Hi Chris:
Thank you for making this strait forward statement of facts. As a
Canadian I don't have to have these concerns and although our system
is not perfect it is fair, equitable and equally accessed by all our
residents. We can thank a prairie politician by the name of Tommy
Douglas who put people first and valued health above all. Why the US
with all its greatness continues to fail in social reform is part of
the negative mystery that other people on the planet look at and can
only wonder why. It is not ours to criticize but I think to offer
example and the hope that it doesn't have to be that way.
I volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and have been building houses
with some of my co-workers in Las Varas Mexico. Last Sept. we were
doing 3 houses, we broke into three groups of six and each group did a
house. Our house needed a septic tank dug 7' X 7' X 7' by hand with
so so shovels. I managed to get an ear infection. Never one to take
small measures -both ears and within a day they were totally swollen
shut all I could really hear was my pulse. Las Varas is about halfway
between Puerto Vallarta and the inland town of Tepic, our local
transpo guys figured Tepic was closer so I headed there. I have both
corporate and Cdn health care coverage and also had the Habitat
coverage but you need to dial 30 numbers to access it. Frankly, I can
pay and so that isn't a concern but I was headed into the Mexican
system and had no idea as to how it worked. We got to the hospital
which was busy and moderatly sized. We found the specialty wing and
went to the desk of the Otologist and were told that they could see me
right away but as a foreigner I would first have to go back to the
Hospital Administration office and pay cash. I was not going to use
the 30 digit number and frankly have no problem in paying for my
health so we lined up and got to the wicket window where the cost was
explained. It was about $5.00 CDN. The medications that I purchased
at the Pharmacia were a total of $14.00 CDN. My problem had been
resolved and quite expediciously and inexpensively, my gratitude to
Mexico. I can only wonder what treatment I would have gotten and what
the cost would be had I been in the US.
Gord
On 25-May-08, at 12:21 AM, Chris Crawford wrote:
> The USA supposedly has fully paid medical care for the needy, but the
> government here sets the income limits to receive any kind of
> financial help
> (Medical care, food assistance, housing assistance, etc) so
> artificially low
> that no one can qualify without hiding assets or lying about income.
>
> The "Poverty Line", for example, the income level at which one is
> considered
> poor in the USA is set at $13,000 a year for a family of four and
> something
> like $8000 for a single person. The problem with that is that no
> family of
> four can live on less than $30,000 a year in my hometown which has an
> extremely low cost of housing and other living expenses compared to
> most of
> the country. In places like Santa Fe, New Mexico (where I lived till
> recently) a family of four needs a BARE MINIMUM income of $60,000 a
> year to
> just survive (housing for said family would cost about $3500 a month
> there,
> compared to $800 a month in Fort Wayne, Indiana).
>
> So, the poverty line is bogus for even the lowest-cost areas and is
> laughably cruel in areas with high housing costs. Here in Indiana
> you cannot
> get Medicaid (the government health program for the poor) unless you
> are a
> pregnant woman (she loses the coverage after the baby is born), or
> you are a
> child under age 18 whose parents make less than $15,000 a year.
> That's an $8
> an hour job, but a man or woman needs to earn $15 an hour to support
> him/herself and a child in Indiana, and most people earning less
> than $15 an
> hour do not have insurance because they cannot afford it. Men cannot
> get
> medicaid at all no matter how poor they are.
>
> Mi familia es de Espana (my family is from Spain). If I could habla
> Espanol
> (speak Spanish) better I'd go back! It can't be worse than it is
> here. Hell
> Mexico might not even be that bad. There are jobs for educated
> people there,
> unlike here, and I have a university degree (and have been told more
> times
> than I can remember that I am totally unemployable...I have applied
> for 800
> jobs in 9 years and gotten only one interview and no job!).
>
> If you believe in God, Andrew, THANK HIM that you live in Australia.
> How
> ever bad you think it is, it is NOT that bad.
>
>
> --
> Chris Crawford
> Photography & Graphic Design
> Fort Wayne, Indiana
>
> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio
>
> http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work!
>
> http://www.plumpatrin.com Something the world NEEDS.
>
>
>
> On 5/25/08 12:52 AM, "Andrew Fildes" <afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>
>> In my limited experience, those countries that provide automatic
>> mediacal care to all citizns often do it rather badly - to the point
>> where my parents in the UK took out private insurance on top (BUPA)
>> to avoid long waits for what the government had decided were non-
>> urgent elective procedures - like hip replacements.
>> I favour a mix as we have here of voluntary private insurance, partly
>> tax deductible. heavily underwritten by government subsidy and with
>> full welfare provision for the needy and indigent - seems to work
>> rather well. People still complain about it though. Of course.
>> Andrew Fildes
>> afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>>
>>
>> On 25/05/2008, at 11:28 AM, Chris Crawford wrote:
>>
>>> Now, fuel is getting as costly as
>>> everywhere else but on top of that we have to contend with being
>>> screwed on
>>> things like medical care that other countries provide for all
>>> citizens.
>>>
>>> And, no, the USA is no longer a democracy...it is a Plutocracy.
>>
>>
>>
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