Would we know about Steven Hawking if he was american?

[ponderingturtle]

I was just wondering something, if Steven Hawking was an american would he have been able to be successful with all his health problems, or would be have been crushed by debt?

 

[Rolfe]

Good question. Given that he was a student when he was diagnosed, would he have been able to secure healthcare coverage for that diagnosis that would have supported him through that career?

Anybody in a position to speculate?

Rolfe.

 

[DC]

how rich was his parents when he was diagnosed?

 

[ponderingturtle]

Good question. Given that he was a student when he was diagnosed, would he have been able to secure healthcare coverage for that diagnosis that would have supported him through that career?

Anybody in a position to speculate?

Rolfe.

Well he would also have changed health care providers, going from his parents likely at the start to the schools plans. But that raises the issue of not getting his ALS covered as a preexisting condition.

 

[Darat]

how rich was his parents when he was diagnosed?

His father was a researcher (biology if I remember correctly) so would have been considered middle class but probably not highly paid.

 

[DC]

well then i think it would be possible.
but, it would still be much harder, because one thing you should never have to worry about when having a ill child or beeing ill yourself, is money, and in the UK i think this is the case, but not in the US. so for his parrents it would have been alot harder, additional to the health problem of their child they would be confronted with financial problems.

 

[ponderingturtle]

well then i think it would be possible.
but, it would still be much harder, because one thing you should never have to worry about when having a ill child or beeing ill yourself, is money, and in the UK i think this is the case, but not in the US. so for his parrents it would have been alot harder, additional to the health problem of their child they would be confronted with financial problems.

Well the financial problems might not have hit his parents, he just would have had no money at any real point, so that he would qualify for medicaid. This might have undermined his desire to finish his PHD so he could get a job and get married though.

 

[Phrost]

Probably not.

I still don't think we should have UHC. Not because it's an unworthy cause or anything, but because our government is completely incapable of managing the social programs it already has.

It takes a religious level of faith in the Federal government to believe that an American UHC program would be anything other than a catastrophic failure of special interest wrangling and pork. We're not the UK, we're not Sweden, we're not Japan. Hell, we're not even Canada.

Besides, the lack of UHC here has, by way of Natural Selection, produced strapping lads such as Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku, who could totally take Hawking in a fight.

 

[Fishstick]

Probably not.

I still don't think we should have UHC. Not because it's an unworthy cause or anything, but because our government is completely incapable of managing the social programs it already has.

It takes a religious level of faith in the Federal government to believe that an American UHC program would be anything other than a catastrophic failure of special interest wrangling and pork. We're not the UK, we're not Sweden, we're not Japan. Hell, we're not even Canada.
ht.

So you're saying that America is somehow exceptional. I wonder if there's a name for this kind of argument.

 

[ponderingturtle]

Probably not.

I still don't think we should have UHC. Not because it's an unworthy cause or anything, but because our government is completely incapable of managing the social programs it already has.

It takes a religious level of faith in the Federal government to believe that an American UHC program would be anything other than a catastrophic failure of special interest wrangling and pork. We're not the UK, we're not Sweden, we're not Japan. Hell, we're not even Canada.

Why is the American goverment so uniquely incompetent? People on medicare and medicaid are generaly happy with their care and coverage.

Besides, the lack of UHC here has, by way of Natural Selection, produced strapping lads such as Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku, who could totally take Hawking in a fight.

$5 on Neil deGrasse Tyson in a chess boxing match against either Michio Kaku or Hawking.

 

[DC]

Probably not.

I still don't think we should have UHC. Not because it's an unworthy cause or anything, but because our government is completely incapable of managing the social programs it already has.

It takes a religious level of faith in the Federal government to believe that an American UHC program would be anything other than a catastrophic failure of special interest wrangling and pork. We're not the UK, we're not Sweden, we're not Japan. Hell, we're not even Canada.

Besides, the lack of UHC here has, by way of Natural Selection, produced strapping lads such as Neil deGrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku, who could totally take Hawking in a fight.

is there a lack of accauntability for your politicans maybe?

 

[DC]

Well the financial problems might not have hit his parents, he just would have had no money at any real point, so that he would qualify for medicaid. This might have undermined his desire to finish his PHD so he could get a job and get married though.

good possible.

but i think Steven Hawkins is a great example how you actaully can have a extremly huge profit from a UHC even if you belive it is making you pay for other peoples problem.

he is an example how the whole world has profited from the British NHS.
we wouldnt have the knowledge we have today without him.

 

[Phrost]

So you're saying that America is somehow exceptional. I wonder if there's a name for this kind of argument.

Yep, we're very exceptional; so exceptional we have activist groups promoting obesity (NAAFA) and a deeply-rooted sense of entitlement to eat and live however we want without any consequences.

Why is the American goverment so uniquely incompetent? People on medicare and medicaid are generaly happy with their care and coverage.

Because we're still significantly more capitalist than those other countries, our nation is significantly larger, and our legislature is significantly more controlled by lobbyists and special interest groups.

How's Social Security doing, by the way? What about the VA? They've done just a bang-up job managing them, and those programs are mere fractions of what a UHC program would be.

is there a lack of accauntability for your politicans maybe?

There's a lack of choice because we're locked into a false dichotomy where we get to chose between a party that supports big government and pays lip service to civil liberty, and a party that supports big business and pays lip service to economic liberty.

 

[ponderingturtle]

good possible.

but i think Steven Hawkins is a great example how you actaully can have a extremly huge profit from a UHC even if you belive it is making you pay for other peoples problem.

The thing is that in the american system he would be paid for by the public as well, it would just limit his financial possibilities as if he earned to much he would have to pay for all of his ALS related medical bills.

So we will pay for him, but we must consign him to poverty to do so.

 

[Darat]

Well it is his fault that he needed such expensive medical care and if he didn't think to make adequate health-care provisions at the time of his conception why shouldn't he suffer lifelong poverty as a consequence? Bloody freeloader.

 

[Pardalis]

I thought he was an American, with the accent and all...

 

[Phrost]

Edit: ^^^ Brilliant.

This is a very good argument though; one Stephen Hawking is worth more than 1M Paris Hiltons.

 

[Pardalis]

good possible.

but i think Steven Hawkins is a great example how you actaully can have a extremly huge profit from a UHC even if you belive it is making you pay for other peoples problem.

he is an example how the whole world has profited from the British NHS.
we wouldnt have the knowledge we have today without him.

How do you even know he was treated through the NHS?

 

[DC]

How do you even know he was treated through the NHS?

reading.

 

[Rolfe]

A. Because he said so.
B. Because there is no practical alternative way of getting treatment for someone in his circumstances.

Rolfe.