Originally Posted by Shard

They were on that track. What's happening now are just a few bumps.

Originally Posted by MarkG

Many of the Americans I know wish they could buy cheap insurance that just covered catastrophic illness. But Obamacare required them to buy 'insurance' for everything else, too. And with a deductible of thousands of dollars, so they couldn't even afford to use it.

Insurance is the problem with American healthcare, because it's pushed the cost way above what normal people can afford to pay out of their pockets. No-one would be paying $200,000 for a drug that's available in Mexico for $200 if they didn't have insurance.

Either way, it's pretty much irrelevant. The healthcare business is on the brink of being revolutionized by technology that will make the whole debate moot.

Originally Posted by Tirytory

I've heard you say this before, it would be interesting if you could back this up with evidence about which jobs on healthcare you believe will become defunct. You clearly have very little idea how it all works.

Originally Posted by Tirytory

I've heard you say this before, it would be interesting if you could back this up with evidence about which jobs on healthcare you believe will become defunct. You clearly have very little idea how it all works.

Originally Posted by R I C H

+1

I've no idea how 600+ staff I work with could be replaced by technology.

Originally Posted by Tirytory

I always thought you owned a cafe, I've seen you mention healthcare before do you do something different now?

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian

Are you sure about that? I didn't think that the health insurance provided by Obamacare was funded by taxation and that it was funded by individuals themselves (or their employers) and that the insurers had increased the premiums by such an amount that they couldn't afford them.

Originally Posted by Shard

I think that premium-based funding was a half-way house that Obama relied upon to get the ACA through. In the short term, it's proven itself unsustainable, but the principle of universal healthcare has been established. Clearly the state has to be involved if the coverage is to be universal, and that's the mountain that Americans will need to climb. There's no logical reason for a wealthy developed country like the US to mistreat a large segment of its citizens. Perhaps to date false narratives of self-reliance have influenced right leaning voters to maintain a cruel status quo, but unless healthcare costs plummet that will change.

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian

So, how are they going to plummet the costs of healthcare? Which doctors, nurses and healthcare workers are going to agree to reduce their incomes?

I have to admit that I have no idea what you mean when you refer to "...false narratives of self reliance." I get that you believe that everyone deserves everything but not everyone on this earth agrees with you.

I have to admit that, after living here for a decade, I far prefer the welfare state that is Canada, over its UK counterpart.

Originally Posted by Tirytory

I imagine Shard is talking about the idea that people claim they made their own money etc themselves without referencing or being self aware of the privilege that allowed them to be in that situation in the first place ie parents background, education etc. I posted a great cartoon about it many moons ago here on expats.

Originally Posted by Tirytory

...the privilege that allowed them to be in that situation in the first place ie parents background, education etc. I posted a great cartoon about it many moons ago here on expats.

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian

Some people have privilege from birth and blow it all. Some have nothing from birth and manage to amass a great deal of wealth. I am not too sure that amassing "things" is that important but I appreciate that others do.

I see nothing wrong with the expectation that each will do all s/he can to look after themselves and only asking others to help them when they cannot do so.

Originally Posted by BristolUK

This one? https://9gag.com/gag/aBwDRQQ/a-short...i-ve-ever-seen

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/aBwDRQQ_700b.jpg

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian

So, how are they going to plummet the costs of healthcare? Which doctors, nurses and healthcare workers are going to agree to reduce their incomes?

I have to admit that I have no idea what you mean when you refer to "...false narratives of self reliance." I get that you believe that everyone deserves everything but not everyone on this earth agrees with you.

I have to admit that, after living here for a decade, I far prefer the welfare state that is Canada, over its UK counterpart.

Originally Posted by Howefamily

As I understand it the main difference is that all the healthcare staff are employed by private hospitals. None of it is owned by the government and of course they are all profit making businesses, hence the costs. The Canadian and UK healthcare systems are not. This is going to be the toughest hurdle, I think.

Originally Posted by Almost Canadian

The hospitals may be privately owned but that still doesn't alter the fact that, if the US wants cheaper healthcare, it will have to pay its healthcare workers less.

You appear to not understand that, in the UK, the doctors at the private hospitals are, for the most part, the same doctors in the NHS.

I appreciate that Canada doesn't allow this, but that is an ideological issue that affects those Canadians that are ill. IIRC, virtually all other countries with universal healthcare allow for the provision of "private" medicine.