National Answer-to-Ask [CLOSED | ASTYRIA]

[Great Nortend]

Question: Does your government fund the arts? And, if so, is arts funding given with 'no strings attached'?

Funding for the arts is normally through patronages as well as commercial revenues.The Government does not normally itself fund the arts, though it provides financial support to certain cultural institutions. More widely, the Royal Carolinian Society is a significant benefactor and funder of the musical, performing and decorative arts. Patrons usually require that the artist produce a number of piece for the patron. Important patrons include the Archbishop of Sulthey and the Duke of Limmes (the Lord High Treasurer), both of whom annually give over £40,000 for artists.

Question: What are the railways like in your country? Is it isolated or is it part of a wider network? What gauge, motive power, and coupling systems are used?

[Jadid]

Question by Great Nortend: What are the railways like in your country? Is it isolated or is it part of a wider network? What gauge, motive power, and coupling systems are used?

The Jadidian rail network is large and well developed, particularly in the more industrial South of the country. All major rail lines in the country are nationalized and under the control of the Jadidian National Rail Authority or JNRA which is headquartered in Jardinia. The JRNA operates passenger and freight services between all major cities in Jadid and most small cities and is under mandate to eventually connect all cities into its central network. Rail development has been heavily favored by successive government administrations in Jadid as the main focus of transpiration infrastructure development because of its highly efficient nature which makes its heavy subsidy less taxing. There is an ongoing program to electrify all of of Jadid rail network and current electrification rates stand around 65% of all rail infrastructure. Owing to its low cost and widespread service most people choose to travel by rail instead of air in Jadid and this has meant that the JRNA's passenger subsidiary Rail Jadid has grown into a very large and well developed corporate entity on its own right. The JNRA's rolling stock is standardized on SA3 couplers.

The JNRA's lines are all standardized on 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in) gauge known locally as National Gauge. Most of Jadid's rolling stock is produced locally at the state owned Jadid Heavy Works or JHW which also exports a moderate amount of rolling stock to other states. There was a significant program in the 1980s to double all mainline track which also saw the standardization on this gauge. There are however several special cases such as the Tanula to Naharin line which is meter gauge owing to the complexity of working on the high mountain passes the line crosses. Another special case is the largest privately held rail line in Jadid which is owned by Jadid Cotton Products Inc and is standardized on 750mm gauge. In several areas this smaller gauge operates side by side with National Gauge as it is used primarily to transport cotton and wool from rural areas to processing centers owned by Jadid Cotton Products Inc. Although it has been mostly abandoned by 2019, there also existed a large network of 750mm gauge rail lines in rural areas of Jadid, particular in the western states where there were an estimated 877 km of the narrow gauge track. Some of the track remains in use in an inter communal transportation role in more remote regions but in most areas it has simply been abandoned or even torn up to make room for newer National Gauge tracks.

While the JNRA is generally touted as one of Jadid's most well run state enterprises and has been largely free of controversy, JNRA management ran into considerable controversy in late June 2005 when they attempted to orchestrate a bid for the world record for longest train in an event that would become known as The Great June Pileup. The plan was to assemble an extremely long cargo train on the main line from Ash Shihidah to Marivar which would be powered by four brand new APEX6500 diesel electric locomotives produced by JHW. The entire enterprise was touted as a way to market both the new APEX6500 locomotives and the Jadidian national rail network as a whole while also raising national prestige and awareness for rail innovation and development in the country. What happened in actuality is that the discruption caused by the event sent the entire national rail network into chaos for three days as trains had to be re routed and rolling stock reassigned. The gaff lead to the resignation of the JNRA's acting president Raaji el-Selim and a major reevelation of the networks command and control abilities.

How is healthcare delivered in this society; what are its foundations?

[Great Nortend]

How is healthcare delivered in this society; what are its foundations?

Healthcare is provided in Great Nortend by independent physicians, surgeons and other practitioners.

Government subsidised or free healthcare is available to all eligible subjects as a privilege under the Lord High Almoner's Act 1920 and the subsequent Lord High Almoner's Rules which establish the provision of Public Alms. Subjects entitled to full alms, which generally includes those persons assessed and found eligible for poor relief, old-age, invalid or widow's pensions) are eligible for full coverage. Other subjects are only eligible for half coverage unless they voluntarily subscribe to full coverage.

Full coverage includes hospital, medical and surgical, and medicinal services, whereas half coverage only includes medical and surgical services.

• Hospital cover includes hospital fees for in-patients or day-patients. This covers the patient for any administrative fees, emergency admission fees, nursing fees, ward fees and food, hospital transfer fees, as well as some other miscellaneous fees. This does not include coverage for medical or surgical cover (which is covered separately), private patient fees, voluntary procedures for cosmetic purposes, or ambulance fees.
  
• With medicinal cover, medicaments such as tonics, cordials, draughts, pills, liniments, ointments, potions, elixirs or other pharmaceutical products prescribed by a doctor or physician, or those gases or chemicals used by anaesthetists or dentists, or the pastes and waters prescribed by dentists, are available for fulfilment at a registered apothecary for a subsidised fee, which is generally the cost of compounding, service and packaging. This coverage does not include non-prescribed medicines, or certain expensive medicines, nor medical appliances.
  
• Medical and surgical cover subsidises a visit to or treatment by a physician, surgeon or doctor. This normally amounts to full fees for general practitioner services and half fees for specialist services. Coverage includes house-calls fees, prescription fees (but not the cost of filling the prescriptions), consultation fees, dental cover, tests such as eye tests, pregnancy tests &c, most common surgical procedures, as well as a number of specialty items. It does not include ambulance fees, insurance examination, physical treatment (such as acupuncture, massage &c.), therapeutic fees, spectacles, home nursing or administrative fees.

The Lord High Almoner will reimburse the patient up to the amounts listed in the relevant schedule of the Lord High Almoner's Rules for the services they have received. Many surgeries, hospitals and pharmacists offer the service of deferred payment or gap payment until the reimbursement has been received, especially for those on full alms. As opposed to 'alms-level health care', private health care is usually more expensive and arguably, of better quality. Those who choose private health care can still recover from the Lord High Almoner the amounts listed in the relevant schedules; however, they will have usually a far greater gap payment to pay. It is possible to petition the Lord High Almoner for 'especial alms', which can cover essential medical treatment unlisted in the schedules, but it is more common for such patients to seek relief from private benevolent organisations or pro bono practitioners. The upper class and most of the middle class tend to favour private health care, owing to the greater social prestige it entails. Additionally, peers are not eligible for Public Alms.

Question: Are there religious communities or foundations? What are they like, and what role do they play in society?

[Ord Caprica]

Question by Great Nortend:Are there religious communities or foundations? What are they like, and what role do they play in society?

Answer: Yes

There are isolated communities of religious minorities spread throughout the United Republic. Mostly, consisting of homogenous religious societies from faiths such as Catholicism, offshoots of the U.R's Protestant Reformed Apostolic Church, various sects of Islam, and most recently Monks of Eastern Faiths. More than 50% of the religious members of Caprican society are adherents to the PRAC, minority faiths don't have much, if any influence on mainstream society.

Question: What is the average citizen's view on members of your nation's armed forces?