Looking at the "heated" debate in the USA regarding whether or not to adopt a Universal healthcare system one can't help but wonder "why" there is even a controversy? We in Australia have had such a system since WW2 and it works very well indeed. Your local doctor is free. Public hospitals and surgery is free. The same specialist who practises in a private hospital also practises in our public system. Can someone explain why the USA does not have OUR system? Thanks.
The US don't want our system because the conservatives can't stand the thought that their taxes will go toward saving someone's life.
Yeah I know. They think if you get cancer, you should pay for the treatment yourself. Its not like people ask to get brain tumours, but apparently its something we should all prepare for, even though most of us wouldn't have anywhere near the money to pay for such treatment. Healthcare in Australia is a basic human right. In the US, healthcare is a luxury. That means that over here, if you get a brain tumour, its your basic human right to be treated for it. In America, if you get a brain tumour, being treated for it is a luxury - like buying a new car. The American conservatives will deny it - but its the truth. They just don't want to admit it.
I just had to respond immediately to your response. Sorry to break forum protocol with a short reply but I'm almost in tears....... Let me compose myself for a more lengthy response!........ I'm gutted!!!!!!!!!!
The funny thing is that your average American pays MORE taxes towards health care than the average Australian tax payer. The figures are something like $3000 for a US tax payer compared to about $2000 for an Australian tax payer.
I have seen stats that support your costing claims. That said. What really IRKS me is the observation/remark that Healthcare in the USA is a LUXURY and not a RIGHT!!!!!! So. Our Australian government had passed into law under the 1973 Health act that all citizens were entitled to universal healthcare. In the UK the NHS (National Health Service) was instigated in 1948!! Although that said, my now elderly parents (80's) tell me they didn't pay a cent for my Tonsillectomy at age 5 (1964) and were in fact paid to have me at birth! I mean even Mexico has universal healthcare!! So the USA citizens have the utterly useless right to bear arms but NOT for healthcare for all regardless of income or social "status"???? Really?????? Remind me to stay put right here Down under where we actually CARE enough for ANYONE/EVERYONE'S healthcare that we taxpayers chip a bit in to help a mate!! Aussie Aussie Aussie!! Oi Oi Oi!!!
The cheaper Australian healthcare system has citizens who live longer, healthier lives than the more expensive American system. I guess we get a lot more bang for our buck.
Well last year my best mate had to have a faulty Pulmonary valve replaced. Genetically inherited. He was 49. He had 1 month hospitalization including 1 week ICU. Flinders Hospital South Australia. The specialist "private" heart surgeon he was referred to from his "no charge" personal doctor was the same one who did the op at Flinders (a PUBLIC hospital no less). He asked the hospital and heart surgeon what it would have cost if he had to pay out of pocket. $125,000.00 was the answer. Guess what? He earns double that AND has full private cover. I haven't met an American yet who understands why he didn't go to a private hospital and or why he chose to "rip off" taxpayers by going public as a wealthy citizen. The answer was simple. Flinders have arguably the best heart surgeons and facilities available and that he felt more comfortable at Flinders as it was only 5 minutes from his home and family. The private hospital was in his opinion unwarranted. The op was successful and he did not pay one cent. Also included 2 weeks post op palliative care in his OWN home free of charge. I rest my case.
I agree with everything you guys are saying. Except for the cost factor. I looked it up and Americans are actually paying something like $6000 per person for healthcare, the next closest country is france which pays about $3500 per person for healthcare. Conservatives think the government is to ineffecient to pay for services that can be probided by private business. In America it's not just healthcare either. Energy and many prisons are controlled by private companies now too. It just doesn't make sence. America spends the most on heatlhcare per capita, the most on energy per capita, and the most on prisons per capita then any other country. Yet some how conservatives think our system is the better way. It just doesn't make any sence.
From what I've looked up that $6000 is $3000 in taxes and a further $3000 out of pocket. In Australia it's $2000 in taxes and $1000 out of pocket.
My wife and I have actually discussed that. She is afraid of giant bugs and spiders though. The Australian Government posted a job add in my school recruiting for people with my major and I'll be graduating in 2 years. The idea is not off of the table.
Unfortunately, most of the grizzly bears in California are dead. We still have black bears though. I have a question. I live in San Jose, CA. We have a moderate climate. Typical summer temperature is around 88 degrees F with about 5 days a year climbing over 100 degrees F. We get about 250 days of sunshine a year. Typical winter low is about 35 degrees F. Where in Australia would have a climate such as this.
Because in the United States its all about money. Those who have money will have the best healthcare money can buy; those who don't, well, their on their own. Many of my friends have no medical insurance whatsoever because they make too much money and yet can't afford the monthly payments, some get sick and they just die; others have to wait until they have a major illness before going to the emergency room. I'd take socialized medicine in a heartbeat. So would many of my friends as well.
The biggest spider I've seen in the last six months was no more than 5cm wide. I do live in the western suburbs though, mind you...it might be different out in OJ's neck of the woods.
What you just wrote makes me sad. And angry! I feel for you and you fellow citizens. That you should endure such a selfish biased system. I feel the time is surely approaching when you may just get what we have taken for granted for decades.
Its one of many issues in this country which various political segments refuse to acknowledge. The cost in human life and suffering is immeasurable; it amazes me that this great country of ours will spend untold trillions helping other countries in foreign aid, military actions, etc, but yet can't help certain groups of people in this country with at least rudimentary healthcare.
Spiders are the least of your worries, though a poisonous spider that hides under toilet seats is a bit of a concern. Bill Bryson spells it out in "Down Under" " ...For a start, there's the oddly nasty fauna and flora. Barely a page of Down Under is without its lovingly detailed list of lethal antipodean critters: sociopathic jellyfish, homicidal crocs, toilet-dwelling death-spiders, murderous shrubs (yes, shrubs). Bryson's absorbing and informative portrait is of a terrain so intractably vast, a land so climatically extreme, it seems expressly designed to daunt and torment humankind... "
