Here comes socialized healthcare.

[ruffryder]

Why does the exact same medication cost 3 times more in the US?

Because it is regulated to that level... Yep, regulation results in lower costs for consumers...

house of reps report..

more info on drug regulations in Europe...

The other thing is that Americans are addicted to drugs.. We want a pill for everything, taking the easy way out..

 

[Townzy]

Hello Guys,
I thought i would throw my two cents in about so called "socialized" health care. By definition I guess you would refer to ours as socialized. It is not without its problems, but overall works well! Personal example: 2 years ago I flipped my Apex of about a 40 foot cliff and the sled landed on me while sledding in Golden.BC. Injuries were 5 broken ribs, separated shoulder and punctured lung. I dont carry any "extra" care other than Alberta health and blue cross, both cost next to nothing. Heres what the treatment was: Helicopter ride from mountain to hospital, stay overnight in Golden hospital, x-rays, meds, I.V's etc etc, transported to my home town of Calgary and emergency room visit and admitted to the trauma floor for 5 days. Total i had to pay-$0! We dont pay a whole pile for benefits as most are deducted from my pay and split with my employer, works out to maybe $100 a month. If I am sick I can go to a clinic, medi-center, or the emergency room at a hospital and not be turned away or refused......EVER! Some problems with our system, system is overloaded at times and you could wait for a medical procedure, IE: hip surgery, back surgery, usually non critical procedures. We also have several "private" clinincs which i agree with totally and have used in the past. They bascially run by partial govt funding and if you have money and dont want to wait you can get elective surgeries done, MRI, diagnostics all with very little wait. I could phone for an MRI and have it done within a day or two. Canadians go to the US when they have to wait or want a procedure done asap! I am not talking about waiting forever, just if you have the money to get additional treatment you should have the option! It also takes people out of the public system to allow for faster service for others. The taxes that are paid in the US would surely cover the amount of health care for every person there! Yes there will be people who cheat the system but there are people who cheat the system in anything. Its not the best sytem in the world but I dont lose sleep at night worrying about getting health care treatment or having to pay for it. If you can have a blend of public care and private clinincs that if people can afford to go to and want to that is ideal in my mind. I hope that gives you an idea of how it works here. I know that Britain has a system that works even better than ours. There system works on more prevention, in hopes that long term problems would be less.
Townzy

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/13/obama-announce-deal-health-care-reform/

"President Obama will announce this morning that House Democrats have pledged to pass a health care reform bill by July 31"

oh joy...

Because they have enough money to pay outright for services that they want right away. I don't think that is the average response from a Canadian...

 

[Ollie]

Because it is regulated to that level... Yep, regulation results in lower costs for consumers...

house of reps report..

more info on drug regulations in Europe...

The other thing is that Americans are addicted to drugs.. We want a pill for everything, taking the easy way out..

You are correct.
Here's another little problem with socialized medicine in THIS country.
ANYONE who can illigally get here gets free medical care. We are the ONLY country in the world that does this.
Most socialized medicine countries have a total tax rate of about 50-60%, in the US our total tax rate is already 48%. In order to do socialized medicine that would have to go up to well over 65% (according to OPM).

You think you have trouble making your bills now, just wait.