California's government at work (1 Viewer)

See I see no issue with this, if you want to travel for gender reassignment - then pay for it yourself.

The idea of the Medicaid as I understand it is to give American citizens access to basic healthcare. The tax payer shouldn’t have to pay for anymore

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

See I see no issue with this, if you want to travel for gender reassignment - then pay for it yourself.

The idea of the Medicaid as I understand it is to give American citizens access to basic healthcare. The tax payer shouldn’t have to pay for anymore

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Saw a thing on twitter yesterday where a US celeb (It was actually Bernie Sanders, possible President candidate) asked for examples of things US citizens had paid for as medical care and the costs.

$35k for having a baby... $45k for an appendix removal and 3 days in hospital...

We’re beyond lucky to have the NHS.

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

See I see no issue with this, if you want to travel for gender reassignment - then pay for it yourself.

The idea of the Medicaid as I understand it is to give American citizens access to basic healthcare. The tax payer shouldn’t have to pay for anymore

Click to expand...

State funded gender reassignment is a very slippery slope. Hard to argue that some bloke who feels not having tits makes him unhappy is more important than some woman who feels not having tits makes her unhappy, and that’s before you get to cancer survivors and the like. Also makes a mockery of the idea that being trans isn’t about surgery and opponents of medical gatekeeping.

Until the trans activists can agree amongst themselves what they need they’ll tie themselves in knots asking for it.

shmmeee said:

State funded gender reassignment is a very slippery slope. Hard to argue that some bloke who feels not having tits makes him unhappy is more important than some woman who feels not having tits makes her unhappy, and that’s before you get to cancer survivors and the like. Also makes a mockery of the idea that being trans isn’t about surgery and opponents of medical gatekeeping.

Until the trans activists can agree amongst themselves what they need they’ll tie themselves in knots asking for it.

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I kind of agree and feel the issue is more of a mental than physical one and the money should go into providing mental health care to discover and help treat those than going for the surgery option which feels like the 'lazy' option on the part of the healthcare providers. I feel the same about the vast majority of cosmetic surgery - your body is healthy, it's your perception of your body that isn't. Why risk the healthy bit with infection etc but largely ignore the actual unhealthy bit in your head?

Sky_Blue_Dreamer said:

I kind of agree and feel the issue is more of a mental than physical one and the money should go into providing mental health care to discover and help treat those than going for the surgery option which feels like the 'lazy' option on the part of the healthcare providers. I feel the same about the vast majority of cosmetic surgery - your body is healthy, it's your perception of your body that isn't. Why risk the healthy bit with infection etc but largely ignore the actual unhealthy bit in your head?

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It’s interesting that a lot of old school transsexuals and detransitioners say the thing trans people need most is proper mental health support, especially prior to transition, but that’s not the demand from the activists because their focus is on trans not being a mental illness.

Fascinating from an outsiders perspective, probably infuriating and depressing if you’re going through it.

Nothing like gender realignment for people who sit on the fence - painful for male and female

Si80 said:

Saw a thing on twitter yesterday where a US celeb (It was actually Bernie Sanders, possible President candidate) asked for examples of things US citizens had paid for as medical care and the costs.

$35k for having a baby... $45k for an appendix removal and 3 days in hospital...

We’re beyond lucky to have the NHS.

Click to expand...

something like 60% percent of bankruptcies in the US involve some medical debt and 1 in 6 deaths is down to not being able to afford treatment/drugs, (that's from memory so those figures may be out slightly.
Spoke to a taxi driver when last time I was in the States and his wife had just had a baby and they had insurance and still ended up with a bill of 2 grand for items not covered in their policy.

Si80 said:

Saw a thing on twitter yesterday where a US celeb (It was actually Bernie Sanders, possible President candidate) asked for examples of things US citizens had paid for as medical care and the costs.

$35k for having a baby... $45k for an appendix removal and 3 days in hospital...

We’re beyond lucky to have the NHS.

Click to expand...

Last week my friend's face went numb down it's left side and he had trouble blinking in one eye. I went to casualty with him upon his Doctors orders. They had performed blood tests, a cat scan and MRI in the space of 4 hours. It turned out it was nothing serious but we both talked about how if this was in a country like the US he could have been handed a bill for £3-5k.

See in general this is an issue I have with the NHS aswell, ya what point do you stop? I get people not feeling like a woman/man. But you need to rectify it.

I’ve got a few pounds - if it makes me depressed why can’t I have surgery? Don’t mind mental health support on the tax payer - but not any surgeries.

I’m afraid surgeries should be much lower than lifesaving procedures.

clint van damme said:

something like 60% percent of bankruptcies in the US involve some medical debt and 1 in 6 deaths is down to not being able to afford treatment/drugs, (that's from memory so those figures may be out slightly.
Spoke to a taxi driver when last time I was in the States and his wife had just had a baby and they had insurance and still ended up with a bill of 2 grand for items not covered in their policy.

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Yep, one of the messages I read yesterday was around a trick where the hospital knows that they need an anesthetist for the planned op, but don't roster one on so it means emergency ones are required (un-surprisingly not covered by insurance claim) and so $2k gets billed for the "called out" anesthetist and charged to the patient.

Crooks game.

Health just isn’t a viable market. We were smart enough to realise this years ago. Sadly Americans don’t like free markets, they like rigged ones.

HuckerbyDublinWhelan said:

See in general this is an issue I have with the NHS aswell, ya what point do you stop? I get people not feeling like a woman/man. But you need to rectify it.

I’ve got a few pounds - if it makes me depressed why can’t I have surgery? Don’t mind mental health support on the tax payer - but not any surgeries.

I’m afraid surgeries should be much lower than lifesaving procedures.

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This is a good point HDW and one of the reasons the NHS, whilst an amazing service we are lucky to have, is a money pit.

Where the line is drawn over what the NHS covers/provides has moved over the years. It’s such a tricky/emotive subject but how many IVF treatments should be covered, how about stomach stapling for the obese or boob jobs for depressed (an ex girlfriend had one on the NHS...unfortunately it was after we had split up !). If you start asking people to make contributions then some will complain but it possibly should be considered for certain treatments/surgeries.

Currently in California and looking at the homeless problem out here, the country should maybe be prioritising resolving that

Ps the US health care/insurance system is just broken

Gazolba said:

And how would you propose they resolve that? Give them houses?
California has the most expensive housing in the entire USA.
People are leaving in droves to come to Arizona where it's far cheaper.
This is causing prices to rise in Arizona and people are starting to leave here.
The problem is there are just too many people.

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Like most people, I think having homeless (other than those that choose to be) in the western world we live in, is unacceptable. I’m not fan of the SNP (Sturgeon in particular) but from what I’ve seen and heard Scotland have dealt with the homeless problem better than most ie providing proper shelters etc

There is no easy answer but it’s just sad to see, especially on the scale I’ve seen in many US cities

Ps the problem you will also have is in the ‘tech’ cities, such as San Fran, where its becoming way too expensive for normal people to live (I was told less than $100k wage is considered low wage there). I’d hope that some of those major tech corps would do their bit !