Tired of this healthcare debate- or what I would do

[VT-Chicklit]

ORChick, I believe enjoy the ride meant illegal aliens. She said "Non-legal" which would be the same as illegal.

 

[ORChick]

ORChick, I believe enjoy the ride meant illegal aliens. She said "Non-legal" which would be the same as illegal.

"9) All medical care for non-legally admitted persons, or visa admitted should be billed to their home countries insurance if they have it for any members of their popluation."

Non-legal people entering the country do not, by definition, have a visa. However, I see that *enjoy the ride* might have been meaning people entering on student or other short term visas, and not those with green cards. Even so I don't agree that these *legal* residents should necessarily have their medical bills sent back to their home countries. Although, if they are wise, and come from a place with better medical coverage than we have at the moment here, they will have planned to bring that coverage with them. IMO.

 

[enjoy the ride]

No- I did mean what I said although I did not think through the ramifications of it all. Basically it is not anti-alien as much as cost saving.
It was based on having a dear friend who overstayed her visa (found a better life for herself with an American boyfriend) and did not bother to regularize her status- she worked hard for her boyfriend (later became her spouse) so never really needed a SSN, etc. She was in a serious accident that left her in a coma until life support was turned off.
If she had obtained medical insurance, it would have paid but since no insurance, as she did not get the proper papers, the hospital absorbed the cost of her care.
I just felt that if a person in the US has a country who has health insurance that can be billed, it should be. The reverse would be true for US citizens in other countries- so of an international treaty thing.
My father was in England when he came down with pneumonia and was in the hospital there for some time. There was no charge to him which bothered him a great deal. He made several donations where he could but was not familiar with how to do something for the people who had helped so was never satisfied. Also, he felt that his country should have taken care of it under his health insurance.

 

[ORChick]

Enjoy the ride - my DH and I have health insurance here in Oregon. We also travel when we can - back to his family in Europe every few years, and otherwhere when we can. Our insurance should cover at least a part of any medical expenses we incur while out of the country; thankfully we have not had to test this as of yet. We certainly do not expect our host country to foot any of our bills. But I know that is not the universal way.
I am sincerely sorry for your friend, and her husband, but, quite honestly, what happened to her had less to do with our health care situation in this country than with her own lapse of judgement in overstaying her visa. I realize that things have changed since my DH came to this country 33 years ago, but still, as your friend was eventually married to an American, she probably had certain rights of which she apparently did not avail herself. As others have said (if not on this thread, then on the other having to do with health care) personal responsibility is becoming less common, and certainly some of the problems that we are facing with this country's health care can be traced back to that.

 

[Lady Henevere]

If I ruled the world...

5) End farm subsidies immediately. No more artificially cheap junk food which is the cause of most chronic illness in the first place.....

There's an interesting article by Michael Pollan linking health care and junk food in the NY Times here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/opinion/10pollan.html
Here's a quote:

Were spending $147 billion to treat obesity, $116 billion to treat diabetes, and hundreds of billions more to treat cardiovascular disease and the many types of cancer that have been linked to the so-called Western diet. One recent study estimated that 30 percent of the increase in health care spending over the past 20 years could be attributed to the soaring rate of obesity, a condition that now accounts for nearly a tenth of all spending on health care.

He thinks that pro-consumer changes to the health insurance industry will help change the junk food industry:

When health insurers can no longer evade much of the cost of treating the collateral damage of the American diet, the movement to reform the food system everything from farm policy to food marketing and school lunches will acquire a powerful and wealthy ally, something it hasnt really ever had before.

 

[reinbeau]

This is what I've been saying about preventative care - fix our food system first. The food lobby spends millions trying to keep their place on our plates (every month now in Cooking Light there's an ad from the HFCS people telling us how wrong people are who are writing about how bad HFCSs are - and they are!). People are convinced that cheap, highly processed food is fine when it is anything but. Good whole food takes longer to make, but it's far superior to anything that comes pre-prepared out of a package.

Both of Michael Pollan books, The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Foods should be read by anyone interested/concerned with our food supply.

 

[Big Daddy]

Fixing food is an absolute must. The only logical way to do it is through education. We've been eating highly processed foods for decades now. All our foods are packed with preservatives. The people that sell our foods to us en mass charge ridiculous prices for healthy foods. I went to Whole Foods to see what they were all about. They were getting 7.95 a lb for chicken breast just because it was supposedly free range. It was no wonder that the parking lot was full of Land Rovers and BMW's.

Right now the only affordable food is food that is packed with filler and preservatives. There aren't any fast food type choices that are healthy and desirable to eat.

Eventually I think there will be more choices. That doesn't fix the problem now.

 

[Wifezilla]

People are convinced that cheap, highly processed food is fine when it is anything but.

Good whole food takes longer to make

Not necessarily
http://www.examiner.com/x-798-Denve...009m8d3-Lightning-low-carb-recipes-Steak-wrap
http://www.examiner.com/x-798-Denve...7d30-Lightning-low-carb-recipes-Marinara-Melt
http://www.examiner.com/x-798-Denver-Low-Carb-Examiner~y2009m3d20-LindaSues-Beefy-Mushroom-Soup
http://www.examiner.com/x-798-Denve...m2d21-Theres-no-excuse-for-a-boring-breakfast

Of course, one of the best time savers is the slow cooker. You brown some meat for a couple of minutes, throw it in the slow cooker, and then when you get home, you have supper all ready and waiting for you.

Right now the only affordable food is food that is packed with filler and preservatives.

I can't agree. With a 5 lb banana squash selling for $2, cabbages for 33/lb and whole chickens for less than $1/lb, processed food is actually more expensive especially when you look at foods in a per unit sense. How much per pound or per ounce is everything you are buying? That is in the fine print on the price tag at the grocery store, but that is your real indicator of value.

There aren't any fast food type choices that are healthy and desirable to eat.

Tom Naughton produced a movie called FATHEAD. It was a response to the movie "Super Size Me" by Morgan Spurlock. He ate at fast food restaurants for a month just like Spurlock, but he LOST weight and improved his cholesterol levels. Kind of freaked out his doctor...LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgBL...refox-a&um=1&ie=&feature=player_embedded#t=79

When I am pressed for time, I get a couple of dollar menu cheeseburgers and throw out the bun.

Eventually I think there will be more choices. That doesn't fix the problem now.

There are choices though I wish there were more. I can call Popeyes and get "Naked Chicken". It is just fried chicken without the breading. Carl's Junior will serve you a burger "protein style" which is a burger wrapped in lettuce. Applebee's will replace starchy sides with a salad for an extra dollar. If you ask, they will also serve your salsa or queso dip with sliced cucumbers instead of chips.

 

[reinbeau]

Wifezilla, it does take more time. I'm not saying we shouldn't spend the time, but it does take more time to cook and eat good food. Not money, but time. That seems to be Big Daddy's desire, healthy fast food. But that just buys into the thought that everything has to be done fast, lightning speed, don't slow down, keep up the pace!! It's exhausting, too much pressure, raises the stress levels in life and we know what stress can do to a body! This whole society needs to step back, slow down, and live, not just exist.

Of course unless we keep up this breakneck speed we can't be the ultimate consumers the economy demands we be. Rats on a wheel to make someone at the top lots of money.....

 

[Wifezilla]

I don't agree. I have been cooking for a LONG time. I can make something healthy faster than I could bake a cheap pot pie, cook a batch of Kraft Mac & Cheese or Hamburger helper....things we uses to live on as kids.

Of course, if you are expecting everything to be microwaved in less than 2 minutes...then you may have a case. But even ramen noodles take a while to get the water boiling. I can make an omelet in the same amount of time.