Well it is not completely free here. But each month you pay a little bit of money. But when you break an arm or whatsoever you will be cured for free. The insurance will pay for it.

Medicines are free too .

So yeah it is not completely for free but you don't have to pay 1000 euro for each day in hospital by yourself .

This is about universal health care BW. Freely accessible high standard health care, under the premisse that the cost of it is carried by the mutual responsible citizens of a country.

We allocate most of our taxes towards education and health care, wellbeing of society that is. Solidarity may not be a top priority in the US I suppose.

I will!

"BTW.....what is this "payment" to the system in Belgium per month ?
Who pays this "Payment?"
Is it based on income level......higher income pays a higher %,  or is it flat per person, or a set %?"

Everybody is taxed 13,08 % as a solidarety tax, this includes paying for pensions, healthcare, unemployment,...

"What is the contribution of Corporations."

The corporations pay upto 40% on top of the brute wage of the employed. This tarrif changes if its a large company or small.

"Is there a payment of any level for any service for anyone ??  Like super rich, if they are in the system, do they pay at all ?"

Everybody pays and everybody gets it.

If you want I can fully explain you what you pay when you go to the pharmacist or the doctor(two diffrent things).

Oh and:
"Can anyone show me a more advanced medical system ? " ---> Belgium

"Health care expenditure in the US is more than any other country.  Because the US is cutting edge in most fields of study.  Specialists in their field come to the US to study and practice their specialty.
"

Specialist go the US because they would get more money there. You import your sientists.

"Health care expenditure in the US is more than any other country.  Because the US is cutting edge in most fields of study.  Specialists in their field come to the US to study and practice their specialty.

Can anyone show me a more advanced medical system ?

If it isnt broke, why try to fix it ??"

Whats the point in that if alot more people die and alot of citizens do not  get the treatment they need? Its like having a Ferrari but you cannot drive it.

The issue with privatizing health care is that these Insurance Companies get discounts on whatever they get billed.  If someone is uninsured and has to take the full bill, they pay at least double of what an Insurance Company does.  This fuels the need to help the uninsured just because of the unfair billing practices that go on by all businesses.

If there were no insurance companies and all people were billed, costs would imaginably be lower.  If a government runs an insurance program, there should never be profit towards that "insurance company" and thus - lower prices yet again.

""It's hard being a member of the mean party," says Bob Borochoff, a lifelong Republican who was on Capitol Hill this week asking legislators to support bills that will benefit disabled people like his son, Bradley, and returning veterans suffering from mental illness. There's no shortage of horror stories when it comes to health insurance, but Borochoff's tale on behalf of his son took him on a political journey, as well, and his disillusionment is emblematic of the uphill climb the Republicans face in November.

Borochoff's tidy life as a restauranteur and happily married father of three, including newborn twins, was shattered in 1988 when his 3-year-old son Bradley was bitten by a mosquito, which triggered encephalitis, a swelling of the brain and then uncontrollable seizures, leaving him disabled. The family's insurance premiums jumped from $300 a month to $2,500 a month. Borochoff hired a lawyer to fight the increase but was told he had no choice, so he paid the premiums. A year later, a notice arrived in the mail that the insurance company was canceling his policy along with coverage for his 100 employees. 

Well known in the restaurant business in Houston, Borochoff had political connections, and he worked every one of them, even securing an audience, along with other small-business owners, in the White House with President George H.W. Bush, all to no avail. In desperation, he contacted Sen. Ted Kennedy, telling a Houston Post reporter at the time, "I can't stand Ted Kennedy," but he hoped he would help. Kennedy intervened and the next day Borochoff got a call saying the insurance for him and his employees would be reinstated. It would be nice if the story ended there, but Bradley's care became more expensive. Medicine not covered by insurance was $2,800 a month. Borochoff's wife divorced him and in 2003, a single father with three teenagers, he filed for personal bankruptcy and received food stamps for six months.

Kennedy's office contacted him several times over the years asking him to testify, which he did only rarely because he didn't always agree with Kennedy's approach. He was once a strong backer of Tom DeLay, and he counts himself a personal friend of DeLay's successor and the two other Republican congressmen representing the Houston area. But he's angry with them and his party over health care and immigration, and that's what brings him to Washington. He's rebuilt his life and now manages four Tex-Mex restaurants in Houston. He serves on the board of a local agency that provides mental-health services to the poor, and the tug he feels is reflected in his political donations; once almost exclusively to Republicans, now he estimates 40 percent goes to Democrats.

This is one man's story but in a sense he is everyman. "
http://www.newsweek.com/id/142479

This counts as a "horror story" of American health care:  A guy's kid gets really sick.  He gets the kid the care he needs.  He pays what bills he can and discharges the rest in bankruptcy.  He keeps working as his own boss and as an entrepreneur.

The "horror" here is that Mr. Borodoff is not as rich as he would have been if somebody, anybody else paid his family's bills for him.

Is refusing to do that denying him social justice?

We used to be proud of building a nation and economy where a father COULD meet his responsibilities. Now that's not good enough.  There's this story and there's the S-CHIP program kerfuffle last summer-- a family of 4, owns their own house and commercial real estate, stood up and demanded the Bush Administration keep funding a federal aid program that helped them pay their medical bills.

This is socialism, American style-- government needs to assess taxes high enough to pay out to American families who could pay on their own, but don't want to.

Throughout this thread are statements that USA could have universal care, if it just accepted "rational" limits.  In our American democracy there are no limits.  All of our social welfare programs are explosively too expensive.  Here's another example-- a guy who owns restaurants must have a govt handout to prevent him from having to sell off his property to save his own kids.