US Healthcare Reform Debate

Comment from a reader on your post "Heath Care Safety-Net":

[The Subic Bulletin] We received many comments on the issue of the America health care changes. Some are just Republican v's Democrat ramblings and some take to task the issues. We are just going to publish them all over the next few days and you can decided which is which rather than censor any of them but please keep future posts away from US party politics, that's a bun fight that no one will ever win and is about as interesting to non US readers as the debate on spelling President with a capital "P".

The ignorance and/or naivete of the author leaves breathless those who ARE familiar with the American health care system, AND the shortfalls of socialized medicine.

I am an American "at home," fortunate enough to be a cancer survivor, made possible by the "third rate medical health care" the author decries.

One can only wonder where this guy/gal came up with the rediculous claim that American's can only go home to die, not get better. The diatribe smacks of bovine fecal matter, folks.

and another:

Quite the commentary on an entirely "internal" US domestic matter. Read the bills proposed by the US House and Senate and you will find that it has little to do with "universal coverage" and everything to do with the Government taking control of almost 20% of the total US economy.

If your country has universal coverage and you like it, fine! Great! I'm happy that you are satisfied with it. The reality is that the majority of US tax payers and citizens do not want it.

and another:

I hate to burst your bubble but America DOES have universal health care already. For the folks who are low income, it's called Medicaid. For retirees, it's called Medicare.

So your contention that a American retiree can only go home and die if he gets sick is ludicrous.

Health care in America is the best in the world and the death rates from major illnesses are much lower in America than in the other countries you mention. Why? Because the ill are being treated better and more frequently, not less as you suggest.

and another:

The poster does not understand the current legislation now moving through Congress.

Under all the proposals, all U.S. citizens would have to obtain some kind of coverage-Medicare (if eligible by age), private insurance, subsidized private insurance, or Medicaid. Unless the U.S. citizen qualifies, by reason of poverty, for Medicaid, he would have to buy insurance, meaning that he would have to pay insurance premiums.

True, lower income U.S. citizens payment of premiums would be subsidized by federal funds, such that (varying depending on the legislative proposal) U.S. citizens qualifying for subsidies could expect to pay 10% to 13% of their adjusted gross income for their insurance premium.

Hence a retiree living in Subic with an adjusted gross income from U.S. sources would have $4,000 to $5,200 for insurance that he or she couldn't use to pay for medical expenses incurred overseas, or see penalties added to his or her U.S. tax bill. For most people here $4,000 to $5,200 annually is not a "small amount in taxes" as the poster states.