Yes, it has been a failure. Everything they said would happen...didn't. Even if that were not the case, it didn't even address the root problem--health care costs. So, it had no way to succeed. That the left so willingly accepts the blatant lies told about it is quite telling, and also a part of the problem. No, not every other civilized country has it. India does not, and is a far better example of what we should be doing. Australia and New Zealand do not, they have more of a hybrid system which is also more likely to be effective here. When touting the typical countries, no one mentions the excessively long wait times, etc. Also, no one seems to mention what a total disaster the system we do have that is actually government run health care, that being the VA, and how bad it is. Is that the system you want? I certainly don't. As for everyone bearing the burden from our tax dollars, again, I don't disagree....but if that is the solution, tell everyone that. Don't lie about it. Also, address the simple fact that our government has a terrible history of running such things effectively (again, look at the VA). Without addressing costs, which is best done through a market based system, it doesn't matter who is paying for it, it is still unaffordable. Our government already can't meet its bills. Eventually, it will have to cut back. Under the single payer system, they will have to decide which things they will not cover...same as the current system. Except in single payer, there will be no other recourse. Causing the very problems you seek to avoid, except with no alternatives.
Pretending the problem doesn't exist is never an effective was to solve it. FWIW...WWII was not an ever ongoing thing. Which is what I brought up in my comment, that the problem doesn't vanish if you keep adding more and more to it. WWII was also followed by a period of massive economic resurgence, which isn't happening, and given that the debt is a huge hindrance to such expansion, due to the tax concerns businesses have, isn't going to happen. So, no, your example doesn't apply. What we have is essentially an ever ongoing WWII budget scenario, with even bigger expenditures looming on the horizon. All without the follow on cessation of spending and ensuing economic growth. This is the single most important issue facing us, and it gets almost no attention paid to it.
Good...this is the basis for an actual discussion on what to do about it. If we could just get this to be a more universal acknowledgement, the first hurdle (denial) would be overcome.
I've actually partaken in the healthcare system of New Zealand. My family has as well. We had an auto accident there, and my mother's senior citizen Uncle had a back injury that required surgery and a long recuperation period and hospital stay. It cost us/him less than $100. During the process we became friends with the doctor and were frequent visitors to her and her family's house. We talked about the some of the differences in healthcare between there and here in addition to many other things. The doctors there make enough to be middle to possibly upper middle class. They do not match the wealth of doctors and surgeons here in the United States. The govt./single payer covered hospital stays for my mother, father, mom's uncle, and me, in addition to casts, surgery x-rays, etc. The total amount paid for all of us was far less than we could pay as the deductibles for a regular doctor visit. Their system was incredible as far as quality, and price. I know doctors and surgeons wouldn't be happy with a drastic reduction in salary. Some serious changes will need to be made. I haven't seen the Republicans put forward anything that would make it.
Can we get rid of the Department of Education? It seems like quality of US education has only gone down since its founding.
Yes, let's do that. Because if we want to help education get better, the first thing we need to do is remove a lot of funding for the schools. The problem with schools is that they just get too much money. If only we could deprive schools of more resources, technology, textbooks, supplies, repairs and safety regulations, then surely our education system would be so much better.
Tru dat. What does get cited all the time is the convergence of wealth at the top. Yes, this has been happening...but it is ALWAYS what happens when there is a new economic paradigm. It happened during the Industrial Revolution, too. Currently, we have not one but too global economic transformation occurring, related but separate. One is globalization...markets used to be local, now they are global. Things can be made anywhere, and sold anywhere, by anyone. So, local workforces are no longer necessary. The other is the increased use of automation in, well, everything. The need for unskilled labor is going away. Correspondingly, though, the need for highly skilled labor is increasing. Actually, if inflation is theft, so would interest be, and hence savings accounts would be out, and hiding it under the mattress would be the thing. So very true. Particularly with the fractional investment accounts people can have now. Almost everyone can save for their retirement, yet the vast majority of people do not, particularly when they are young, when the savings will accrue the most benefit.
A fair point, which goes to the broader one of not holding government accountable for the things it does do. The Dept of Education is clearly failing. Whether getting rid of it, or changing it to actually work, is the solution is a worthy discussion. Education is highly important to our county's success, as we are moving away from unskilled labor to skilled labor and knowledge workers. Those with no education are going to get left out.
You might want to do some more research on the wait times those are actually not that big of a deal - it is a scare tactic by the repubs. And the main problem is not the COST, it is that millions of people had no coverage, now 20m of those are covered under the ACA, it was step 1 of a longer term solution of single payer.' Yep and I used to live in the UK, they had similar healthcare as you experienced, any time I needed to see a doctor I got right in, there were no extended wait times....... Any wait times were generally with surgery that was non life threatening - knee replacement etc... DD
yea because the supreme court only upholds things that are constitutional right? 10th amendment clearly says that anything not stated in the constitution as being the realm of the federal government is the realm of the states. Education is not in the constitution. Its the realm of the states. federal government as always ignored the 10th amendment though.
Well it is an amendment - can be amended...... And I guess it is the same way that the "Well regulated" part is always left out of the 2nd amendment. DD
Interesting. My experience there was in helping one of the Health Districts setting up a new computer system (Canterbury, in Christchurch). But, while there, I also had to use the system. As I was not a citizen, I had to go outside of the district, to a local physician. He diagnosed my problem fairly quickly, which several visits to doctors in the United States failed to do (I had TMJ Disorder, when that was still a fairly new issue to diagnose, at least in the states). My experience was likewise, though....good quality care at an affordable price, even when not covered by the state system. I also noted that you didn't hear much complaining about health care quality or health care costs there. The mix of public and private is what I think would work better here. I wasn't aware of the doctor salary issue, but then doctors here pay sometimes more than half of their salary to malpractice insurance, and fees they can recoup for services are on the decline, due to insurance maximums. So, the actual take home pay difference may not be as great as one might think.
Its apple,orange comparison UK put a cap on procedures &,medcore Physicians (the good one would move to somewhere else for better compensation) Canadian Physicians pay 53¢ for every 1$ they earn in income taxes+ 40k overhead cost + longer waiting time as # of Physicians per capita is less than what's in the US. American Physicians pay higher overhead expenses and marginally lower income taxes but end up making nearly the same while the patients pay more You can't have quality service at affordable rate in timely manner, pick just two at best. A Cancer patient in the US woukd get 1.5x to a Canadian and 2x to a British counterparts in term of treatment options/drugs.
lol nothing immoral about cutting mental health funds for or throwing the severely mentally ill off of social security disability or depriving hungry little kids of school lunches.
Fair points, but I believe you can have all three. We do this all the time. The market is supposed to make things more efficient, and as they get more efficient, they get cheaper, better, and quicker, all at the same time. The problem is that the market isn't working within healthcare. Where it is allowed to work, as in India, they are indeed achieving all three things.
