If you believe in government healthcare would you be a patient at the VA?

My good friend from the UK had to wait a few months for a needed knee operation. Then, they nicked a tendon causing days of bad pain. He asked me what happens in America to people who can't afford health care. I told him some die. He said that was "barbaric". He is right. He paid the price for socialized medicine by waiting. Furthermore, he has money and could afford insurance here. He believes that government run health care is MUCH better than American status quo, whether it becomes Obamacare, or reverts to the old status quo. He is very willing to pay higher taxes to live in a country which is MUCH more civilized than Republicans or REAL conservatives (a fiscal conservative may NOT borrow like Republicans do according to any source you want to Google) want America to be.

I have Medicare which is a federal governmental benefit and I've never had a problem with it in the 15 or so years I've had it. If I were a vet I'd use the services of the VA - as inadequate as they might be - but I'd sign up for Medicare as well when eligible to do so and between the two I'd be covered for whatever comes up.

Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) isn't government insurance - it is a requirement to obtain health insurance coverage.

During the past 5 years, the VA healthcare system handled 360 MILLION outpatient procedures, and hospital admissions. Reportedly, 1500 vets had their appointments delayed.

Fun fact: the reason you know about the VA problems is because of the fact that it is government run and has to provide evidence of its actions and inaction.

Private insurance companies don't have to be accountable to anyone and never have to provide a detailed list of whom they have rejected care to, except in the state of California. In just the past 6 months alone, California's private insurance companies have denied coverage to 32 million of their own customers, many of whom died waiting for treatment that never came. Of course, private insurance companies don't have to provide any state with the number of their customers who died awaiting treatment either, but you'd have to be an idiot to think that it was fewer than 50 people.

Absolutely. Certainly a better choice than many people had before Obamacare.

Well, maybe we should look at the numbers...

The fact is that in the USA we pay nearly *twice* what Europeans & Canadians pay for health care, and we have both higher infant mortality and lower life expectancy than most European countries. In the table below, im = infant mortality and L = life expectancy.

2010 life expectancies: http://www.infoplease.com/world/statistics/infant-...

2010 health care per capita: http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALT...

United States -- im= 6.1, L= 78.2, cost $7538, 16.0% of GDP

Canada ---------- im= 5.0, L= 81.3, cost $4406, 10.4% of GDP

Austria --------- im= 4.4, L= 79.6, cost $3970, 10.5% of GDP

United Kingdom -- im= 4.7, L= 79.9, cost $3129, 8.7% of GDP

Denmark ------- im= 4.3, L= 78.5, cost $3540, 9.7% of GDP

Finland -------- im= 3.4, L= 79.1, cost $3008, 8.4% of GDP

France -------- im= 3.3, L= 81.0, cost $3696, 11.5% of GDP

Germany ------ im= 4.0, L= 79.4, cost $3737, 10.5% of GDP

Greece -------- im= 5.1, L= 79.8, cost $2687, 9.7% of GDP

Italy ------------ im= 5.4, L= 80.3, cost $2886, 9.5% of GDP

Norway --------- im= 3.5, L= 80.0, cost $5003, 8.5% of GDP

Spain ----------- im= 3.4, L= 81.0, cost $2902, 9.0% of GDP

Sweden -------- im= 2.7, L= 80.9, cost $3470, 9.4% of GDP

Switzerland --- im= 4.1, L= 80.9, cost $4810, 10.7% of GDP

In 2008, these two nations lagged the USA in life expectancy; now they have passed the USA.

Ireland --------- im= 3.9, L= 80.0, cost $3793, 8.7% of GDP

Portugal ------- im= 4.7, L= 78.4, cost $2151, 9.9% of GDP

Looks like government health care gives you both longer life and lower costs than the USA system. What's not to like?

Right on.. SO MUCH FOR HOPE AND CHANGE.... WHAT A JOKE.

WE NEED TRUMP.