I’m a student, and I work part time to pay my rent (I live with my parents but I help with bills because I AM nearly 22) and my cellphone bill and for clothes and gas for work and school. My job doesn’t offer parttime health insurance, and since I pay to go to school I can’t afford private insurance and cannot work full time to get health insurance through work. Because I have a job, I am not poor enough that i qualify for medicaid or our local CMSP. My parents do not work (outside of my control) so I cannot get health coverage through them.

Do I quit school and have no future of supporting myself comfortably so I can work fulltime and pay for health insurance? Do I quit my job so I can’t pay my bills or for school so I qualify for government help? Or do I go without?– and I should mention I have a hormone disorder that I need at least four medications for daily that I cannot get right now because I have no health care. I know I’m not the only person with this problem, my best friend– who lives in another state– is in the EXACT same situation (minus the hormone disorder) right now, and so are many other college students I know.

So maybe not nationalized healthcare, but what about a better program for college students than the nurse on campus that’s for birth control and emergencies? That would certainly go a LONG way for a LOT of uninsured Americans.

If we think our healthcare is expemnsive now, we should wait until it’s “free.” (For this sh*t, we’ll double our taxes and still bankrupt our country… stupid Democrats.)

Not so say that our system is perfect, but it certainly is better.

All the people mentioned in the article had coverage but did not receive care

What is the source for your statistics? Numbers aren’t meaningful in themselves. It is important to know how they were gathered.

You might also consider that (using your figures) as a percentage, Australia is not significantly better off than the United States. There are roughly 21 million people in Australia, as opposed to the USA which has closer to 300 million.

Not that I accept your figures. Just sayin’.

What everyone needs to understand about how this appalling situation could happen and no one gets punished for it is this:
In a bureaucracy, “I followed procedure” is an ABSOLUTE defense against an accusation of wrongdoing. No matter what, if you can document that you followed the established procedures to the letter, no only will nothing bad happen to you, you will be rewarded and looked up to as an example of how to behave. The outcome of following the procedure DOES NOT MATTER! There may well be changes in procedures or required paperwork as a result, but no adverse action will be taken against you personally.

By the way, this documentation requirement should be a clue to why there is so much paperwork in bureaucracies.

Second:
The “it’s not my problem” attitude shown in the article is the natural outcome of a system where
1. there is no competition,
2. there is no requirement to show a profit and
3. there is no possibility of going out of business.
This is the overwhelming advantage government has over private sector companies. In addition, government both sets and enforces the rules. That means it can get away with things that would send executives and regular employees of public or privately held companies to jail (think Social Security “trust fund” accounting games). The people running this organization clearly have no fear of lawyers waiting to sue and easily winning a judgment against them that would wipe out their assets, destroy their company and blacklist them from future employment in the field. If they get sued, what happens? Government has unlimited resources to defend a suit for years and even if they lose, big deal. Names on the org chart get reshuffled, some of the lines are redrawn and life goes on. If the lawsuits really get to be too much of a nuisance, just change the law to exempt themselves. What company has that kind of immunity from accountability?

In Australia, an approximated 4,550 people die per year due to poor healthcare.

Neither set of figures is desirable, but I know which I prefer.