[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', '
')I wonder what the level of care received by British soldiers wounded in Iraq is compared to the national embarrassment at Walter Reed VA hospital.

[Prince]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RedStateGreen', 'T')hat's after a bachelor's degree, four years of medical school, and another three of residency (where you're paid less than minimum wage -- we figured it out in internship and it was $1.70/hour ).

You come out on average with $100,000 of debt, and that's your salary. For sixty-hour workweeks minimum, BEFORE call.

[Pretorian]

SOCIALIZED MEDICINE:

- A soldier comes to a military doc with a small cut on his finger;
doctor:-- You wouldn't come to me with this if we were civilians, would you?
soldier :-- Naah.. I'd call you out to my house.

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', 'I')'ve missed where you have explained why the U.S. healthcare system is ranked 37th in the world and is at the same time the most expensive in the world.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')n honest, objective based, ranking system would likely place the US at or very near the top of the list.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')

BILL MOYERS: With the price of prescription drugs going up and up, politicians of both parties have promised to help old people with the cost. But with a flourish of the old magic — now you see it, now you don't — Senators recently killed the legislation and adjourned to their favorite pastime, raising money for reelection from pharmaceutical companies and other kindred souls. Buying all that influence in Congress is one reason drug costs go up. So is the money — two to three billion dollars a year — the companies spend trying to persuade us to buy their drugs. You know the ads in question. They keep telling us 'to ask your doctor' about the wonders of some expensive new drug. Ok, we'll ask the doctor. We'll ask him for a second opinion about those ads.

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Prince', 'I')'m engaged to a doctor, so I'd like to point out some of the blatant lies and misconceptions in your post. First off, I'm not sure when you did residency, but now they work 80 hrs/week tops, and that's usually only in Year 1. In years 2-4, they usually work an average of 60 hours or less. They are paid roughly $38,000 in Y1 and it goes up steadily to $50,000 by Y3-4. So given the worst case (Y1):

$38,000/(80hrs * 50wks) = $9.50/hr in the WORST CASE.

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')n honest, objective based, ranking system would likely place the US at or very near the top of the list.

[Prince]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'I')n any other job, federal law requires you be paid time and a half for anything over 40 hours.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jlw61', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')n honest, objective based, ranking system would likely place the US at or very near the top of the list.

[Byron100]

I guess I can chip in with a bit of constructive dialog of my own...hehe.

I'm going to start out by saying that if I had the ability to move to Canada with full residency rights, I'd move tomorrow. To be able to have that wonderful card, that lets you visit any doctor for any medical reason, in a country spanning 5000 miles...let's just say that's my idea of heaven. Imagine never having to worry about medical expenses ever again. I sure can. Taxes? What taxes? I hardly make enough to pay much of those, so that's okay by me...LOL.

Seriously, though, why should I have to pay $1500 a year to pay for other kids' education? Hmm? If government-run medicine is so evil and horrible and totally unworkable, what in the heck are we doing with a universal public education system? If you're asking me to give up the right to have equal access to medical care, regardless of income, job or health status, then I have the right to ask you to give up your public school system, as that's money being tossed down the drain as far as I'm concerned.

I pay for your schools for your kids, you (in a general sense of course), can pay for my health care.

It's all good, right?

[Prince]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Byron100', 'S')eriously, though, why should I have to pay $1500 a year to pay for other kids' education? Hmm? If government-run medicine is so evil and horrible and totally unworkable, what in the heck are we doing with a universal public education system? If you're asking me to give up the right to have equal access to medical care, regardless of income, job or health status, then I have the right to ask you to give up your public school system, as that's money being tossed down the drain as far as I'm concerned.

It's all good, right?

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Byron100', 'y')ou're asking me to give up the right to have equal access to medical care

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jlw61', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')n honest, objective based, ranking system would likely place the US at or very near the top of the list.

[vision-master]

You don't intimidate me in the least. I'm not afraid of ppl like your sorts at all. Matter of fact, I'd like a one-on-one wit you.

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Byron100', 'S')eriously, though, why should I have to pay $1500 a year to pay for other kids' education? Hmm? If government-run medicine is so evil and horrible and totally unworkable, what in the heck are we doing with a universal public education system? If you're asking me to give up the right to have equal access to medical care, regardless of income, job or health status, then I have the right to ask you to give up your public school system, as that's money being tossed down the drain as far as I'm concerned.

I pay for your schools for your kids, you (in a general sense of course), can pay for my health care.

It's all good, right?

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'Y')ou don't intimidate me in the least. I'm not afraid of ppl like your sorts at all. Matter of fact, I'd like a one-on-one wit you.

[Pretorian]

When i lived in Argentina, I was paying about 11% out of my paycheck, 8% were going to my pension plan and 3% was so called Obra Social ( if i remember correctly ) which was the "free" healthcare. Later I was paying 8%, 5+3.
But, to get some free healthcare i didnt need to pay those 3%. Half of the worked in black and didnt pay any taxes at all. Everybody, legals, illegals, tourists can come over and get a free surgery/hospitalization, you name it. A guy i know got shot in the arm and got one of the arm bones shattered in pieces, all he had to pay was $50 or a $100 for a titanium stick, and i think it was his choice to do so for whatever reason ( better stick?). I got into accidents twice and they made dozens of x-rays, MRI, god knows what else, and i didnt even had to show them an id.
If a child get sick in the province and proper treatment is unavailable locally, the child with 1 of his parents go to live in Buenos Aires, for as long as treatment is needed, all expences paid-- rent, food, transport, small $ allowance.
I remember a case when a couple working in a local court found out that their fetus had a serious heart defect. Doctors offered to make a corrective surgery. But they say no, we want you ( public healthcare) to pay for us to go and have a surgery in the United States, since they offered 50% success versus 35% in Argentina.
Healthcare said that since the surgery can be done in Argentina they won't pay for a foreign surgery, but finally offered about $30000, and the rest was raised publically.

[AgentR]

Socialized Medicine in the US can't really happen....

The Democrats, who would love to help the uninsured, can't really do it, without drastically reducing the amount of dollars available for trial lawyers to take; The Republican's can't do it because it would drastically cut into the last vestiges of "self-employed" ethos that the medical profession strives to maintain.

If the Doc you want to sue for $5 mil is taking home only a $100k a yr, and backed by a government paid malpractice policy that will only pay $250k on any individual suit. Your attorney is going to run for the hills before investing his resources into your case.

Both parties love to talk about the issue from their respective points of view; but both are absolutely crippled when it comes to being able to do anything significant.

So they nibble, quibble, and pass the buck.

[jlw61]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', 'S')ocialized Medicine in the US can't really happen....

The Democrats, who would love to help the uninsured...

Both parties love to talk about the issue from their respective points of view; but both are absolutely crippled when it comes to being able to do anything significant.

So they nibble, quibble, and pass the buck.