There is one major drawback to some countries with universal health care: they won’t let me in. I am married to an Australian but am not able to live there with him because I am disabled and might be too much of a drain on their healthcare and disability resources (even though I have never needed benefits, just health care). There was recently a scandal about how an international CEO had to use her personal connections to get residency: she was initially denied immigration just because she is blind. Never mind how much she earns. So recently when my husband worked a year in his home country I had to stay with my parents in the US and visit him on a 90 day visa.

What we have in the US is neither a decent state-run system nor an actual market solution to healthcare provision

It’s a for-profit system for most Americans.  The actual “market solution” to healthcare “provision” is yet another libertarian pipedream, unfortunately.  We need a real single payer system for health care.  It’s attainable.  It’s humane.  We need it now.  Wasting time on pipedreams is literally killing Americans as we speak.

http://jezebel.com/5900830/faking-cancer-to-make-money-and-get-free-stuff-is-officially-a-thing

I like the idea of a minimalist government that interferes as little as possible, but *clearly* the one thing such a government should do is to protect the weak and the poor.

In this case we’re not just talking about the poor. We’re talking about anyone who doesn’t have hundreds of thousands—or even millions—of dollars on hand to cover an unexpected medical emergency. So basically anyone other than the super-rich.

But this has clued me into how messed up our system is – being charged for expensive tests twice – being tested for things I do not need so the system makes more. Being pressured by practices to choose them (they make bank every time they do a delivery). I feel like a cash machine.
I also realized I have to study and examine every co-pay bill with care because they (doctors, labs, insurance) are trying to get you anyway they can.

It’s wrong and a pain especially if you are trying to take care of yourself and keep a healthy outlook.

I’ve paid taxes in my home countries for a long time. I’ve not needed to use the healthcare systems in any large way, minor injuries is the largest I’ve needed to use. But I am PROUD to pay my taxes and will not cheat on taxes because I see them as being important. 
Socialized healthcare has nothing to do with charity and everything to do with the most efficient use of money to run healthcare and the biggest gain for the whole of society. We are healthier and more productive for longer here (in Sweden) and need not panic if we get a treatable disease. That is a GREAT feeling, knowing that IF something goes wrong with me or a family member then that gets taken care of if possible.

We pay our insurance premiums as taxes. We also pay our school fees (tuition) through taxes.
That means that I will send my kids to the very best schools available for “free” (that is, I don’t have to sell a kidney or mortgage the house). I DO have to pay pretty high taxes, but those are always just a percentage of my income. No income, no taxes. Unlike the other system where there is no connection between how much you have to pay and your income, ultimately seriously penalizing anyone with less than a hundred grand per year if they end up needing real service (your insurer is going to figure out how not to pay all the costs). My dad had heart surgery. He has a good income and would have had decent insurance. He would still have ended up with sizable insurance bills that would have severely impacted his retirement plans (he would have had to sell his very  nice apartment) had he been in the US. Fortunately, he is in Iceland. Fixed.And again, the healthcare system here is much cheaper per individual. Cheaper, more efficient,  more inclusive, and better results… what’s there not to like? Taxes? Toughen up and pay up!

Claiming otherwise is very strange thinking indeed.

I don’t think either the US or the UK governments have been fulfilling their duty to protect the poor for some time now.  They are both just another powerful bully trying to fleece us.

Sad but true. 

I was going to say “it makes you sick”.   But I suppose that’s the point.

What a difference a month makes.

The weird spot on my neck had been there for…a long time.  Two of my co-workers and then my girlfriend started on me to get it checked.  After much sighing and delaying, I did.

Melanoma of course…but mine is not one of the sad stories. Early detection. Insurance covered by the workplace. And I sit here with a dozen stitches in my neck and after reading these really tragic experiences that people are forced to go through for their care; I am humbled by how luckyluckylucky I am.

For one moment during my third visit to the hospital for my second surgery I felt a stab of irritation at paying my (negligibly low) co-pay…Then as I lay on my side for 30 minutes as the electric knife singed the bad cells away I thought how much it would cost to pay the skillful Doc and excellent Nurse for the same procedure out of pocket.  I realized right then how myopic and foolish it was to complain about anything related to this experience: and when friends and family started to get ‘overly concerned’ I had to diffuse with all honesty ‘There are so many people with real problems: this is not one.’

That the richest and most powerful nation in the world cannot put forth a workable system to heal and care for its’ citizens is frankly a disgrace.  I get how intrenched the ‘for profit’ and ‘not rich? too bad’ mentality pervades the very idea of direly needed health care overhaul; but as you so succinctly put it: Fuck that and fuck them.

A single payer universal care for all our people would be proper and humane; and would do much to shore up the rickety rhetoric of ‘The Shining City on the hill, best of all possible countries’ crowd…

I hope I see it in my lifetime, and damn well believe I’ll vote for and support those that endeavor to implement same.

Be safe out there everyone…and get and stay well Xeni.