My Heart Hurts
Options
Replies
-
acorsaut89 wrote: »acorsaut89 wrote: »
I wasn't interested in politics at all with this . . . Mostly just pointing out that I recognize it's not free, however if the OP lived in a country with universal health care this post probably wouldn't be on here.
The US does have a halfway decent National Healthcare system. The problem is that you have to be either age 65 or have been disabled for 2 years in order to enroll. Every worker pays for it with payroll taxes throughout their working life (OK, there are a couple of industries that are exempt like the railroads who provide their own) and those who are enrolled also pay a monthly premium of $105 per person ($104.90 to be exact). Many who have it also have private insurance that covers more services or cuts the out of pocket costs for covered services.
Back to the OP: why are you not covered under your parent's insurance? They can keep you on until age 26. You do not have to be a student. You can even be married and not living with your parents.
I think people are conflating insurance with health care ...they are not the same..
US health care is top notch ..
US insurance system is a mess...
Excellent summary. This stuff is expensive. Do you know what happens in countries that can't fund the high cost of health care? They just die. Compare life expectancies especially Developed countries to third world countries...
It's expensive because it's a supply and demand factor . . . not everyone can be a doctor or perform open heart surgery so they kind of know they've got you. While doctors themselves may be doing it because they want to better people's lives the administrative part of it knows there's a lot of money to be had because people need it, and they'll pay for it to live (for the most part, not in this case).
It's like gas for your car - do you have the equipment necessary to turn crude oil into usable fuel for your car? Probably not . . . so the oil companies know you need their products and they don't have to help you out at all.
Also - while developing nations may not have the best health care systems and practices in the world, North America's life expectancy is going down due to us over eating ourselves and stuffing our faces with food that isn't good for us all the time, combined with a lot of inactivity overall. For the first time in history, parents are expected to outlive their children.
There are nations in western Europe that have a higher life expectancy than a lot of North America . . . while they are developed nations, they aren't necessarily super powers, either. It's not always about how much money or how great your health care system is if people don't take care of themselves and look out for a future.
Not trying to start anything, or argue with you, just an interesting point to consider.
Hey, some people become doctors to make money haha. Not to mention part of the consideration for the evil administrators is to actually pay the damn doctors...
Yep I wonder what our life expectancy would be if we took better care of ourselves, but I will admit it's nice to know it doesn't take a huge budget to give people a longer life with hopefully some decent quality to it...
0 -
Besides, life expectancy stats as they are currently defined and calculated are a poor measure of health care efficacy...
That may or may not be true - what is certain is that life expectancy was dragged into this conversation as "evidence" of the awesomeness of the US system. So you'll have to take that up with them. :drinker:
-
Hey you did say questions had to be asked if Costa Ricans are living longer than Americans, now you don't want to answer any of them??
0 -
Besides, life expectancy stats as they are currently defined and calculated are a poor measure of health care efficacy...
That may or may not be true - what is certain is that life expectancy was dragged into this conversation as "evidence" of the awesomeness of the US system. So you'll have to take that up with them. :drinker:
-
Hey you did say questions had to be asked if Costa Ricans are living longer than Americans, now you don't want to answer any of them??
Sorry - I didn't say any such thing.
My comment was specifically directed to what I actually quoted (shocking, I know) - that life expectancy is "a poor measure of health care efficacy."
0 -
Best eight minutes you will ever spend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGouBmo0M&noredirect=1
These are moments I love Canada. Health care isn't cheap any way you slice it. What is the "tax freedom day" in the US? April? In Canada I believe it is June. So we pay a couple extra months of taxes so we get the health care when we need it.0 -
FatFreeFrolicking wrote: »Excellent summary. This stuff is expensive. Do you know what happens in countries that can't fund the high cost of health care? They just die. Compare life expectancies especially Developed countries to third world countries...
The US isn't even top-25 for life expectancy. Lebanon - a country that routinely reduces itself to rubble - has higher life expectancy.
When such illuminates as Slovenia and Costa Rica are doing better, it's time to start asking questions....
@MrKnight89 That's incorrect.
Lebanon's life expectancy at birth in 2014 was 76.03 for men and 78.46 for women.
America's life expectancy at birth in 2014 was 77.11 years for men and 81.94 for women.
U.S. came in at #42 and Lebanon came in at #69. America has a higher life expectancy than Lebanon.
Costa Rica's life expectancy at birth is 75.59 years for men and 81.01 for women. Rank #58.
Slovenia… Men: 74.21 years. Women: 81.69 years. Rank #61.
The difference isn't much but the U.S. has a higher life expectancy than Lebanon, Costa Rica, and Slovenia.
M/F Numbers according to WHO
(http://apps.who.int/gho/data/node.main.688?lang=en) :
Lebanon: 78.9/82.5
Costa Rica: 78.3/81.3
USA: 77.4/82.2
And then there's Japan....85+ for both M and F.
That is from 2012.
This is 2014: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html0 -
Besides, life expectancy stats as they are currently defined and calculated are a poor measure of health care efficacy...
That may or may not be true - what is certain is that life expectancy was dragged into this conversation as "evidence" of the awesomeness of the US system. So you'll have to take that up with them. :drinker:
-
Hey you did say questions had to be asked if Costa Ricans are living longer than Americans, now you don't want to answer any of them??
Sorry - I didn't say any such thing.
My comment was specifically directed to what I actually quoted (shocking, I know) - that life expectancy is "a poor measure of health care efficacy."
But you referenced the initial statement that led to the current topic. I referenced your direct response to that initial comment.0 -
Best eight minutes you will ever spend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSjGouBmo0M&noredirect=1
These are moments I love Canada. Health care isn't cheap any way you slice it. What is the "tax freedom day" in the US? April? In Canada I believe it is June. So we pay a couple extra months of taxes so we get the health care when we need it.
Except you don't get it when you need it, you get it when they tell you that you can get it. Honestly, Id rather have no insurance industry at all and pay as I go.0 -
What I find interesting when visiting the USA is how heavily pharmaceutical companies advertise on TV and magazines. Several of the drugs were for conditions that I wasn't aware of and looking on the NHS website couldn't find much info for.
The reason we paid so much interest in the adverts was because they promised miraculous recovery and then went on to list a range of side effects that may or may not include death.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.3K Introduce Yourself
- 43.4K Getting Started
- 259.6K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 387 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.2K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 913 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions