a right. I live in Australia where there is universal healthcare..much like other countries like Canada, France, UK etc etc

It works. US system is cray cray.

Right now in our country healthcare is a privilege. We are the only one of the first nations where people can die because of lack of access to healthcare. Healthcare should be a right. Every person, man, woman and child should be able to access the assistance they need to stay healthy, prevent pain, and be free of illness. There is only one way to do this. VOTE.

It's a right and for the most part, only 3rd world countries believe otherwise. Well, except for the good ole U S of A. We think it's a priviledge. Compassion is non-existant in the greatest country in the world.

& not to be very bankrupt if they get some shocking diagnosis..oh man, the horror stories you hear from US about exorbitant bills for health care for things like Cancer. Ridickulick etc

I thought Hospitals in US have been known to homeless people who are very ill, to the curb?

i'm canadian, so it's a birthright.

i seriously feel sorry for the americans.

The cost is outrageous. The cancer treatment centers of America's website has a cost breakdown of common cancers. Like $14+ for lung cancers, 12$+ for breast etc. That is to see the doctors and get a treatment plan but doesn't include treatment. Crazy.

yeah, I know, through a friend, a young school teacher in the US who just found out they have Cancer..the proposed cost I heard about blew my mind. A school teacher- such a valuable asset to a community, I would think- and yet treatment = $1 million. What the Fuck?

Yes, a lot of people go to the ER, because they can't pay a $50 office visit, so they don't pay the $1500 visit...

Then I pay for insurance, that only pays 80%, which means I get to pay a huge difference, because I have insurance! (and pay my bills....)

like, people talk about universal healthcare like it's a drain on the economy etc...warped.

I see hospitals discharge people right back into the streets here in the US when they don't have insurance. By law, they have to stabilize you, but if you are not seriously ill or dying, they refer you to a specialist or to your primary care doctor, even if you don't have one, and then they boot you out the door. I am fortunate to have insurance, but so many don't. In my city we have a hospital that treats people without insurance and bases costs on income. However, you can call the doctors office with chest pain and your appointment might be three months down the road. "sorry but that's the next available appt., see you then". It's crazy that we have the care we have here.

that's right Autumn. That's exactly what they do here.

I feel healthcare should be a right. I know for myself I might not have ended up on illicit street drugs had I been properly medicated. But because my illness was not life threatening I could not get medications or healthcare and I was dirt poor working at mcdonalds.

Who knows maybe I wouldn't have ended up on SSDI if I had been properly medicated to begin with.

Go figure? which one would have been cheaper medicating me from the start or doing what they actually did?

There has been a lot of dumping right back out. The services are not equal for everyone. I know of someone I heard about last week. She is not likely going to stabilize in the time they will allow her. I heard she was taken off her meds because she was deemed a danger to herself. She overdosed with her prescription meds. So she self medicates. She is a complex and serious case. She was tazered by police three times so they could cuff her. Bath salts may or may not have been involved. I was having a hard time listening to this story. A lot of chemical abuse. She has been through some things recently that would shut most people down. I don't know what will happen to someone such as this. To deny her treatment would be tragic. She is lucky she did not land in a county jail cell or worse. I heard that our prisons are full of our mentally ill. Most people complain harder about the money that prisons burn.

I am uninsured. I am also very poor. That in itself opens some doors for me for mental health care in my state. The county funds my pdoc and tdoc on a sliding fee basis which my fee is $0. Yes, it is tax dollars that funds this, property taxes from each county and someone has to use it so it might as well be me. All of this shouldn't have to happen. I don't like being poor. I don't like applying for disability, I don't like sponging off the county funds. If the U.S. had universal healthcare I wouldn't have to do this. I wouldn't have to feel like a scab every time I think I'm getting sick and I might have to see a doctor. The only way we are going to get it is to VOTE........ (yeah, I'm a little alpha on this one)

I think healthcare SHOULD be a right if you are of the human species. unfortunately, in the US, its a privilege. I've been on both sides on Medicaid a few years ago and now I have private insurance through my work. Medicaid I paid $0 and my insurance does 80/20. it feels good to be off public assistance but bad for my bank account...no1 wins with this scenario....