>>>First of all, I do not trust the American healthcare system, period. 2nd, I do not want any additional taxes upon me without my consent to pay for healthcare that our nation cannot afford while we are going into a recession and a possible depression. 3rd, the government of the United States cannot be trusted. 4th, the medical system in the United States is full of corruption.
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>>We actually agree here, except that there's no system. There's a patchwork of programs, none of which have a general coverage; they only cover particular cases and/or groups. It's medical industry, not healthcare system. Actually, it doesn't care, and it's not health, it's profits that it's after.
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>I disagree with you. I don't know where you get your facts but I worked for a major hospital for 4 years. I have also experienced hospitals/healthcare system as a patient and a relative of patient(s). And in my experience we have a very good system (with room for improvement of course) and with many, many very caring people (not just profit driven as you put it).

You were lucky. From my personal experience (i.e. family), insurance contract is at least as complicated, if not worse than, tax filing. You have to know in advance what you will be ill of, you need to know the prices of what treatment you will have so you can judge how much copay to choose, and you need to know the exact procedure - whom to call, in which order, which doctor is in your system and which is not, what are you insured against and what not... all easy decisions to make when you're about to faint, dizzy, nauseated, bleeding etc.

Every time we relied on what insurance we had, we ended up paying in full, or with just minor reimbursement. A single x-ray cost about $120 in a non-profit hospital (while a for-profit little x-ray shop I didn't know about would cost $40, but you hear about that too late). Another procedure was not paid by the insurance (although it was in the contract) because it was too early in the year, before enough money accumulated; of course, last year's money can't be used because it was already disbursed (as a dividend, or whatever) and the previous year's payments went to a different insurer anyway and nothing carries over; furthermore, no matter that they won't pay for certain procedures within the first two months of insurance, they will nevertheless refuse to pay anything five minutes after the contract expires. So for some of these you pay 12 months to be covered for only 9 or 10 months. Etc etc...

And (I have found this datum yet again) the leading cause of personal bankruptcy is a hospital bill. Which is inhumane - one gets driven to poverty just because of an accident? How is this XX century, let alone XXI?

I haven't invented those cases. I wouldn't have the imagination. You were lucky, good for you. So was I - I still stick to my Republican health.