Re: Struggling in the US
 

Sociopath culture where they all pretend to be Holy Joes ! Pharisees everywhere ! False prophets and crooks !

Re: Struggling in the US
 

If my buddy made it trust me anybody can do the same, remember he works on the mental health ward, not many people in nursing want to do this work.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

Same here in TN, and it really annoys me.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

This is really the biggest argument for a universal, single payer system. Employers would be on a level playing field where they would pay an equitable, known amount for each employee, and not be faced (as in the US) with invidious choices as to whether or not to subsidise coverage for some workers but not others.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

Standard cop-out for those who know there's something wrong with society - "they should get a degree". So everyone gets a degree, they become meaningless, and the cycle starts again.

All types of jobs need doing, let's accept that and accord them dignity.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

That's what I like about the Dutch culture "All jobs are equal"

Re: Struggling in the US
 

The problem is going to be persuading those for which the US system of rationing by ability to pay works reasonably well, or better, (which is a large proportion of the population, perhaps even a majority), to give up that system in favour of some other system of rationing.

I find it bizarre that the two countries most often held up as alternative healthcare models, the UK and Canada, have systems with limited or no possibility of those will to pay more being able to do so for faster or otherwise enhanced delivery of healthcare. When food, clothing and shelter are all rationed by ability to pay, I don't find it intuitively obvious that healthcare is any different.

BTW. I heard yesterday that of the 7 million who signed up for ACA insurance, only 800,000 were not previously covered, or approximately 0.25% of the population. Whichever way you look at it, that is a negligible number of the 48.6 million reportedly uninsured according to the 2009 census. :unsure:

Re: Struggling in the US
 

Health care should be a right not a privilege, no matter where you live.

Being a part of society should mean that, the society looks after everyone who contributes to it, in whatever way.

The constant bleating about gaining a better education, or finding a better job is ridiculous and unattainable. Not everyone can/wants to go to university. Even if everyone did go to university, there wouldn't be enough 'good' jobs for everyone, there isn't enough jobs for all the people with degrees now. Even if there were enough 'good' jobs, how would society fair if no-one worked in grocery stores, airports, cleaned at the theme parks, worked in the coffee shop...

People who work, or are trying their hardest to work, should be helped, and not, for instance, have to spend sleepless nights over a lump in their breast but not be able to afford to see a doctor.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

So presumably many millions are still unable to afford the insurance? When i checked the exchange it was still $400 to $600 here for my family depending on whether i wanted a POS or PPO, not what i would call affordable for all.

So now the ACA mandates that these hard up families pay a penalty fee of $95 per uninsured person annually and remain without coverage. The penalty increases every year. So who's going to be be responsible for enforcing this and collecting payments?

Meanwhile all the uninsured will be using healthcare facilities with no ability to pay.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

:goodpost:

Re: Struggling in the US
 

For the poster that mentioned "Entitlement," please.

<rant>

The US is the most selfishly over-entitled country in the WORLD. It believes it's "entitled" to export its own "culture" in the form of crap TV, crap films, second-rate genetically-modified food and a slew of badly run businesses that it protects from competition. It believes that ITS definition of "democracy," despite the fact that it spies on most of its citizens and offers third-world level of public services in return, is the one that should be imposed on everyone else. Not Invented Here was Invented There - no-one else is "entitled" to a different idea or viewpoint.

Predominantly white, middle-aged 'mericans tell how they are "entitled" to THEIR pills, THEIR treatments, THEIR services, THEIR guns, THEIR religion, THEIR cars and f*** anyone and everyone else. THAT is an entitlement culture. Meantime, murder and violent crime is way higher than any other developed nation; deprivation is at an all time high and other than a cursory "look - the Oakland people are shooting each other again - isn't it bad ?" on the news every night, no public debate, no hounding of hopeless politicians and useless police, no sense of disgrace or outrage, no public will to solve the problem because it might upset the entitled ones if we took their guns away or told them they had to play nicely.

Anyone that even dares SPEAK a word of criticism is a heretic or the anti-Christ (despite the fact that most of the so-called religious people here are some of the most self-centred hypocrites I've ever come across). Last time I read the religious texts, they were big on sharing and common ownership; it all seemed pretty communist ideology to me.

{BTW, new series of "Rev." on BBC2 - superb. Love Tom Hollander.}

Couple this with the 98 year old that my brother saw at his surgery last week who "didn't want to bother the doctor as there are other people far more in need of the NHS, dear." She was admitted to hospital that day (pneumonia). Does she feel "entitled ?"

Drive down the central valley of California and look at all the dirt-poor Latino's and Latina's slaving for next to nothing, getting next to nothing in return. Oh yeah - we don't talk about them, do we..... THEY aren't entitled....

What sickened me most about the ACA blather was that all the noise was on the peripheral issues of insurance, systems, bureaucracy. Not ONCE did I hear any discussion of improving outcomes or a sense that there needed to be a step-change in clinical care to promote national well-being. As with many things in the US, all the concentration was on the wrong things - the bureaucracy and paperwork rather than what the outcomes were.

</rant>

Oooh - I feel MUCH better now :-)

Re: Struggling in the US
 

Hi i'm the poster you were referring too. In terms of entitlement i was referring to personal entitlement, you give someone an inch they take a mile ring a bell? the personal sense of entitlement that the bloated welfare state in the UK creates, not a national sense of entitlement. Having said that i thought i was clear on being in agreement with the almost 70% of Americans who feel the need for healthcare is a right not a privilege. I'm in agreement but not in the form of the current implementation of the ACA.

In your opinion I'm supposed to accept the ACA even though its a huge F up in my opinion, even despite the fact that you feel its a F up that can be improved upon, but you cant prove that. Amazing. Healthcare is a monster industry in the USA and you think it can be completely socialized in a few years?

Remind me why i have a dislike for liberal socialists who are so quick to generalize in the form of this rant again please? But the bottom line is i'm an immigrant in the right country for me, they are not. There will never be a race here where every horse crosses the finish line at the same time and its not my fault because I've worked hard to be all right Jack.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

No, just because you or someone you know can do it, in no way means anyone can, we all have different abilities and attributes and for some of us, academic learning is not a strong point, and are unable to get into college and maintain a good grade no matter how hard they may try, it just isn't going to happen.

Can we all be doctors? No, and no matter how hard someone might work and want to be one, they may just not be suited for it.

We need to drop this thinking that college is for everyone, and everyone can do it when that is simply not the case.

If you have someone who struggles with learning since they were a young child, do you really think they will be academically prepared and able to handle college course work? (example only)

I don't know about the US, but here psychiatric nursing is in demand, and schools have long wait lists, and very competitive entry requirements. You need a B+ average to even get into a program according to the adviser at the school I spoke with.

But at 30-40/hr its not hard to see why people want to go into that field, and its totally different training here, a psych nurse is not an RN, and cannot work as an RN or as a medical nurse at all, separate licensing, schooling and degree.

I am one of those people who no matter how hard I work in school, I never do well, its not from lack of trying though, I spent far more time studying then the average person would, and still fared poorly but I did poorly from grade 1 onward to grade 12. I had tutors, I had special classes, I just did not and still do not do well in school and academics.

I am also like many who don't do well in school and have tried, ineligible for student aid/loans because we failed too many times to finish with the required grades to maintain future loans, and guess what? Almost all private scholarships and grants have 1 thing in common, you must have good grades and be academically inclined to receive them.

People in general need to stop looking down on those who do what is deemed low skill and low paid work, remember without those people willing to do those jobs, society would not be where it is today.

Plus degrees alone are dime a dozen now, can't tell you how many people I know with generic academic degrees who make under 20/hr and have no career and no future prospects. Today's workforce needs to be skilled, not just academically inclined. A degree in itself does not make one skilled.

I am going to go back to psychiatric nursing since its what was mentioned. They accept 40 students per year, 20 straight from high school, and 20 from post secondary schools.

The 20 straight from high school are those who are the 20 most academically inclined, highest GPA in science, math, and English.

The 20 they accept from post secondary schools, are also the 20 with the highest grades in the above subjects.

So if your an adult, only way into the course is to have a very high GPA and still your chances are not good as their might be 20 who have one higher then you do.

Its a very competitive program to get into, its not easy, and there is strong demand to get into that field, schools have no issues filling those spots.

I looked into this program, but was advised against it, my GPA overall is only a 2.4 and no way on this planet, I am getting in with that GPA, even though it does technically meet the requirements, but there will always be 20 people with a higher GPA.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

While I could afford the monthly payments being brought back when I got a quote for California, the coverage stinks and makes it pretty useless because of the deductibles..

I see nothing affordable about it at all, yes monthly premiums are affordable, but if you want to use the services, your putting out a nice amount of money for that and for many they could not afford to do so.

Re: Struggling in the US
 

Overall, much of what you describe is now also going on in the UK. Entering a university to get a degree is seen as being the norm, and grades count for a lot (we get 800 applicants for 50 places - you have to triage somehow). Standards for GCSEs, A-levels, Standard Grades and Highers (Scotland), etc. have DROPPED over the past decades partly in order to allow more people to get enough passes to qualify for university ... so then the entry level requirements are moved upwards.

Part of the problem is that for centuries, education has been moulded by people with a certain type of intelligence and the standards and assessments still largely reflect that sort of intelligence. There are people who are highly intelligent but struggle with the rather restricted methods of teaching, learning and assessment. But then there are a heck of a lot more people who don't do well at school because either they didn't try or are just plain not intelligent no matter how you define intelligence.

I completely agree with you that the (societal) answer is not to send more people to university (widening access to university in the UK has been a complete disaster, than you for that Mr. Blair). However, unless the system changes, it is a primary answer to success in obtaining jobs, whether we like it or not.

The system sucks in many ways but until it changes we have to play by the system's rules, otherwise we will struggle.