Text 35843, 58 rader
Skriven 2009-09-08 07:36:16 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
  Kommentar till text 35711 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: (2/2) Universal health insurance
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 RB> Strange that we have no problems like that in Germany (nor are there
 RB> any problems finding a doctor to treat older patients), nor do they
 RB> in the other countries where universal health care prevails. I don't
 RB> really think the question is relevant, since the problem doesn't
 RB> exist elsewhere in the "developed" world.

 BA>> If it's free - which is the goal of those who want "universal health
 BA>> insurance"...

 RB> Absolute bullshit, Bob. Cheap propaganda spread by people who don't
 RB> know what universal health care is and have never lived in such a
 RB> system. We in Germany pay, and pay dearly for our system - but it
 RB> _works_, in contrast to what you and others relate about the American
 RB> system.

I don't know or care how your system works.  I know how the system works
in this country and I know precisely what the proponents of whatever Obamacare
(and Hillarycare back in 1994) is officially called are aiming for, and that is
*free* health care for everybody (except the rich, of course).

 BA>> The hogwash about health care being a 'most basic human right'
 BA>> necessary for life is exactly that, hogwash.

 RB> Apparently you've never suffered from a lack of medical care, Bob.
 RB> Lucky you, may things stay that way for a long time.

Actually I have, although it wasn't a life threatening problem it could have
been as I have been hypertensive for decades.  Y'see, the government *promised*
that anybody who served at least 20 years in active military service would
receive
*free* medical and dental care for *life*, and included *free* burial in a
government
cemetery to boot; dependents included.  Back around 1990 the local military
treatment
facility (IOW a hospital,which was closed in 2004 despite the fact that the
base is
still open) just "didn't have space available" to take care of the (hundreds if
not
thousands) of retirees that live in the area (there are no other military bases
nearby).
Of course, that promised *free* dental care went away in the 1970s and the
*free*
medical care went away in the 1990s (free care for dependents of active duty
military
also went away in the 1990s).  In the early 1990s my dog could be seen at the
base veterinary clinic, but I could not be seen at the base hospital.  Then
they invented "Tricare," which is basically Medicare for the military, and as
long as I make the monthly premium payments to Tricare I can be seen at the
base clinic (which used to be a hospital), anything more serious than a
hangnail gets referred to a local civilian hospital.

I have yet to see any financial connection between the Tricare insurors and the
military
medical system.  I do see one between Tricare and any civilian providers.


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 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)