The main reason for that is that I live in a Western country that is not the United States of America.
I've had accidents and I've been sick. I ride a motorcycle a minimum of 80km per day to get to and from class - a fairly dangerous way of getting around. But the thought of how to pay for any potential accidents is the furthest thing from my mind: I know that, if I turn up at a hospital, I'll be treated. I won't be rejected because I don't have a large bank balance or for a 'pre-existing condition'.
If I get sick, I can go to any doctor I choose. Ones closer to my home will be cheaper, but none will bankrupt me.
The government pays for most of the healthcare I need; I pay tax into the system, as does everyone else. If I need a specialist, I may have to wait a bit if my case is not urgent; if I don't want to wait, I can pay for a private specialist.
Americans reading this will by now probably be having one of two reactions:
- Wow - I wish I could have that, I can't afford to keep paying $500 a month for insurance.
- OMG SOCIALISM!
To the second group, Yes! It is Socialism. Socialism was one of the reasons I chose to live here. Socialism is not, however, necessarily a bad thing: many Americans seem to think that Socialism = Communism, and is therefore bad; that if America adopts a system that has any level of Socialist policies, everyone will be required to submit to death panels and wear Hitler mustaches. We'll get to how ridiculous this is in a later post, but basically, Socialist policies can be compatible with, and can even enhance, the free and democratic ideals that America says that it values.
This blog will look at some issues related to government provision of healthcare, in the context of the contentious 'debate' going on in the USA at the moment.
A couple of comments - firstly the linked site states that full health care is available "provided you are a New Zealand Citizen or you are ordinarily resident in New Zealand". Do international students or those on exchanges qualify for this or do you have to take out additional insurance? Also something that could be interesting to comment on in your blog is NZ's ACC (Accident Compensation) which effectively removes the lawsuit for personal injury - something that occurs regularly and at great cost in the US.
ReplyDeleteI'd imagine not, unless the student's home country has a reciprocal agreement with NZ to provide health services; as far as I know, however, visitors are covered by ACC for accidents. I do consider it a flaw in the system that visitors are not automatically covered (for a reasonable period, provided the purpose of their trip is not exclusively to take advantage of the health system).
ReplyDeleteI'll probably dedicate a post to ACC eventually :-)
hi rob
ReplyDeletePlease comment me on my new blog as my old blog is not working
http://gurbinder-iwrite-2009.blogspot.com/
Hi Rob
ReplyDeleteAn excellent blog I must say, very interesting to read. I understand your point about having a reciprocal agreement with NZ for international student.
But, international education is a huge business in NZ. International students are important for us. They are our customers and they should be taken care of by the government for sake of our business.
Hi Rob
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog, i think I made the right decision to choose NZ. The healthcare system is good in NZ for Residents and Citizens. Because while I was in my home country, I never knew that US healthcare is so expensive.
In my opnion NZ government should provide international students the same medical insurance as residents. International students help to grow the economy of the country and even they more care and affection as they are away from their home country.
Hey
ReplyDeleteThat's quite sad to read about the healthcare system in United States.It's really amazing to know that people go bankrupt to cover the medical costs. Healthcare Really very Expensive!
The government have no sympathy with sick people. They don't the care about the person
who is dying from sickness but only care about the money.
I really feel sorry for the people who do have insurance, still they are not safe, as insurance company don't give any guarantee of the insurance.
Jason, that is true - international students do pay a lot to be here; the least the government can do is cover them under the national system.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify for anyone unfamiliar with the concept - a 'reciprocal agreement' here refers to an agreement where, for example, NZ says to Australia "we'll provide healthcare for Australians visiting NZ under our plan, if you provide healthcare for NZers in Australia under yours", and then Australia says "Cool, that sounds awesome."
Unfortunely, international students do pay more, however, it would apply to us when we travel internationally. Your right governments used to represent the people. today, however, they seem to only represent their interests above the people.
ReplyDeleteDo people in some countries reject clients if they can't pay? And they don't in New Zealand?
ReplyDeletethat's a relieving news-
To me socialism doesn't seem so bad...