Healthcare in America

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

So whoever chose them to begin with should've been replaced with someone who knew how to pull of a project like this.
I understand they probably only had what 2 years to work on it, and it was obviously going to be a huge deluge of online acitivity on go live day. Still you'd think they could've foresaw that, and done better, but then again it is the governement.

FYI - CGI was involved in the gun registry.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...lure/?page=all

AND better yet... the Conservatives are cutting back on computer programmers as employees and is contracting out more and more to CGI.

As was said above, they will underquote to get the contract and then bungled it. And they don't care.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

. . . I can't imagine what the government is going to do when they realize that so many more people are going to be without insurance to start the year.

Probably the same thing that the federal government has done during the past few decades for those who don't have health insurance....

Nothing---except that, going forward, you get to pay a tax too.

As an aside, this entire debacle could have been completely and totally eliminated had Obama pushed for Medicare for all. One can only wonder why he didn't do so.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

Probably the same thing that the federal government has done during the past few decades for those who don't have health insurance....

Nothing---except that, going forward, you get to pay a tax too.

As an aside, this entire debacle could have been completely and totally eliminated had Obama pushed for Medicare for all. One can only wonder why he didn't do so.

Because it was completely untenable politically?

The inclusion of these healthcare exchanges is a calculated concession to Republicans. It was part of Bob Dole's election platform and was heavily endorsed by the Heritage Foundation for decades.

http://www.dolekemp96.org/agenda/issues/health.htm

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Because it was completely untenable politically?

Nonsense.

Obama had the votes in Congress to expand Medicare; in fact, the Democrats could have (and should have, in my view) used the reconciliation process to get it done. As I recall, there were several in Congress that believed that Medicare for all was the best solution and were pleading for the President to push for it.

I firmly believe that the reason Medicare for all wasn't done is because Obama cared (and cares) more about his big-money donors in corporate America (i.e., insurance companies) than he did/does about the middle-income American.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

Nonsense.

Obama had the votes in Congress to expand Medicare; in fact, the Democrats could have (and should have, in my view) used the reconciliation process to get it done. As I recall, there were several in Congress that believed that Medicare for all was the best solution and were pleading for the President to push for it.

I firmly believe that the reason Medicare for all wasn't done is because Obama cared (and cares) more about his big-money donors in corporate America (i.e., insurance companies) than he did/does about the middle-income American.

IIRC there was a lot of Democrats not on side with health care reform. Obama got what he could get.

[pylon]

Healthcare in the US is a fata'ing joke. We are on holidays in Maui, and I took my niece to the walk in clinic with abdominal pain. Doctor did a few tests, and is of the opinion she may have a ruptured ovary or fallopian tube. Take her to the ER immediately on his advice, drive her straight there. 5 hours later, she is still waiting in agonizing pain to be seen. She is fully insured, and I even offered to just pay out of pocket to get her in ASAP. Crack heads, seem to get preferential treatment here. As do criminals that are being dragged in by the cops.

Any American that says their system is better, with shorter wait times? You don't realize how incredibly bad you have it. It is the worst experience I have had in my life related to health care. Thank god for the absolute blessed system we have. The second we get the OK to put her on an Airplane, I am booking it out of this hell hole, and getting her somewhere where an f'ing qualified doctor can see her.

Also the facilities here are disgusting, dirty and dingy. I have seen cleaner truck stops than this horrible, horror show of a hospital.

[HockeyIlliterate]

Originally Posted by pylon

Healthcare in the US is a fata'ing joke . . .

Although I agree that healthcare in the US can use some improvement, I'm not sure that your experience is fully representative of the entire US healthcare environment.

[Calgary14]

I have a friend that caught the flu while on vacation down there. No travel insurance. It cost her $700 for a doctors visit. I can only imagine what the cost would be if there was something seriously wrong. Scary stuff

[Temporary_User]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

I have a friend that caught the flu while on vacation down there. No travel insurance. It cost her $700 for a doctors visit. I can only imagine what the cost would be if there was something seriously wrong. Scary stuff

Expensive sure, but who the hell goes to a different country without travel insurance?
I wonder what type of doctor she went to. ER?
How much would a trip to the doctor cost here in Calgary without travel insurance?

[ernie]

Originally Posted by pylon

Healthcare in the US is a fata'ing joke. We are on holidays in Maui, and I took my niece to the walk in clinic with abdominal pain. Doctor did a few tests, and is of the opinion she may have a ruptured ovary or fallopian tube. Take her to the ER immediately on his advice, drive her straight there. 5 hours later, she is still waiting in agonizing pain to be seen. She is fully insured, and I even offered to just pay out of pocket to get her in ASAP. Crack heads, seem to get preferential treatment here. As do criminals that are being dragged in by the cops.

Any American that says their system is better, with shorter wait times? You don't realize how incredibly bad you have it. It is the worst experience I have had in my life related to health care. Thank god for the absolute blessed system we have. The second we get the OK to put her on an Airplane, I am booking it out of this hell hole, and getting her somewhere where an f'ing qualified doctor can see her.

Also the facilities here are disgusting, dirty and dingy. I have seen cleaner truck stops than this horrible, horror show of a hospital.

The shorter wait times tend to be for getting an appointment etc and they are indeed shorter (usually). Especially when you want to see a specialist.

For ER you have to remember and take into account that those who don't have insurance essentially have to go to the ER (they can't be turned away) for care. So you can get long wait times their because you get an over abundance of people with sniffles etc (even worse than the same type of idiots who do it in Canada). And that is the reason the argument against socialized healthcare often revolves around "we already have it. People can get care if they want it!" A good portion of the US tax paying public has no concept of preventative medicine let alone that preventative medicine leads to cheaper overall health costs (personally and for the country). Heck we have a supposed well educated friend who bragged last year that it was her daughter's first visit to the doctor in 6 years! (she's 10). We may have let her know that was not something to be proud about.

And of course the overall really funny part about everything is that the so-called "lazy SOBs" that don't work for their healthcare or who gum up the ER system are the same primarily republican voting block that is doing the complaining....

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by Temporary_User

Expensive sure, but who the hell goes to a different country without travel insurance?
I wonder what type of doctor she went to. ER?
How much would a trip to the doctor cost here in Calgary without travel insurance?

Good point. Not sure what type of facility she went to. She did say it was extremely nice in there and had a stone fountain. Definitely not something you'd ever see up here with public healthcare dollars (not that I'm complaining)