Universal Health Care - another oo ahh it sounds lovely on the surface. But it just won't work here without reevluating our system entirely.
Sure, some are pulling it off - Denmark, Belgium, Germany-- but theyre countries are run in entirely idfferent ways. In these countries, the cost of all these lovely services, like health care, is about 80% whereas in the US, the cost of government is about 45%. HUGE difference their. A socialist system just doesn't run the way a democratic system does.
Plus check out Cananda - the lovely saying of "You can find more CAT scan technicians in the city of Pittsburgh then in all of Canada". Its true. To keep health care affordable, you cheap out. Less technology, less doctors, less expensive professionals.
I suffer a head injury in a car accident and you're telling me I have to wait 4 days before I can even get in for a CAT scan? I could be dead before then!
That...is not the way I want my health care. I'm generally healthy - i dont smoke, i dont take drugs, i practice abstinence, and while im not the most athletic, I am active. I don't want to pay for the obese, the smokers, and the drug users of the nation. I didn't get an STD or contract a preventable disease. So, why would I want to pay for someone who did? Perhaps its their fault, perhaps its not. But I don't particularly want to carry the weight of people who feel tar and tobacco smoke makes a good afternoon snack.
Consider the large insurance industry in the United States. There is certainly no need for medical insurance when its all provided. Workers in this field and other private sector businesses are all out.
Finally, costs of medical care - whether going to the individual directly or through tax money - could skyrocket. When there is no need for competition and no profit motives, as when the government takes care of medicine, prices increase while effectiveness may not.
Not to mention all the religious/moral/ethical/whatever problems - like say....abortion? --- that come even more front and center when the government is providing you your health care. So many say "the government has no right to get involved in how I'm going to handle my body and the fetus growing inside it!"...but the government does control all the opertaions that occur for the health of said body....hmmm
The true option that must be explored is affordable plans for the 13% or so percent of the population who cant get healthcare now. There is no reason that the majority of the country should suffer from generally poorer health care just so everyone can have it. Explore options for that instead.
I'm not saying that we need to go all out to a socialized health care system. But I do think that we need to provide basic care for those that can't afford it. It simply costs the system less to provide basic preventative care than it does to provide for emergencies for those that don't have health insurance. And you're paying for it one way or the other, it's just a matter of where the costs comes from... taxes or the cost of a doctor's visit (or other administrative costs). For every $1 that you spend treating a pregnant woman that cannot afford prenatal care, you save $7 in healthcare costs for the child. On the whole, I think we need to move to a system of preventative care... it will drop the costs of healthcare dramatically. Read my blog for more.
~C
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interesting point about preventative measures. I absolutely agree with you on that. I don't think universal healthcare is the right way to get that, but I would certainly concede that some alternative to the expensive plans MUST exist. Perhaps very cheap healthcare, increased numbers of free clincs, I'm not sure. But I cant see sacrificing the majority to make sure everyone gets an equal share.
Great point!
Something I just learned tonight... the hospital that I'm going to start volunteering at is the 12th most active hospital in the country, and I think the representative that came and talked to us said that they provided something like $50 million in treatment that could not be paid for last year, because we have a system where no one will be turned away. Now, that cost comes out of taxes and charges for patients that can pay. Put a system of universal heathcare into place, and treat the patient before they have problems, and maybe the bill won't be so high.
~C
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good point in terms of treating problems early, however its simply a fact that 1) many of these hospitals just cant handle hiring the specialists or the good equipment because they ARE giving milllions of dollars away so they have to keep other prices low. So, you getting a good treatment might not always be possible. and 2) you still cant deal with the problem of all the taxes. You really can only do so much to "pre-treat" a smoker or a cocaine user or someone who cant resist their cravings and eats too much. Sure, maybe you can catch lung cancer in early stages, but it's still a costly treatment. A cocaine user is certainly going to result in some sort of hefty medical bill, if they're lucky enough to stop at the hospital at all and not just drug themselves to death. and after all how do you pre-treat someone who just has no control over their eating? I still don't want my hard earned money paying for fatties or druggies who caused their own medical problems
I understand your concern, but not everyone that goes to the emergency room that can't pay for it has the problems you are talking about. There are a number of people, particularly older people, that simply don't know they have diabetes, and so they don't treat themselves, and then end up going blind or other horrible things happen. And then there's people that simply have accidents. And you're paying for them now anyway. Where do you think those millions of dollars come from?
~C
Visit my blog.
Fatties? Are you fucking serious??
I recently wrote a blog on this topic (please see the link below), so I'm not going to put much into this comment, but here are a few high-lights:
A recent NCHC report found that a universal publicly-financed program would result in a total decrease in spending of about $1.136 trillion between now and 2015.
Universal health care encourages people to use preventive care rather then waiting until they're unable to function to seek medical care, by making prevention more accessible.
Current insurance companies could be contracted for goverment funded health care programs.
Under current health plans, many insurance company CEOS have $3 million per year salaries, Starbucks pays more for employee health benefits then for coffee beans, and insurance cost continue to go up, while many people are left without coverage.
http://www.progressiveu.org/173808-solving-the-nations-health-care-crisis-with-justice-reboloke