No lie is too big in the war against healthcare reform 

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2009/08/bu…

My insurance company told me they wouldn't pay 'at all' for the medicine my DOCTOR prescribed and to go pick up something over the counter for my problem. Then they wouldn't pay the claim for the visit. I had to file the claim form MYSELF which I faxed to them 3-times and mailed once. It was only after a sincere threat to call in our human resources person and a note that the skinny guy was coming on TV to talk about THEM did they move on it. What a mess. Hey I believe the beltway is as messed up as the next fellow but these insurance companies have a lot to lose here. It might not be as easy to run rough shot over poor little me if the CENTRISTS in Washington would shake these flanking fringes and get something meaningful done for once! We should PRAY TO GOD FOR TERM LIMITS!!! Both parties eh, are ah....a bunch of self serving knuckle heads who act like they care about the working people of America...HA...Throw them ALL out gosh doggone it! But then that's just me..... Is there any Rockabilly in this town?

Why not talk about the hospitals funded by their States to the tune of the billions of dollars every year because the uninsured clog Emergency Rooms for non-trauma services? You’ll never hear about this on the cable news shows lying about health care. How do we fix this without some sort of affordable, non-pre-existing exclusions for history, smokers, drinkers, psychos or other health care problems that today get treated in ERs for FREE! Solve this problem and there will be no need for universal healthcare.

1st, it is well documented that US spends 18% of GDP on health care vs average of about 8 to 9% in Europe and Canada. You can see dozens of documents in support of this FACT here:
www.anoox.com/blog/uhc

But of course what is MUCH MORE important than the GDP numbers is this NUMBER:

2Mill+ Americans go bankrupt each year due to health care costs WHILE in Europe or Canada that have Universal health care ZERO person
or family goes bankrupt each year due to health care costs. Can you imagine how many Americans could not pay their pathetic $2K per month mortgages due to health care costs IF 2Mill are going bankrupt each year due to health care costs, which is THE MAIN reason for US housing collapse since average house prices in US at less than $200 per Sqft are much lower than avg house prices in Canada or Europe AND percentage of home ownership in Canada is even higher than US.

In regard to your point:
"but we have better health care in US or our health care system leads to miracle drugs and miracle advances in health care technology...."

This claim is absurd and patently false since Europeans who have Universal (socialized) health care have much higher life expectancy than US. In fact US ranks with poorest of 3rd World countries in most health care measures as you can see in this ranking:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/aug/1…
or here with more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count…
and similarly US ranks well below European countries in regard to child mortality rates and all other rates of health care. So obviously our health care is not better, we are not making as much miracle drugs as Europeans who ALL have single payer Universal Health Care.

You can read point by point answer to the LIES of the Republicans and our right-wing Media about universal health care here:
http://www.anoox.com/blog/real_news.articl…

In closing just think of this ABSOLUTE fact:
All European nations, Canada, Australia, Japan, Israel the beloved nation of our right-wing Media and all developed nations have Universal single payer health care while US and some of the poorest 3rd world countries such as Nigeria, Haiti, Colombia, etc. do not have Universal single payer health care.
DO YOU really think that All European nations, Canada, Australia, Japan, etc. etc. are wrong about universal health care as being the best method of providing health care and US, Nigeria, Haiti, Colombia, etc. 3rd world countries are right about this issue? Do you?

Okay RealNews,

Fact Check -

USA expenditure on health care is 15.7%, not 18%. Countries like Sweden and Germany spend 11%. Canada is really close to 10% if not there already. So we won't "save" 10% using your math. But the reality is we won't save anything anyhow because GDP is how much we produce, not what we spend. The notion that we spend more per GDP than other countries on health care is meaningless in this debate. Just because we can and do spend more is not a valid reason for considering UHC.

But, there is a difference in what we spend versus other countries, why the disparity?

1- The countries with UHC place limits on spending which keeps the GDP percentage relatively low but leads (as it must) to health care rationing. In other words, the countries will only spend "so much" and no more. This leads to long waits for hospital beds and surgery. Ask a Swede who is waiting in line for surgery.

2- We have a higher GDP than most countries of the world at close to $47,000. Since we produce more. this means we can spend more per person than they can in Canada which is less productive (84% as productive as we are in this country). This explains part of the discrepancy as well between what they spend and we spend. We can and do spend more.

3- We spend more money on more advanced treatments and high tech equipment than they do in other countries. This increases the amount we spend on health care.

4- We have higher regulatory costs which lead to higher administrative costs

5- We have unique tort issues in this country that leads to defensive practices by the health care community to help mitigate legal claims. This leads to higher costs.

6- We are generally more obese and unhealthy that other countries. But this is not the fault of health care, universal or not. This is because we eat unhealthy, smoke and drink. But watch out France, Japan and Iceland...your bad habits are catching up to you too. Only difference is, you have capped your health care expenditures to an arbitrary number like GDP so good luck...

As I mentioned in my last post, there are many ways to reduce the costs of health care without socializing medicine. I outlined several of them but the bottom line is that a true free market approach would go a long way. You never argued against any of these or even commented on them...

As regards to your 2nd point about how much we spend on aid, the military and other government programs that are not in the constitution...agreed. The governments ONLY role is to protect the freedom of the individual. Period. That means, the governments only role should be to provide a military force to defend our borders, a police force to defend our private property, and provide a just legal system in which we can have our grievances with other citizens heard and adjudicated. The individual and his / her happy pursuit of freedom is the highest value we should defend.

And finally, some USA companies have a tough time competing for a variety of reasons. Ford, Chrysler and GM made bad decisions with regards to promising benefits to union employees that could not be kept. They designed cars that no one wants. Health care costs are just one factor but by no means the primary one. But at the same time we have companies like Google, and Microsoft and other new economy companies that are the envy of the world. And upstarts like Tesla have people waiting in line for their cars.

Now all this said, I don't mind having a civil debate with you on the facts. And I am quite sure you won't change my mind and I won't change yours. But let's keep the slander to a minimum. I am not a republican.