I can wait 8 years for Universal Health Care. Can America wait that long?

Yes it can, after all, the USA is the only developed country in the world not to have a comprehensive healthcare system as it is. If you are asking, should America wait that long, then in my opinion I would say no.

I live in the UK and work in the NHS (our universal health care system). It has problems, but not as many as the US healthcare system has. Despite spending much more per head of population than other developed countries, the US has worse health outcomes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care#Economics Life expectancy and infant mortality figures in the US are worse than in other developed countries, despite more money being spent (and wasted) in the USA.

In the UK there are waiting lists for routine problems. Problems that can not wait are treated as emergencies. Also, in the UK, people can also have private health care. If you have suspected cancer for example, you are see within two weeks, or if appropriate, the same day.

I can understand Americans being proud of living in the richest and most powerful country in the world. What I can not understand is why Amercians settle for a more expensive healthcare system where babies die that would have a better chance of life if born in another developed country.

Beware loosing your job in the USA if you get healthcare through that. http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2167865,00.... Or retiring if you have become ill when covered by work based insurance. Not a problem in the UK.

Actually I don't think anyone can afford to wait for health coverage. Its something of a double edged sword, All the health professionals want to have ever increasing salaries and wages, who can blame them, this is America, the land of the free (where practically nothing is free)and home of the dollar. WE SET IT UP THAT WAY, YOU KNOW. And while the politicians wish to gain every possible vote, without offending anyone. Ha Ha Ha Ha. Some of them may actually go so far as speaking out of both sides of their face, just as long as they get elected again, and again, and again. Other countries already have some type of universal health plan in effect, how does it work for them, are there any published studies, can the politicians give you, me, us any specific details on how to make it work? Have you ever heard of any politician purposely doing something that will NOT GET THEM ELECTED AGAIN? You must know that for everything a politician tells you, THERE IS A HUNDRED THINGS THAT THEY DON'T TELL YOU, and yet these are people that YOU ELECTED.............Just a thought or two. I really don't think that there is any room for honesty anymore.....only SUGAR COATED HONESTY, which you can get from any politician, One more thing, If we vote to give a politician some sort of function and this function is taken advantage of again and again,.......do you think that they with a good conscious would VOTE TO RESCIND THAT PRIVILEGE???????????????, or to put it another way, would they actually vote themeselves out of a privelege that WE THE PEOPLE thought they would do good by us for???....Especially if with the knowledge that they posses and WE DONT they can, will and do use it to their own advantage!!!!!!!...........Some of them with complete LEGAL IMMUNITY, What do you think of politicians now?..........Paul G.

I don't want universal health care. There is no where in this country where you cannot get health care if you are in emergency need of it. NO hospital can refuse to treat you.

Look to the Countries that have universal health care and you will see the utter failure it is. Many of those countries now are looking at changing their health care system.

Besides, why would I want the Gov't to run the health care system when, first off, it's not part of their functions, and secondly, they cannot run a financially sound program to save their lives.

If you want affordable health care, cancel Medicare and make doctors less liable for malpractice. Then typical market factors will bring the cost down. We don't need big government to help us out. They need to get out of the way.

If I wanted Universal Health Care, I would move to Canada.

It's not the governments job to provide free health care for all. Those that can afford should have to pay, and those that can't should get some help with it. No one should be without health care, but I dont think the government or our tax dollars should have to pay that bill.

As a chronically ill person who has spent most of her life without insurance through no fault of her own (employers did not offer it, could not afford it, etc.) I am sympathetic to your points.

However, the idea that we MUST have UHC or we will have people without appropriate health care is wrong. It's sad that the question is framed that way for the public by politicians who want to get elected.

Besides the fact that UHC does NOT work anywhere it is being used, nor in ANY of our current government run programs, the free market (when it is allowed to exist) works. By free market, look at the price of LASIK--dropped like a rock over a decade. Plastic surgery is quite reasonable. Why? These are things third-party payers RARELY pay for and the doctors have to be efficient and competitive and make it affordable to get patients.

It goes beyond that. Look at plans like SimpleCare.com

Note that in many cities you could go to a Wal-Mart, CVS, or grocery store to a walk-in clinic and be treated for the things that about 80% of the time people go to the doc or ER for: upper respiratory infections, sprains, etc. They can get in and out fairly quickly for about $100 and a lot of those folks ARE uninsured.

Even actual hospital care is available when the parasites aren't running the show:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/article...

You should also encourage folks to tell their states to take advantage of state run high-risk insurance pools: more than 30 states took the feds up on the money we all pay to provide those programs, but nearly 20 have failed to do so. It's not a perfect answer, but it's one that has a long-track record and WOULD address your concerns without forcing UHC on us all.

There is NO excuse for the current system and NONE of the candidates, either party, IS addressing what needs to be done to either fix this mess or propose an acceptable, logical plan. There IS a plan out there, in a book, not on a pol's desk, that has a lot of merit. Key elements of the plan:

provide one physical per year with follow-up and one ER visit a year IF NEEDED for reasonable co-pays.

It would be a CATASTROPHIC COVERAGE plan that is superior to the current offerings out there because it is designed to:

provide NECESSARY medications to those who need them with no idiotic "donut hole" as in the federal Medicare prescription drug program, now copied by the Medicare HMOs as opposed to the BETTER deal they USED to provide. So no more BS when a cancer patient needs expensive meds. Partial savings are achieved from telling the ED and fertility issues folks that they'll have to pay for THOSE drugs themselves; another savings comes from removing the INSANE prohibition on Medicare (or the new plan) to negotiate and bulk buy prescription meds.

Also say goodbye to ridiculously low caps on NEEDED procedures which DO prevent many from bankrupting their families to have them.

And to reduce the total out-of-pocket medical expenses for NECESSARY procedures (again, if someone wants to spend $25K in a year on fertility procedures, he needs to bankroll that himself; but if they did that through June and then were diagnosed with cancer, we're not going to let them bankrupt themselves or be denied care for the CANCER treatment).

How to FUND the program IS addressed. It is NOT the employer's responsibility and taxes on people are NOT increased.

Hope you're interested enough to read the PDF (not the one-page blurb, open the PDF please) here:

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3068.htm...

BTW, depending on when your daughter was no longer able to be covered by you, she might be able to use HIPAA to get on a plan (especially if she chose an HSA with a high deductible I think she would find it affordable). If not, perhaps she can qualify for community college student insurance--many employers will do tuition reimbursement, so perhaps she could swing that. Not knowing the specifics of her condition, etc. I can't say. I know and agree this is NOT a satisfactory solution, but UHC is NOT coming to the US and even if you would rally support for Nathan's plan, you have to fight the special interests who will object to it because the gravy train ride would be over for them.

Before you ask for universal health care, talk to an hawaiian. They have it and hate it because unless it's an emergency, they have to wait many months to get something done such as a MRI. Take care of yourself instead of asking for the goverment to take care of you.

Hopefully never, it is not my responsibility to pay for your health care. Keep socialism out of America, we were founded as a free capital society and it is a shame that we have let it slip away as much as it has.

So, you're choosing a candidate based on what he says he will give you. One of the great democrats said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." I guess the apple fell far from the tree on that one.