http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/26/its-the-feel-good-story-of-a-feel-bad-week Comments On: It's the Feel-Good Story of a Feel-Bad Week... by Dan Savage en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 18 May 2013 09:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by ZT Goddess]]> Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:44:18 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Cassette tape fan]]> Tue, 31 Jul 2012 08:34:00 -0700 The Stranger
No, it only seems surprising or astute to those for whom universal health insurance is not the norm. Bieber has a perfectly typical political belief which practically every 16-year-old Canadian shares (and most other age groups too). As @13 said, pride in our health care system is a fundamental part of our national cultural identity.
Posted by zender]]> Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:12:23 -0700 The Stranger
But please help us understand how to pay for insurance for everyone....
Posted by oh Danny, you are so smart, please tell us.....]]> Sun, 29 Jul 2012 05:29:53 -0700 The Stranger Posted by NorwegianCanuck]]> Sat, 28 Jul 2012 05:34:03 -0700 The Stranger The evil American is YOU, Beebs!!
Posted by Anya1anya]]> Fri, 27 Jul 2012 04:58:13 -0700 The Stranger
If you want to know what's wrong with America, it's a long history of that sort of thing. And I'm not talking about health insurance, either.
Posted by gromm]]> Fri, 27 Jul 2012 00:10:26 -0700 The Stranger
Just any dipshit Canadian can tell you what's wrong with the system. Even Justin Bieber.

Oh wait, didn't Dan say that already?
Posted by gromm]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:59:05 -0700 The Stranger
As a Canadian living in Norway (also with universal health care), I ran across a news article a few months ago about a Norwegian student who was studying in the US. He was bit by a rattle snake, was in the hospital overnight and released the next morning, and the Norwegian Government received a bill for over 300 000 USD.


Posted by NorwegianCanuck]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 23:18:32 -0700 The Stranger Posted by abrock_ca]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 17:19:23 -0700 The Stranger
or his he a limosuine liberal talking out his arse?
Posted by Cassette tape fan]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:41:39 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Snoopy The Cat]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:30:18 -0700 The Stranger Posted by MinnySota]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 16:10:10 -0700 The Stranger
And no, I don't believe that you necessarily get better care when you pay for it privately: an investigation some years ago in the UK demonstrated that much better care was delivered in National Health Service teaching hospitals than in private hospitals. The reason seemed to be that the surgeons and doctors were simultaneously doing their medical work and also demonstrating to groups of student doctors and nurses, so their practices had to be absolutely by the book. This was not the case in private hospitals, where the same surgeons often took risky short-cuts.
Posted by Megaera]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:39:12 -0700 The Stranger
S/he's selling furniture and borrowing money just to cover for the co-payments and uninsured parts.

Posted by Randomfactor]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:03:49 -0700 The Stranger Posted by yumyum74]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:53:04 -0700 The Stranger
Then I got too sick to work and had to leave my job. I did get COBRA for 18 months and thanks to Obama, the cost of that was partially subsidized so I only had to pay $175 a month, rather than over $300.

But now that I'm uninsured and still unable to work, I look at that time as the "good ol' days". In just 18 months of being uninsured, I've incurred well over $20,000 in medical costs, and that wasn't with a lot of medical care. I did have two procedures and two diagnostic tests, but no surgery or hospital stays. That was all from doctor and lab bills, and the costs of using the hospital for the procedures.

I've tried to get on SS Disability, but have been denied twice. I am appealing again, of course, but in the current political climate, unless you are literally dying in front of the judge, they consider you healthy enough to work. Never mind that about half the time I am dealing with symptoms that are mix of food poisoning and pancreatitis symptoms. I dare that judge to work while so nauseous he feels like he's swimming in it, or while in the amount of pain I consider to be "normal".

I am eligible for my state's high-risk pool, which is stopgap until AHA fully kicks in in 2014 and insurance companies can no longer deny for pre-existing conditions, but the premiums are insanely expensive ($1,100 a month for the same coverage I was getting through my COBRA at only $300 per month) and without a job, I just cannot afford them.

But here in America, profit is king, regardless of how you have to get it or who it hurts in the process. It makes me ever sicker than I already am.
Posted by SherBee]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:34:55 -0700 The Stranger Posted by freshnycman]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 13:21:52 -0700 The Stranger
My father was Canadian...I am U.S. Citizen, I am pursuing my dual citizenship for just this reason...and also I love Canadians...I am blood....with them.
Posted by Freetobegay]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:48:07 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Mine]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:25:19 -0700 The Stranger Posted by Barbara]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:22:39 -0700 The Stranger http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/20….

It is the profit motivation that makes health care in the U.S. such a sick system. Profit and greed go hand in hand. I don't know where I heard this, but health care companies seem to have a motto of "delay, deny and hope they die".
Posted by Barbara]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:21:28 -0700 The Stranger
Healthcare is not just another product in the marketplace. The problem with the Republican vision of healthcare reform, such as it is, is that their 'plans' all treat healthcare like just another product, and that the invisible hand of the marketplace will solve all.

Tell a seriously injured gunshot victim to clip coupons and do comparison shopping when deciding which ER or trauma center to "patronize".

Healthcare is a right in a civilized society. Conservatives despise this notion, but it is already partially handled that way, in that an ER cannot legally deny care to someone who is dying.

It is well past the time when more cost-effective preventative care, care for chronic conditions, and other care that is not immediately a matter of life-and-death should be also be universally available--and at something less than a financially ruinous cost.
Posted by Functional Atheist]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 12:14:20 -0700 The Stranger
Posted by Deebs]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 11:36:43 -0700 The Stranger /thread
Posted by venomlash]]> Thu, 26 Jul 2012 11:19:00 -0700 The Stranger