I've found this video to go beyond just the question of healthcare and have a spot-on assessment of the fundamental differences between the American and European mentalities. Differences that have clear effects far outside of just healthcare.
(5 votes)
Comments
(Site Administrator)
A very nicely structured video, thanks, Phanto. A must see for Americans who say that public healthcare is a nice idea, but who haven't the foggiest idea on how to implement it.
(Old Spike)
In Belgium it is quite easy, you pay 125 a year for your healthcare, for every doctors visit you pay about 20 euro, you get back 18 from your health insurance,- this will change soon but for now it is so, the rest is payed by tax money, and we don't pay that much taxes, if you have a healthy export in your country and everything is managed well it is not 15 percent of the tax budget.
The US is another story, it has less chances of making money because it lies secluded from other country's the south is poor and the north is just Canada, if they export - the price of shipping the stuff is added to the value of the object making it more expensive and less attractable to the rest of the world. So the tax income/ cheap oil are crucial to the survival of the US, and socialised healthcare would just be to much of a burden on the central bank, the money would inflate and the buying power would decrease, on the other hand now they pay hundreds of dollars and sometimes thousands for hospital stays, rendering ppl broke or in debt, so that is not realy an option either, socialised healthcare is crucial and so is garanteed income, so when you stay in the hospital or home you can still pay your bills, that is the Belgian way, no job still money, this woulden't work in America, because of mentality differences.
(Old Spike)
right. from what i've read (and experienced myself) american's don't have the idea that much of where they are is down to luck. those who have done well think it was absolutely all their own effort and that anyone else in the same situation would've failed. thus, failure isn't misfortune (or even partly just bad luck) but all completely a person's own making. the mentality is that if you're not healthy it's your fault, not that you were just one of the ones unlucky enough to get cancer or whatever, or if your son has some congenital disease then that's just your problem, people can't fathom the concept that his not getting treatment means the country and wider society loses and taxpayer and everything that kid will innovate and produce for their whole life. nobody can conceive of the notion that society loses from bad healthcare, it's all just individual, nothing else.
(Old Spike)
I think fullauto's thinking is exactly down this route on the topic.
(Old Spike)
I havet heard of that guy for atleast 6 months or so, he would say, give all doctors guns so they can shoot the sick ppl
(Site Administrator)
Dude! I agree with everything you said above. But let's not forget all the lobbying at play in the US. Big industry / insurance companies who are keen to keep the status quo. I expected you to go straight to that point, channel your dark side, especially since Belgians are so freakin evil, eh? ;-)
(Long Spike)
He has been mobbing gun enthusiast sites where he gets much more positive feedback in the form of "Fuck yeah!"
(Old Spike)
And yeehaaa