heck thats why they do what they do, because they don't want anyone to forget they exist

Paxx, I think that you need to look into how healthcare works in the US, as you obviously don't have all the facts. As I said, there are a lot of basically free healthcares out there (on top of Medicare and Medicaid), you just have to take the time to enroll in them. It's a "help yourself" type thing. There are also many free clinics (I donate to a free Womens clinic every year), but the person has to look for them. You will also not lose your house because you have a $100,000 medical bill. We have laws that protect people. The law is- as long as you make monthly payments (even if they are only $10) then the medical facility has to accept it as terms. (If this was not the case, my next door neighbor who has racked up over $2 million in medical bills due to a bad liver wouldn't have a home right now) If you don't pay at all, that is when you get in trouble. There are also many organizations that help people like that. But again, you have to put the effort forward and help yourself.

Gads - you're all smart enough to read my horrible typing contextually... but, just in case:

are rich enough /FOR/.... not 'poor'. Gads. Coffee, here I come!

kthxbye, no offense, but you only talked about Medicaid and Medicare. I was referring to the low cost health plans that were available on top of them. I don't know what state you live in, but Michigan has one that fills in the gaps. Yes, it is mainly for Children, but it is only $5 per month. There are other ones, too, that are offered by private institutions, but you have to look for them. Even when I was living in Metro Detroit, before I started at Stardock, I still found healthcare on my own that was affordable. I was making less than $17,000 a year (and the cost of living is very high here) and totally supported myself. It is out there, you just have to take the time to find it.

As for those health plans, KG - yeah, I've heard about one in Maine - but I've honestly never lived in a state which provides them (VA, MD, OK, and Minnesota most recently - though I never looked in Minn,) so I can not speak of them.

Or - if any of these states /do/ provide them - they don't make the people who could benefit from them know about them - and isn't that just as bad?

(Augh - being glared at - I'm really running now!)

My father in law (American living in PA) is retired and either has no insurance or his insurance won't pay, it seems (I don't know all the details). The thing is, he needs a kidney transplant and the anti-rejections medication he will need to take cost $2,800 per month. He was telling me that he makes a tad too much money to apply for governement help, but yet he can't affort $2,800/month.
A good thing he is a vet and luckily the army or something are going to pay for it. But had he not been a prior military, he'd had been in big doodoo.

Brad, even if it was only 5% (which kthxbye seems to say is lower than reality), it still reprents a "mere" 1.1 million people. That heck of a lot of people, Brad.

caeonics: seems like a lot of US citizens know foreign policy only from Tom Clancy novels

*treading lightly here for various reasons, one being my left foot got heavy all of a sudden*

US health care sucks.
It is broken and needs to be totally revamped.
They also need to leave religion out of the equation when it comes to clinics.

Safe sex and Aids are both things a pregnant 12 year old should be hearing about,
abstinence is rather a stupid ploy to divert reality into accepting myth and mythology
as a means of birth control.

AIDs in Africa is a horror, AIDs in the USA is a choice, got to love it...
Billions for better ways to kill is a good indicator of exactly where this nation stands when it comes to social issues.

Out of sight out of mind..

I won't go into this deeper, but my WIfe has been and is on review boards for grant request proposals in Washington DC. She has been connected with the Administration of non-profit clinics for 12 years, the last 8 as either a CFO, CIO or CEO. She has now moved to the private sector and our business was formed.

Most of the problems involved with the health care system revolve around catch 22 situations. A needs because, but B gets because A did not have a certain thing filed in time, so B gets put on the happy happy list and stock piles what hey do not need, but A in fact is desperate for. B would consider giving A the stock pile, but that would be against the rules and B would face being banished to the land of Monroe County, even cockroaches pack up and move away from there. So A sweats it out in hopes that something positive will happen, B stock piles more and more ad has to expand for more storage, and the Politicians say " See, yes, our greatness, see what we provide, we have clinic B who was in dire straights in deep need of product 123 and I, yes I no one else, I made sure they got it, but look at clinic A over there, my good Friend and opponent did his best to keep costs down to prove he is not wasteful, and yet Clinic A does without barely abe to operate, if you elect me I and only I will ensure all is equal and the land shale be smiled upon by those above and sunshine will break in every yon window on the morn"

So the moral to this story is, research it and you will be shocked to find out all parties concerned spin spin spin and they all gasp in anticipation when the bottle labeled " your it" starts to spin slower and slower.

US health care? yeah it works, for some, not most...
It's broke and running on 3 cylinders and still firing on 8 plugs burning holes in tops of pistons...

give me a day and I'll tell you what I really think

exactly, catch 22

hopig things come around soonest too !

i've lived in America over half a century, have sometimes qualified as poor, sometimes as upper middle class, sometimes spent years with no health insurance, and have received acceptably good- to -excellent health care my entire life. i pointedly did not wait for big brother to bring it to my door and hand it to me.

There you go. Warewolf confirms my point.
I don't know why my father in law doesn't have insurance, I am not going to question his life. Maybe it's too expensive? Maybe he makes a little too much to qualify for cheaper insurance? Or maybe he has a cheap insurance that he can affort but they won't pay for the $2,800/month? I don't know. But the fact remains that it's his life at stake without those medications.
I believe that society (governement, tax payers, etc.) have a moral responsibility towards the welfare of all its citizens.

In Canada, the health system is the provinces responsability, not the federal. So is the education system. So, yes, I agree with you. All the regions have different needs and it should not be a federal responsability. On the other hand, the federal does contribute (a little) financially to health and education, but the provincial governements administer it.

hmmmm...

I have not investigated fully the problems with Medicare or Medicaid. I do know it was hard for me to get it. At the time I had lost my job and was in serious need of medical attention. I was a college aid but as a college aid, I was not a regular employee and enelagable for unemployment. I could not get COBRA because of its cost. I couldn't apply for unemployment because I was not a regular working Joe.

If it wasn't for my family, specifically my Mother, I would not have gotten the coverage I needed. Mostly because I wasn't poor enough at the time.


Many people do not know or have the resources to know what is out there to get them help. I know I am struggleing right now, but I do have many things going for me and have many sources to look for help (although I have not found them yet). When I was on the medicaid line I saw many who had nothing at all. Abused women, teenagers, young adults...


Alls I know is that it took allot of work to just get Medicare coverage. Allot of effort, and allot of time and eventually money because of the hours my Mom had to take from work to come with me.

It would seem allot of progams are configured to turn people down. I understand helping the most needy but sheesh. I really needed some assistance then.