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Why is America so ace?

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IRO1977 said:
Have to agree here, it's horrible that the Republicans have managed to portray our NHS over there as being totally useless in order to push forward their own agenda, when in fact most of the Uk population are more than happy with it
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First off..nothing is free. You pay for NHS one way or another.

There is no doubt that our (US) system is f'd up. I'm a libertarian that believes in small government and even I can see that.

Question for you English. In the US, one of the rights panic button disagreements with Obamacare is the dreaded "Death Panel." How is your system set up to deal with this? I'll give an example:

If an 80 year old man is experiencing a life threatening illness that has a cure, but that cure will cost, say 5 million, who makes the call whether or not he gets treated? Is there some council of medical ethicists that determines treatment? If, in the future, someone can be kept alive indefinitely by whatever mechanism but at a great cost, who makes the decision to "cut the cord" so to speak?

I'm not asking these hypotheticals in order to undermine what you have, I genuinely would like to know how you deal with the ethics of cost and the burden on society.
 
Steve0 said:
Houses aren't as cheap as people make out http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_ren...79,-95.127182,29.358838,-95.736923_rect/9_zm/ those rates are broadly similar to most UK cities. Another myth tbh.
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That's rentals mate which are often inflated in some cities due to low inventory. The average home costs $176,000 in Texas (http://www.statisticbrain.com/home-sales-average-price/). That's 114k in pounds right now ... which I'm fairly sure is not the average house price in England.
 
Bigloco said:
First off..nothing is free. You pay for NHS one way or another. There is no doubt that our (US) system is f'd up. I'm a libertarian that believes in small government and even I can see that. Question for you English. In the US, one of the rights panic button disagreements with Obamacare is the dreaded "Death Panel." How is your system set up to deal with this? I'll give an example: If an 80 year old man is experiencing a life threatening illness that has a cure, but that cure will cost, say 5 million, who makes the call whether or not he gets treated? Is there some council of medical ethicists that determines treatment? If, in the future, someone can be kept alive indefinitely by whatever mechanism but at a great cost, who makes the decision to "cut the cord" so to speak? I'm not asking these hypotheticals in order to undermine what you have, I genuinely would like to know how you deal with the ethics of cost and the burden on society.
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That's such an insane edge case it's borderline pointless to debate in so far as it impacts the every day interaction with the system for the average person.

In the Canadian system there are choices made on priority (made by doctors) but if you have a serious problem they take care of it right away.

The vastly more common issue is that non-essential procedures get delayed -- so you might wait six months for a non-serious issue whereas in the US (IF you have insurance ... which is a big IF for a lot of people) you'd get treated right away. There are some problems and some mistakes are made but on the whole more people get treatment so most people are okay with it (and there are still private options for rich people in the UK and Canada -- it's not like they don't exist if you can afford them).
 

Steve0 said:
PS wouldn't it be great is America had th same attitude to school level education as they do school level sports?
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Settle down, mate. Pretty soon you'll be suggesting that Americans should not buy a gun for every day of the week and next thing you know, TXBill has given you a brief GOT holiday.
 
In America you can start from the bottom and work your self yourself to be new money. Even middle-class depending on your ambitions. I think that's my favorite aspect of The United States. The individual thrives.

[video=youtube;PH34kMOjmQk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH34kMOjmQk[/video]
 

njligernj said:
That's such an insane edge case it's borderline pointless to debate in so far as it impacts the every day interaction with the system for the average person.

In the Canadian system there are choices made on priority (made by doctors) but if you have a serious problem they take care of it right away.

The vastly more common issue is that non-essential procedures get delayed -- so you might wait six months for a non-serious issue whereas in the US (IF you have insurance ... which is a big IF for a lot of people) you'd get treated right away. There are some problems and some mistakes are made but on the whole more people get treatment so most people are okay with it (and there are still private options for rich people in the UK and Canada -- it's not like they don't exist if you can afford them).
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I'm not really talking about a "queue" for treatment, but rather if there are financial limits in place that would restrict or even deny treatment...unless by "delaying" the treatment, doctors are, in fact "managing" the patients that would otherwise cost to much to treat.

It may not be a factor now, but as new developments in medicine arise, at some point the financial burden of treatment could cause the system to fail...at least without limits to treatment in place.

Its something I always wondered about.
 
IRO1977 said:
I'm afraid this has been argued earlier in the thread mate http://www.economist.com/news/leade...ocracy-entrenching-itself-top-repairing-rungs
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economix-28milanovic-custom1.jpg


source

Stop the BS about income inequality in the US

Notice how the entire line for the United States resides in the top portion of the graph? That’s because the entire country is relatively rich. In fact, America’s bottom ventile is still richer than most of the world: That is, the typical person in the bottom 5 percent of the American income distribution is still richer than 68 percent of the world’s inhabitants.
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Tree13 said:
Private healthcare sadly is an easy target - politically in the UK it's seen as a disgusting means of oppression utilised by the rich to exterminate the poor. All I can say is, I insure my car and my house just like every other UK user of this forum, and neither are as valuable to me as my legs or eyes so guess what - I insure my health too. I simply don't understand the attitude of those who refuse to do so, especially when you consider how godawful the NHS has become. If you live in a country that does not provide mass free healthcare then more fool you if you don't take out insurance.
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I've never spent a night in hospital in my life and I am 27 and a half years old.

I live in Germany, and every month, by law, I have £250 taken from my wages for compulsory health insurance.

To say I feel incredibly hard done by puts it lightly.

Three grand a year and I'll never see again. So far I've paid over ten grand and not used a penny of it to look after my health. Even if I need to go to the doctor for a simple check-up I still have to pay at least a tenner a pop, regardless of what's taken from my wages.

Give me the NHS any day.
 
I forget who said it this thread but yes American's are great hosts from my experience. All my experiences have been great in America, if not a bit intense in NYC. Really want to see Chicago and Boston (Though Boston can go straight to hell until next hockey season)

But yeah avoid their politicians and all that world and it's a quite nice, but thats the same for a lot of places I suppose!
 
MapleLeafEvertonian said:
I forget who said it this thread but yes American's are great hosts from my experience. All my experiences have been great in America, if not a bit intense in NYC. Really want to see Chicago and Boston (Though Boston can go straight to hell until next hockey season)

But yeah avoid their politicians and all that world and it's a quite nice, but thats the same for a lot of places I suppose!
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evening mate how are you today what you been doing sir.
 

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