Is anyone here open to the possibility of voting for the 'opposite' party?

[Sammie13]

So, what's the point?

We should keep our huge, massively expensive broken system so the Japanese can profit?

I'm confused.

Well you're referencing a post about a post about another post. Giancarlo was boasting about how socialist and/or universal health care countries can do so much medical research and afford it with low health care costs in their own countries. It's not magic....the R&D in those countries is paid for by Americans and the high costs of health care here.

I'm just providing fair/balance. The Japanese are an example....The Swiss, Danish, Germans all count on American $'s which we benefit from in better science. Some R&D is still done here in the states as well. As margins in the US decline, look for far fewer health advances. It's already happening...very few new drugs are now coming out and devices are slowing down. Pipelines are drying up fast. I make no claim as to right/wrong....lower prices equals better access and affordability with weaker science and quality; higher prices equals better R&D and quality, but less access and affordability issues that leave some on the sideline. The fact that the US is middle of the road on healthcare outcomes in the world is a result, no doubt, of the access/cost challenge issue.

 

[TX-Beau]

Hmmm. Maybe yes maybe no, but our healthcare is not massively expensive because it's supporting huge amounts of R&D, it's hugely expensive because of profit margins for private corporations, and the bureaucracies that generate them.

 

[CoolBlue71]

…

Another way I'm looking at it: the opposition party; the Republican Party.

My answer: No.

 

[Kulindahr]

Sorry. A Japanese manufacturer of med devices/equipment/pharmaceuticals typically find that the bulk of their sales come from Americans at huge profit margins. In their own country, margins are very slim. Yes, they employ Japanese to make the product and the Japanese citizens enjoy the health benefits at low-margin prices of the product, but it is in America where they get the big pay-off. I'm confused by your comment...a Japanese company can have clients/customers outside their nation's borders. If profits dry up in the US, it has a huge affect on health care manufacturers/corp overseas since the thrust of their decisons are with the US market in mind.

"Healthcare" sort of means the people like doctors, and places like labs and hospitals. I didn't think you were talking about medical manufacturers because you used that word.

 

[CoolBlue71]

Rolyo85, as a gay man what is that one option? Why are you voting as a gay man and not as a citizen?

I feel there are many more things at stake as a citizen than as a gay man.

I know this was directed to Rolyo85, but I want to say that there are people who are single-issue voters. When anyone participates in voting, he gets to handle casting his ballot however he will. It's no less a vote coming from a citizen.

 

[Kulindahr]

Hmmm. Maybe yes maybe no, but our healthcare is not massively expensive because it's supporting huge amounts of R&D, it's hugely expensive because of profit margins for private corporations, and the bureaucracies that generate them.

All of the above.

But it's also because we no longer use the rich as guinea pigs who pay for the newest treatments until the price comes down; everyone expects the latest and best the moment it exists.

 

[Kulindahr]

Another way I'm looking at it: the opposition party; the Republican Party.

My answer: No.

The Grim Opposition Posse.

Or... the Guaranteed Opposition Patrol.

 

[TX-Beau]

I know this was directed to Rolyo85, but I want to say that there are people who are single-issue voters. When anyone participates in voting, he gets to handle casting his ballot however he will. It's no less a vote coming from a citizen.

Unfortunately Rolyo can't vote, being the spawn of commie redness and all.

But I'd also like to chime in. Why is he voting as a GAY MAN? Because he is a GAY MAN!

Better question is why must he divorce himself from his gayness in order to what? Cast a "legitimate citizen" vote?

Please. Homophobia by any other name, smells like shit.

 

[TX-Beau]

Please, people are fooling themselves if they think that ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, hell region don't influence how EVERYONE votes.

I guarantee you that if straight people were denied the right to marry the resulting massive tsunami of "single issue" voters, voting as "straight" and not "citizen" would fucking capsize this country.

 

[Sammie13]

"Healthcare" sort of means the people like doctors, and places like labs and hospitals. I didn't think you were talking about medical manufacturers because you used that word.

Sorry bout that, Kuli. I should've been more specific. The healthcare industry is inclusive of pharma/device/equipment manufacturers & research laboaratories as well as hospice, home health care, home medical, labs/diagnostics, rehab centers, etc in additon to the doctors, hospitals that we always think about. It is a gigantic industry with more components than we often consider. But, yeah, the healthcare firm's I was referencing in Japan were the R&D labs/manuf.

 

[Sammie13]

The Japanese pay less and get more. That in the end is better].

Obama care isn't going to dramatically slow research and development. Stop talking out of thin air.

First sentence is true. 2nd sentence is questionable and relative to other issues.

As for R&D:
That is just WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!! It already has impacted. Very dramatically. Tens of thouands of medical research scientists in the US and abroad have been laid off in the last 24 months with more to come. Buildings housing scientists boarded up. It's not something people will notice for a while with the naked eye. Companies have thrown in the towel in drug and device development....it costs too much and takes too long to create impactful research only to have low profit margins and a short duration to sell before patent life expires.

 

[Benvolio]

Obviously you read absolutely nothing about what I posted. Japan is far ahead when it comes to efficiency, quality and medical advancements. They are the ones coming up with new vaccines, like those related to a flu vaccine. The Japanese pay less and get more. That in the end is better. Obama care isn't going to dramatically slow research and development. Stop talking out of thin air.

The articles you linked deals only with efficiency,i.e. cost of health care in Japan. Vaccines are in a category by themselves, because governments, including our own, intervene in setting prices. At one time US manufacturers were driven out of the vaccine business because the government prices were so low. Here is a detailed discussion of the problem. Government has been the problem, not the solution.http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/3/706.full

 

[CoolBlue71]

Americans who report they are atheists comprise less than 2 percent of the population. One of the principles atheists seek to preserve is a secular government. In that regard, it is reasonable to assume they may find themselves at odds with elements of the Christian Right.

The rise of atheism in America
The number of disbelievers is growing, but they remain America's least trusted minority. Why?

By The Week
April 13, 2012 | The rise of atheism in America - The Week

How many atheists are there?
It depends on your definition of the term. Only between 1.5 and 4 percent of Americans admit to so-called "hard atheism," the conviction that no higher power exists. But a much larger share of the American public (19 percent) spurns organized religion in favor of a nondefined skepticism about faith. This group, sometimes collectively labeled the "Nones," is growing faster than any religious faith in the U.S.

 

[opinterph]

Americans who report they are atheists comprise less than 2 percent of the population.

… The number of disbelievers is growing

My source is from 2007.

Statistics on Religion in America Report -- Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life​

 

[Benvolio]

You saying i t does not make it true. Your link deals with efficiency.my link shows that we lead in development.

Japanese may lead in some education, but i bet they don't know as much political correctness as ours.

 

[Benvolio]

And you making your outrageous claims makes what you say true? You haven't provided a real argument. Re-read my link about the Japanese health care system. Your link doesn't show anything. My link showed that the Japanese pay less and got more quality.

You are not reading you own link correctly. No one has disputed the the US pays more. But if you read your link carefully, the health care was measured by life expectancy and infant mortality, which is a function of who gets care and not the quality of care itself. We have such a large segment of society mired in welfare and crime. It impacts both expectancy and infant mortality which is part of expectancy. Notice that one of the three thngs that your article includes in quality care is care by family members, which is a function of culture and not the professional health care system.