I just had my knee replaced, with 8 sessions of rehab, cat scans, xrays and pathology and didn't pay a single thing for any of it. I'm down under and we don't have freedom according to Kari Lake, but hey, I'm free of medical bills, and we don't have daily mass shootings, so who's worse off really?
Australia has single payer health care but many of us also have private health insurance for items not covered by Medicare (our single payer) like dental, physio, and optical, and also quite a few elective health options like weight loss or cosmetic surgery, assisted reproductive services, private hospital costs. Some private insurance also covers things like gym membership, home gym equipment, naturopathy/herbal medicine, yoga, traditional medical treatments, and so on. Wait times for elective surgery in public hospitals can be ridiculous depending on where you live and private health insurance can prove useful.
“These are breakfast items. They cost more today than they did 5 years ago, and even more than they did 10 years ago. Don’t get me started on 20 years ago, and in the 1950’s all these items were free. It’s a disgrace. It’s all due to the windmills.”
Insurance companies suck. Even name brand insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield. I'm naming and shaming them because they like to refuse medication. They wouldn't approve my son's ADHD medication, that the doctor (who has known him all his life) prescribed and the previous insurance paid for with no questions. Also another person I know can't get needed medication because they've refused it. She's trying to find an alternative, but it seems to me that doctors keep prescribing the same medication over and over again. BCBS should get a clue. It makes me angry that some suit in an office thinks he knows better than the doctor who has the medical degree and knows the patient.
I have the VA and I've never had problems like that. When I was in the military, the military "insurance" was called Tricare Prime. Everything is covered and it is free. You couldn't choose your doctor, but you were in the military and got who you were assigned (and really there was usually only one of whatever type available anyway unless you were at a huge base -- then maybe you might be able to choose -- I don't know; I was never there). So if we ever do universal healthcare, we should not call it Medicare for All. Medicare has several parts and not all of them are free, and people apparently have to get supplemental insurance and it's all very, very confusing (to me). Tricare Prime is not confusing: it's universal and it's free. That's it. Easy to understand. So we should call it Tricare Prime for All instead.
Read that the USA has about the same #/capita of specialists; but half the #/capita of family docs found in social democracies not as cruel as ours. And that is why they can see us in 9 months.
I pay a surcharge equal to 1.5% of my taxable income to have universal health care anywhere in the country. If I chose to pay for my own health insurance then I an exempt for that. If I am a pensioner, I get that care for free - including medications. So, this place is just like North Korea. With koalas.
I just had to book my annual Medicare wellness visit A YEAR IN ADVANCE and just tried to get an appointment to renew one of my prescriptions and was told there were no appointments available until October--somebody needs to tell Donny that the problem is here and now
When I (American) lived in England for a few years as a kid, I ate pavement on my bike and required a trip to the ER for a few stitches. After the very nice doctors patched me up, my parents and I were wandering around looking for the checkout station where you pay. They were confused until they noticed we were American and the nurse was all “this is the NHS, love, there is no bill. Off you pop!” Which blew our minds.
The only reason I'm super nervous about universal health care is that trans people tend to get left out, or cut out, or just not thought of at all. While I'm thrilled that it would be a significant improvement over the absolute crap show we have now, at least some of us are able to transition now, have it covered, and get it done in less than a decade. I get nervous about that. It won't stop me from supporting it, but.. yeah.
We just have to make sure that 'universal' TRULY means Universal, as in, *everyone* is covered, for all things. Sadly, we're still a ways down the pike from that, I think.
A lot of Americans are glad to pay more for worse outcomes health-wise...because what they believe is "socialism" is Black people getting something for free. That is basically why we cannot have nice things in America.
And yeah they all are just unfamiliar with the concept of "triage." Almost everyone has had to wait for surgeries.
And apparently the Chump administration passed some sort of administrative thing that required all medical offices to play HGTV in their waiting rooms.
We really need and should have universal healthcare. But we have three roadblocks, the healthcare lobby (private equity has money for that), the pharmaceutical lobby, and the insurance lobby. Capitalism really does kill.
Many Medicare Advantage plans are rationing healthcare as I type.
I just had my knee replaced, with 8 sessions of rehab, cat scans, xrays and pathology and didn't pay a single thing for any of it. I'm down under and we don't have freedom according to Kari Lake, but hey, I'm free of medical bills, and we don't have daily mass shootings, so who's worse off really?
Australia has single payer health care but many of us also have private health insurance for items not covered by Medicare (our single payer) like dental, physio, and optical, and also quite a few elective health options like weight loss or cosmetic surgery, assisted reproductive services, private hospital costs. Some private insurance also covers things like gym membership, home gym equipment, naturopathy/herbal medicine, yoga, traditional medical treatments, and so on. Wait times for elective surgery in public hospitals can be ridiculous depending on where you live and private health insurance can prove useful.
Aww look, Trump cleaned out his fridge.
“These are breakfast items. They cost more today than they did 5 years ago, and even more than they did 10 years ago. Don’t get me started on 20 years ago, and in the 1950’s all these items were free. It’s a disgrace. It’s all due to the windmills.”
“You're all going to be thrown into a communist system
It's a communist system you're going to be thrown into..."
--
Great, now I have an earworm:
Timothy Tim has ten pink toes and
Ten pink toes has Timothy Tim.
They go with him wherever he goes
Wherever he goes they go with him.
--
"A system where everybody gets health care,
Where everybody gets health care in the system."
Insurance companies suck. Even name brand insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield. I'm naming and shaming them because they like to refuse medication. They wouldn't approve my son's ADHD medication, that the doctor (who has known him all his life) prescribed and the previous insurance paid for with no questions. Also another person I know can't get needed medication because they've refused it. She's trying to find an alternative, but it seems to me that doctors keep prescribing the same medication over and over again. BCBS should get a clue. It makes me angry that some suit in an office thinks he knows better than the doctor who has the medical degree and knows the patient.
I have the VA and I've never had problems like that. When I was in the military, the military "insurance" was called Tricare Prime. Everything is covered and it is free. You couldn't choose your doctor, but you were in the military and got who you were assigned (and really there was usually only one of whatever type available anyway unless you were at a huge base -- then maybe you might be able to choose -- I don't know; I was never there). So if we ever do universal healthcare, we should not call it Medicare for All. Medicare has several parts and not all of them are free, and people apparently have to get supplemental insurance and it's all very, very confusing (to me). Tricare Prime is not confusing: it's universal and it's free. That's it. Easy to understand. So we should call it Tricare Prime for All instead.
The desired outcomes, for MAGA, for any good or service:
1. Only I get it
2. Only me and people identical to me get it
3. No one gets it
"Everyone gets it," no matter what "it" is, is nowhere on their list. That concept does not exist in their worldview.
Read that the USA has about the same #/capita of specialists; but half the #/capita of family docs found in social democracies not as cruel as ours. And that is why they can see us in 9 months.
I pay a surcharge equal to 1.5% of my taxable income to have universal health care anywhere in the country. If I chose to pay for my own health insurance then I an exempt for that. If I am a pensioner, I get that care for free - including medications. So, this place is just like North Korea. With koalas.
I just had to book my annual Medicare wellness visit A YEAR IN ADVANCE and just tried to get an appointment to renew one of my prescriptions and was told there were no appointments available until October--somebody needs to tell Donny that the problem is here and now
"You wait for your doctor like 10 months, 12 months, 11 months."
>time for another genius test?
Learning a first language is hard.
He could have just said seven eight nine; numbers are scary.
When I (American) lived in England for a few years as a kid, I ate pavement on my bike and required a trip to the ER for a few stitches. After the very nice doctors patched me up, my parents and I were wandering around looking for the checkout station where you pay. They were confused until they noticed we were American and the nurse was all “this is the NHS, love, there is no bill. Off you pop!” Which blew our minds.
The only reason I'm super nervous about universal health care is that trans people tend to get left out, or cut out, or just not thought of at all. While I'm thrilled that it would be a significant improvement over the absolute crap show we have now, at least some of us are able to transition now, have it covered, and get it done in less than a decade. I get nervous about that. It won't stop me from supporting it, but.. yeah.
We just have to make sure that 'universal' TRULY means Universal, as in, *everyone* is covered, for all things. Sadly, we're still a ways down the pike from that, I think.
Sad to ruin the perfect 420 here but...
A lot of Americans are glad to pay more for worse outcomes health-wise...because what they believe is "socialism" is Black people getting something for free. That is basically why we cannot have nice things in America.
And yeah they all are just unfamiliar with the concept of "triage." Almost everyone has had to wait for surgeries.
Pretty sure we already have long wait times for medical care. Hospitals and clinics have entire rooms designed for waiting
And apparently the Chump administration passed some sort of administrative thing that required all medical offices to play HGTV in their waiting rooms.
Fucking asshole.
We really need and should have universal healthcare. But we have three roadblocks, the healthcare lobby (private equity has money for that), the pharmaceutical lobby, and the insurance lobby. Capitalism really does kill.