I seldom come to these forums anymore, but I fondly recall many discussions. A common one was the lack of universal health care in the States.

With tonight's House vote passing the Health Care Reform bill, I'd like to sincerely congratulate my neighbours south of the border on a historic moment in American history. There's lots of work to do, and not everything will be smooth, but you took a huge, huge step forward. Well done.

Well, in all fairness, we have had Universal Health Care since 1982 when Ronald Reagan signed EMTALA into law.

Americans just needed to go into a hospital Emergency Room to get it. Which was pretty stupid.

Emergency Room health care is relatively much more expensive than going to a doctors office. And is easily linked to the exponential increase in costs, as well as relative differences between our country and other countries.

What we had then, and what we will have in the future will kinda like the difference between being married and using hookers. Someone is going to get screwed, just a matter of how much and how much.

Thanks Thicket! Hopefully it'll be "good enough" to make people less afraid of such reforms. And hopefully it will eventually lead to something better.

Someone told me recently if they had just called it "Health Insurance Reform" it never would have met with such opposition (except from the Health Insurance industry). Anyway, I thought that was probably true.

Today on TV I heard one woman, a nurse, saying how terrible it was. That the health industry will be overwhelmed with people seeking health care. I just couldn't believe that someone could be so openly elitist as to say that 25% of the people in the country should be denied care so that the other 75% can get more.

Today on TV I heard one woman, a nurse, saying how terrible it was. That the health industry will be overwhelmed with people seeking health care. I just couldn't believe that someone could be so openly elitist as to say that 25% of the people in the country should be denied care so that the other 75% can get more.I wonder how much she was paid to promote that fear mongering, because no one in this country has been denied care, for decades, and none of these health care bills will really change the number of people who get care.

Or maybe she's an ER nurse and is afraid for her job. They're certain to get a lot less traffic in the coming years.

I wonder how much she was paid to promote that fear mongering, because no one in this country has been denied care, for decades, and none of these health care bills will really change the number of people who get care.
Eh, you're not denied care if you go to an emergency room. Still I doubt most people go to emergency room for annual check-ups, to treat common ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes and such... until they result in something you truly can't ignore.

Eh, you're not denied care if you go to an emergency room. Still I doubt most people go to emergency room for annual check-ups, to treat common ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes and such... until they result in something you truly can't ignore.Americans aren't concerned with preventative care.

And even if they were, it's usually very cheap, or free. Around here, some of local hospitals with emergency departments, like Kaiser Permanente and UCSF, fund clinics that offer free preventative and other minor care to anyone. Why they do it is obvious, they're saving themselves from having to provide free ER care later on.

Hmmm, not sure how common that is. I know my niece is quite poor and living in Minnesota and really isn't able to get care, unless her mother pays the bills. But maybe if she lived in a big city it would be different.

This is not universal health care but it's certainly a step in the right direction. Yes there are concerns with how it's going to be paid for but hey we went into Iraq and no one was concerned with how that was going to be paid for either.

Many states have a form of medicaid called Family Health Plus but many people don't know to look into it. They offer free to low cost health insurance. Not the best but I've been on it when I was unemployed and it was enough.

This is not universal health care but it's certainly a step in the right direction. Yes there are concerns with how it's going to be paid for but hey we went into Iraq and no one was concerned with how that was going to be paid for either. Exactly! People don't ever seem to be concerned about the cost of these optional wars or how much money we're pouring into an outdated military model. In fact, I'm pretty sure that part of the budget is secret.

Exactly! People don't ever seem to be concerned about the cost of these optional wars or how much money we're pouring into an outdated military model. In fact, I'm pretty sure that part of the budget is secret.It's not secret, you can look up the budget any time you want.

And the irony is that this bill IS paid for, with higher taxes and a little lower spending, and then some, whereas the wars were funded purely with massive debt and have never been paid for.