all of the associated sales taxes. On top of that, when medication is prescribed, we also pay a contribution to those medicines in the form of a prescription charge - it's a flat rate and often less than the actual cost of the medicine - a LOT less in many cases, I'm sure.

    My wife (american) and I are looking towards moving to the US in the next couple of years and to be frank, the thoughts of healthcare are the one thing really making me pause for thought. I have no doubt that there will be times, in the future, when I'll have to come home just for healthcare. The worst part of that is, while living in the US, I wont be contributing to the cost of that healthcare so I'll end up being effectively the exact thing I despise - a freeloader. The only thing I'll have to assuage my conscience will be the knowledge that I DID pay in for almost 20 years and never took anything out (well nothing substantial - I've maybe taken up 4 hours of doctors time since becoming an adult and had a total of 2 prescriptions for codeine when my back gets REALLY bad)

    Current Projects: Lobo | Unimatrix | High Voltage | Antec 900 Revamp (Phase 2)
    Completed Projects: General Lee | Synergy Green | Liquid Yellow
    Planned Projects: K-9-PC | Limey

  4. #34
    AARGH dr.walrus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Ho Chi Minh City
    Posts
    993

    Default Re: Healthcare

    Quote Originally Posted by slaveofconvention View Post
    People keep referring to the health system in the UK as free - it really isn't. We have a special "tax" called "National Insurance Contributions"
    These contributions have been almost nothing even when I've been paying out of decent wages.

    As someone who has had three ambulance rides, a dozen overnights in hospital, half a dozen stays more than a night, and my life saved several times by free health service contributions, I would be horrified by the concept of having to rely on the private sector for the excellet care I've recieved.

  5. #35
    If it isn't stock, it's modded! slaveofconvention's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, UK
    Posts
    2,816

    Default Re: Healthcare

    Well I've been working 20 years, and I figure an average of about £100 a month in NI alone - I'm fairly confident that the £24k ish I've paid to date will just about cover the 4 hours of doctors time. If they're on $6k an hour, I'm in the wrong job lol.

    At the same time, I know I'm at one extreme end of the scale - only bone I ever broke was my foot and I found out about it 4 MONTHS later when my ankle was xrayed (during a trip to australia), and I've never had any surgery since I was about 6 months old...

    Current Projects: Lobo | Unimatrix | High Voltage | Antec 900 Revamp (Phase 2)
    Completed Projects: General Lee | Synergy Green | Liquid Yellow
    Planned Projects: K-9-PC | Limey

  6. #36
    AARGH dr.walrus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Ho Chi Minh City
    Posts
    993

    Default Re: Healthcare

    Quote Originally Posted by slaveofconvention View Post
    Well I've been working 20 years, and I figure an average of about £100 a month in NI alone - I'm fairly confident that the £24k ish I've paid to date will just about cover the 4 hours of doctors time. If they're on $6k an hour, I'm in the wrong job lol.

    At the same time, I know I'm at one extreme end of the scale - only bone I ever broke was my foot and I found out about it 4 MONTHS later when my ankle was xrayed (during a trip to australia), and I've never had any surgery since I was about 6 months old...
    Surely all this is beside the point. My genetic makeup and payscale shouldn't affect whether I should live or die, should it?

  7. #37
    Overclocked Lothair's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    362

    Default Re: Healthcare

    Quote Originally Posted by dr.walrus View Post
    Surely all this is beside the point. My genetic makeup and payscale shouldn't affect whether I should live or die, should it?
    Well if you're talking about Insurance, then it's important to understand that it's not charity, it's gambling. It's money circulating around odds. And only fools bet when the odds are highly against you.

    That's one reason why I don't believe in private insurance as anything more than "another option". Because you have people who can't get help because the odds are highly against them and then you have peole who simply can't afford it. (See 70% of Americans. 60% with inadequate and 10% without)

    I may have misunderstood your post, so if mine isn't relative to the current topic then just ignore. ^_^

  8. #38
    ATX Mental Case Killa_Ape's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Whitecourt
    Posts
    142

    Default Re: Healthcare

    Really there's nothing you can do to the people who abuse the system. They will always find a way, you can't just say "oh he's faking that chest pain", they'd have to examine them anyways. In Canada hospital visits are free and you pay for prescriptions still. Surgeries are covered I believe, my son was born and had hirschsprungs and had to get surgery twice, once to get a stoma and the second time to fix it. It would have cost me god knows how much but healthcare covers it all! I thought our healthcare system was good beforehand and I never really used it.

    I have Blue Cross through my work where I get life insurance (100,000), dental coverage (complicated to give values but covers various things 100% and others 80%), prescriptions about 80%, chiropractor, ambulance ride, better room in hospital and covers my family (total of 5) all the same and costs me about $60 a month and my boss covers the other half.

    There are people who complain about our healthcare system but I could never go to somewhere like the US and go to that kind of system, I think I'd kill myself (it'd be a hell of a lot cheaper anyways). No system is perfect but some need to be overhauled.

  9. #39
    AARGH dr.walrus's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Ho Chi Minh City
    Posts
    993

    Default Re: Healthcare

    Quote Originally Posted by Lothair View Post
    Well if you're talking about Insurance, then it's important to understand that it's not charity, it's gambling. It's money circulating around odds. And only fools bet when the odds are highly against you.
    I'm arguing your side here; I don't think healthcare is a personal issue, it's an issue for society in general.

    The argument of healthcare vs. food in non-sensical to me. Within 24 hours I can cost enough in surgery than it would cost me to eat in restaurants for a year. That said, I think we don't have a good alternative to universal benefits for that reason too - we can't let children starve, can we?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •