I'm supposed to believe

[almaty 19]

The problem with free healthcare is that it would ENORMOUSLY expensive and income taxes would sky rocket. If you think the government is running deficits now, just wait until we have national healthcare (which I think we will NEVER have because it is too socailist for the American people to stomach). Government spending would be out of control.

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed. I read that there are more MRI machines in Santa Clara county than in the whole of Canada (who has national healthcare). No thanks.

The US has the most expensive health care system in the world. It's absolutely inefficient: It's the least accessible yet spending the most on health care per capita and expending the most on red tape (i.e. supporting a huge private bureaucratic aparatus that dwarfs any government health care bureaucracy anywhere in the world, including in the US itself). The efficiency of privatized health care systems and the cost saving effects it has is a myth.

Quality and accesibility of care? Try, for example, to find an OB/GYN for your wife when you move from one city to another and she happens to be more than 12 weeks into her pregancy. It's an utterly ridiculous process one is put through. And that is with first class health insurance coverage. Don't want to know what that would be like without...

No, the US health care system is one big failure. It's the most expensive, least efficient, and least caring in the developed world.

i agreed..worrked in hospitals in the Er off and on for about 8 years..it is a mess and totally ######..no insurance billed at top $$$ ..insurance discounted to a 1/5 of the billed cost...

Hence the need for stricter regulation. If not by the government, then by some sort of independent professional standards authority.

it has to be a government reg..the hospital association will not change ..and wither will the medical profession...it have to be a gov't reg to have success.

[Cristy 4]

My 10 yr old son asked me the other day why the US, with it's large population can't make sure everyone can go to the Dr. and not have to pay. I told him I did not know. He said it seemed wrong that all that money was going to the war but people could not go to a Dr. and his teacher did not have enough supplies and had to buy them with her own money.

Out of the mouths of babes.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

ALMATY-- If you hate the U.S. government and current administration so much, why not move to Kazakistan? I'm sure things are muuuuuuuuch better there ....why go through all this visa stuff for your partner to move to a place in which you think so lowly of the administration?

I believe it's called "freedom of expression".

I understand it's "freedom of expression"...and that's fine by me...I just find it amusing that someone who believes negative things about the US government, so strongly (to the point of "expressing it" on a message board), would want their partner coming to a place where they so strongly hate the government....to go to so much trouble to get your partner into a place where you don't like the government...odd....

Yeah, we should of deported all the Republicans who criticized Clinton back when he was in office. Criticism towards the government is part and parcel to our democracy - without and we wouldn't be free.

[Heracles 417]

Its infinitely tedious whenever you criticise the current administration, that rather than address the substance of the criticism someone prefers instead to turn around and makes the apparent assumption that you must therefore support the other side - as though any issue can only be understood by first filtering it through two apparently divergent political parties. Though I hasten to add I don't think the Reps and Dems are really all that different at the end of the day.

People have to learn to give the president a break instead of using him as a scapegoat for all their problems. He could cure cancer and certain people would still focus on the war..

Coming from Australia, the US is a fantastic country with some extraordinary people but I tell you what, it has a lot of faults… The thing is these are not 'end-of-the-world' faults but faults in attitudes, laws, responsibility and concepts. These are areas that politicians here need to get their act together to keep up with the rest of the world. These are the areas which groups like the ACLU, KKK, NAACP need to dramatically develop in.. The country needs a nationwide session with dr phil to teach everybody to stop whining and complaining about everything. Its almost as if the country is in a bad marriage..

When I listen to people who oppose Bush rant and rave on about this and that I think, what do you guys want.. Hey, I want a utopian world were everyone can do what they want and live happily and not have to worry in a world but the reality is this can never be the case.. So while people here ###### and whine, countries like Iran are clearly gearing up for a major battle..

I want republicans to lose. It will be interesting to see what the other side of the fence will do if the US has another terrorist attack or N.Korea, Iran and Venezuela decide to go for it..

why the US, with it's large population can't make sure everyone can go to the Dr. and not have to pay. I told him I did not know. He said it seemed wrong that all that money was going to the war

Totally agree.. Are Americans ready to pay an extra 2.5% tax to cover this? I'm all for it..

[keltic 1]

People have to learn to give the president a break instead of using him as a scapegoat for all their problems. He could cure cancer and certain people would still focus on the war..

what happened to "the buck stops here"? the president enjoys the highest power in our government... that means that he should also take the responsibilities as well... he should be held accountable for his actions... is he immune just because he is dubya? if clinton could be impeached over lies involved in the blue dress incident, then why shouldnt bush be impeached for lying about WMDs? this is not republican or democrat speaking... it goes both ways...

Coming from Australia, the US is a fantastic country with some extraordinary people but I tell you what, it has a lot of faults… The thing is these are not 'end-of-the-world' faults but faults in attitudes, laws, responsibility and concepts. These are areas that politicians here need to get their act together to keep up with the rest of the world. These are the areas which groups like the ACLU, KKK, NAACP need to dramatically develop in.. The country needs a nationwide session with dr phil to teach everybody to stop whining and complaining about everything. Its almost as if the country is in a bad marriage..

with this, i agree with you... thats why it infuriates me that so many of the registered voters dont get off their a$$es and go to the polls... if you ###### and moan, but wont vote, i dont want to hear it

When I listen to people who oppose Bush rant and rave on about this and that I think, what do you guys want.. Hey, I want a utopian world were everyone can do what they want and live happily and not have to worry in a world but the reality is this can never be the case.. So while people here ###### and whine, countries like Iran are clearly gearing up for a major battle..

what do we want? we want a president who is not going to lie to us to bring us to war... we want a president who will not make enemies out of countries that were previously allies... and one who will accept responsibility and admit when he makes a mistake, ESP when it has cost thousands of lives

I want republicans to lose. It will be interesting to see what the other side of the fence will do if the US has another terrorist attack or N.Korea, Iran and Venezuela decide to go for it..

here is where the problem lies... it has become only republican vs democrat... when it should be the country united... but how can we unite when our leader lies in order to get what he wants? it takes trust

name='cristy' post='407440' date='Aug 29 2006, 11:11 AM']

why the US, with it's large population can't make sure everyone can go to the Dr. and not have to pay. I told him I did not know. He said it seemed wrong that all that money was going to the war

Totally agree.. Are Americans ready to pay an extra 2.5% tax to cover this? I'm all for it..

i think many americans wouldnt have a problem with this at all... there have been attempts at national healthcare... any guesses who stopped it?

*edited to fix broken quote tags

Edited August 29, 2006 by keltic

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

When I listen to people who oppose Bush rant and rave on about this and that I think, what do you guys want..

Honesty (perhaps an impossibility for career politicians), but certainly Accountability.

Edited August 29, 2006 by erekose

[keltic 1]

When I listen to people who oppose Bush rant and rave on about this and that I think, what do you guys want..

Honesty (perhaps an impossibility for career politicians), but certainly Accountability.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

People have to learn to give the president a break instead of using him as a scapegoat for all their problems. He could cure cancer and certain people would still focus on the war..

Coming from Australia, the US is a fantastic country with some extraordinary people but I tell you what, it has a lot of faults… The thing is these are not 'end-of-the-world' faults but faults in attitudes, laws, responsibility and concepts. These are areas that politicians here need to get their act together to keep up with the rest of the world. These are the areas which groups like the ACLU, KKK, NAACP need to dramatically develop in.. The country needs a nationwide session with dr phil to teach everybody to stop whining and complaining about everything. Its almost as if the country is in a bad marriage..

We aren't the President's subjects - he's in office to serve us. It's our civic duty to complain when we believe he's not sufficiently serving the public's best interest. Again, look back when Clinton was in office - Repubs complained if he so much as flushed a toilet. If you're talking about partisanship, then I can understand that and perhaps some of the criticism towards Bush is just partisan politics, but you need to sift through the criticism to really grasp what has substance...then let everything else roll of your back.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think the vast majority of the criticisms of the current president stem from the way in which his administration has sought to extend the boundaries of executive power, while simultaneously removing responsibilty and accountability.

[Fuzzness 2]

Canada has had national healthcare for years, successfully. it may not be perfect but it beats the hell out of the US system.

[Cristy 4]

Canada has had national healthcare for years, successfully. it may not be perfect but it beats the hell out of the US system.

Amen. After my trip to the ER here I am afraid to go to the Dr. I have to take my boys in today for scripts and it just sucks to have to arrange that around pay day. You should just be able to go if you need to go. Yes you would need to pay more taxes, oh well.

[Ban Hammer 13,345]

Canada has had national healthcare for years, successfully. it may not be perfect but it beats the hell out of the US system.

d'ya think that might have something to do with the high taxes in canada?

[Jenn! 918]

I'll take my American private healthcare over the Italian national system anyday!

[Cristy 4]

Canada has had national healthcare for years, successfully. it may not be perfect but it beats the hell out of the US system.

d'ya think that might have something to do with the high taxes in canada?

Would you rather pay taxes and know you are covered or pay less tax and go bankrupt over hospital bills? Seems a real no brainer to me.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Canada has had national healthcare for years, successfully. it may not be perfect but it beats the hell out of the US system.

d'ya think that might have something to do with the high taxes in canada?

I pay $370 a month in health insurance premiums, plus $10 co-pay per visit/ $20 per prescription multiplied by the number of people in my household. I'd rather pay that in taxes if it means that all Americans have healthcare because I know not everyone can afford to pay that much.