'Murica! (201 Viewers)

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
What boggles my mind is how Americans believe that maybe their healthcare is expensive, but it's the best in the world. It's not. Not by a long shot. If I'm on holiday in the US and am involved in an accident, I have insurance that will cover my expenses there. But I'd still want to get back to Belgium as soon as possible to actually get the correct treatment.

Now I get you need taxes to do this. And yes, it requires effort even if you're not sick. But, at some point, you will be sick. We all get sick. We all need healthcare. The American mentality towards this obvious fact of life is crazy.
US healthcare is completely dysfunctional. Until the much-maligned Obamacare/ACA, my neighbor worked at gaming startups. His wife got pregnant and then his company collapsed, so he couldn't even do the COBRA thing and personally pay into his former employer's group plan. And with his wife's "pre-existing condition" of being pregnant, nobody would cover them. The system basically destroyed people from working in innovative startups if they wanted to have a family.

And while that is fixed, it still remains that healthcare is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S.

And while no health care is "free", I've witnessed the efficiencies Portugal gets by having a national cancer care system while eliminating the bureaucracies of 200 different care plans and administrators arguing over whether your care is covered or not. As a result, it's no Club Med, but the care is great in humble buildings and even people from other countries try to come here for care if they can, paying out of pocket to participate.
 

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Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,320
US healthcare is completely dysfunctional. Until the much-maligned Obamacare/ACA, my neighbor worked at gaming startups. His wife got pregnant and then his company collapsed, so he couldn't even do the COBRA thing and personally pay into his former employer's group plan. And with his wife's "pre-existing condition" of being pregnant, nobody would cover them. The system basically destroyed people from working in innovative startups if they wanted to have a family.

And while that is fixed, it still remains that healthcare is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S.


And while no health care is "free", I've witnessed the efficiencies Portugal gets by having a national cancer care system while eliminating the bureaucracies of 200 different care plans and administrators arguing over whether your care is covered or not. As a result, it's no Club Med, but the care is great in humble buildings and even people from other countries try to come here for care if they can, paying out of pocket to participate.
I'm glad you bring this up, because this is precisely why I believe the US won't infinitely retain its title as king of innovation.

It is an economy that forces people to stick around in dead end jobs, because those jobs come with benefits. I guess we all agree that you can make more money in the US than in Europe by growing a business. But the risks you have to overcome are also substantially bigger. Opportunity can also come from taking those risks away.

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US healthcare is completely dysfunctional. Until the much-maligned Obamacare/ACA, my neighbor worked at gaming startups. His wife got pregnant and then his company collapsed, so he couldn't even do the COBRA thing and personally pay into his former employer's group plan. And with his wife's "pre-existing condition" of being pregnant, nobody would cover them. The system basically destroyed people from working in innovative startups if they wanted to have a family.

And while that is fixed, it still remains that healthcare is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S.

And while no health care is "free", I've witnessed the efficiencies Portugal gets by having a national cancer care system while eliminating the bureaucracies of 200 different care plans and administrators arguing over whether your care is covered or not. As a result, it's no Club Med, but the care is great in humble buildings and even people from other countries try to come here for care if they can, paying out of pocket to participate.
Portugal is an interesting example.

I'm sure Americans think healthcare in countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal is completely backwards and you depend on retarded doctors. Hell, sometimes even Northern and Western Europeans can be guilty of thinking along those lines. But the reality is that (with the exception of some seemingly mafia owned territories in Italy) healthcare in those countries is just as good as it is here.
 

Ronn

Mes Que Un Club
May 3, 2012
20,866
You only qualify if you're poor it seems.

Now I know you're poor.

But I'm not. So it wouldn't be free for me.
Also only in California. Most red states chose not to expand Medicaid in accordance with ACA. In Texas there are very low asset and income limits.
 

Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,320
Also only in California. Most red states chose not to expand Medicaid in accordance with ACA. In Texas there are very low asset and income limits.
At least when you go bankrupt because you need an appendectomy you can mock Europeans for being socialists.

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Is the TL;DR Ukraine fucked, Palestine fucked, stocks go brrr?
Ukraine is fucked, but it was fucked regardless of who became president.

Stocks rose exponentially the last few hours, but I expect more of a crash the coming months.

I think you can go back 50 years and find that a Democrat president has almost always been better for the economy.
 

Nomuken

“Year Zero”
Contributor
Dec 14, 2009
5,667
I lived in Cali for 29 years, and I don't remember anyone who qualified praising Medi-Cal much other than the non-expense. Fewer doctors/dentists accepted it from what I recall.
I don’t know dude when a super ghetto family in the lobby with Medi-Cal receives proton therapy for Cancer and my mom gets Conventional treatment cause she works for a living.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
Portugal is an interesting example.

I'm sure Americans think healthcare in countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal is completely backwards and you depend on retarded doctors. Hell, sometimes even Northern and Western Europeans can be guilty of thinking along those lines. But the reality is that (with the exception of some seemingly mafia owned territories in Italy) healthcare in those countries is just as good as it is here.
Look, even I had a pro-U.S. bias coming into the Portugal health care system. I was suspicious of always being a generation or two behind on what the standard of care was in the U.S. And the classic of not being able to access certain drugs or therapies under national coverage if you wanted them.

The drug formulary is national in Portugal. And while it doesn't offer 17 different choices for a condition, it covers maybe 3-4. And those 3-4 are more than good enough. We're still behind on the newest shingles vaccine, the newest generation of blood glucose monitor sensors, etc., but the formulary works and you can pay out of pocket for the bleeding edge stuff.

And after getting a diagnosis like my leukemia, I am glad to be treating it here and not the U.S.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
Is the TL;DR Ukraine fucked, Palestine fucked (they are fucked regardless of who won), stocks go brrr?
A year ago I predicted Trump would win, Ukraine was f'ed, the US would pull out of NATO, and empire-legacy-minded Putin would put the tanks to the Baltics and Poland again.

About the only thing that's legitimately going to go brrr over the long run is the U.S. national debt though.
 

swag

L'autista
Administrator
Sep 23, 2003
84,749
I don’t know dude when a super ghetto family in the lobby with Medi-Cal receives proton therapy for Cancer and my mom gets Conventional treatment cause she works for a living.
That sucks. But it's not Medi-Cal's fault that you're getting crappy care as "Conventional" though.
 

Seven

In bocca al lupo, Fabio.
Jun 25, 2003
39,320
That sucks. But it's not Medi-Cal's fault that you're getting crappy care as "Conventional" though.
I hate systems like that to the core.

It doesn't work like that in Belgium for healthcare, but it does for legal advice. This means that people with no or almost no income can retain a lawyer for free, while people who work will have to carry the full burden. This sounds great in theory to make sure everyone gets adequate legal advice. In reality it can ruin people who have worked their entire lives. People who really do not have enough money to pay their lawyer, but who are too "rich" to be given one.

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Sorry you can’t live here bro.
I know you don't like to hear this, but I probably could if I wanted to.
 

Nomuken

“Year Zero”
Contributor
Dec 14, 2009
5,667
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I hate systems like that to the core.

It doesn't work like that in Belgium for healthcare, but it does for legal advice. This means that people with no or almost no income can retain a lawyer for free, while people who work will have to carry the full burden. This sounds great in theory to make sure everyone gets adequate legal advice. In reality it can ruin people who have worked their entire lives. People who really do not have enough money to pay their lawyer, but who are too "rich" to be given one.

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I know you don't like to hear this, but I probably could if I wanted to.
K bro sounding like a Wesley Sniejder lol…and he’s overweight too so yea checks out.
 

Nomuken

“Year Zero”
Contributor
Dec 14, 2009
5,667
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