*timeshift
It's amazing how Otto still landed (mostly) on his feet.

United Kingdom

(GDP) spent on health care: 8.3

Average family premium: None; funded by taxation.

Co-payments: None for most services; some co-pays for dental care, eyeglasses and 5 percent of prescriptions. Young people and the elderly are exempt from all drug co-pays.

What is it? The British system is "socialized medicine" because the government both provides and pays for health care. Britons pay taxes for health care, and the government-run National Health Service (NHS) distributes those funds to health care providers. Hospital doctors are paid salaries. General practitioners (GPs), who run private practices, are paid based on the number of patients they see. A small number of specialists work outside the NHS and see private-pay patients.

How does it work? Because the system is funded through taxes, administrative costs are low; there are no bills to collect or claims to review. Patients have a "medical home" in their GP, who also serves as a gatekeeper to the rest of the system; patients must see their GP before going to a specialist. GPs, who are paid extra for keeping their patients healthy, are instrumental in preventive care, an area in which Britain is a world leader.

What are the concerns? The stereotype of socialized medicine -- long waits and limited choice -- still has some truth. In response, the British government has instituted reforms to help make care more competitive and give patients more choice. Hospitals now compete for NHS funds distributed by local Primary Care Trusts, and starting in April 2008 patients are able to choose where they want to be treated for many procedures.

Japan

GDP spent on health care: 8

Average family premium: $280 per month, with employers paying more than half.

Co-payments: 30 percent of the cost of a procedure, but the total amount paid in a month is capped according to income.

What is it? Japan uses a "social insurance" system in which all citizens are required to have health insurance, either through their work or purchased from a nonprofit, community-based plan. Those who can't afford the premiums receive public assistance. Most health insurance is private; doctors and almost all hospitals are in the private sector.

How does it work? Japan boasts some of the best health statistics in the world, no doubt due in part to the Japanese diet and lifestyle. Unlike the U.K., there are no gatekeepers; the Japanese can go to any specialist when and as often as they like. Every two years the Ministry of Health negotiates with physicians to set the price for every procedure. This helps keeps costs down.

What are the concerns? In fact, Japan has been so successful at keeping costs down that Japan now spends too little on health care; half of the hospitals in Japan are operating in the red. Having no gatekeepers means there's no check on how often the Japanese use health care, and patients may lack a medical home.

Germany

GDP spent on health care: 10.7

Average family premium: $750 per month; premiums are pegged to patients' income.

Co-payments: 10 euros ($15) every three months; some patients, like pregnant women, are exempt.

What is it? Germany, like Japan, uses a social insurance model. In fact, Germany is the birthplace of social insurance, which dates back to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. But unlike the Japanese, who get insurance from work or are assigned to a community fund, Germans are free to buy their insurance from one of more than 200 private, nonprofit "sickness funds." As in Japan, the poor receive public assistance to pay their premiums.

How does it work? Sickness funds are nonprofit and cannot deny coverage based on preexisting conditions; they compete with each other for members, and fund managers are paid based on the size of their enrollments. Like Japan, Germany is a single-payment system, but instead of the government negotiating the prices, the sickness funds bargain with doctors as a group. Germans can go straight to a specialist without first seeing a gatekeeper doctor, but they may pay a higher co-pay if they do.

What are the concerns? The single-payment system leaves some German doctors feeling underpaid. A family doctor in Germany makes about two-thirds as much as he or she would in America. (Then again, German doctors pay much less for malpractice insurance, and many attend medical school for free.) Germany also lets the richest 10 percent opt out of the sickness funds in favor of U.S.-style for-profit insurance. These patients are generally seen more quickly by doctors, because the for-profit insurers pay doctors more than the sickness funds.

Taiwan

GDP spent on health care: 6.3

Average family premium: $650 per year for a family for four.

Co-payments: 20 percent of the cost of drugs, up to $6.50; up to $7 for outpatient care; $1.80 for dental and traditional Chinese medicine. There are exemptions for major diseases, childbirth, preventive services, and for the poor, veterans, and children.

What is it? Taiwan adopted a "National Health Insurance" model in 1995 after studying other countries' systems. Like Japan and Germany, all citizens must have insurance, but there is only one, government-run insurer. Working people pay premiums split with their employers; others pay flat rates with government help; and some groups, like the poor and veterans, are fully subsidized. The resulting system is similar to Canada's -- and the U.S. Medicare program.

How does it work? Taiwan's new health system extended insurance to the 40 percent of the population that lacked it while actually decreasing the growth of health care spending. The Taiwanese can see any doctor without a referral. Every citizen has a smart card, which is used to store his or her medical history and bill the national insurer. The system also helps public health officials monitor standards and effect policy changes nationwide. Thanks to this use of technology and the country's single insurer, Taiwan's health care system has the lowest administrative costs in the world.

What are the concerns? Like Japan, Taiwan's system is not taking in enough money to cover the medical care it provides. The problem is compounded by politics, because it is up to Taiwan's parliament to approve an increase in insurance premiums, which it has only done once since the program was enacted.

Switzerland

GDP spent on health care: 11.6

Average monthly family premium: $750, paid entirely by consumers; there are government subsidies for low-income citizens.

Co-payments: 10 percent of the cost of services, up to $420 per year.

What is it? The Swiss system is social insurance like in Japan and Germany, voted in by a national referendum in 1994. Switzerland didn't have far to go to achieve universal coverage; 95 percent of the population already had voluntary insurance when the law was passed. All citizens are required to have coverage; those not covered were automatically assigned to a company. The government provides assistance to those who can't afford the premiums.

How does it work? The Swiss example shows that universal coverage is possible, even in a highly capitalist nation with powerful insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Insurance companies are not allowed to make a profit on basic care and are prohibited from cherry-picking only young and healthy applicants. They can make money on supplemental insurance, however. As in Germany, the insurers negotiate with providers to set standard prices for services, but drug prices are set by the government.

What are the concerns? The Swiss system is the second most expensive in the world -- but it's still far cheaper than U.S. health care. Drug prices are still slightly higher than in other European nations, and even then the discounts may be subsidized by the more expensive U.S. market, where some Swiss drug companies make one-third of their profits. In general, the Swiss do not have gatekeeper doctors, although some insurance plans require them or give a discount to consumers who use them.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/

>> ^rasch187
I would like to see some objective sources for your claims, imstellar.


How much are you paying me for the pleasure of being your personal research assistant?

If you are honestly interested in the validity of any of the claims I made, I'm sure you'll be able to pick out a few terms from what I presented and turn them into a couple Google searches.

Heres a start:

"THE METABOLISM OF TUMORS IN THE BODY. Otto Warbug. Kaiser Wilhelm Institut fur Biologic, 1926"

"On respiratory impairment in cancer cells."

"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1931"

"My life with the Eskimo: Vilhjalmur Stefansson"

"Oncogenes in Tumor Metabolism, Tumorigenesis, and Apoptosis"

"Saccharine Disease"

"Good Calories Bad Calories"

"Elevated Insulin-like Growth Factor I Receptor Autophosphorylation and Kinase Activity in Human Breast Cancer"

"Potential role of sugar (fructose) in the epidemic of hypertension, obesity and the metabolic syndrome, diabetes, kidney disease, and cardiovascular disease1"

"Increased consumption of refined carbohydrates and the epidemic of type 2 diabetes in the United States: an ecologic assessment"

"Dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, and the risk of breast cancer in an Italian prospective cohort study1"

"A HISTORY OF SUGAR MF.RKETING THROUGH 1974, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ECONOMICS. STATISTICS, AND COOPERATIVES SERVICE
AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIC REPORT NO. 382"

"Glycemic Index and Serum High-Density Lipoprotein
Cholesterol Concentration Among US Adults"

"Relation between a diet with a high glycemic load and plasma concentrations of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein in middle-aged women1"

"Studies on the Metabolism of Eskimos - Journal of Biological Chemistry"

"Dietary protein intake and renal function"

"Advanced glycation end products and the absence of premature
atherosclerosis in glycogen storage disease Ia"

"Chemical Calorimetry. XLV. Prolonged Meat Diets with a study of Kidney function and Ketosis"

"Diabetes Mellitus - Japan 1950-2004"

"Diabetic Mortality rate and the amount of sugar consumed per capital in England and Wales"

"Pounds per sugar per head per year from 1800 to 1960"

"Fasting insulin and incident dementia in an elderly population of Japanese-American men"

"Diabetes mellitus and the risk of dementia "

"Prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome Among US Adults"

"Cardiovascular Morbidity and Mortality Associated With the Metabolic Syndrome"

"C-Reactive Protein, the Metabolic Syndrome, and Risk of Incident Cardiovascular Events "

"Obesity and the Metabolic Syndrome in Children and Adolescents"

"NCEP-defined metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and prevalence of coronary heart disease"

"Coronary-heart-disease risk and impaired glucose tolerance. The Whitehall study."

>> ^vairetube:
You know what, I'll just google the phrase: convicted criminals appointed by bush .
Here's a start for you:
John Poindexter, Convicted of conspiracy, lying to Congress.
Appointed to head DARPA by Bush [...in December 2002]

"The convictions were reversed in 1991 on the technical grounds that the prosecution's evidence may have been tainted by exposure to Poindexter's testimony before the joint House-Senate committee investigating the matter, in which Poindexter's testimony was compelled by a grant of 'use immunity'. The prosecution was not able to re-try the case."

You know what, I'll just google the phrase: convicted criminals appointed by bush .

Here's a start for you:

John Poindexter, Convicted of conspiracy, lying to Congress.
Appointed to head DARPA by Bush

Elliot Abrams, Pleaded guilty in 1991 to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-contra affair. Appointed as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Global Democracy Strategy by Bush

Otto Reich, Convicted in 1990 on five felony charges of conspiracy.
Appointed by Bush to direct Inter American affairs at the State Department. President Bush used the tricky recess appointment procedure to bypass potential hostile and damaging questioning by Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

And that's just the stuff we already know they did.

Otto smokes weed, so this speed looks like 30mph to him.

>> ^mizila:
I'm pretty sure this shouldn't have the cooking tag, I've heard they want videos about actually cooking food in there. And what the hell does a refrigerator have to do with cooking. When I grab a soda I'm not like, "whew that was some tuff cooking." Now if the cat liked to hide in the oven, it might earn that tag.

meh- it's my cooking channel, and i say in. maybe it's a stretch, but it's my damn channel

No need to call PETA -- That's Otto! He loves the fridge! Remember your internet celebrity cats, folks!

Otto, the fridge cat!

OMG! It didn't sift! WELL! Time to use the famous promote powers on http://www.videosift.com/video/Otto-likes-to-chill-in-the-fridge from like 2 years ago!

Actually, otto is also famous for being the kitty who plays fetch, as seen on a couple of other videos. Similarly, Pippi is a famous jumping kitty, and wheelcat was one of the first talking kitties on videosift.

Ah, the cats of VS.

(can you tell that we're not allowed to have pets in this building so i get my pet love vicariously through the internets or what? We also go and cuddle our friends' pets)

No cats, but they are fun critters once you get to know them.

Nothing like dogs. Not good, not bad, just how it is.

I had a friend who, when he was a kid, used to think that cats were the females and dogs were the males of the same species.

Both my mom and dad, who used to hate cats, now have cats of their own. They love and dote over them, telling me the funny cat stories that we all have.

I had three cats once in my life: Sophie, Otto, and Hoss, but I had to get rid of them after a love affair went awry. Regret it to this day, losing the cats, not the affair.

Finally some recognition for Otto!

*Promote for poor, sweet Otto. It's sad that he's so compressed.

This just in. The TSA has added a Mr. Sift Bot to the list.

Sorry sifty, you won't be able to visit your brothers Dino or Otto this summer.

This video is right out of the L. Ron Hubbard playbook. Miller (Tracey Walter) explains to Otto (Estevez) that Flying Saucers are Time Machines and that people disappear by travelling in UFOs into the past or some such nonsense.

At the beginning of the clip they burn a copy of "Dioretix: The Science of Matter over Mind by A. Rum Butter".

Heh.

*cult, *promote

How to combat such atrocious behavior???? Ethnically homogeneous communities should be left the fuck alone, Muslims and all their petty points of contention with their brethren need to have enemas forced upin them until they calm the fuck down, and the countries who use and abuse the most black gold, need to slow their long draws off the nipple to a creep, and perhaps become heroic in a new quest, to eradicate sick, dumb motherfuckers from the planet.....
Like Maaaackmoood Handjob, LIKE Kim Dung Ill......Ethnic tension should be punishable by water-boarding (pulling folks behind fast-boats on a sheet of plywood)

Me??? Moving inland, growing my own food, and hoarding ammunition and gold.....
AND, driving paid for shit, as little as possible. Fuck all if some president can do jack nor shit to change anything-we will probably end up embroiled once again in some clash in the Balkans before it's all said and done, hell, WW1 started with some "damn fool thing" there.......and Thank fucking God, Otto Von Bizzy was right when he mused.."
"There is a Providence that protects idiots, drunkards, children and the United States of America. "

oh, and what about the serbs?...all the gypsies, etc-they are getting fucked again as well. Not that the serbs are w/o their "atrocities"....but hey, thank Bill Clinton, and the Nato Goonsquads for playing on human weakness......Politics are for people who have their head shoved so far up their ass they can only see from that limited perspective......

It may be the pleasure of my fellow Sifters to know that I'm beginning to play guitar and that this is the first piece I'm learning. Chordie.com, woot woot.

The pictures of Otto Frank move me as much as anything. First so young and chipper, then old but unbowed.