Happy Birthday U.S.A.

[dawman]

article-1193793-056764B3000005DC-721_634x469.jpg

[netguyjoel]

Acccchhhhhlllllaaaaa flem ccchhhhlllllaaa flem muchchchchaaaaallllaaaa,

yeah...I hate traditional Judeo-Christian values too...that's exactly what's wrong with this country......

nice one JV

[iSiStOy]

[algorhythm]

Valis, you're owning this thread. kudos on most everything you've said.

rationing food, or means of supply of food will only make people sicker

Actually, rationing food for obese americans might make them healthier.

[garyb]

well, fat and obese are two different things. some people are VERY healthy fat. i can't put fat on. obese is mainly the result of processed food and no exercise, so the lifestyle that has been promoted by those who now speak for rationing(and there's very official talk) seems unfair. once again, the farmer breaks the plow horse's legs and then beats the animal because it can't plow the field.

welcome back algorythm!

[valis]

Valis, you're owning this thread. kudos on most everything you've said.

Don't make me reread this thread just to make sure I'm not utterly embarrassed by something

..obese is mainly the result of processed food and no exercise...

Agreed. And 'rationing for your health' sounds suspiciously like something our papers reported for the USSR some years back, only with a nicer helpful 'nanny state' overtone added too boot.

& ditto on the Welcome Back algorhythm!

[King of Snake]

This sounds close to the system we have here in Holland although yours sounds a lot more expensive.
Over here, there's a mandatory base insurance as well that will cost you between 80 and 100 Euro's a month, depending on which insurance company you are with.
You have the option to switch to a different insurance once a year if you like their price or service better.
For stuff like the dentist, you have to buy an extra insurance as well. I'm not sure of the costs for this but let's say that's another 20 euro a month. For the base insurance, you have a 150 euro "own risk" (ie you pay the first 150 euro yourself before the insurance kicks in) but this is only for the base isurance and not for any extra insurances, like dentist, you might have.

Personally I don't have a problem with this system, although it gotten more expensive since they privatised the whole system a couple of years ago (before that you could have a base insurance with a cheaper, government-run healthcare fund). It seems to me it's definitely preferable to having millions of people with no insurance at all.

Sorry about being that late on that topic but allow me to tell you about my experience of health insurance here, in Switzerland (I could compare with France and Luxembourg as well) :

Costs between 200 & 300 chf (nearly equal to $ currently) / month and IS mandatory (called LAMal).
No reimbursement before having been invoiced 300 chf / year.
No cover for dental, nor glasses. You need complementary insurance.
Politicians claim it is a good thing because health care accounts are balanced (I guess they are more than balanced).
LAMal is private insurance companies (hundreds of them, it's a market!) and they constantly increases contributions (sometimes by 10% steps), meaning concurrence is not even part of that game.

Many citizens have critics about that system as it is definitively unequal (instead of at least paying in relation to what you earn) and is definitively made for some economical/lobbying purpose so that, each time a federal referendum is called for this system to change (yes, we can here. I mean not me because I am not Swiss), it fails.

Knowing that, I personally think it is a big mistake as it will not do some good to people in the mid-long term.

[iSiStOy]

You have the option to switch to a different insurance once a year if you like their price or service better.

Same here. Don't miss that anniversary date if you've been tricked by microscopic contract terms.

Personally I don't have a problem with this system, although it gotten more expensive since they privatised the whole system a couple of years ago

Quite feeling the same and I assume private system doesn't help upgrading its quality, as the main goal is certainly not to serve people.