I know Taiwan has it. I also know it’s easier to get elective surgery in Taiwan than in the US. I don’t know about the rest.
But now I’ve got maybe a valid basis of comparison. Everyone is now finding out the hard way just what was in that bill they had to pass in order to find out what was in it. Obamacare officially sucks. I’m not defending the old system, but Obamacare is clearly worse. So how does Taiwan compare?
Which parts of Obamacare “officially suck”? The part where insurers can no longer refuse coverage due to pre-existing conditions? The part where annual and lifetime caps are abolished? The part where preventative services are covered at no out-of-pocket costs? The part that prevents charging more for female consumers? The part that closes the Medicare Part D doughnut hole? The part where your children can stay on your insurance until they turn 26? The part where the poor, not just the ultra poor, receive Medicaid? The part where the middle class receives subsidies to buy private health insurance? The part where small businesses will receive tax breaks for offering coverage (tax breaks previously available only to large businesses)? The part that creates a patient’s bill of rights? The part that initiates reforms and standardizes regulations across the insurance industry (that the industry itself requested)?
Wait, let me guess, you don’t actually oppose any of that. But you don’t like Obama, so you hate “Obamacare”.
It’s sad to see that American conservatism has been reduced to a gaggle of uninformed idiots mindlessly parroting sound bites from Fox News. Boy oh boy, do Republicans love to vomit out that quote from then-Speaker Pelosi. Nevermind that she held several dozen press conferences before and several dozen after, demonstrating a high level of knowledge concernings the bills in the House and Senate, and their differences, down to minute details. But she provided a juicy quote for the right wing blowhards, so that’s that.
Of course…that didn’t stop Obama from being re-elected. So too bad, so sad, Obamacare will be implemented. Get over it.
[quote=“rowland”]I know Taiwan has it. I also know it’s easier to get elective surgery in Taiwan than in the US. I don’t know about the rest.
But now I’ve got maybe a valid basis of comparison. Everyone is now finding out the hard way just what was in that bill they had to pass in order to find out what was in it. Obamacare officially sucks. I’m not defending the old system, but Obamacare is clearly worse. So how does Taiwan compare?[/quote]
Since its just started, how does it ‘officially suck’.
I don’t feel like I am being milked by socialism. The premiums I am forced to pay are low and make sure nobody ends up on the street and gets stupid ideas. I rarely ever use my NHI card and let my private insurance handle the bill. And considering the low taxes compared to Europe I am more than happy to be forced to pay a small amount of money each month so that nobody has to die for a lack of funds and leaves his family dependent on public funds.
the NHI does not create wrong incentives: hospital room and board are only covered to a certain degree and each visit to a clinic still costs money.
If on the other hand I was forced to pay 300 US$ a month for the level of service the NHI offers I would be pissed.
Since its just started, how does it ‘officially suck’.
Mindless soundbites are right.[/quote]
Oh, dear. I guess the news hasn’t filtered over to your side of the planet yet. Well, in that case, you heard it here first. Now check out the news in the rest of the world. You’ll see stuff like this:
Only one of the news sources you listed there (Washington Post) is at all reputable. And according to the reports, it’s the Obamacare website that sucks, not the system itself. You’re complaining about an entirely new, unprecedented system that hasn’t even been implemented yet.
I’m not a fan of Obamacare, but I recognize the need for a better health system than well… nothing at all. And I’ll at least give it a chance before I start criticizing it.
I’ll add that a relative newcomer to Forumosa who moved to Taichung (not naming names) was amazed when he learned about NHI here because he had just assumed that, like in the US, you just walk off whatever’s wrong with you or figure out how to finance huge medical bills.
It’s a travesty that healthcare is not accessible to all American citizens. It doesn’t have to be through Obamacare, but there is absolutely no reason that sick people should not see a doctor just because they’re not rich. The US is home to some of the best medical care in the world; what’s the point of that if people are denied access to it?
One thing that jumps through my mind everytime I consider the possibility of moving home in the future is health insurance. I wouldn’t have any while looking for a job, and my future wife won’t unless I get a job that offers spouse coverage. For a first-world country, that’s just sad.
The US currently ranks 37th in Healthcare in the world. Is that what you’re defending Rowland? You’re happy that the richest country in the world with the world’s top medical professionals ranks 37th overall? Great I’m glad you’re happy, but many other Americans are embarrassed and appalled at their health care system and are welcoming Obama to attempt to make positive changes. No it’s not perfect and changes will need to be made over the years, but it’s far better than what America currently has. Notice how he got re-elected? Notice how it passed all the levels of government? Did you catch the part where the Supreme court upheld it? It seems the people want it. I know it’s shocking, but apparently the majority of the American public doesn’t care what Rowland thinks.
While I am on the same side as you guys, there is no need to be quite so… vitriolic.
Rowland expressed his opinion, which we strongly disagree with, and did not provide enough evidence to justify it in our minds. It would be a better use of time now to convince him of your position than to ridicule his.
I don’t know, he just rolled in here, repeated some stuff that he heard on twitter, backed up by a bunch of tabloid rags, and then doesn’t seem to know anything about the local health system.
Thankfully Taiwan didn’t copy the health care system from the US… they should stop with the other crap as well…like Baseball, driving like Americans, Costco…
Obamacare isn’t even socialized medicine. There isn’t even a public option. The insurance is provided 100% by private insurers. The law promotes greater competition by putting all the insurers into the same markets.
The reason people are experiencing problems signing in online is that Obamacare is so popular it’s overwhelming government servers.
I would LOVE for the US to have socialized medicine, joining the ranks of civilized countries like Canada, France, New Zealand and even good ol’ Taiwan, from whose healthcare system most of the F.com right-wingers quietly benefit. But Obamacare, though far from perfect, is better than what we had before, and is a step in the right direction toward an eventual single-payer system (at which point I might actually move back to the US).
[quote=“Chris”]Obamacare isn’t even socialized medicine. There isn’t even a public option. The insurance is provided 100% by private insurers. The law promotes greater competition by putting all the insurers into the same markets.
The reason people are experiencing problems signing in online is that Obamacare is so popular it’s overwhelming government servers.
I would LOVE for the US to have socialized medicine, joining the ranks of civilized countries like Canada, France, New Zealand and even good ol’ Taiwan, from whose healthcare system most of the F.com right-wingers quietly benefit. But Obamacare, though far from perfect, is better than what we had before, and is a step in the right direction toward an eventual single-payer system (at which point I might actually move back to the US).[/quote]
I’m a right winger but support socialized healthcare when it’s like the NHI. Being right wing and pro-socialized healthcare is only an incompatibility in the US.
[quote=“rowland”]I know Taiwan has it. I also know it’s easier to get elective surgery in Taiwan than in the US. I don’t know about the rest.
But now I’ve got maybe a valid basis of comparison. Everyone is now finding out the hard way just what was in that bill they had to pass in order to find out what was in it. Obamacare officially sucks. I’m not defending the old system, but Obamacare is clearly worse. So how does Taiwan compare?[/quote]
Obamacare is a compromise and yeah it isn’t perfect, but that is because the US can’t accept a single payer option, so if the US is gonna get healthcare they can only accept a watered down version of socialized medicine.
I cannot understand why the US didn’t just opt for a single payer plus private option.
I have opted to go outside of jianbao here before on the recommendation that I will get better treatment, some of the best doctors and clinics here operate outside the system.
Why couldn’t Americans accept a version like this, which is different than Canada and European ones?