We know that health care has become a major issue in almost every country's political agenda, and for years the problem (where I live, at least) has not been solved. It's the way it has always been. The rich enjoy luxurious health plans and services, while the poor pray they don't get sick lest they be forced to pay bills they can't afford. So, the question is; how can we have affordable health care for everyone? Is universal health care the best way to go, such as shown in the UK, Canada, France, etc. ? Are HMOs REALLY benefiting the people at large (especially in the US, which I doubt)? Should there be no one without health care, or should there be no health care plan at all? Please discuss. I am more inclined towards the universal health care myself, as it ensures that the people at the top and the people at the bottom the same, universal care.
We do have to pay quite a lot for the NHS, currently 11% of income is taken solely to fund it. This is in addition to income tax (22% or higher) and a large number of other taxes.
Heath care, medicines in particular is so expensive here that the lower bracket can't afford it, leading to epidemic outbreaks & such. *sigh*
Well my Mum gets free Health insurance for the whole family from her job : But here, if you get injured etc., you don't pay much at all, so if you have no insurance, don't worry, unlike in America and places. Medication here is cheap too.
Insurance isn't cheap here either, the lower bracket folk can't afford it. Plus, mostly office workers tend to be the ones to have them, little folk like street vendors don't
Having a better and affordable health care for everyone on Earth is really almost impossible,as there are some Low-developed Countries(LDC) can't afford anything like the Health-care products and equipment,and because of that the producers will not spare any equipment for the LDCs,even though we can't blame them as they also need to earn money.if only the bill of the Health Care can be lowered or even the WHOLE WORLD are conscious of the lack of Health Care on the LDCs and are willing to help the them.
the health care like the ones in many european countries would not work in america. high tax rate the need of proper gov't spending the need of proper gov't planning etc... these are important things that the americans need to think about. in countries like in england and the netherlands, they pay taxes that are twice or more then what americans pay. here we pay 8.625% on product tax while a country like england may pay twice or more then that. because of this, americans would not like the idea as they would have to spend less on consumer goods [video games, electronics, toys, etc....]. btw, it's not only on consumer goods where you'll get taxed heavily, it'll also be on propert, income, etc... if the gov't is to have a lot of money, they would need to spend that money wisely. to have a president like bush and spend it all on war and things that maybe wasteful, would not benefit the people of the country. with the need to spend the money wisely, you'll also need proper planning. if you don't properly plan or strategize on spend the money wisely, it'll be gone faster then you think. so the gov't will need ways on knowing when and how they should spend the money. last but not least is that it's not about ourselves but about everyone. in america everyone has an individual thinking, which would not work on a system with unified health care. the thinking in america would be, individual 1 would say, why am i paying for health care for individual 2. with that money i can use it for something else [savings, investments,shopping, etc...]. but come when individual 1 needs someone other then himself, he's in big trouble. sicko is a great movie about the nations that have a unified health care. if you live in america and watch it, see if you can figure out why it won't work. you could even ask people about unified health care and most would think you're crazy. as for health insurance, i don't like their practices. from sicko, all they do is steal peoples money. there was that one piece in the movie where a girl got into a car accident and used an ambulance service to bring her to the hospital. insurance didn't cover because it wasn't approved. how could it be approved if your laying unconcious or whatever after a car accident?? very weird and unethical.
We pay 17.5% percent tax on goods, but that does not pay for the health service. The heath services is funded by a dedicated tax called national insurance, which stands at 11% of income.
i swear to god, when i read the title of this topic the only things i can think about are, DENTAL PLAN! and LISA NEEDS BRACES!
I remember that episode, too Well, I just watched Sicko yesterday, and it was pretty revealing on how said health care plan wouldn't work at all in America. And you're right. There needs to be good government spending and planning added to the fact that the people need to be able to accept it as well (as in, not just paying for YOUR bills). On the other hand, it seems the taxation involved in making programs such as the NHS work are......quite a lot. And let's not get into health insurance companies, because they're pretty much screwing you over from the get-go.
I think the tax required for a health service in the US would be about half of what it is here. Bear in mind that only a small subset of the population actually need treatment each year, and the population of the US is about 300 million compared to the UK's 77 million.
Far more money is spent on unused insurance than would be spent on health care. I think it'd be wise to spend our money in a manner that supports others. Government is useless if it cannot take care of it's citizens when they actually need help.
