http://www.healthpowerhouse.com/ I know Batman Jones would disagree, but our health care program Rocks. It seems our partly government and partly privately funded system does work. More information about Dutch healthcare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_the_Netherlands
You, Dutch are just a bunch of pot smokers who are poor or soon to be poor because of your socialist proclivities. We prefer unregulated capitalism as the mathematical equations we learned in econ 101 prove beyond a reasonable doubt that we should be the richest and you among the poorest of the countries. If this is not true at the moment, it will be true eventually. You can't argue with the math or the logic of the free market. We may not have the best health care system now, but according to math and logic we shall have the best in the end due to the immutable reality and the logic of the market system.
not to derail the thread, but I found this little tid bit interesting -- World Leaders Don't Understand The American Right's Hitler References President Obama spoke last night to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's annual dinner, and he discussed an amusing moment with an unnamed world leader at the G-20: "One of the leaders -- I won't mention who it was -- he comes up to me. We take the picture, we go behind. He says, 'Barack, explain to me this health care debate.' He says, 'We don't understand it. You're trying to make sure everybody has health care and they're putting a Hitler mustache on you -- I don't -- that doesn't make sense to me. Explain that to me.'"
No rational person anywhere in the world understands the Hitler references. It takes a deranged mind to see any parallel between Obama and Hitler.
True, everybody knows the comparison should be with Stalin, or, hey, how about "Staller." I couldn't resist a little silliness, and I apologize for derailing the thread. Arno_ed, can you provide the general format of the Dutch plan? Oops, I didn't read your wiki (I have little regard for wiki). Change that question to what shortcomings does the Dutch plan have?
The only reason that healthcare in America works at all is because of government regulations in health care. And how the heck is the free market gonna solve health care when health care companies make a greater profit by denying more and more claims?
The Netherlands is the 13th most lasseiz-faire capitalist economy out of 157 surveyed. All primary and curative care is private. Let's agree to go with the Dutch model. What do you say, glynch?
No public option, correct? If I'm reading this right, there was a public option but they got rid of it in 2006. "For all regular (short-term) medical treatment, there is a system of obligatory health insurance, with private health insurance companies. These insurance companies are obliged to provide a package with a defined set of insured treatments [1]." "Prior to 2006 (and since 1941) there were two separate systems of (short-term) health insurance: public and private."
Yeah, and they're both males. You know what I meant, parallels in the actions/motivations of the two men.
Take it from the British: You are wrong <script type="text/javascript" src="http://reason.tv/embed/video.php?id=864"></script> You let the market be truly free. Repeal all laws that prevent Americans from buying any health insurance policy they want, anywhere in the country. Make health insurance and healthy choices tax deductible. It's government rules, regulations, laws and mandates that make health care expensive in the first place. You have it backwards.
A market without regulation isn't a free market. You can only have a free market with proper regulation. Also, private health insurance is like having private and competing fire departments or police departments. It's an inherently inefficient and ineffective way of providing an essential service. Most studies I've seen say that the extra overhead, redundancy, advertising costs, administration costs, etc., costs around 30% more.
That's totally worth it to keep the inefficient, corrupt government out of my personal business. But then the tax breaks and price competition will more than make up the difference.
There seems to be a very positive correlation. The US will always struggle with being a large and diverse nation. Look at any statistic from state to state and how much it varies. Look at any statistic from poor to rich, or from white to black.
A market without regulation would be free. It would be highly chaotic, but it would be free. Proper regulation just means it will run smoother. Private fire and police departments and private ambulance services work quite well with public services. When one is overwhelmed, the other responds to assist. We see that time and again in Houston and other municipalities.
Why would that have any impact on health care costs, however? You may have a diverse population but they're still all human beings. The same medical training applies to all of them. Your size could even provide some economies of scale.
I don't think it would be free. You'd have other groups stepping in to the power void, like organized crime for example. You have private fire departments and police departments in Houston?! I just checked and the HPD is a normal police department like any other cities police department, so I guess I'm not understanding what you're trying to say here.
What did health care costs have to do with: Do you believe that the US is not at a disadvantage due to a combination of size, population, & diversity? I know you live in a larger country, but at the same time, the population isn't as great, and it certainly isn't as diverse.
