Wednesday, December 29, 2010

From An Expat: The American Collapse

 
As an American expat living in the European Union, I’ve started to see America from a different perspective.
The European Union has a larger economy and more people than America does. Though it spends less -- right around 9 percent of GNP on medical, whereas we in the U.S. spend close to between 15 to 16 percent of GNP on medical -- the EU pretty much insures 100 percent of its population.
The U.S. has 59 million people medically uninsured; 132 million without dental insurance; 60 million without paid sick leave; 40 million on food stamps. Everybody in the European Union has cradle-to-grave access to universal medical and a dental plan by law. The law also requires paid sick leave; paid annual leave; paid maternity leave. When you realize all of that, it becomes easy to understand why many Europeans think America has gone insane.
Der Spiegel has run an interesting feature called "A Superpower in Decline," which attempts to explain to a German audience such odd phenomena as the rise of the Tea Party, without the hedging or attempts at "balance" found in mainstream U.S. media.
More Here..

Thousands Without Water In Ireland

32 comments:

  1. chicken coops..goats..veg gardens..hunting fishing..water stored and treatment supply..weather anywhere can crack pipes better have a stored supply..for earthquakes, or whatever. city dwellers..dunno, contact the city or amass some people to start a garden on vacant land near their apartments? our town allows a group to farm some vacant city land. move away from ..what was the lady ..wall street! yeah move away from there, go to church too, people find alot of help there. germans must be shocked..yeah but their over a barrel-they have to do if german gov said do, to continue receiving beni's for life.."do this, or starve" is that life? I suppose many think so but still plenty of people everywhere and here that love freedom, people still wish such silly notion as freedom to live apart from massive gov regulation. could be something to do with city dwellers mindset and media lies vs farmer/rural mindset. don't be fooled into thinking must have gov to..protect, allow/provide a good life..must live in a city..apple Iapps are the way..whatever tomfoolery the media and expat's are saying today, whatever flavor of lie is popular this evening...shut off the TV

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  2. There are a lot of reasons why America pays more for health care then Europe does. Our doctors and nurses are paid more. We have more lifesaving technology like MRIs and CT. Our health care in not rationed whereas Europe simply denies some procedures to patients just to save money. For most people and for most of their lives citizens don't know if their state run health care is good or not. Then one day they are 80 years old and need a quadruple bypass and discover their particular state run health care system WON'T do it for an 80 year old and your only option is to go to the U.S. and get it or wait until you die. More often your health care DOES cover the procedure but the waiting time to get it done is 20 years or so. Canada has a wonderful state run health care system, wonderful as long as you don't get really sick. It could take a year to 18 months to get a bypass in Canada or you can drive to America and get it within a week. The city of Philidelphia has more CT machines then the ehtire country of Canada.
    As for the "uninsured" in America your stats are wrong. It may be 30 million but it is not 59 million. Most of those 30 million CHOOSE not to have the insurance. Can you LUCKY Europeans choose not to have insurance and KEEP the money it costs you??? But in America EVEN if you do not have insurance you can walk into a hospital emergency room in need of a quadruple bypass and get it!!!! In Europe you have insurance but if you walk into the emergency room needing a bypass you won't get it, at least not right away. Eventually, if you live you might get it. But in order to save money and provide health care for everyone for a mere 9% of GNP the state rations care. So indeed you are all insured but your insurance has some very real problems. In England they stopped doing emergency appendectomy and decided to prescribe antibiotics instead. The stopped doing dialysis after the patient was over 55 years old because of the cost to the government. Does that sound like good health care to you???

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  3. 2:14 you're wrong on most points. My wife got a cat scan within 2 days in CANADA. As for the US stats of 59 million that is a fact, I'm in the wheelchair biz I sell to the US..Before you shoot your mouth off, European hospitals are incredible and FAST.

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  4. haha 2:18. You're so clueless. Amazing that you have such experience with "European hospitals" because you sell wheelchairs. Cut the crap with your made up bullshit as you web surf. Second Life anyone?

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  5. 3:00 I am one of the largest online WORLD WIDE wheelchair owners on the net today, owned it since 1997. I have supplied wheelchairs to the Russian Basketball team all the way to IKEA as well as airlines and hospitals throughout the world. Don't tell me that I don't know hospitals you imbecile,

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  6. Everyone is a keyboard warrior these days, and here they ALWAYS know more than you do and you are just an idiot to them (despite a sometimes a very low displayed IQ).

    Well I happen to think that gives you a pretty good perspective on things. My brother is a surgeon, I have two familiy members in pharmaceuticals, and another family member in nursing. They all agree the US could be better in providing health care. Whats not to argue about it? All these extra tests they are willing to run cost big money, which is why they agree to do them. Everything is WAY overpriced and yet the average doctor might talk to you for 2-3 minutes, give you a prescription, and send you on your way. Healthy insurance is just another way for someone else to get money on top of all that. With 75% projected to be overweight in the US by 2015 and probably along with it even more diabetes and heart problems, disease is an industry in the US and business is booming.

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  7. You should all go to natural news.com and watch the video about napoleon from homeland insecurity, it is really funny, I dont shop there and never will, I tell as many as possible not to shop there, some are listening, lets bankrupt them.

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  8. Thanks for all the self serving horror stories on socialist universal medicare Doc!
    someone has to defend the american way.

    "Our doctors and nurses are paid more"

    But in America EVEN if you do not have insurance you can walk into a hospital emergency room in need of a quadruple bypass and get it!!!!"
    You know an have confidence that that all american emergency rooms are well staffed with heart specialists ready and waiting to serve you in a jiffy.
    No waiting lines at all!

    " The city of Philidelphia has more CT machines then the ehtire country of Canada."

    Yeh right and they work just like an ATM for the doctors and big business charging whatever the market can afford ,no filthy socialist price restrictions there.

    Thats why
    "Our doctors and nurses are paid more"

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  9. if you walk in and get care, it costs thousands and will break you, if you own a home or car, it is gone, so your care was not free, you lose everything and become homeless, I know 10 people just like that, at least in canada you will be seen and not be made homeless

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  10. Stastistics are funny things .
    The European Union has a larger economy and more people than America does. Though it spends less -- right around 9 percent of GNP on medical, whereas we in the U.S. spend close to between 15 to 16 percent of GNP on medical -- the EU pretty much insures 100 percent of its population.

    That is just the national statistic ,including what is paid by the better off in america, who of course can afford more care.

    To get good care ,the poorer merican people who have less incomes might be forced to pay that 16% cost as a higher proportion of their incomes.
    And often cannot afford to pay insurance at that 16% rate.

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  11. while US doctors might get paid more ,i would seriously doubt that nurses and nurses aids get paid more in america than in Australia or Canada under universal health care systems .

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  12. Ah, everything is so peach in the EU eh? So, the rioting going on is just for entertainment purposes only? Oh and and folks in N Ireland are going two weeks now without water? Yeah. All's good in the EU.

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  13. American doctors really are a little over-rated. There are among the best here, but there are also many bad ones as well. They do and believe exactly as how that AMA tells them to believe, and again the quality and time of care is very limited. In europe, and some other places, there are more experimental methodss being used. In some ways they are far ahead of the curve. In terms of pure technology and medical school training, they are not as strong. But think about it, they also dont incur 200,000 dollars in credit card debt just to make it through the first 4 years of Med school, and not including residency later.

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  14. Commenters, do you really not get it?
    Most of the difference of health care costs between the US and other Western Countries comes from tort law: American doctors doing even the most ridiculous tests, scans and checks not because of need, but so they can't get sued.

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  15. While we are in decline (which is accelorating), this is a silly article written by a statist who quotes other statist sources. These sources paint the picture that the empire is in decline because the state isn't taking care of its citizens (to which it's not designed to do so!). However, it is much the opposite. The decline is primarily shaping up because of these social programs and usurped authority of the federal gov't along with a corrupt political party system (i.e. the GOP is not liberty's friend, same as the Dem's are not the friend of the common man). This goes back generations with most of the damage done starting in the early 1900's (but damage can also be traced back to the years of the first couple administrations).

    Regarding the Healthcare situation - Healthcare insurance is...Insurance:

    http://wstfrederick.blogspot.com/2009/08/healthcare-insurance-isinsurance.html

    And the Healthcare legislation is not about Healthcare:

    http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2009/11/healthcare-legislation-is-not-about-healthcare/

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  16. If you do the research with an open mind you will indeed find that countries with socialized health care have much longer waiting periods for anything major. If you rely on "my mother got a CT scan in 24 hours" as your reference you will simply remain ignorant until you need health care.

    The total number of people without health insurance in America is around 30 million. The 59 million number is made up and includes illegal aliens.

    It is an outrageous lie that diabetes is increasing and that stupid projection that 75% of people will be diabetic is part of the lie. In general diabetes is a genetic disease you get it from your parents. Most people don't know they have diabetes until they get older and the symptoms become obvious. So a few years back the health care community conducted an effort to identify people with undiagnosed diabetes. This was quite successful and identified about 2 million people who were unaware they had diabetes. The media and a few unscrupulous special interest groups used this to claim that diabetes was dramatically increasing, after all didn't they just have 2 million more cases of it? SO you have fallen for the biggest scam in health care since laetrile. The rate of diabetes is NOT increasing but the rate of identifying it is and that is a good thing.

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  17. I think you should learn how to read. The statistic is that 75% of Americans will be overweight in 2015. We are already at 62%, so that is not far-fetched at all. If you don't believe diabetes, cancer, and heart disease are all on the rise, statistically, then you are quite a dense person and I must you are blinded by your ignorant allegiance to the flag.

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  18. Bring American soldiers home and watch what health care would really cost the world. It's more affordable in Europe because we supplement so much of their security; allowing them to "insure everyone". Bring the troops home and all these people will be singing a different tune. When the world has to provide for their own security, their health care will no longer be affordable.

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  19. WHAT? We are helping to insure them by creating wars in which they can DIE or get MAMED? Yeah that will really supplement and secure individuals health! Bring the soldiers home and spend all those countless billions each year on even just basic free health care at home, how does that sound?

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  20. Also, if you want to create more security, let's stop creating strife and division abroad through needless wars and CIA created turmoil. I guess that is just too simple.

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  21. I still can't believe the number of ignorant assholes posting here. It sounds like they are parroting Fox News.

    We have great health care--if you have the money. If you don't, you are fucked. We are the only advanced country in which citizens regularly die or go broke because they can't pay for a doctor. Any quibbling over 40 million or 59 million uninsured is a joke.

    An emergency room is required to save your life, but afterward you will end up in court if you don't pay and you will lose whatever you've got. If you have other problems, the emergency room is not required to treat you. That's why my uninsured friend, injured in a car accident, was sent home with fractures and a damaged kidney...all left untreated.

    There may be some wait for certain surgeries in some countries, but no citizen there will end up homeless or dead. In American, what good are fast, advanced medical techniques? If you can't pay for them, you don't get them.

    Independent studies of states that have passed tort reform laws show that tort reform barely makes a dent in bringing down health care costs.

    I wish some of you fucking trolls wouldn't waste our time with nonsense. Go back to watching Glenn Beck.

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  22. 2:42 Bring the soldiers home and spend all those countless billions each year on even just basic free health care at home, how does that sound?

    Reread the 2:01 post. That is exactly what I'm saying.

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  23. 3:18 Go back to watching Gleen Beck
    I love the trolls with there childish replies. So you a Chris Matthews brain-washed troll. Much better then Gleen Beck I see according to your twisted view of course. So you gullible ones voted in for hope and change too bad it is really hoax and chains you are getting. You think this so called Health care law is a good deal? It is a joke with more taxes and less service.
    Yes if the EU is so great move there please. But the EU is in riots frozen pipes no water but your socialist dream is there run to it no one is stopping you leave today don't wait hurry cash in on your dream run to Euorpe please you trolls. Stop talking about it and chase your dream move now.

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  24. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfP5mltBKXU&feature=player_embedded

    Shattered windows, blasted cars as bomb explodes outside court in Greece

    The EU is such a great place to live.

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  25. No one is arguing in favor of Obama. You're just knee-jerk reacting here. I think the Health Care bill is a sham. They are bankrupt and this is like a crumb to the masses that will not get eaten. "Hoax and chains" is correct, but this is not a new creation of some kind just dreamed up in the white house. Has anyone been paying attention? We're still under a vassal and slave feudal system. That still hasnt changed all these years.

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  26. You are correct that the statistical data shows that many are overweight. The measure commonly used to determine this, the BMI index, is arbitrary and unable to recognize the differences between muscle and fat or fit and fat. The arbitrariness of the standard has given rise to what is known as "the obesity paradox". Look it up, but in brief it proves that at all BMI scores humans are healthier at the higher rates then the lower (supposedly healthier) BMI's.

    Diabetes is a genetic disease. You don't get it from eating sugar and it's statistical rate has not changed. The only thing that has changed is that we are better at identifying diabetes early then we were in years past. To the ignorant or those who would misuse statistics this could be construed as diabetes increasing. It is not.

    Cancer rates for most cancers have stayed the same in the U.S. with some cancers declining (lung cancer for example as smoking declines).

    Heart disease (and strokes) rates also have stayed level. One of the confusing things for those who don't study health is that heart disease, cancer and strokes are "mostly" diseases of old age and as our national health improves (which it does every year) people are living longer and thus are more susceptible to the big three (Heart disease, cancer and stroke). We all die from something and most Americans will live long lives and die from "natural cause" as their body ages and those natural causes are typically heart disease, cancer and stroke. Such is life!

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  27. You're just an apologist for the system, apparently. Diabetes is genetic? That is utter crap. Diabetes is specifically traced to the rise of refined foods and sugars in our diet. Overloading our system with these things is what diseases the pancreas, alters blood sugar and insulin levels, and much more.

    "You are correct the statistical data shows that many are overweight". What are you, retarded? All you have to do is look around to see that. But it is a fact that most Americans ARE overweight, regardless of whatever measure you use. Nice attempt to obscure fact with fiction.

    Pollution has been on a steady rise. It only makes sense that there are more diseases correlated along with it, including cancer. The fact is that there are better, more expensive treaments for the cancer that produces more survival rates. That does not change the fact that the diseases are still occurring, and all at much higher rates than before the rise of the age of mass environmental (and individual) pollution.

    Still, the number one killer is idiocy. That has not changed.

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  28. And we shall hope the best for you.

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  29. America ,a rich first world country ,lost its chance to build an affordable universal health care system like the social democrat influenced more civilized countries of capitalism.

    Despite being "the richest greatest country in the world"

    The US only started the Obamacare fraud after the great Ponzi economy had already collapsed.
    As many medical care insurance systems in america were directly job related.

    The elite were in a panic that millions of potentially unemployed people might revolt if even basic healthcare was not available for the new food stamp people.

    Sure anyone can whine about waiting lines in countries like in the EU Canada or Australia for cat scans every time they get a headache.
    /And old baby boomers are notorious at whining, as they demand unlimited fast care with the expectation that they can live “forever” just like the elites in America that can afford the best. Naturaly these universal healthcare states must have some restrictions
    In America the Bush pharmaceutical benefits have been designed to benefit the pharmaceutical industry the socialism of a corporate State.
    Often Americans forced to find cheaper imported generic drugs from Canada.
    Just as many people believe Obamacare is designed to benefit the medical insurance companies.
    What is important ,is the average affordable access to care available to all the citizens .

    The US rates in healthcare somewhere on the world lists somewhere bettween Barbarians and Bulgaria .

    As it has wars and bailouts for insurance companies like AIG to pay for out of its tax revenues ,these of course must have priority over healthcare.
    In order to save the great american system

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  30. Medical News .Millions of americans must rely on emergency 'care" rooms.

    "Sacramento girl needed amputations after 5-hour wait at emergency room
    As his tiny daughter's skin turned blotchy and her body went limp during a lengthy wait at Methodist Hospital's emergency room, Ryan Jeffers panicked.
    "This wasn't a simple flu," he said. "My daughter needed help."
    Little did he know that the girl was near death from a common infection that had invaded her blood and was raging out of control, ultimately causing the amputation of both of her feet and one of her hands.
    Malyia Jeffers, 2, is still fighting for her life at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and her Sacramento parents are left wondering how a simple Strep A bug turned into a medical horror story


    Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/12/31/3290271/sacramento-girl-needed-amputations.html#ixzz19rWuj7vd

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  31. I've watched in the emergency room on two different occasions with fairly severe cuts, one of which needed almost 30 stitches, for about 2 hrs. One time I had an infection that was getting serious and had to wait 4 hrs only to be seen for 2 minutes and given an inappropriate prescription and was told if I wanted it changed would have to go back and wait again. I threw away the bottle and went the alternative route on my own and saved myself from getting even sicker.

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