Obamacare: Do Expats Need To Buy Health Insurance?

[ajoknoblauch]

Do you realize, that to the present GOP Ronald Reagan would be a socialist?

They are even greater dimwits than he was...

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Exactly the point. A small country like France, the UK, etc., can manage things fine. All countries the size of ... a state in the United States. If the national government has bungled things so badly the past 20 to 30 years, then why would we want to give it more power to bungle things further? You just proved my point exactly. Small states can manage things in a much more efficient fashion than a large one.

France's population is 66 million, the UK's 63 million, California (the largest US state) 38 million, the libertarian paradises of Georgia (US) and Somalia 10 million each. Small is beautiful!

 

[John.St]

Exactly the point. A small country like France, the UK, etc., can manage things fine. All countries the size of ... a state in the United States. ...

Please name those American states, which have 81,000,000, 66,000,000 and 63,000,000 inhabitant, resp. - I am always eager to learn something new

Germany ...... 81,147,265
France ....... 65,951,611
United Kingdom 63,395,574

 

[ARbound]

Population of the United States: 313,900,000
Population of the European Union: 507,890,191

It's not a population issue, it's the fact that some people in the United States still don't care that
poor/underemployed people can't afford health insurance or think healthcare is not a human right.

The real uncontrollable expenditure that grows every year isn't Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security,
it's the real "Welfare Queen" (as that socialist-RINO Reagan would call it): The Military Industrial Complex/
DOD, a REPUBLICAN warned us about it, President Eisenhower, the last respectable GOP President, that
was 52 years ago!

Also, don't forget that Department of Defense is a misnomer. Until 1949 it was called "The United States
Department of War". The one thing I will give to Ron Paul & Co. is that the DOD/DHS has sucked at the
proverbial tit of government so long that the two are no longer indistinguishable.

 

[camberiu]

Population of the United States: 313,900,000
Population of the European Union: 507,890,191

Wait, so the EU now is an example of good management?

 

[camberiu]

Please name those American states, which have 81,000,000, 66,000,000 and 63,000,000 inhabitant, resp. - I am always eager to learn something new

Germany ...... 81,147,265
France ....... 65,951,611
United Kingdom 63,395,574

I think the issue is not population, but complexity of the system in question. Most European countries are much more homogeneous than the US. Just compare and contrast the differences between Cote D'azur and Normany in France vs. Alaska and Florida in the US.

Are you guys seriously implying that the effectiveness of central planning is not negatively affected by the complexity of the system that it is being attempted to be managed?

I also don;t buy the fact that the European model really works. This is a model that has only been in place since the end world War II and has never been put to a major stress test.
We are seeing now SERIOUS problems popping up in France, the UK, Italy and even the Netherlands and it will be interesting to see how viable the "welfare state" continues to be as the demographics dramatically change and the European nations find more and more difficult to finance their debt.

Also, let's remember that Germany has not recapitalized their banks yet. Once it does (it will have to eventually), let's see what their budget will look like and how that will affect their welfare state.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Wait, so the EU now is an example of good management?

If we're talking health care access, without a doubt.

 

[Dublin2BuenosAires]

I think the issue is not population, but complexity of the system in question. Most European countries are much more homogeneous than the US. Just compare and contrast the differences between Cote D'azur and Normany in France vs. Alaska and Florida in the US.

Are you guys seriously implying that the effectiveness of central planning is not negatively affected by the complexity of the system that it is being attempted to be managed?

Examples are fun when they are skewed to make a point, aren't they?

How about post communist east germany vs bavaria?

How about isloated villages in the southern Alps vs Paris?

How about the Shetland Islands vs London?

 

[camberiu]

If we're talking health care access, without a doubt.

Health care is handled at the local level, not by the EU.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Health care is handled at the local level, not by the EU.

Within the EU, health care is a universal, though it's handled at the level of individual countries, not localities. Düsseldorf, Nice and Liverpool do not have their own health care systems.