Summations Only

I come from a country with universal healthcare. We also have very low-cost (non-cost for those who qualify) kindergarten and non-cost school system all the way to universities and doctorate studies.We pay more in taxes but the bottom-line is that healthcare is and can be seen as such a public service like the police or fire rescue that it is imperative to have. Id like to think that this country has prospered because basically everyone has equal opportunities and then motivation and interest are the deciding factors instead of your wealth.The fact that you are not put into financial constraint if you happen to get sick or if a member of your family does, allows people to concentrate on things that really matter.Could our system work better, sure. Is it good for the cost, yes. Employers have to offer workers healthcare to cover anything and everything that happens during work - that is a sensible extra to our system. We have private healthcare for those who are willing to pay - queues are shorter but quality is pretty much the same.All in all - universal public healthcare allows for public rest. No-one is left behind. A small nation needs all its worker-bees to be fit and well and I cannot think of a better way.

"Well, name your country. The chances are that you pay less in taxes to provide public healthcare. "I live in Finland. From my ~5000 Eur monthly wage I pay 29 percent tax and them some 6 percent for unemployment coverage etc.

Funny thing: that is barely higher than what most Americans pay already when you include all taxes (SS, Medicare, State, etc).--------------------------------------------------------------------------------I was not aware of that. Ive always been under the impression that you Americans pay less tax and then use the excess in any which way you choose. I stand corrected.Mitt pays only 14 percent of his though

"Oni has definitely been hacked or he is pulling huge mind game. The Oni I know and could have loved would never make the mistake of calling Scandinavia a country. The statement in a sense is true because Scandinavia is not a country."Then again Ms Palin referred to Africa as a country so no biggie I guess Those blanket statements are hazardous to begin with. We in Finland have 93 McDonalds plus other chains so availability is not an issue.What I would like to point out are the childens healthcare clinics:Maternity and children’s clinics serve families expecting babies and those with children under school age. The clinics follow the progress of pregnancies, the health of mothers and unborn babies and the growth and development of the children. It is also the duty of clinics to prevent illnesses, detect them in their early stages, promote family well-being and support parenthood.The idea behind that is that by pro-active measures health and well-being can be promoted and corrected if necessary. And since regular checks become a norm from early age, it is easier to continue them throughout your life.Status - Ministry of Social Affairs and HealthI am strongly in favor of universal free healthcare - when a person need not worry whether his/her falling ill will destroy familys economics, a person can concentrate on work or studies better.

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The current system is working fine for me. Healthcare is expensive so you need to have insurance for it. I think the problem is that you pretty much have to get health insurance as a benefit from your job, unless you're job is paying you enough money to afford it on your own (like a contract worker). That, or be so poor or old that you get it as a benefit that way. The guy in the middle doesn't have a good option for health insurance: if his job doesn't provide health insurance as a benefit then he probably doesn't make enough to buy it himself.
I don't what the solution is. Its a very complicated system.

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Part of the problem is that people aren't good at taking care of themselves and doctors do a lot of guess-and-check work. Too, as the technology advances we seem to keep pushing the latest and greatest (and most expensive) instead of sticking with the old reliables: eat right, exercise, and take good care of yourself. Everyone wants easy-to-take pills to control the symptoms instead of working their ass off to solve the problems.

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On the other side, the insurance companies, and pill-makers, are in it to make money. Healthcare is not all about caring for peoples' health. Its quite lucrative and companies are going to take advantage of that.

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Did you mean that you are lucky in a sense that your job provides you with the HI or do you think that the American HC system works fine in general?I just dont get why the HC raises so much debate. Every one of us has the same rights and on top of those rights is a right to survive.In a country where you dont have to worry about bancrupting your familys economics if you happen to fall ill, the issue is a no-brainer.Why does the fact that the police or fire departments are "socialized" bother little? Would it not actually be "christian" to give everyone healthcare with everyone chipping in to cover the costs. My heart just breaks when I read about people having lost their homes because a child has ghotten seriously ill. That should not happen to anyone!!