Fast Food in Denmark

[Jakeislove]

Getting a bit OT here, but we all need to realize that there is already a long list of things we pay for through taxes. A partial list:

Police and fire protection,
Road, street and highway construction and maintenance,
Education K - 12,
Military protection,
Protection from dangerous foods and drugs,
Protection from environmental hazards,
A court system where we can take our problems,

And the list could go on and on.

So the question is not whether we want to start a list of taxpayer provided services by putting medical care in the taxpayer-provided category. It is whether we want to add medical care to an already huge list.

I'm not smart enough to say what we should do. I am lucky enough to have medical care through Medicare + private insurance for the "gaps", and full access to VA care (which is a taxpayer-provided system). After checking out all the alternatives in my small city, I chose to go the the local VA clinic. Waiting time to see a doctor is shorter, if you have an appointment. Any prescriptions are quickly mailed to me. The location is convenient. The doctors are friendly and thorough.

I think we'd have to increase the number of taxpayers first.

Our Dane brother said the country's population is around 4.9 million with 4.7 million paying some form of taxes. That's impossible to compare with America where less than half pay any taxes.

The number of newly insured (through the ACA) is almost 9 times Denmark's total population.

I'd like to visit their country at some point.

 

[PraXis]

I think we'd have to increase the number of taxpayers first.

Our Dane brother said the country's population is around 4.9 million with 4.7 million paying some form of taxes. That's impossible to compare with America where less than half pay any taxes.

The number of newly insured (through the ACA) is almost 9 times Denmark's total population.

I'd like to visit their country at some point.

Most of those services are funded on a state level. Should NY tax payers pay for CA cops and firefighters?

Every state, hell every county could have its own health care funding mechanism, but it goes back to your point. We do not have the taxpayers.

The only country that I can think of with "single payer" is Canada. EU countries have national healthcare, which is different.

I laugh at the thought of our government trying to create a system like that here considering they spent a billion bucks on a non-functioning WEB SITE!

As said a million times, we just have to lower the costs of services. All the insurance reform in the world will not change that. A $20,000 ER bill is still $20,000 for a reason.

As it stands right now, if you are truly poor, then you do not have to worry about medical bills because of all the state aid as well as charity care.

If you are rich, then you never have to worry about financial issues (which makes sense, duh).

If you are middle class (even lower-middle or middle-upper), you are paying the lion's share of medical costs.

We need massive deflation. We should want every dollar to go further than it does. We want things to be cheaper and for our cost of living to be lower.

 

[Jakeislove]

@ Praxis,

How much of that $20,000 ER bill is defensive medicine that could have been avoided with tort reform?

I am curious about what will happen with health care in a few years. Wondering when we'll start losing doctors to Canada and other countries with working systems in place.

 

[JohnnyN]

I think we'd have to increase the number of taxpayers first.

Our Dane brother said the country's population is around 4.9 million with 4.7 million paying some form of taxes.

Sorry if I wasn't clear or my post was a bit messy
The actual population is 5.65 million people. The number of people with some sort of income is 4.9 million. Of those 4.3 million people have an income they pay tax of.

 

[Jakeislove]

Sorry if I wasn't clear or my post was a bit messy
The actual population is 5.65 million people. The number of people with some sort of income is 4.9 million. Of those 4.3 million people have an income they pay tax of.

That's still around 76%!

Some of us should emigrate.

Any great* selling points on your country like Beer, Cuban cigars, hot women, warm summers, etc...?

* A single Hamlet quote doesn't count.

 

[JohnnyN]

That's still around 76%!

Some of us should emigrate.

Any great* selling points on your country like Beer, Cuban cigars, hot women, warm summers, etc...?

* A single Hamlet quote doesn't count.

Ha!
Well we do have Carlsberg and Tuborg beer, and some heavy booze we call Snaps. Made on potatoes, tastes like shite (we actually serve it directly from the freezer, to dampen the taste), and knocks you out if you are not careful.

Cuban cigars yes. Hot women indeed! Legal at 15 so not much hope if you are looking for a virgin

Warm summers - well they can be, but often with rain. This summer was great though. During the summer we have daylight to late in the evening.

Oh and we have "Aragorn" - although he is on a lend lease to Hollywood I think

With T-Rex, TC Electronic, and Carl Martin we are never short on pedals.

Non selling points is that everything is fairly expensive, which do take quite a bite of the "high" wages. It is not easy to get permission to stay and work, unless you are EU citizen.
Winters are long, cold and dark - which also could be a selling point if you need an excuse to stay in and play guitar.

"No tree grows to the sky” is as valid here as everywhere else. Not better than other countries (well some though) but different than many.

But I do consider myself lucky to live here

 

[PraXis]

@ Praxis,

How much of that $20,000 ER bill is defensive medicine that could have been avoided with tort reform?

I am curious about what will happen with health care in a few years. Wondering when we'll start losing doctors to Canada and other countries with working systems in place.

We will never lose doctors to other countries. We are importing doctors from other countries because they want to be paid, and they are paid very well here.

The $20k ER bill is mind boggling though. I went through it myself. Out of that $20k was $12k for a fvcking CT scan, $800 for the IV bag, and the rest was all misc fees. Because I'm insured, there was a "member rate" from that $20k that brought it down to $1k (as in $1k billed to the insurance company), and I was on the hook for about $400 (got the bill about 3 months later for that $400)...so I called them and I am not a haggler (I don't have the patience for haggling) by any means.. I just said hey can you do anything about it and they lowered it to like $180.

Crazy, eh?

Logically, why not just charge "everyone" $1000 instead of $20,000, whether they are insured or not. Well, that's because so many people who would just pay a fraction of that $1,000 will never do so. However, these same people have no trouble paying for the latest iPhone/Galaxy and tattoos.

Ask ANYONE who works in a hospital, especially if they are involved at all in billing, about why shit is so expensive here. It will make your head spin.

 

[Jakeislove]

We will never lose doctors to other countries. We are importing doctors from other countries because they want to be paid, and they are paid very well here.

The $20k ER bill is mind boggling though. I went through it myself. Out of that $20k was $12k for a fvcking CT scan, $800 for the IV bag, and the rest was all misc fees. Because I'm insured, there was a "member rate" from that $20k that brought it down to $1k (as in $1k billed to the insurance company), and I was on the hook for about $400 (got the bill about 3 months later for that $400)...so I called them and I am not a haggler (I don't have the patience for haggling) by any means.. I just said hey can you do anything about it and they lowered it to like $180.

Crazy, eh?

Logically, why not just charge "everyone" $1000 instead of $20,000, whether they are insured or not. Well, that's because so many people who would just pay a fraction of that $1,000 will never do so. However, these same people have no trouble paying for the latest iPhone/Galaxy and tattoos.

Ask ANYONE who works in a hospital, especially if they are involved at all in billing, about why shit is so expensive here. It will make your head spin.

I'm just gonna put this out there: Never is a very long time.

Also, Family practice pays a lot more in Canada than the US.. Why wouldn't a doctor move to another country and make more money? Aside from the cold, and a degree of politeness that takes getting used to, Canada isn't a bad place.

I think Americans are generally of a mind that no place could ever be better than our country. People all over the world manage to be happy and live full lives outside of America. It's weird but they really do!

 

[Dolebludger]

We may be drifting a bit off topic here, from the original topic of low pay in the US. But medical care and medical insurance are important things that $8.50/hour US fast food workers can't afford.

A few years back I was in Ireland, and fell down in the gutter on my way TO the pub! This was unusual for the Irish, because such things usually happen when one is returning from the pub! In any event, I got a big split in my forehead that had to be stitched up, and I was given a prescription. I had travel insurance, and I thought the tour guide paid for all of it. About two weeks after I got home, I got a check for $66 from the travel insurance company. I figured I must have paid for the prescription and forgot it in the confusion. About a week after that, I got a letter from the insurance company saying that they had paid me by mistake, and they should have paid the tour guide. Included were "paid" invoices for the doctor's bill and the prescription -- totaling $66! I refunded the money to the insurance company, but just imagine what that medical treatment would have cost in the US! Maybe 10 or 20 times that! And I was/am not a citizen of Ireland. Had I been, the cost would have been $0.

High medical costs in the US are one of the many reasons why $8.50/hour just doesn't cut it.

 

[Kamen_Kaiju]

Here we just clean your forehead and squirt some Krazy Glue over it.

...well....that's what the poor rednecks do.



..I have quite a few krazy glue scars.

Gooner I don't think I'm too harsh on my fellow countrymen. I'm not very patriotic and tend to consider myself a world citizen.

...still waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.

Jake said it, about how so many Americans have this attitude that this is just the greatest place in the world to live,...I'm just not convinced of that.

Maybe I take it for granted, or maybe I see it for what it is....phenomenally broken. *shrug*

Just seems like things are way more screwed up then they should be or have to be,...and it's really hard to shake the feeling that there's some rich pricks behind the scenes pulling lots of strings that make the majority miserable and them just a tiny bit richer.

..or maybe I'm just paranoid.

idk,...I just play guitar.

 

[Jakeislove]

Probably paranoid, Mal.

Truly wealthy people live in a different world and barely know we exist.

 

[Dolebludger]

Even those of us who are somewhat patriotic can't deny facts! This just ain't the country it used to be where quality of life is concerned. Survey after survey show us behind many countries in education, opportunity, health care, and standard of living. And there are some places in this country that are down-right hell holes. Been to Detroit or Newark lately? Sure, there are some really nice places to live in the US. But even there, the average income won't finance the average house -- which is a test I like to use for evaluating quality of life.

Several other "first world" countries actually have official warnings for their citizens about visiting the USA, because of our obscene health care costs.

These are things that anybody who calls himself patriotic should be working to fix.

 

[KP]

I bet you get invited to all of the parties.

I actually do.

 

[PraXis]

I'm just gonna put this out there: Never is a very long time.

Also, Family practice pays a lot more in Canada than the US.. Why wouldn't a doctor move to another country and make more money? Aside from the cold, and a degree of politeness that takes getting used to, Canada isn't a bad place.

I think Americans are generally of a mind that no place could ever be better than our country. People all over the world manage to be happy and live full lives outside of America. It's weird but they really do!

GP's do well here, but our specialists are really where the money is at.

 

[Jakeislove]

GP's do well here, but our specialists are really where the money is at.

That's probably going to be reversed in a few years.

 

[WaywerdSon]

The doctors are friendly and thorough.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMwB5uIWOOI]Good Man, Thorough - YouTube[/ame]