What is it that Americans don't like about our healthcare?

I've just seen so much abuse Rev, it makes me sick. My ex-wife was a nurse, any she used to tell the story of young girls going to emergency with menstrual cramps! I knew a guy, actually two slightly different cases: Guy no.1 lost 2 fingers in a real industrial accident, but he felt the system owed him for his own stupidity, & bled the system (pun intended) for over two-and-a-half years! He became a champion pool player on comp! Guy no.2 was told he was about to be fired (mistake) for incompetance on friday, this was wednesday. It took him two days, but he cooked up a plan: He PUT his hand on the revolving blade of a huge band-saw used to cut massive 24-inch to 48-inch steel beams. He's lucky it didn't take his arm off! Guy no.2 was/is still a good friend of mine. I asked him "why" one night. He said they couldn't fire him on comp is why he did it, & he had car payments to make. Sick bastard. I hear he's currenty floating around Vernon, B.C.; non-rev's neck of the woods. He only lost one finger, but tell the other rev NOT to fuck with 9-finger-Louie. He's dangerous! We ALL pay for these bozos! I'd rather pay my OWN comp than have our wonderfull caring incompetant govt. do it!

boy RH I wish I can get susidised(sP) been fighting with Alberta health care for some yrs.I am a Carny and work only seasonal they tell me they wont subsidize me.I make below poverty wages.every year I go home to Edmonton and fight with those yahoos.So In sept will go home again and fight some more.

Every system gets abused, Absolut. That includes privately run ones...how many people do you know who have added a few things onto a house or car insurance claim that really shouldn't have been there? How many failing businesses have to light a fire so they can have a fire sale? How come we hear the same stories coming out of places with private comp as we do in places with public comp?

I don't think anybody is under the illusion that medical care or worker's comp are free...we pay for them one way or another. When all things are considered though, studies show that public systems run more cheaply.

Rev, I really got a love/hate feeling for you. I may not go to the wedding if you marry my sister, but one thing you are NOT, is stupid. But, here comes the weenie, public systems are NEVER cheaper. Competition & profit drive private systems, votes drive public systems. We can argue all week about this one, you'll make some excellent points I'm sure, but in the end, if the govt. is involved, they will fuck it up. There is no accounting in a public system which is "free". And don't kid yourself, a lot of fools think Canada has "free" healthcare. It is more important to me personally to have a functioning health-care system, than a "universal" one. It is a complete mess here, and NO govt. in Canada has the balls to do something about it. Can't blame them, its political suicide to change it, because we have grown up with it. Thats why I hate socialism & the NDP. Eventually, somebody has to pay for these "pie-in-the-sky" programs, but they ignore the problems, and the ones that DID (taxpayers) pay, die because of it. This post was written in a brief fit of lucidity, I'll try not to let it happen again. Have a good weekend, Rev_Blair.

Our system is trouble because of a lack of cash, Absolut. Every reputable study has shown that we do spend less money on a per-patient basis though, largely because the US system has such high administration costs.

Need another example? Manitoba has the lowest auto insurance rates in the country. Know why? Public insurance combined with the need for Autopac to go in front of the Public Utility Board before it can raise rates.

How have your power rates in Ontario fared since privatisation? Not really well. Ours is still cheap here. A lot of that is because we produce a lot of hydro-electricity. A lot is also because Manitoba Hydro is a crown corporation, a very profitable one.

MTS used to be a crown corporation. Our phone rates were cheap. Gary Filmon, may he get run down by a pig truck, privatised it. Now our rates are steadily increasing and many poor people cannot afford telephones.

So tell me the myth of how the private sector can do better. I like fiction, after all. Maybe toss in some space ships, I like science fiction too.

Sorry Rev, no fiction here. Your mind is made up. Perhaps the lack of cash came from a flawed policy of health-care ideals, in which the dream didn't have much connection to reality. Hydro in Ontario is artificially cheap, people piss it away, and wonder why we have blackouts. Quebec also has public auto insurance, yet gasoline is more expensive, on a daily average of 3 cents a litre than Ottawa, an eighth of a mile away. I bet that somehow Manitoba's low insurance rates are subsidized somewhere along the line, not because "GARGANTUAN LIFE & AUTO" has to go before a "board" to raise rates. We are kidding ourselves thinking we have it better that the U.S. in this respect. Eventually, it all comes out in the laundry. SOMEBODY has to pay eventually! To kid ourselves only makes it worse, kinda like the health-care joke we find ourselves in. And Rev, on a personal note, these are just my opinions and MY experiences here. I am under NO illusion that my way is the best way. Lets keep it cool with the insults, I promised the administrators I wouldn't log off & go out and rondomly kill a socialist each night, no matter HOW angry I get with you guys! :wink:

[quote="ABSOLUT_SS"]. We are kidding ourselves thinking we have it better that the U.S. in this respect. Eventually, it all comes out in the laundry. SOMEBODY has to pay eventually!

What are your thoughts on Canada's social security system and that of the U.S. ?

Fair question, Buford, and to be brutally honest, here goes: One thing that I have noticed in the U.S. is a lot more handicapped and obviously mentally challenged people on the streets. I have always found this distressing. Whether its a small town in upstate NY, to a big city like Detroit or Boston, per capita, in my definitely UNSCIENTIFIC survey since I've been a child, I have noticed this. Another thing I have noticed is war veterans. Whether they are 19 or 90, there seems to be an amazing amount of limb-less people, mostly male, compared to Canada. I kinda feel its a loaded question & I'm digging myself deeper as I write, but, it works both ways, right? I never claimed to be the great defender of the United States, in all things or all ways. There has to be a happy medium between our two countries, that would be my goal, personally. After all is said & done, my own personal comfort zone leans toward the U.S. But I am one of the lucky ones who can afford private health-care, and live in parts of cities I work in that are beautifull and look exactly like most Canadian sub-burbs. The only time I have to see the shitty side of what everybody remembers about cities like Detroit are when I make a point of going there. In Canada, I only have to see the shitty side when I file income tax! And there ARE parts of Canadian cities, yes, Ottawa too, that I wouldn't want to be in @ 3:00 in the morning, taxes or not. Hope that scratches the surface. Buf, have you ever been up here? I know I asked before, but...