Mount Shavano wrote:...are not run by the government, and yet seem to be working even better than those in commie/socialist countries. Gee, I wonder why that is...
^
Healthcare in TurtleShroom is two-tier. You can pay to skip the lines and get luxuries, or you can wait with the freeloaders and get the same care. (THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO CRITICAL/LIFE SAVING SURGERIES. All of those are delivered as soon as possible and are prioritized to all others to ensure everyone gets them as soon as the call an ambulance.)
By law, all hospitals are non-profit and/or charities. Some hospitals are run by the church and therefore receive Religion and Spirituality Budget subsidies.
TurtleShroom, as a Christian nation, feels a collective need to help the truly desparate and those who can not help themselves. That, and old people, because everyone adores old people. Old people are awesome.
Charities, like soup kitchens, blood banks, food-for-the-poor schemes, and faith-based initiatives are heavilly subsidized by the Religion and Spirituality Budget.
The only truly state-run institutions, are the nursing homes and the Great Pension. Cemetaries and funeral industries are a joint public/private venture, and every non-criminal is guaranteed a "noble death" and their choice of burial, cremation, or donation to science.
Nursing homes are guarenteed to be "exceedingly luxurious" and "abundant in care and compassion" both by statute and custom. Our old people practically recline in five-star hotels when they are relocated, and at no cost to the family. It's subsidized like- no, more so than -leftists subsidize their crap. Hospices are provided, since no creature should die alone. Ever wondered why our R&S is thirty eight percent (38%)? NOW YOU KNOW. Cemetaries and funeral industries are a joint public/private venture, and every non-criminal is guaranteed a "noble death" and their choice of burial, cremation, or donation to science.
Old people that opt-out of the nursing homes receive the Great Pension. That's the TurtleShroom equivalent of Social Security.
At birth, germination, or hatching, all TurtleShroomers are issued a Great Pension Number. This is used to delegate an Escrow account to each creature until they turn (if human) sixty eight, (if turtle) seventy seven, and (if mushroom) eighty. On their achievement of retirement age, they may either continue to work or stop and begin drawing. The Great Pension is paid for by a one cent earmark from the annual Flat Tax, and if there are shortcomings, the nation draws from the Religion and Spirituality Budget.
The truly needy and those who can not work can receive small checks and assitance, such as unemployment aid (for nine months) and workman's compensation (subject to judicial definement). The severely disabled receive smaller checks from their Great Pension benefits if they apply, but only if they can't work. The severely mentally challenged are usually either institutionalized or under the care of their family, so there's no need to subsidize them.