Health Care Reform in the US

ChristMonkey95I know. I just find it ridiculous that so many citizens of this country know nothing about anything that goes on around them except a few ridiculous things they hear on TV.

Have you ever heard of the phrase, "Ignorance is bliss?" I realized that truth is way below the surface when it comes to political correctness.

2DamCeriusHah! This topic should have been based around, "What form of government gives a crap about their nation's citizens?"Here is a blunt interpretation of what government systems are;
Capitalism: Give me all your money and you could just rot in the streets for all I care.
Socialism: Whichever way the money goes it is divided evenly and shared with the common good of the people...
Communism: Money is centralized within the government's grasp, which would make it difficult for entrepeneurship among the poor.

No. Your short descriptions aren't even proper summaries of those systems. Go look them up and try again.

I'd say capitalism is one extreme, and communism the other. Socialism is somewhere in the middle and Britain is a mix of capitalism and socialism. America is ridculously capitalist.

ChristMonkey95 · #22No. Your short descriptions aren't even proper summaries of those systems. Go look them up and try again.

I mentioned that I was being blunt about it, not precisely accurate.

Replying to #23

Of coarse my fellow comrade!

Replying to #24

It appears we have define "blunt" differently.

Loonylion · #23I'd say capitalism is one extreme, and communism the other. Socialism is somewhere in the middle and Britain is a mix of capitalism and socialism. America is ridculously capitalist.

I wouldn't call capitalism EXTREME. I would think the opposite extreme of communism would be something much closer to anarchy.And "ridiculously capitalist" is a little much. Its not capitalism that's the problem (although I think we do need to implement more socialist elements). The problem is when it's unregulated it's abused A LOT. And because conservatives equate any sort of regulation with evil communism, abuse is pretty rampant. If we could stop the abuse, it would work much better.

Replying to #25

Don't confuse forms of government (or lack thereof) with forms of market.

Replying to #26

I probably should have worded that better. I was trying to say that the reverse of a completely controlling system would be a system of no control at all, and capitalism doesn't mean absolutely NO control.

Replying to #27

Neither does communism mean complete control, or anything like it.

Replying to #28

In communist systems, the government has total control over all economic activity. They don't share very well.

Replying to #29

It all depends on whether there is a heiarchy of classes.For instance, in Capitalism there are upper, middle, and lower classes, whereas in communism there are no classes at all. We could easily see the differences under their denominations.

ChristMonkey95 · #29In communist systems, the government has total control over all economic activity. They don't share very well.

No, it doesn't. Hell, in communism, there is (ideally) no government.I think you're confusing communism with communist states.

Replying to #31

Communism is the economic system, and communist states are countries where communism is implemented. I haven't confused them.I think we're talking about different kinds of communism. I believe you're talking about Marx's communism, and I'm talking about Lenin's communism.

So, correct me from my assumption, in America, there are no public hospitals? There are no doctors and nurses that are paid by the government to treat people? All of the medical workers belong to a privately-owned hospital? If a foreigner, gets in an accident, and he has no insurance that is is recognized by that hospital, he could die of blood loss in the street?Or those peoples that live under the bridge or streets that can't afford hospitalization are to die cause they can't pay for a private hospitalization?What do the government of the US of A taxes go? And don't they have a Department of Health that provides public hospitals that gives free treatment? Or maybe its because it has a State-to-State system that each state has different type of this and that and the Central government has no right to meddle on those state affairs?Cause in my understanding on this Health Care is, the Government of USA is fucked up, broke and can no longer/or doesn't provide any services to its people. We are just here to make laws, get paychecks and well, see how you screw/interpret the law we made.

ChristMonkey95 · #32Communism is the economic system, and communist states are countries where communism is implemented. I haven't confused them.I think we're talking about different kinds of communism. I believe you're talking about Marx's communism, and I'm talking about Lenin's communism.

You're misinterpreting me. As I said, the very presence of a "state" (ie government) contradicts the premises of communism. "Communist state" is therefore a misnomer, and the states it refers to are more socialist or state capitalist than they are true communist. This is why I suggested that you were confused as you apparently believe that communist states accurately represent communist ideologies.By the way, Leninism is based off of Marxism.

damanali · #33So, correct me from my assumption, in America, there are no public hospitals? There are no doctors and nurses that are paid by the government to treat people? All of the medical workers belong to a privately-owned hospital? If a foreigner, gets in an accident, and he has no insurance that is is recognized by that hospital, he could die of blood loss in the street?Or those peoples that live under the bridge or streets that can't afford hospitalization are to die cause they can't pay for a private hospitalization?What do the government of the US of A taxes go? And don't they have a Department of Health that provides public hospitals that gives free treatment? Or maybe its because it has a State-to-State system that each state has different type of this and that and the Central government has no right to meddle on those state affairs?Cause in my understanding on this Health Care is, the Government of USA is fucked up, broke and can no longer/or doesn't provide any services to its people. We are just here to make laws, get paychecks and well, see how you screw/interpret the law we made.

They won't leave you dying in the streets. Emergency Rooms treat you, and then bill you. Public health care in the US = Emergency Room care. As such, it's very expensive on the state, since emergency care is usually more expensive (since treating an issue prior to it becoming that bad is usually cheaper) and because it's basically a sink hole. They can bill you, and place you on a collections agency, etc, but there is no guarantee that they get the money from you. Private doctors will sue you if you don't pay them... Hospitals just sit back and hope you pay them back, and have a collection agency call you every day all the time.Money from the government does go to hospitals to help pay for stuff like this, but it's not well spent.

I have a mate who needs urgent dental treatment, (he needs all his teeth removing under general anaesthetic). He is looking at a bill of $11,000 for this work, of which $4,200 MUST be up front, plus $1,200 for the anaesthetic. There is no way in hell he can get that kind of money, and the alternative is dying an unpleasant death sometime in the next few years. He said the nurse was smirking when he was told the fees, because she knew he'd never be able to pay them.

Replying to #36

Wow...that is horrible...and that bitch. So, the UK healthcare system doesn't cover dental?

he's american and on their equivalent of disability. Dental isn't usually covered by the NHS but in some cases it is, and in this case it would be.

Replying to #38

Ah. That's what's wrong...people die from shit that can be easily (though painful-sounding) treatable shit all the time, but they can't afford it. And it's all because of greedy bastards with big, fat wallets.They don't care about the good of society. They just care about what they need and desire.

tehuber1337 · #34You're misinterpreting me. As I said, the very presence of a "state" (ie government) contradicts the premises of communism. "Communist state" is therefore a misnomer, and the states it refers to are more socialist or state capitalist than they are true communist. This is why I suggested that you were confused as you apparently believe that communist states accurately represent communist ideologies.By the way, Leninism is based off of Marxism.

In MARXISM, there is ideally no state at all. However, one of the key premises of LENINISM is a state run by a very powerful dictator. So, a communist state is actually NOT a misnomer, because both Marxism AND Leninism are communism. Now, if someone were to refer to a country as a Marxist state, THAT would be incorrect. But I'm not saying that.Marxism really isn't "used" at all because no one can make it work. It really only works in an ideal world, or at least one closer to ideal than ours.