Oh yeah. Socialized Health Care. Great idea since the Government is SO capable of running things efficiently.

By the way...

Who's gonna be paying for this again???

Not true, we went through the things gov runs better than the private sector in another thread already.
Paying for it?
The Union of course!

What union would that be??

The Union is BROKE. The Union is Trillions of dollars in debt. That means there isn't any money. Debt means that you owe more than you have.

So, again. Who's gonna be paying for it??

Correction.
I said Nevada. It should have been Nebraska.

The Union!
The US Fed Budget!

Where's the Fed gonna get the money??

They gonna just print some more?

Where do they get all their funds?

Taxes of course.

Uh huh.

But they said this would be good for America.

I don't see raising taxes, especially in this economy, as a good idea.

For now, they say it's only going to raise the taxes on those who make more than 200K.

I don't believe for one second that someone like me, who makes around 30k, isn't going to wind up the next target for a tax hike.

The US Fed budget is funded by a total tax revenue of 18% of the GDP.

This is really, really low compared to most Nations.

The key thing is that it's currently 18%.

Wanna bet that number takes a pretty big jump within the next couple of years?

Correction on that. The US is 35.7% of GDP.


Taxation as a percentage of GDP in 2003 was 56.1% in Denmark, 54.5% in France, 49.0% in the Euro area, 42.6% in the United Kingdom, 35.7% in the United States, 35.2% in The Republic of Ireland, and among all OECD members an average of 40.7%.

Unemployment in Denmark-56.1% of GDP is about 1.8%.


This thoroughly modern market economy features high-tech agriculture, up-to-date small-scale and corporate industry, extensive government welfare measures, an equitable distribution of income, comfortable living standards, a stable currency, a stable political system, and high dependence on foreign trade. Unemployment is low and capacity constraints limit growth potential. Denmark is a net exporter of food and energy and enjoys a comfortable balance of payments surplus. The government has been successful in meeting, and even exceeding, the economic convergence criteria for participating in the third phase (a common European currency) of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), but so far Denmark has decided not to join 16 other EU members in the euro. Nonetheless, the Danish krone remains pegged to the euro. Denmark's fiscal position is among the strongest in the EU. Economic growth gained momentum in 2004 and the upturn continued through 2006. After a long consumption-driven upswing, Denmark's economy began slowing in early 2007 with the end of a housing boom. This cyclical slowdown has been exacerbated by the global financial crisis through increased borrowing costs and lower export demand, consumer confidence, and investment. The slowing global economy cut GDP by 1.2% in 2008. A major long-term issue will be the sharp decline in the ratio of workers to retirees.

CIA World Factbook!

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/da.html

I don't remember where I got 18%.

Anyway in case you were wondering,

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Oh, so you call 2 wrongs a right!

No I don't think socialized healthcare is perfect. Who is the government to tell me I have to have healthcare? Force me to have it and force me to pay for it? You can pass laws to regulate insurance w/o taking it over. As if we are not taxed enough as it is.

Lucky for me I am moving to Japan in Feb so for the time being I will not be paying for the bill. I will have healthcare in Japan, but only paying about 8% tax. They have healthcare in their country but it is optional and not part of the tax system. Also if you are employeed fulltime the employer has to pay half of the premium. Much better system i think.

Sorry!

I'm afraid you have been misinformed 'chazster'.

The Japanese healthcare program is a universal program (intended to provide healthcare to all its citizens) is HIGHLY regulated by the government, and very much COMPULSORY for all RESIDENT of Japan.
(Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Japan)

As for the 'not part of the tax system' part! Again, you'll need to fire your information source.

The japanese government share of the healthcare system is roughly 32% of total costs. (reference: http://www.medhunters.com/articles/healthcareInJapan.html)

Government's only source of revenue, whether here or in Japan, is TAXES. And that is very much how the 32% governement cost share is funded!!!

Also, you'll be happy to know that the general outline of the US program, which Obama has succeeded to get through Congress early this morning, is very similar to the japanese program you seem to appreciate.
In the end, if all you can afford to contribute from your pay scale is an 8% co-payment share in Japan, that is most likely what you will end-up paying here in the US (or likely less) when you return.

Bon Voyage!

Actually it is paid seperatly than taxes in Japan. (you know what you are actually paying for your insurance because it is its own bill it is not completely based on a tax bracket like the US. You have your taxes and HC which are calculated seperately) Yes the government pays but healthcare is seperate from the rest of the taxes and businesses pay much of the healthcare costs -50%-80% for all employees and their families that work fulltime. The US will not make the corporations pay this I am sure.

Well it was at least optional for visa holders until next year which they are changing. It is "technically" mandatory but many areas of Japan wont do anything to people that don't sign up for it.

Check this stat "Year 2000 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) figures show that Japan spends 7.6% of its GDP on health, compared to 9.2% for Canada and 13.1% for the US."
http://www.medhunters.com/articles/healthcareInJapan.html

We didn't even have national health insurance in 2000 and Japan still paid a smaller percentage than us.

Bingo!

A'int them Republicans smart?

LMAO

Yet dems want to raise taxes for this new bill. Why should we have to do that if it was all the repubs fault? One of the problems is all the overweight americans increaseing health costs.

I am for them allowing us to buy medications from countries like canada if they are cheaper.

Not only do they want to raise taxes....they are going to do it a full three years before ANY benefit even begins.

As far as the " overweight americans " adding so much to the costs...

That is an absolute load of crap.

Educate yourself a bit and you'll see that it's people near the end of life that drives costs MUCH more than " overweight " people.

Smoking...alcohol...both of those add MUCH more cost than " overweight ".

It's thinking like that that lends itself to more and more government intrusion.

Cheaper meds? I have been a proponent of that for a lot longer than they have actually been mentioning it.

The government was " concerned " about lower quality drugs. The problem with that idea is that Canadians still buy drugs from companies in the States. So if there is a " concern " about quality ( simply because the FDA didn't rubber stamp it ) then that same concern should exist here.