americans - what is the "health exchange"?

is it like the disc exchange?

you know the movie, Soylent Green? It's kinda like that.

If you have lots of health and somebody else hasn't enough, you go to the health exchange and you can make some cash and the other dude pays to feel better.

Health exchange is when rich people pay poor people to do all the hard work, so they can live on healthy and lazy like psychic vampires, whereas poor people die of exhaustion. It's exchanging money for health.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/FoxNewsonnationalhealthcare.jpg

yeah tracer apparently the NHS is "evil"

I'm trying to figure out what that is on the right.

- A NASCAR crash
- A step in the vinyl mastering process

Whoa, on what basis do they call national health care a "breeding ground for terror"? What's the argument there?

I have no idea, but apparently the screengrab is real.

If the poor people are healthy enough they can do suicide bombings? But if they're sick and die young they won't become terrorists?

Actually, a better integrated hc system would better protect us from biological terrorism.

this is actually from a couple of years ago when an NHS doctor in the UK was accused of planning to bomb Glasgow airport - he was cleared of all charges btw

Tracer, are you talking about the provision in the health bills to have, like, a competitive all-in-one pool for insurance buying (with or without a public option among them)?

Further to Tracer's post, there were two NHS doctors involved in the Glasgow Airport attacks. One died of his injuries, the other is in jail for a v. long time.

There were a few other NHS employees involved further, but the two guys on the ground at the airport at the time of the attacks are now dead or in jail.

That headline is hilarious though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c-JEx-Kfvc

retarded

is that guy wearing a wig? I can't be bothered to actually watch the video

i never realized they were all doctors! maybe fox has a point etc etc

nabisco - YES

i can't wrap my head around how it's supposed to work (admittedly i haven't tried terribly hard) - but at first blush it sounds like the opposite of something i'd like to do, like comparison shopping for an electricity provider or something

what does "all-in-one pool" mean, for instance?

Tracer, I'm not a good person to ask for details on this; hopefully someone else knows more than I do.

My very limited understanding is that the government would standardize certain levels of care -- like benchmarks A, B, C, and D. Then companies that insure individuals and small groups would be required to offer coverage through this central marketplace, with those clearly defined and standardized points of comparison. (Possibly alongside a public option, possibly not.)

That's my EXTREMELY limited understanding. Obviously this doesn't sound fun, but -- in theory -- it would make it immensely easier for the average person to find appropriate and competitive coverage, with a clear and universal sense of what their benefits are.

I mean, personally, first-blush-wise, I do like the sound of various insurers each being able to offer me their price on a set minimum standard of care.

See the system we have here is so simple really. Everyone's covered by medicare. You can e seen to by GPs and hospitals for very little money/free no matter who you are; medicare subsidises the cost of many common prescription medications too, so theres an upper cap on the cost and it's only $30 or $40 I think.

While waiting lists can be long for some elective surgeries, it's a pretty good system. I had a suspected stomach ulcer. I was booked into the Alfred as a pulic patient, onlyu had to wait a week or 2, and had a gastroscopy for free. Completely free.

When on the dole I was able to bulk bill all my healthcare so I even had ultrasounds and things for free too.

But if you want extra care in good private hospitals, you can then elect to buy health insurance. It isnt tied to a job.

Apparently some americans have said things like "healthcare is not a right". How can anyone THINK that? Do they think the same of police services or teachers?

Probably.

Actually no - police protect private property so we have a right to them.

the nhs stops my private penis falling off if i get an STD. thus they are equally righteous.