Quote from: Paula Christine on April 30, 2014, 10:48:50 AM
I feel for those here in the US that have been "kicked to the curb" by their insurance plans and companies because of this new socialized medicine plan our "king" wants. I'm fortunate enough that my company has a good, stable plan that , tho we pay for thru our payroll deductions, hadn't had rates skyrocket(yet). HRT is covered but surgeries are not, so its... "I can feel better and sort of look better, but not remove and replace that which causes us the most pain".
And the company I work for was named best trans*friendly and supportive in the industry. So unless I really screw up doing something, my job and being out(whenever that is) is safe. My boss and others in the office are totally supportive also.. and hes a good friend. I trained him on his current plane ..
If the US continues the way its headed, most of the private sector employees will be left out in the cold because there are no penalties for insurance companies dropping their insured. And -then- the employees will be fined for not having coverage. But no one will cover them..
Wow, sounds like a great system you have over here. I mean, all you have to be here to be guaranteed medical care (whether you paid any tax towards it or not, and you'll never see a bill for medical care that isn't a prescription, and only if you can afford to pay it) - that's significantly better than yours in the US mind you, check the life expectancy figures, the EU is well ahead with about a third of the spending per capita - is to be an EU citizen. What Obama wants to do has absolutely nothing in common with the NHS. Every single person living and working in the UK that pays tax collectively contributes to the collective health costs of all. When we need help, we turn up and ask for it - without paying anything out of pocket. Here, someone earning, say, the equivalent of $30,000 might be spending the equivalent of $300 in tax towards the NHS that year (how much do you spend on your insurance premiums - as a health person that's never needed medcial help, that is?) - whether they don't need the help - or whether they need help costing the NHS $100,000. Sometimes, because we have a right wing political sphere at the moment, we have to wait for that help because everyone wants the NHS's services, they just don't want to pay the tax to pay for it. I have a knee reconstruction once that cost the NHS about $50,000 - $60,000. You know what I had to do to get it? Need it, and wait six months. And you know what, the doctors
wanted me to have it. And not because they got paid more for doing it. Nope, they were salaried and they would have got the same had they done nothing at all. They wanted me to have it because it improved my quality of life. That's what motivates the NHS. Empathy, not "rational self-interest". Even if your system produced results (it obviously doesn't, see my last post), I'd rather have the "socalized medicine" because I wouldn't feel like a stack of cash to the doctor eyeing me gleefully for the fat paycheck I represented.
