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2016 American Presidential Thread


Camacho

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BTW, may I ask some U.S. American forum members what they pay per month or year for health care. Or is this too personal? The discussion is always so abstract because I really have no idea since I'm from a country where health insurance is a percentage of your income and is split 50/50 between employee and employer and is taken off your wages immediately. Just like income taxes, unemployment (also 50/50), pension (also 50/50) and special care (you know, in case you need assistance when you are old or when you have to live in a home for the elderly for all kinds of reasons) (also 50/50). It is capped at I think income of 60.000 EUR or so. Once you make this amount you can decide if you change to a private health insurance or if remain in the public system but you only pay health insurance up to the aforementioned amount of income. The health insurance basically covers universal healthcare. Of course, that doesn't mean all is free. You still have to pay fixed fees for subscribed medication or if you have to go to the hospital (if you want a single room that costs extra as well) or if different treatments are available (like in dental treatments) only the most inexpensive is paid, which means if you want porcelain fillings you need to pay the difference. But the most important thing is you cannot go bankrupt because you have a brain tumor or cancer. Children are included in their parents insurance, insurance for unemployed people is paid by the state, there is a option for students which is very inexpensive.

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49 minutes ago, Raider of the lost Ark said:

BTW, may I ask some U.S. American forum members what they pay per month or year for health care. Or is this too personal? The discussion is always so abstract because I really have no idea since I'm from a country where health insurance is a percentage of your income and is split 50/50 between employee and employer and is taken off your wages immediately. Just like income taxes, unemployment (also 50/50), pension (also 50/50) and special care (you know, in case you need assistance when you are old or when you have to live in a home for the elderly for all kinds of reasons) (also 50/50). It is capped at I think income of 60.000 EUR or so. Once you make this amount you can decide if you change to a private health insurance or if remain in the public system but you only pay health insurance up to the aforementioned amount of income. The health insurance basically covers universal healthcare. Of course, that doesn't mean all is free. You still have to pay fixed fees for subscribed medication or if you have to go to the hospital (if you want a single room that costs extra as well) or if different treatments are available (like in dental treatments) only the most inexpensive is paid, which means if you want porcelain fillings you need to pay the difference. But the most important thing is you cannot go bankrupt because you have a brain tumor or cancer. Children are included in their parents insurance, insurance for unemployed people is paid by the state, there is a option for students which is very inexpensive.

It's really, really, really not easy to say. There are endless of insurance coverage options. You can pay $50 dollars a month for your coverage, and with that general doctor's visits cost I don't know... $40 dollars (I'm making that up, it's just an example). You can pay for a better insurance plan that covers you and your family for, I don't know... $250 per month, and general doctor's visits are included (or 3 or WHATEVER). Also, most employers offer plans where they pay part of your premium (monthly premium). But there's literally no black and white answer. 

But then, if you need surgery it gets SUPER tricky because that's when the co-pay / deductible mess comes into play. Remember, it all depends on your own insurance plan. Your insurance plan might require that you leave a $1,500 or more deductible JUST FOR THEM TO RECEIVE YOU, then depending on your plan your insurance might cover 80% of qualified expenses. QUALIFIED. That means that you get the hospital bill, and they covered the surgery, but they didn't cover the extra nurse that they needed so you have to pay for that. Or maybe they capped your plan at 10 hospital days, and you were hospitalized for 12 days. They cover 80% of the expense on those 10 days, you have to pay the other 20% PLUS the full cost of the 2 days they don't cover. Then the whole mess with medication comes in. Maybe you paid for the least coverage possible and your insurance plan covers 0 medication so you're stuck paying all of your own medical costs. 

My sister was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 5 and she passed away from the disease when she was 21. I can say that my dad spent EASILY over one million dollars over her lifetime on medical expenses, despite my sister having some sort of insurance. My mom divorced my dad so she could apply for Medi-Cal (California's medicare program) because  my mom couldn't apply for my sister if she were married to my dad because he made too much money to qualify. The entire ordeal was a nightmare. 

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^^^ Thank you for the answer. Now I'm even more confused. This kind of system seriously sounds like a big scam orchestrated to make insurance companies and hospitals/doctors rich. Makes me appreciate the public systems we have in Europe even more, We may pay higher taxes and fees that come with such a system but at least we don't have to worry about the costs that might ruin the average Joe. I mean 1 million? This is insane! I think it was WeboGirl who said she had to have an emergency surgery because of an appendix at one point and that was around 30.000. Again, insane! All of this shows that certain things do not belong into the hands of corporations whose only interest is to make money. Healthcare is a common good and therefore should be funded by the government/employers and employees. Kind of a non-profit organization.

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It's a fucking mess. And the worst thing of all is that in addition to the massive, MASSIVE insurance industry in the U.S. (it's one of the biggest industries in the U.S.), yet the U.S. spends more per capita on healthcare than any other country in the world. 

Yes, that's right, Insurance companies, which are supposed to cover medical expenses, are making billions and billions of dollars, AND the U.S. government at the same time spends the most on healthcare than any other country, per capita, than any other country. It spends more than countries where people spend 0 or next to 0 (like Switzerland) on their medical expenses. 

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1 hour ago, ULIZOS said:

 

My sister was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 5 and she passed away from the disease when she was 21. I can say that my dad spent EASILY over one million dollars over her lifetime on medical expenses, despite my sister having some sort of insurance. My mom divorced my dad so she could apply for Medi-Cal (California's medicare program) because  my mom couldn't apply for my sister if she were married to my dad because he made too much money to qualify. The entire ordeal was a nightmare. 

omg :/ I have no words

and I thought my cousin in Manhattan paying $250 for a doctor's visit was bad

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58 minutes ago, le smoking said:

omg :/ I have no words

and I thought my cousin in Manhattan paying $250 for a doctor's visit was bad

My sister at one point in her life was hospitalized for many many months. She was always in and out of the hospital, but this time she was in there for like half a year. I was really young, like 10, so I don't really remember all the details, but what I do remember is that my mom had to divorce my dad so she could apply for Medi-Cal as a single unemployed mother and cover expenses because they couldn't afford it anymore. And I think that's illegal so we were all deathly afraid that the government was going to find out and arrest her for fraud or whatever. 

The only good thing is that my sister was a patient her entire life at a non-profit hospital and they bent over backwards to help my parents navigate through that awful, stressful mess.

The system is literally broken and I can't believe in 2016 nearly half of our politicians still brainwash Americans into thinking that America is #1 and the greatest country in the world. 

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:rotfl:  :rotfl::lmao: 

 

 

 

11:14 onwards

Anderson Cooper: Will you say ANYTHING to get elected?

Do you change your political identity based on who you're talking to?

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6 hours ago, ULIZOS said:

My sister at one point in her life was hospitalized for many many months. She was always in and out of the hospital, but this time she was in there for like half a year. I was really young, like 10, so I don't really remember all the details, but what I do remember is that my mom had to divorce my dad so she could apply for Medi-Cal as a single unemployed mother and cover expenses because they couldn't afford it anymore. And I think that's illegal so we were all deathly afraid that the government was going to find out and arrest her for fraud or whatever. 

The only good thing is that my sister was a patient her entire life at a non-profit hospital and they bent over backwards to help my parents navigate through that awful, stressful mess.

The system is literally broken and I can't believe in 2016 nearly half of our politicians still brainwash Americans into thinking that America is #1 and the greatest country in the world. 

:( I'm so sorry your family had to go through this! I can't believe this is a reality for Americans.  I don't know how people can afford to live there 

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7 hours ago, ULIZOS said:

My sister at one point in her life was hospitalized for many many months. She was always in and out of the hospital, but this time she was in there for like half a year. I was really young, like 10, so I don't really remember all the details, but what I do remember is that my mom had to divorce my dad so she could apply for Medi-Cal as a single unemployed mother and cover expenses because they couldn't afford it anymore. And I think that's illegal so we were all deathly afraid that the government was going to find out and arrest her for fraud or whatever. 

The only good thing is that my sister was a patient her entire life at a non-profit hospital and they bent over backwards to help my parents navigate through that awful, stressful mess.

The system is literally broken and I can't believe in 2016 nearly half of our politicians still brainwash Americans into thinking that America is #1 and the greatest country in the world. 

I have no words. And there's me complaining because I have to wait 10 days to see my knee doctor. 

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7 hours ago, Ciccone's Cheeks said:

I honestly feel really bad for Megyn! Shes SO much fking better than Fox! :( 

I believe she will move to another newscaster after the election. I think she is seriously done with Fox News. First you have horrible Roger Ailes sexually harassing the female staff there and now she has to report on all the groping from Trump. Even worse, you have the nutjobs of Republicans coming to her show on the Republican home channel and berate her what she is supposed to report on and what not. And Newt Gringrich is a disgusting human being. I hope he gets kicked out of congress soon. Who votes for that sleazy guy? I admire her for keeping it cool. I would have ripped him apart. But I guess this is not what journalists are supposed to do. Not even when people are questioning your credibility. And let's face it, Republicans telling the voters that the media is rigged is exactly that. I think it is highly offensive.

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9 hours ago, Hector said:

Now here you have a case of a rigged media. But not the so called liberal media. "A poll lauded for its accuracy ... Investors Business Daily". Exactly the same poll that Trump quoted in Florida. Several news stations confronted with this poll, usually by Trumps nutjobs of pundits, have said that this poll is never quoted because it does not meet the standards of polling that the major newscasters require. The main reason: IBD does not reveal its methology.

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I'm so sorry Uzi! What a horrible time youve been through. God the insurance sounds like a mess, its sounds like our holiday insurance when you dont know whether to buy bronze silver or gold. The people that cant afford anything but bronze if they fall ill they are fucked.

OT Adeles still on tour??? Jesus!

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Thank you everyone. That was all a long time ago. I don't like to get too personal, but it's just amazing how far removed most people are from the issues. It's so easy to throw your opinion around (people in general) and vote one way or another and ultimately influence public policy when at the end of the day it doesn't affect you in the slightest. 

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6 minutes ago, dollhouse said:

so Trump is getting closer and Gaga is zooming up the charts..could this get any worse?

Only in the US! lol 

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As much as I would LOVE for her to win a massive blowout, it just wasn't going to happen for two reasons:

One: She's Hillary Clinton. She's one of the most polarizing figures in the nation. Not just in politics, but in general.

Two: We are LIVING in one of the polarized times we've been in since the Civil War. I truly mean that. 

 

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