Socialized Medicine

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Iceland

http://www.europe-cities.com/en/633/iceland/health/

Iceland has universal health care. The health care system is largely paid for by taxes (85%) and to some extent by service fees (15%) and is administrated by The Ministry of Welfare (Icelandic: Velferðarráðuneytið).[1] A considerable portion of government spending is assigned to healthcare.[2]

The country is divided into 7 health care regions.[3]

There is almost no private health insurance in Iceland, and no private hospitals.[4
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seems to be mostly covered and they go one step further by covering most perscription drugs.

So are you saying the other countries that will go bankrupt will fall into complete chaos and not be able to pay for anything.......the govt will collapse, military collapse etc etc?
In total chaos I'm not sure if things will work to well when the USA goes bankrupt either. But in the past 50+ years all European citizens had largely free health care, how many Americans have gone bankrupt due to health issues in those years? What will happen to Medicare/Medicade when the USA goes bankrupt?
Does Iceland have 85% coverage, not a bad way to discourage people with colds going to see a doctor if they have to pay $30.

 

Yes, their governments will collapse. And their militaries are nearly non-existent; they all rely, eventually, on the US. Iceland has no military, they are completely dependent on Europe to protect them.
In Europe, free stuff worked great until the money ran out.
If you're not sure what will happen when the US economy collapses, maybe you should try to find out. You can't just keep spending money and hope the day of reckoning will stay in the distant future. The failing economies always look to larger economies to bail them out. Who is going to bail out the US?
Hope isn't a fiscal plan. Look at Cuba to see what happens when the sugardaddy takes away the credit cards because he has no more sugar.

We need a better system, but the European model isn't it.

 

Dude. It's freakin' Iceland. There are fewer people in Iceland than there are in Long Beach, California. About 320,000 people do not make a good model for a superpower.

 

you knew the answer was that those countries would fall into chaos and the people would start killing eachother and you still started this thread?
Is that what will happen to all the old people on Medicare in the USA as well?

 

What does China have to do with this?....

 

Dude, the OP asked what would happen, I provided a resent example. The bondholders get wiped out, their currency nosedives, and the healthcare keeps going. So is Greece from the OPs list better for a superpower lol? Did you have a better example?

 

Does Iceland have a military? Give foreign aid? What's the poverty level? Seems a lot like apples and watermelon to me.

 

Give a better example then

But if I must:

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Iceland-POVERTY-AND-WEALTH.html

"Icelanders enjoy a high quality of life and poverty is practically nonexistent. Keeping in line with the reserved character of Icelanders, there is not much conspicuous consumption of wealth"

sounds good no?

 

They own us?

Good point, but regardless, 320,000 is so small that it can't possibly be used in a comparison. Greece has over 11 million.

And it's "recent".

 

Maybe.

 

And they have a BBB- credit rating with a negative outlook.

 

The topic is about countries at risk going bankrupt, iceland went bankrupt. You expect triple A ratings for these countries?
I would hazard a guess that most people don't know how those ratings are determined and/ or care and just go about living their lives. I haven't seen the lowered USA rating affect me,how about you?

 

Short term, not yet. Long term, if we keep borrowing (and I don't see that happening soon) it will. So, why did these countries go bankrupt? Usually it involves spending more than you take in. Sound familiar?

 

You arent very good with that money stuff are you? You have not noticed the cost of everything going up and you having less disposable income? I would suggest looking at it a bit closer...

 

Anyone in this thread understand how the Auto Insurers are regulated by States?

Here in NC someone Elected is in charge of making sure the Auto Ins Co's aren't full of BS when they hike the rates, and in some cases when the Ins Co's charge to much we actually are REFUNDED the excess amount they charged.

Sounds like the Insurance Co's are making profits(theres plenty of them out there) But somebodys making sure their not Overcharging.

 

I'd trust healthcare if healthcare professionals profited rather than investors.

 

It's a lttle more complicated for Iceland

http://m.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2008/04/21/080421ta_talk_surowiecki

 

That depends on many things, bought a new bike from a dealer for 40% off msrp. Also your location

 

End results are the same regardless of the road taken.

 

I always find the discussions about European health care interesting to say the least. Most if not all who rave about its merits do not or have not lived there for a substantial amount of time. My wife is from both Sweden and Finland. While many claim the Scandinavian system is a success, reality tells a far different story. Many people in both Sweden and Finland are opting for private insurance since the government system has been a failure. Excessively long waiting lists and poor service are the norm. I saw plenty of TV advertisements last time I visited for private insurance.

My father in law flew out to visit last year from Sweden. While here he caught pneumonia. Once we figured out the problem we took him the the local hospital. He was in and out of the ER in about 4 hours. That included a CT scan as well that identified a blood clot in his lung. Docs told him to have another scan done in Sweden to determine if the clot moved. He waited for over 8 months to get a CT scan when he returned. He commented on how good the quality of the medical care was in the US (His private insurance paid for the visit). I have countless other stories of a failed medical system in Scandinavia.

While our system has flaws and could use some changes, lets not go down a road that has already failed.