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One of the wonders of the globalisation of the world has to be the ability to compare how things are done around the world and to look at best practice. We can always learn from those who do things better. One of the interesting things is, as an organisation gets too large and unwieldy it all goes pear shaped!

Mind you, globalisation has some serious defects too - Coca Cola, Maccas and all the other junk processed foods that are killing us off and costing us all a fortune in bad health. Bout time we taxed bad food, hopefully out of existence for the sake of our children.

Corporations have a license to steal? They need regulation to prevent fraud? I thought there always were laws against stealing and fraud. I didn't realize that corporations were exempt from those laws!

Difficulty score 16. No green.

I am opposed to "crony capitalism". That is when corporations influence government to pass legislation favorable to them.

But most of the time in the US, in order for that to happen the legislators have to ignore the limitation the Constitution places on the government.

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Tuco: don't try to argue that health care was a model of free market practice up until the ACA. It wasn't. It was a mess made by government interference which will not be fixed by more government interference.

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Obama claimed the ACA would lower health care costs by an average of $2500. Has that happened? It looks like he should have said RAISED health care costs by $2500.

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Diane: Your friend might have a case to sue the insurance company. But probably not. I probably don't like insurance companies any more than the rest of you, but the alternative is worse!

Why does anyone think the government will do a better job with health care?

Because they think the government has unlimited money and will never deny a claim. In part they are right, no politician would ever want to see a constituent (A.K.A. voter) denied coverage. And the party goes on until the government runs out of other peoples' money!

drwho: I think government will do a better job with health care because: 1. It has in the rest of the industrialized world; 2. Other countries have a lower cost of health care than the US; 3. Other countries have better outcomes in virtually every category than the US. The facts speak for themselves.

drwho, I'm curious as to why you don't like appreciating the experiences of other countries. We do have a lot to learn from other countries.

I come back to Diane once again spouting insanity. There is a reason the rest of the world come to America for major medical procedures. Use google to look at the current situation with health care in Europe. It is collapsing under the weight of refugees, low birth rates, etc. The wait times are not even in the realm of acceptable for the average American, nor are the limits in treatment imposed by the government officials overseeing the various systems.

Diane, if America is so bad - why not just leave?

Additionally, Diane, why does every lesson from other countries have to be us learning from them? Socialism has failed repeatedly, yet, I am sure you advocate it. Europe has been stagnate in most every field, yet you want to learn from them?

How many decades have you lived outside of the United States?

Kaosangel, I've never heard of anybody going to America for major medical procedures, and I have friends in many countries. I do know people who have gone to India, because they have fantastic doctors and low charges, I also know people who go to Thailand and/or eastern Europe because it's very cheap, but the outcomes are less consistent in those places.

Health care is not collapsing in my bit of Europe. The British government is putting immense pressure on the English health care system because they want to break it up and privatise it. If people in Britain want to jump the waiting lists, they can do so if they have enough money, by going to private hospitals.

In the European countries who have been humanitarian enough to accept huge numbers of refugees, every state system is under pressure, but we learnt from the experiences of west Germany accepting many east Germans following the removal of the Berlin wall, and the subsequent removal of the east/west border, that a state can accept a large influx of refugees and still prosper, and the lessons form that experience are there for other EU countries to use now.

A question - if the health care system in the US is so great, why isn't the rest of the world copying it or using it as a model? This report might explain it. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/\nfund-reports/2014/jun/mirror-mirror

Unfortunately there are too many social, religious and cultural differences for the assimilation of these refugees to ever work. These people look upon women as chattel, property to be treated accordingly. I'm surprised women seem to be the ones most supportive of taking them in, but it's hard for me to trust anything coming from the MSM these days I do agree with your stance on healthcare, digondda, and I have commend you for winning your battle with cancer. We Americans tend to believe our own BS, that everything of any significance was innovated, invented, discovered or created here first. It's written in the history books, our history books, and it's the real crux of the problem. The internet is wearing away at that mythology.

Interesting but wrong Jackt. Australia has been founded on immigrants from all over the world and continues to do so. We do not accept the poor treatment of women and migrant men learn that very quickly. The main issue around the World is the migration of people due to economic forces.

classic difference between the US and Aus - our CSIRO develops grain seed that will survive in our harsh and arid climate but we also donate our technology to help poor countries better feed themselves. The US has Monsanto - do I need to elaborate?

And as for pharmaceuticals?

Phil, I appreciate what you're saying. You're Aussie, where men are men and the women are just strong and exceptional. But You're kidding yourself if you think Muslims have changed because you willed it.

Monsanto, that's a whole other issue and I agree with some of what you're saying. What's wrong with improving upon nature? Mostly, we humans don't fully comprehend all the physiological processes of life on a molecular level, never mind on a sub-molecular one, and we sure as hell don't understand our dependencies on the survival of other species in the biosphere. I've no problem with companies or universities doing research. What Monsanto and our politicians did is unconscionable. They had it written into law that GMO foods take precedence over organic foods and that companies aren't obliged to report GMO products on labels.

jackt wrote: " What Monsanto and our politicians did is unconscionable." Until political prostitution is out of the mix, the ability of gub-mint to administer itself for the benefit of the whole will simply not exist. To enjoy a better life, I would move on and enjoy life. OR, focus on the problem without getting distracted down rat hole diversion which take focus AWAY from the problem.

Pharmas have been proven to work to cure many diseases. Personally I don't take any meds including over the counters like aspirin. There are way too many issues to cover on both sides. Most come down to money and greed.

Monsanto = EVIL

tuco - Sanderson, yes, hockey's all time bad boy, sorry, doesn't hold a candle to my fav, Bobby Orr. Mikita, a gentleman on & off the ice, has horrible Alzheimers now. To my excellent scouting abilities: I saw a minor league game in Peoria - Let's Go Rivermen! (Ugh!) I saw a really little guy playing his heart out, kept commenting to my friends about him - what speed, what stick-handling . . . if only he weren't so small. To shut me up, they suggested I write his name down, see if anything became of him. So I did. Many years later, after they took hockey off free TV & I ceased following, I was cooking in the kitchen, switching channels, they were introducing the All-Stars. I left it on. Yep, you guessed it - there was 'my guy' - Captain of the Team! Theo Fleury!!! Still a really little guy!

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Lots of virtuals. Easy enough if you pay attention. 16.