Fish n Chips 56

I wonder how many people in this country get 100% health Insurance coverage where they have no out of pocket expenses... It has to be a small number...


I was surprised to see we have 47.6 million receiving food stamps, it tells a lot about this country, they say the average person receives $133 per month, and of course we also have food banks where people pick up food, cheese day old bread etc...

dunroving

When I worked in Tennessee, I did, though I believe that is no longer the case (and the salary was lower than other institutions, so it was swings and roundabouts).

Considering the burgeoning health care costs arising from poor lifestyle habits, I worry that health insurance will get even higher in the US and the NHS will start charging the equivalent of co-pays. The current situation just isn't financially sustainable.

It would be very difficult to charge people who get sick because they smoke, or do drugs, or eat bad food, or don't exercise, but I do wish the NHS was able to charge people who waste their time and people who don't turn up for appointments. I'm always watching these fly on the wall documentaries and am shocked at some of the things ambulance and medical staff have to do.

Derrygal

Some US companies are getting around that by charging some people more for their health insurance premiums. The company I work for starting testing people last year for cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides and BMI - they give a discount if you pass 3 out of 5, also we get a non-smoking discount. The testing isn't mandatory, but it is an incentive to get healthy so you can save money. The famous Cleveland Clinic will not hire you if you are a smoker - and I believe that those smokers who already worked there were given a certain length of time to quit, plus help to do so.

dunroving

I think the UK is too liberal for that to work here - but I absolutely agree with it in principle. It bugs me that I subsidize other people's self-inflicted illnesses.

Ironically, the US is typically portrayed as the land of the free, a country in which people's rights are defended, but in reality, I think that describes the UK more accurately. Here you have the right to get absolutely blootered every Friday night and cost the state several hundreds of pounds to pick you up in a taxi with flashing lights (ambulance) and take you to a "hotel" where they will take good care of you and be kind to you even if you bombard them with Anglo-Saxon curse words and vomit all over the floor.

Fish n Chips 56

I've lived here since 76 and never knowingly known a person who got 100% health insurance coverage, I thought the only people getting that were executives in high paying jobs lawyers etc and our Government officials...

The best Ive had was 80% with co-pays and deductables.

Now because we are going thru healthcare reform some people are finding out their plans are soon to be cancelled, it turns out some dont cover certain illnesses such as cancer, under Obamacare it would be illegal to sell such policies.

I understand exactly where you are coming from when you dont want to cover those that abuse theor bodies, I agree with your position, but then again Life isnt fair, there are many instances where some of us pay for others, this life is fuill of instances, wether it be welfare and lazy people or tax fidldes by the rich, I could go on... I try not to think about it as its depressing, Id sooner concentrate on my own life, there is no way we will change people, thats not to say we shouldnt try if we see a way to do it...

Fish n Chips 56

Again I agree, that the UK is really the land of the free.

Getting blottered till you need and ambulance is insane, there needs to be some reform in that area, meening they need to reimburse the system, if they can afford to get drunk they can afford an ambulance ride and room for the night...

When in the Uk last month I noticed kids drinking to the extreme, from what I understand the kids drink till they are totally Drunk, the intention is to have an hangover so they are totally worthless the next day... I noticed parents seem to laugh it off, some just turn a blind eye, I really hate to see young people do this to themselves... it will cost them later on in life if they continue...

Boy, I sound like an old complainer...hahahaaaaaa

dunroving

I think essentially the excellent health care coverage was subsidized by the lower salary. This was in '96-'99 - and I think around '99 they were planning to change to a more restrictive plan (preferred providers, introduction of co-pays, etc.). Faculty members with families paid a monthly premium to cover their families but single people like me paid no premium at all.

State employees get a pretty good deal on health insurance, don't know how long that will last when more states essentially face bankruptcy.

Agree with you on the "not worth worrying about" philosophy but I also think we shouldn't just lie down and accept things. Even if things may not change, not making a fuss means things could just get worse.

I don't mind subsidizing schools (I don't have kids), libraries (I never use them), most aspects of the welfare state welfare (I have never claimed a benefit in my life and don't expect to), health care for people who are what I might call "genuinely" ill (I generally am healthy), etc. In that regard I think I am quite comfortable with the socialist perspective.

But I do get a bit exercised about the entitlement attitude some people have and their up-tight outrage at the suggestion they might take some responsibility rather than always dragging on about their rights. I also hate to see nurses, police, fire service getting undeserved abuse from the public.

HighCaper

I live in a country where health care is a profit making business. I don't go to see a doctor unless i consider it really necessary and when I do I always feel like I'm being take for a ride on the Doctors gravy train. I then have to pay the pharmaceutical shelf price for medication, of which can run into £100's of pounds (currency equivalent). So, I get really upset when friends & family in the UK complain that they've had to wait 6 weeks for an semi-serious op or 3 days for a doctors appointment (which was normally for a runny nose) on the NHS.

I have paid a monthly voluntary NI contribution since I left UK in 1991 and although it isn't very much, I feel better for having done so.

I'm saving up all my illnesses for when I go home in December

feelbritish

I agree High Caper, also having used that system in SA I think far too many people complain about the NHS and even here in Canada and abuse the system.
I know personally of a family that is at the doctor almost every fortnight in UK. Think they have their own parking space now Don't know how lucky they are!

jasper123

Rosie I could not have put this a better way then you just did, cant add anything to it!!! it took me probably 2 years to slow down and unwind, but still only about 70% I seem to be stuck right there, cant seem to be totally relaxed yet, but I do except that it just takes time to fit in, Im not really there yet ---- but I think one day I will be, my 3 year anniversary is in two months from now, and as you know I was in U.S. for 36 years, its hard to shake a past life that was so different to the one we have now, not better but different in every way possible,

windsong

This makes a whole lot of sense to me. I wish, wish, wish I could have the majority of my future income come from the UK but unfortunately it will be from the USA - at least this is how it will be when I retire. I will have SS, one company pension (both from the US) and one small UK pension.

I will be working over there for a while, though, and it will feel really great because the income will be from the UK. Having to rely on most of my retirement earnings coming from the USA worries me, even though I have good SS and company pension.

I, too, have already wondered about the physical ailments from decompressing. I have experienced a few stressful times in my life and, after they passed, I got sick and/or depressed. There's only so much our bodies can take.

Regarding comparing countries, I have caught myself doing this on the phone a few times. It's usually with regard to having a large stand-alone freezer and dryer here in the U.S. In the UK, they do without - usually. You are quite right, too. The other party really is not interested.

Truthfully, I am a bit worried about the adjustment phase but I have already worked out the pros and cons of living in the US vs the UK on paper - well actually on the computer. When all is said and done, I am FAR better off - in every way - in the UK than the US. And what's more I am going home to the country I never wanted to leave.

The list I made also helps in the times I get really scared about making the move back. You know . . . the usual "what if this, what if that happens". So what if any of them happens, I am still better off in the UK. Bottom line!

windsong

I agree, Rodney. Rosie put it perfectly!!!

I can't believe you are going on almost three years!!! We need to have an online expats celebration!!!

windsong

Speaking of bad food, I have almost giving up eating meat in the U.S.

Last week I went into three different grocery stores to try to find some meat that hadn't been injected with hormones or this, that or the next thing.

In one supermarket, ALL the prepackaged meat had hormones in it. I went to the fresh meat counter; they couldn't guarantee it that any of the meat didn't have steroids. I bought nothing.

In supermarket No. 2., The prepackaged meat counter must be about 35 feet long. One foot of it contained meat that did not have hormones in it. Again, I went to the fresh meat counter - same thing. They said it contained hormones. I walked out.

In supermarket No 3 - Same thing as No. 2.

I don't know where my head was but I've read about the animals being injected with hormones (which is atrocious!) but thought perhaps that meat containing hormones made up a small portion of what was on the counters. WRONG!! It is 99% if not 100% of what is on the meat counters.

Each time, I verified my findings with the head butcher and in one supermarket, I tore strips of the store manager!

Now, I can't eat meat without gagging! I have meat in the freezer that I bought before I did my investigation. I just can't bring myself to eat it.

When I was in the supermarkets, I got talking to a few of the other customers who were buying meat and I told them about the hormones issue. They didn't know that it was in the package of meat they were holding. They looked horrified.

Some of the prepackaged meat states clearly on it that it has hormones in it but not every package is marked.

Today I bought eggs but how safe are they! If chickens are injected, then it will affect the eggs, too!

Fish n Chips 56

And what about all the antibiotics injected into animals, the vets profit and so do the farmers, eventually we will run out of antibiotics to help us when we are ill... Nobody cares, its all about the Money...

windsong

Yes, I agree totally. It's all these antibiotics getting into our bodies that make so many immune to them these days; hence the reason super bacteria like MRSA can be so deadly.

And no one thinks about these poor, poor animals who are being given all this muck!

So many of the things that can kill us are man-made and it is all in the name of super profits. Disgraceful!