Forums
New posts
Search forums
What's new
New posts
New profile posts
Latest activity
Internet Search
Members
Current visitors
New profile posts
Search profile posts
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Not to be political...but the elephant in the room...health care reform
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 350069" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Star, you raised the issue of the Californian system treating illegals - we dealt with this in Australia. I think in the early days of Medibank in the 70s, we had an 'all-comers" policy which in itself didn't bankrupt the system, but it was symptomatic of a general financial haemorrhaging which had Medibank finally overturned, teeth pulled and remodelled into a slimline version with the tax levy added to each person's tax bill.</p><p></p><p>Ours is not a free system. We each pay for it. But the cost to our country is $3,397 per person. It does cost more than the levy, I'm sure of it, but it means the government top-up is not that great.</p><p></p><p>I found an interesting website for you to have a look at. It's 8 years old so the per capita cost given for Australia is lower. But the comparison between countries is interesting. I think the reason for the lower cost for Australia, is the levy we all pay. And as I said before, when you're being taxed at 40%, what's 1% more?</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_spe_per_per-health-spending-per-person" target="_blank">http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_spe_per_per-health-spending-per-person</a></p><p></p><p>In this chart, you can see that health expenditure in the US PER CAPITA is the highest in the world. And yet - you have NOT had the best system in the world. Why should we in Australia have a much better system that you, for a lower cost?</p><p></p><p>Incidentally, New Zealand's system is similar to ours, we also have reciprocal agreements. You might find in your new US system (I don't know but it could be something included) that the US could well set up similar reciprocal agreements with other countries. It's one more step to a world economy (which delights some people and scares others.</p><p></p><p>My sister who has been in intensive care for nearly three weeks now, will have incurred a huge bill. I'm glad that bill is capped and also will mostly be paid by our Medicare system. Also, if the lung transplant goes ahead (and I think it is going to be the only thing that will save her), it needn't cost my sister a cent more than the Medicare levy she has already paid through her taxation. It's all covered. The lot. She could be a homeless bloke on the street but if eligible for a transplant, he would get the same care.</p><p></p><p>As for refugees and others here on temporary visas - at a certain point, they are given a Medicare card. Not the temporary visas, but once given refugee status or granted permanent residency, they get the card, because by that stage any income they earn is levied. But it also means they can be tracked. Our tax file numbers follow us everywhere (again, a unique number) and so do our Medicare numbers. It's almost impossible to have multiple such numbers. If a new one is issued, the old one becomes obsolete.</p><p></p><p>It takes an efficient and effective computer system. It would be really interesting to know, which country(ies)' system's are being used as models for the US proposal.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 350069, member: 1991"] Star, you raised the issue of the Californian system treating illegals - we dealt with this in Australia. I think in the early days of Medibank in the 70s, we had an 'all-comers" policy which in itself didn't bankrupt the system, but it was symptomatic of a general financial haemorrhaging which had Medibank finally overturned, teeth pulled and remodelled into a slimline version with the tax levy added to each person's tax bill. Ours is not a free system. We each pay for it. But the cost to our country is $3,397 per person. It does cost more than the levy, I'm sure of it, but it means the government top-up is not that great. I found an interesting website for you to have a look at. It's 8 years old so the per capita cost given for Australia is lower. But the comparison between countries is interesting. I think the reason for the lower cost for Australia, is the levy we all pay. And as I said before, when you're being taxed at 40%, what's 1% more? [url]http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_spe_per_per-health-spending-per-person[/url] In this chart, you can see that health expenditure in the US PER CAPITA is the highest in the world. And yet - you have NOT had the best system in the world. Why should we in Australia have a much better system that you, for a lower cost? Incidentally, New Zealand's system is similar to ours, we also have reciprocal agreements. You might find in your new US system (I don't know but it could be something included) that the US could well set up similar reciprocal agreements with other countries. It's one more step to a world economy (which delights some people and scares others. My sister who has been in intensive care for nearly three weeks now, will have incurred a huge bill. I'm glad that bill is capped and also will mostly be paid by our Medicare system. Also, if the lung transplant goes ahead (and I think it is going to be the only thing that will save her), it needn't cost my sister a cent more than the Medicare levy she has already paid through her taxation. It's all covered. The lot. She could be a homeless bloke on the street but if eligible for a transplant, he would get the same care. As for refugees and others here on temporary visas - at a certain point, they are given a Medicare card. Not the temporary visas, but once given refugee status or granted permanent residency, they get the card, because by that stage any income they earn is levied. But it also means they can be tracked. Our tax file numbers follow us everywhere (again, a unique number) and so do our Medicare numbers. It's almost impossible to have multiple such numbers. If a new one is issued, the old one becomes obsolete. It takes an efficient and effective computer system. It would be really interesting to know, which country(ies)' system's are being used as models for the US proposal. Marg [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Forums
General Discussions
The Watercooler
Not to be political...but the elephant in the room...health care reform
Top