I think it would be great to never have to work a day in my life, and have government slaves tend to my every need. Those people should also never have to work a day in their life either and should have government slaves tend to their needs as well. Ah, socialism, because my little mind can’t seem to seem how that utopia would not work.
How does France provide such high standards of health care?
Under the USA system up to today, USA health care stinks.
Greg “Don’t bother me with the facts” Harper
Before looking at that data, it’s always worth reminding people of how much more we pay than anybody else. The following chart measures per-person health-care spending. And remember, while reading it, that the U.S. is actually advantaged by this measure: Unlike other countries, we don’t have universal health care, so about 50 million of us are spending less than we otherwise might:
But even with all that spending, “the U.S. ranks last overall, as it did in the 2007, 2006, and 2004 editions of Mirror, Mirror. Most troubling, the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in the earlier editions, the U.S. is last on dimensions of access, patient safety, coordination, efficiency, and equity. The Netherlands ranks first, followed closely by the U.K. and Australia.”
Greg, do you have any idea how many showers it takes to clean that kind of contempt off? I’m already on my third loofah.
You have that precisely opposite! We are now slaves to the government! (well, maybe just a LOT more so now) And many fear it’s just the beginning…
No surprises here.
I would also like to continue working at my job and paying taxes that would go towards funding it.
In a free society you would be free to make a living and voluntarily pay into whatever programs you desire! Just don’t force others to pay for these programs you think they need, and, if they choose to do so, instead allow them to voluntarily pay for any programs they want to participate in or fund.
Did we just get universal health care or something? Don’t we still have to wait until after 2016 to even see what the actual effects will be?
My question is this: Will this new approach to healthcare result in lower costs? I believe that was the intent. But I have come to see that whenever government tries to do big things, people/corporations clamber to take advantage, overcharge, mismanage, screw up and just plain steal. Without strict, powerful oversight, this seems to be the inevitable result. And not just for governments. As my company is doing tenant improvements to the building we will move into, the same thing keeps trying to happen there. If we didn’t keep paying attention, we would be taken to the cleaners over an over.
Right now, if you have insurance, you really don’t know what your healthcare is costing. The way things are priced is kind of insane, as it’s all about who’s paying, not about how much something actually should cost. So will this change under the new system?
Yeah, you can shop around for dentists
Major health care is not shoppable, like a dentist. Get in a crash, have a heart attack, stroke, be unfortunately shot (is there an other way to be shot?) and in my town they will haul your sad body to the only hospital we have. So much for having fun shopping. Your next choice is 150 miles away. Everyone here picks our only hospital, even if they are not bleeding that bad.
It’s worked since 1946 in Saskatchewan, that backwards socialist province north of North Dakota and Montana…
It is. Even with one hospital nearby it is. When you choose to live in a particular location, your shopping for a location would consider the costs and benefits of that location, so if this was important to you, then you would take higher consideration of the emergency or health care services available there. In a free market, there would also be free entry into the market which would allow competitor(s) to come in if the services in that area are not as good as they can be. You can also form groups that advocate, negotiate, etc.
I completely agree: we do not focus on the right thing when moaning about “government” actions. The big problem is efficient management and I can assure you that mismanagement happens everywhere at every level in any human group. Supposing that a “private” company will manage better than a government is just prejudice (having worked both in Government and big companies I assure you that in both cases you can find good and bad management) : we lose the big goal which is how to regulate efficiently services provided for the common good. This is an extremely complex matter where simplistic arguments do not fit.
Gilby, you better never get so sick that you can’t care for yourself.
I’m sorry, I don’t understand. How exactly is my voluntary choice in getting health insurance going to be a problem for me? How would forcing me into some other program which I have little, if any choices about, be better for me if I were to get sick?
Gilby,
Think about life, the things that can happen in life, you are not unique in your frailty, so you too can suffer a change of circumstances.
Are you so sure in your politics that you would rather die than accept state assistance? I truly doubt that you’d go so far.
Plainly put, if you don’t have insurance and need medical care, we (the insured) pay for your care.
The health care requirement takes away your choice to “steal my money”, by getting health care without having to pay for insurance.
This is the argument in a nutshell:
What should society provide for those who can’t provide for themselves.
What I find really ironic in this discussion is the negative persona hung around the necks of health care providers. Do you really think that we got into health care for the money? Seriously, as if there aren’t easier jobs that pay better and are less stressful. And of course, not a single one of us does their job to “help others”, gawd forbid we’d be altruistic like that, nah, never happened.
Already have programs for that. IT"S CALLED MEDICAID/WELFARE. 
“I wasn’t in pain, but I was really uncomfortable,” she said. “But I couldn’t go to the doctor right away because I was going to be 65 in June and had to wait for the Medicare to kick in.”
Medicare and medicaid are TWO different things. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, including low-income adults, their children, and people with certain disabilities.
Given that I am forced to pay more into the government than I will ever get from it, and that they outlaw alternatives or make it hard to otherwise compete with them, I have no problem taking as much as I can from them.
That’s a government created problem, and no, “universal heath care” or any government health care, doesn’t take away theft from the equation.
Let’s not equate society with government. Just because a government doesn’t have a program in which they steal from one person to give to another, doesn’t mean that needs of those who can’t provide for themselves would not be met. I believe that people are compassionate and want to better the society they live in. Each individual in a society has a different perspective of the needs of their society and how they can help their society. People in general are charitable with their own resources, and they do it voluntarily. It’s not compassionate to point guns at people and lock them up in cages if they refuse to comply with the government’s programs, which is ultimately what government does. If you don’t think it’s right to go to your neighbors with guns drawn to force them to pay for John Doe’s needs, then don’t ask your government to do that for you. You’d be better off going to your neighbors and telling them about a wonderful local charity that is doing great things and asking them to volunteer or donate to that organization.