China Plans Universal Healthcare

[LoungeMachine]

April 8, 2009

China plans to bring basic healthcare to all

Jane Macartney in Beijing

Healthcare is the No.1 concern among Chinese, ranking above security, education and even employment. Now the Government has unveiled a 10-year plan aimed at bringing affordable medical services to even the poorest farmer and calming rising public anger.

The plan has been several years in the drafting and full details have yet to be made public. However, the Government says it will invest 850 billion yuan (£85 billion) between 2009 and 2011 to bring equitable healthcare to 90 per cent of China’s 1.3 billion people.

A government document said: “By 2020, China will have a basic healthcare system that can provide safe, effective, convenient and affordable health services to urban and rural residents. The core principle of the reform is to provide basic health care as a 'public service' to the people, which requires much more government funding and supervision."

The goal seems to be to eradicate a system in which only the rich, city residents or those employed by government organisations had any hope of access to affordable medical services. China’s 700 million or so farmers often chose to stay at home to die rather than to bankrupt their family with huge hospital bills.

Long gone are the days of the Maoist cradle-to-grave welfare system under which housing, health care, jobs and even winter cabbage supplies were provided for free. The Communist Party began the swift dismantling of that system with the introduction of market-oriented economic reforms in the 1980s. But many people got left behind.

In the absence of a social safety net, Chinese save a huge proportion of their income to ensure they have a nest egg in case of sickness. That trend has made it difficult for the Government to encourage more consumer spending to help to revive the economy since last year's sudden downturn.

A searing indictment of the medical system published by a government think-tank in 2005 served as a wake-up call to the leadership of the risks of ignoring healthcare. The report branded the system a failure and warned of severe public criticism of the Government if it did not act.

People were horrified by one tale of a three-year-old boy scalded by boiling water in an accident at his home and who died of his injuries after his parents were turned away from one hospital because they could not afford a £1,500 deposit demanded by doctors.

Under the new plan, the authorities will build 2,000 county hospitals and 5,000 township clinics in rural areas in the next three years. Pilot health insurance schemes already extended to many farmers will be increased. That subsidy will be increased by 50 per cent to 120 yuan (£12) per person per year. The country will set up a national database and, from this year, anyone over 65 and children under three will be eligible for regular free checkups.

Hospitals and clinics in the poor countryside and less developed cities will be improved and the price of essential medicines will be capped. Disease prevention and control, maternal health, mental health and first aid services will also receive greater attention.

China has long struggled to extend some type of universal coverage, but funding such a vast system has been a persistent problem. At present, insurance is mainly provided to working-age urban residents, often through their employers or government agencies. The new reforms envision diversified medical insurance systems to give coverage to employees in the private sector, non-working urbanites and residents of the poor countryside.

Limiting the cost of medicines could make a huge difference to patients, for whom these charges are among the most widespread abuses. One editorial in the state-run China Daily said: “The Government's good intention could be just wishful thinking if no specific measures were taken to break the nexus between representatives of medicine manufacturers and doctors or between hospitals and manufacturers. It is an open secret that some doctors get kickbacks from drug manufacturers for prescribing their drugs.

China plans to bring basic healthcare to all - Times Online

[Big Train]

We are running behind them also on:

Horrible Human rights
Pollution
Quality of life

All of ours are still WAY to high to compete with China.

[Satan]

So much for the right wing myth that universal health care wouldn't work in the US because "were a lot bigger country than the UK or Sweden or Cuba or whatever".

Wonder how the FAUXsheep are gonna spin this into wool?

[Big Train]

Well, nobody has said or seen what this universal healthcare will actually look like, so it's a bit premature for that statement.

[chan_bkny]

What else can/do we lag behind China? An upgraded subway system.

[ELVIS]

How many forced female abortions does the US perform compared to China ??

[thome]

I guess all that free enterprise health care for the last 7000 years has left all the chinese extinct.

Thank Gad zukkers for Lounge and his dum dum baby brain comments.

Can a communist country survive -without- universal health care? Would probably have better talking points.

Take the last dime out of thier hands and put the control with the central government.

All Lounge talks about is the stupidy of the American System, but his only answers are to give the system control of everything.And then how wonderfull it all will be in Loungetopia.

Perhaps there is a -West Wing Episode- that can help him make a better comment.


Martin Sheen KNOWS!!!! anyone have his addy??? last I saw of him he was walking down a blvd in LA with a 12ft long wooden cross over his shoulder.

[ELVIS]

Lmao!

[Kristy]

They're going to need it when their cancer rate soars in the next 20 years.

[ELVIS]

The cancer rate is doing the same thing right here...

[Andy Taylor]

Originally Posted by Big Train

We are running behind them also on:

Horrible Human rights

Not if you include the "human rights" meted out to non-US citizens.

[Big Train]

ok, Human Rights per capita...based on sheer numbers, they got us beat.

[Guitar Shark]

I suddenly have a hankering for some Chinese food.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally Posted by Guitar Shark

I suddenly have a hankering for some Chinese food.

Hit the Wah Kue before they close their doors, counselor.

Some of the best Chinese in the area!



I'm amazed at how conditioned we are as Americans to just accept the fact you health and well being are tied to your class, not your citizenship.

Imagine if every American was afforded the SAME healthcare we GIVE our Congressmen.......

[Guitar Shark]

In all seriousness, there was a really good program about the US health care system on Frontline within the last month. Check it out.

[chan_bkny]

Originally Posted by LoungeMachine

Hit the Wah Kue before they close their doors, counselor.

Some of the best Chinese in the area!

Not to derail the thread, but what area would that be?

[Nitro Express]

I go to China all the time. It's far from being the paradise many people think it is. In fact, the people there are starting to riot from the shitty factory jobs they have to work in and their exports are way down. If dumb, fat, and unhappy USA can't buy their shit, they don't sell their shit and it hurts them too.

China is the only place where you can cut the breathable air with a knife and eat a piece. Horrible pollution!

[Nitro Express]

Healthcare costs in the US started to go up when the govt. got involved in it by passing Medicare and Medicade. They doctors had to pay into it and they jacked the prices because their costs went up. Add in people abusing their insurance and insurance companies using that as an excuse to jack up premiums. Then add in big pharmacutical companies and ambulence chasing attorneys and you have sky high medical costs.

All universal health care does is it lowers the quality of the health care and takes away your individual choices as a patient. My sister almost died waiting for care in the UK. All my relatives in Canada come here to the US for their operations because they don't want to wait around and they want to choose their doctor.

[Nitro Express]

The US healthcare system started to go to shit when Kennedy got shot in the head and ol' Lindon Johnson came in with his Great Catastrophe plan. The same political ilk sell the same ol' shit today and people are dumb enough to buy into it.

Hell. The Soviet Union had universal healthcare. Gee. We can have the govt. provide everything. Too bad that system went down.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally Posted by chan_bkny

Not to derail the thread, but what area would that be?

Seattle.

[Nitro Express]

China had a great opportunity to build modern cities based on state of the art public transportation. What did they do? They tore down old Bejing which of course what lost in the stone age and needed an upgrade but built another Los Angeles. It's a city full of traffic jams. Try riding a bike there. You will get your ass ran over. China has copied many of America's mistakes. They in many ways want to be us believe it or not.

[Nitro Express]

Chinese medicine is eating some ground up sea horses and ginseng root. Having a large set of Ben Wa balls inserted in your ass and then laying on a vibrating bed. Then you masturbate and have a cup of Oolong tea to clear your body of toxins.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally Posted by Nitro Express

The US healthcare system started to go to shit when Kennedy got shot in the head and ol' Lindon Johnson came in with his Great Catastrophe plan. The same political ilk sell the same ol' shit today and people are dumb enough to buy into it.

Hell. The Soviet Union had universal healthcare. Gee. We can have the govt. provide everything. Too bad that system went down.

We're not talking about FREE, but "affordable" here...

Why are we happy with OUR system that allows a middleman [insurance companies] to siphon off billions in profits, using them to BUY our congress, and then DENY benefits whenever they see fit?

GET THE FUCK OFF THE ANTI-COMMUNIST RHETORIC AND WAKE UP PEOPLE.

We're being bled dry by the healthcare insurance lobby, and daring to point fingers and snicker at other countries' systems?

what the fuck ever.

[ELVIS]

Why do you think the government should should be leading the way in how to manage US healthcare ??

[Guitar Shark]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

Why do you think the government should should be leading the way in how to manage US healthcare ??

Watch the Frontline episode and decide for yourself.

Basically, the US is the ONLY developed country in the world which has NOT done so.

[Satan]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

Why do you think the government should should be leading the way in how to manage US healthcare ??

Corporations exist for one reason - to make money. Therefore corporate healthcare is about what is most profitable, not about curing, let alone preventing illness.

Take the profit motive out of it, you can do what's best for the patient, not what's best for the CEO's bank account.

The irony that I have to explain this to a nurse is overwhelming, BTW.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

Why do you think the government should should be leading the way in how to manage US healthcare ??

But you're okay with it for our Vets?

Nice double standard.

I dont see you crying for the VA to be privitized.



hypocrite

[Guitar Shark]

Originally Posted by Satan

The irony that I have to explain this to a nurse is overwhelming, BTW.

ok, that was funny

[LoungeMachine]

Originally Posted by Satan

The irony that I have to explain this to a nurse is overwhelming, BTW.

Much like his "Christianity", I've yet to witness any evidence he's a nurse, either.

Butch Ratchett, maybe....

[LoungeMachine]

Originally Posted by Guitar Shark

Watch the Frontline episode and decide for yourself.

Basically, the US is the ONLY developed country in the world which has NOT done so.

And only because our Congress is bought and paid for by the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies



Abolish lobbyists and it would change overnight.

[ELVIS]

You idiots are fools as well!

And a counselor...i'm appalled...

The government isn't interested in doing in what's in our best interest, especially medically...

In Europe I believe, vitamins and supplements are precription medication, not OTC as they are here...

The only real control we have in healthcare is learning and taking care of ourselves...

Put the government in control and our ability to do just that will diminish...

Nobody is gonna tell me what medication or what vaccines to take!

These new medications are dangerous and life threatening, period!

[ELVIS]

Originally Posted by LoungeMachine

And only because our Congress is bought and paid for by the insurance and pharmaceutical lobbies



Abolish lobbyists and it would change overnight.

How ???

They will still be in bed together, even more so!

[Seshmeister]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

How many forced female abortions does the US perform compared to China ??

Too few.

[ELVIS]

Haha Sesh...

And don't you guys think just for a split second that hey, maybe ELVIS has seen our healthcare system from the inside for quite a few years, that maybe he might know something ???

[Seshmeister]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

In Europe I believe, vitamins and supplements are precription medication, not OTC as they are here...

You believe wrongly.

In some countries like Spain antibiotics are OTC but this is of course a bad thing as it means that people take them when they don't need to leading to bugs becoming resistant to them.

[Seshmeister]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

Haha Sesh...

And don't you guys think just for a split second that hey, maybe ELVIS has seen our healthcare system from the inside for quite a few years, that maybe he might know something ???

Not when you come out with insane bullshit like vaccinations are bad.

It does makes me think there are some serious weaknesses in staff training in the US healthcare system...

[Satan]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

Haha Sesh...

And don't you guys think just for a split second that hey, maybe ELVIS has seen our healthcare system from the inside for quite a few years, that maybe he might know something ???

And yet you can't understand why the profit motivation of a corporatist healthcare system is a bad thing?

[ELVIS]

You think profit in anything is a bad thing, so shut the fuck up!

[Satan]

Originally Posted by ELVIS

You think profit in anything is a bad thing, so shut the fuck up!

I'm the Devil. I invented greed and capitalism. It always benefits me. But it doesn't benefit you mortals very much.

Now back to the relevant question, Nurse Butch.......

Should healthcare be about preventing illness, and failing that, treating it. Or should it be about making Bill the Catbutcher Frist and the insurance company goons richer?

[ELVIS]

Originally Posted by Seshmeister

Not when you come out with insane bullshit like vaccinations are bad.

They ARE!

When vaccines contain posions like the mercury based ingredient Thimerosal (Thimerosal, look it up along with autism),Thimerosal is the mercury-based preservative that has been linked to the epidemic of neurological disorders including speech delays, language delays, hyperactivity, attention-deficit disorder, and autism in American children born after 1989...

Poison Vaccines and The LA Sugar House Incident

By Brian E. Orger

February 21, 2001


.......there are records of the Union army committing mass murder against whites & blacks that were on a massive scale. One such incident took place in the winter and spring of 1863 in St. Mary parish, Louisiana.

In the archives of Louisiana, and in the book "The Conduct of Federal Troops in Louisiana ...", edited by David C. Edmonds, can be found first-hand reports of the Yankee army trying to "poison" innocent men, women, and children. The following is a letter written by one Dr. Sabatier for a report of the Yankee conduct; a report that was requested by the governor of Louisiana. (Pg. 91 - 92).

"... when the small-pox broke out among the Federal troops, then occupying New Iberia, it was impossible in our vicinity to procure the smallest portion of vaccine matter... I used my best exertions to procure some vaccine from the Federal physicians in New Iberia, and through one of my confreres succeeded in getting a few points loaded with vaccine, which I immediately inoculated to my own children."

Dr. Sabatier goes on to say how his children suffered more form the vaccine than from small pox. In fact, he states, "A few days after the operation, one of my poor little baby's arms was horribly swollen and inflamed, and on the second day appeared a pustule which had nothing of the appearance of vaccine..." Unfortunately for Dr. Sabatier many children died including his own. I sent a copy of this report to several doctors at Ochsner hospital in New Orleans, and their report back to me was that this "vaccine" was made to kill. The governor's report goes on to state that over "two thousand perished in six weeks." They died because of a poison passed off as a vaccine.

..... In the summer of 1863 another civilian doctor by the name of George Hill witnessed the Union army occupy what is today called Morgan City, at that time called Brasher. An event took place here, the likes of which would not be seen again until Hitler and the Nazis started their "final solution."

Dr. Hill was reported as being "a distinguished physician and surgeon of Opelousas." But all his years as a doctor did not prepare him for what he saw.

"In the summer of 1863, Berwick's Bay and a portion of the Lafourche country were taken possession of by the Confederate army. I, with many others who had lost property by the raid which the Federal army made between the 20th of April and the 20th of May of this year, visited the Bay for the purpose of recovering our property. I was among the first to cross the bay; and having been informed on the night of my arrival by a gentleman named March that several of my lost Negroes were at the sugar house of Dr. Sanders (Henry Sanders), and that others were there in a dying condition, I [left] in the morning [for the] sugar house of Dr. S. and entered it by a door in the west end.

[Original sentence says: I, in the morning as soon as sugar house of Dr. S. and entered it by a door in the west end.] -ed

"The scene which then and there presented itself can never be effaced from my memory. On the right hand, female corpses in a state of nudity, and also in a far advanced stage of decomposition. Many others were lying all over the floor, many speechless and in a dying condition.

"All appeared to have died of the same disease : bloody flux. The floor was slippery with blood, mucus and feces. The dying, and all those unable to help themselves, were lying with their scanty garments rolled around their heads and breasts - the lower part of the body naked - and every time an involuntary discharge of blood and feces, combined with air, would pass, making a slight noise, clouds of flies, such as I never saw before, would immediately rise and settle down again on all the exposed parts of the dying. In passing through the house a cold chill shook my frame, from which I did not recover for several months, and, indeed, it came near costing my life.

"As I passed from the house I met with a Negro man of my own, who informed me that he had lost his wife and two children. I asked him if his friends - the Yankees - had not furnished him with medicine. He said, 'No, and if they had, I would not have given it to my family as all who took their medicine died in twelve hours from the time of its being given."

This "deposition" ends with the remark that it was shown to Dr. Sanders, who was then a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. Dr. Sanders knew of the incident and was recorded as saying, "Before the arrival of Dr. Hill, he had caused many decomposed bodies that filled the coolers to be removed and interred... A hundred others would, if necessary, add their testimony to that of these gentlemen."

This event has become known as the Sugar House Incident, or the Sugar House Murders and the house in which it occurred has been located by myself and a few others. Our next step is to have the area scanned by infrared imaging to locate the mass graves that should be in the area.



More to come!