roadracerkev

Here in New Zealand, 4 weeks holiday pay, 10 days sick leave, 26 weeks paid parental leave and and additional 26 weeks unpaid, bereavement leave etc.
You would have anarchy if any government tried to remove them.

Once again the so-called 'experts' not even in the ball park.

"Children are the parents responsibility, if the family can’t afford their health care then maybe they should buy a few condoms."

Peoples circumstances can change, literally in the blink of an eye. Life threatening illness, accident, a multitude of things. But to then say, 'oh well, you should have used a condom" is both patronising and callous. Calling people who struggle to pay, or outright cannot afford, adequate health care 'lazy', when many hold down multiple jobs probably shows what a tiny self-absorbed bubble you live in. The US healthcare system is a train wreck when viewed from the outside. In fact calling it a health care system at all is probably being generous. How can the supposedly richest country in the world have health care that costs 3x as much as anywhere else? Basic pharmaceuticals that in many instances costs hundreds more than in other first-world countries? Health care in the US is not about health care, its about making as much money as possible of every sick person.

"Absolutely nothing should be handed out to the lazy.   It is perhaps the most disgusting thing we do with our tax dollars. "

Well, I guess that depends on whether you think access to affordable health care is a basic human right. Which it is in any modern, functioning society.

StrangeDays said:

spice-boy said:

Apple should pay for every American's healthcare. 

Er, no. We need to separate our healthcare from our employers. My healthcare should have nothing to do with who I work for, yet it does.

But something must change. In today's episode of This Shit Is Out of Control -- I have plantar fasciitis from my physical activity so I visited the doc. He prescribed PT. At PT, the guy looked at my foot and had me do some stretches. The bill from the single PT session alone? $560 for -- $410 for the PT's "evaluation", and $150 for the stretching. My insurance took $250 off, leaving me with $310. What...a fucking...crock. 

Our system is beyond broken. The prices from doctors and hospitals are fake, intended to be marked down via insurance provider negotiations. But even still the out-of-pocket is unreasonable for the non-wealthy and getting worse. I'm an enterprise software dev well into middle-class and this shit is too much. Our healthcare is completely broken, and we can thank the current system and the fat cat hospital & insurance executive class. Something has to change. 

In New Zealand, I go to the doctor for the initial assessment and referral and it costs me (54 years old) NZ$16. The trip to the physiotherapist is another NZ$20. If it is a sporting or work related injury then ACC (a no-fault insurance scheme that covers everyone and is paid for as a percentage of income and deducted by your employer) pays for the first 5 sessions.

I had two XServes back in 09. Loved those servers. So easy to maintain and run.