Have you noticed that asking a Republican a question on health care is like trying to nail Jello to the wall?

When confronted with the fact that European care is superior to ours, they will either lie or shift the question to something else.





Ask them why if European care is so bad, why don't they vote the socialized heath care politicians out of office and they give another set of irrelevant answers.





Apprise them of the fact that our system is ranked 27th in the world, on the level of Madagascar and they will say something like they know all these Frenchmen to come here for operations.





Do they practice this maneuver or does this Artful Dodger stuff just come natural to them?Have you noticed that asking a Republican a question on health care is like trying to nail Jello to the wall?
If European care is so superior to ours then why do Europeans flock to the US for treatment?





Its not as rosy as you may think. There are limits. People over the age of 65 do not get organ transplants and other surgeries that they need. Often they have to wait months and sometimes years to get the treatment they need.





As far as Republicans being tough to answer on healthcare reform, I respond that its real easy to explain why it won't work.





My wife is on a lot of medication. Its very expensive. A few years back the Bush Administration pushed Medicare Part D on everyone who had medicare. So supposedly you get a couple thousand dollars worth of coverage and then it shifts to a ';donut hole'; and then after so many more thousands out of pocket, you get some coverage after that.





Fine.





Right after Medicare Part D went into effect, the cash price of her meds jumped up 30 percent. Why? Because the government was paying 30 percent more for the meds and we, as taxpayers, were competing with the government for her meds. So since they paid more, we had to pay more. Does that sound fair to you?





Well as it turns out, the VA pays 60 percent less for the meds they distribute because they buy the meds in bulk and negotiate a cheaper price. But Part D doesn't do that. Part D is a mandated program and so the drug companies charge the highest price for the drugs under Part D.





Get me so far?





Well insurance companies pay too much for unnecessary services too. But they also refuse to do certain treatments or pay for certain meds because they think that those are out of line.





Well, imagine if the government got into the insurance or health care business. If you think it takes time to get an insurance company to cover something, the government takes FOREVER.





And, for those who will likely NOT qualify for the cheaper coverage, they will have to pay even more money for medical treatment as they will be competing with the government for medical services.





See that's the problem.





The more the government gets involved the less there is competition, and the less there's competition the higher the price.





Well imagine if taxpayers are paying anything for medical treatments. The price will be very high.





Plus there's a fraud culture in the medical care industry. You read about it all the time. People defrauding medicare, medicaid and the insurance companies out of billions if not trillions of dollars in fees and costs. Multiply that by 1000 when you have universal government-sponsored health-care.





And if the government dictates prices to the medical establishment, doctors will either leave the field altogether or move to other countries where they can charge any fee they want to people who want the benefit of their best efforts. That's what happened in Canada. A lot of their doctors have come to the US because they don't earn enough in Canada to make a living due to government price controls.





See there's no easy answer.





Its not that anyone's a jellyfish here. The reality is that you can't force a square peg into a round hole without some damage.Have you noticed that asking a Republican a question on health care is like trying to nail Jello to the wall?
The real question is do you really want to pay 60 to 70 % in taxes just so you an have the Federal government dictate your health care to you ? And what those european countries dont tell you is that they refuse the right of an operation to the elderly and to those they deem not fit for survival.In addition countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark may have decent health care but they have sky high taxes, sluggish economies and high unemployment. Every European country is struggling to cut social programs as fast as they can the burden is to high.
It's not; ever seen an Englander's teeth? I'd rather have things the way they are now than be limited to that. I have two chronic conditions and if we were set on that system I would likely die. You wouldn't care, of course. What it comes down to now is that our system now gives care so good that people from other countries come here for medical care.
Many countries health care system is better. I believe the quality of care is better in the US than in others countries. Will there be a national HC system in this country? I doubt it. The pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies, the high paid doctors(which is most of them), the lobbyist, the other politicians that receive campaign monies from these will never allow it to happen. And also with the proposed plans for citizen contribution, how can it work when unemployment is so high? So you will only have health care if you are employed and can pay? We won't see it soon.
Just wondering. Do you often try to nail jello to the wall? I don't know any republicans that would do that.


European service is NOT superior to ours. When my daughter was a foriegn exchange student in England, she became ill and could not get anyone to see her because she was not a citizen. That would not happen here.
Europe is irrelevant. That is single payor care. Obama has taken it off the table. Only insurance and pharma company run care is on the table.





Special interests would gain and we would lose.





If you ask about systems that are not under consideration, how direct an answer do you expect?
Yeah, that's why Europeans have such nice teeth right? How long is the wait to get an MRI, or surgery for something like a hip replacement? I'll bet you get it done quicker here in the U.S.





Why do people from Canada come to the U.S. for health care? They do it all the time. Why? Because they like paying cash?





';Free Health Care'; my butt. Liberals brains are Jello.
we are not eu...we still have a standing constitution...unlike them. so lets have some respect for it and not place the federal government in charge of our bodies, perhaps we should get off our asses and do something about big pharma..get them out of washington and make it illegal for those pharmecudical companies to lobby.
HORSE SHI+.





I EARN my health benefits. GET IT? EARN.





Why should I have to pay for someone else's care?





I'd LOVE to see the study that shows that socialized health care is better.





LOVE to see that study.





UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE IS ROBBERY AND IT WILL LOWER THE QUALITY OF CARE FOR ALL!
Republicans understand a lot better than the Far Left Loons do about Obama's health plan and we clearly know it is going to be a very expensive disaster that cannot be corrected.





Once it becomes law it cannot be undone no matter how expensive or how bad.
Have you ever noticed you never ask a question wanting anyone else's answers? You think you not only KNOW IT ALL, you mistakenly believe you are right and that is it.
Your questions are based on opinion and little if any fact or research, that is why you are receiving opinions returned.


To start: What does the social health care cost in taxes to countries that enact it?


That should get a direct answer.
Hmmm, seems to me the dems are the ones who dodge. European care is NOT superior to ours. Been there done that, don't want to go back to it.





We do have better surgeons than other countries, no matter what our rank as a whole is.
It's not superior and most Western European governments are trying to either lessen coverage or otherwise change their health-care systems.





Perhaps if liberals read the news, they'd have a better understanding of the world.
Answer this:





I will answer you, my healthcare is great. I can see the best specialists in the world, I have a low co-pay, no deductible, and $10 max prescriptions and I pay $14 a week for it, why would I want to change anything.
European care is NOT superior to ours! What drugs are you on? Contrary to what you have been taught, our system is superior! Where did you get your facts?
I've been overseas. I've seen socialized health care. Didn't like what I saw. Don't want it Thanks By now.
I am a Republican so ask away and I shall answer.
Ranked 27 according to what criteria? It just so happens that the U.S. and Israel lead the world in health care research.
but what if the jello is frozen? then will it be hard enough to nail to the wall
There are over 300,000,000 people in the USA.
No
Health care used to be affordable until the medical profession made such amazing strides in saving people's lives. People with a bad heart used to just die. There were no heart replacements, pace makers, bypass surgeries. If you had a bad hip, you just lived with it. If you got Alzheimer's, your family took care of you. Things were much different when health care was affordable because it was only good for limited ailments.





Now they have sophisticated tests and procedures for almost everything imaginable. An 80 year old can get a new hip or a new knee. I'm not saying this is bad. I'm saying it has made health care very, very expensive for everyone. On top of that, people now live longer and get Medicare. People born with certain defects used to die because there was no help for them. Now many live facing a lifetime of health care needs.





The only way to continue this type of health care for our growing population will be for the medical profession to work for the government at some point whether any of us like it or not.
The only jello rests between your ears my friend. What blows a crater-sized whole in your ';progressive logic'; is that patients in need of immediate health care from europe, canada and other countries who practice socialized medicine are coming to the U.S. in droves. This is mainly because backlogs are months long for like services in these countries, specialized medical care is at a minimum and nearly every well-trained professional in the industry from throughout the world has come to the U.S. to set up their practice. FYI, the failure rate (pct.) for major surgery in your beloved socialist states is at all time highs! Sure, if all you desire is a basic check-up, pain-killer, stitches or x-rays (all GP procedures) they are fine. But those in need of major medical care/surgery generally pay the price of the plane ticket and come to the U.S. Also, if the ill-founded plan for nationalized health care goes into effect here the quality of medical care will suffer. Check your facts sport!


TO EELFINS AND GREG: Well-said. Maybe this guy is a front man for ACORN?
American hospitals could survive very nicely as the providers of specialized care to the wealthy foreigner and as the basic provider of care to the average American under a single payer system, or a variation thereof. But insurance companies wouldn't do so well, and in America we care more about insurance companies and their profitability than the basic need for affordable high-quality health care and even the anti-competitive drag on American businesses who are required to pay a significant percentage of their revenues toward health insurance that their international competitors do not.





On this point, President Obama is a huge disappointment. We all know that the US Senate is in the tank for insurance companies due to the funds that they contribute to the campaigns of virtually al US Senators. (And I think it would be a good thing if each US Senator and Congressman and Congresswoman was legally required to wear the brand of their largest corporate donor in huge letters on their clothing at all times everywhere during their term a la Nathaniel Hawthorne's adulteress in ';The Scarlet Letter.';) But I thought Obama would be a leader at least on health care reform.





I can only hope that Senator Al Franken's first official act will be to introduce a bill that strips all health care coverage from all current and former US Senators and Congressmen and all elected/appointed Executive Branch officials and that he argues for its passage as a measure that will help reduce the budget deficit and, more importantly, as a matter of fundamental fairness which requires our national political leadership to occupy no higher footing than those private sector Americans who have no health insurance through their employers. Such a bill would never pass, of course, but that isn't the point. The point is to call them all out as the craven legislators and executive branch officials that they are.





As an aside. is there a Senatorial race somewhere in the country where Howard Dean could jump in? I'm thinking ideally of Senator Hillary Clinton's seat, but more realistically of Senator Arlen Specter's seat.





Why not?
Yes, since jello has more of a spine that most conservative republican chickenhawks.
The insurance industry is a defacto mafia here in America it is the main reason why we do not have UHC.
THEY HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL BUT GUESS WHAT THEY ARE EVIL.
the fact that its like a dozen french people out of a france of 20million is some how a thing they think they can use