One thing about the United States is the state of the healthcare system should be a bipartisan scandal.
The thing is, it's not as if the government isn't spending enough money. Per capita public spending on health Care in the United States is comparable to countries with single-payer healthcare such as Canada or the United Kingdom. In other words, American taxpayers are already paying enough for universal health care, and yet they're getting nothing.
The fact that the healthcare industry can have it both ways shows that it doesn't matter who's in charge at the moment, the healthcare system is a corporate health Care system not a people healthcare system. And it really doesn't matter if you're on the left or the right, that should be such a damning indictment of both sides of the political spectrum for letting this continue that it should almost be disqualifying for everyone involved.
The thing is, it's not as if the government isn't spending enough money. Per capita public spending on health Care in the United States is comparable to countries with single-payer healthcare such as Canada or the United Kingdom. In other words, American taxpayers are already paying enough for universal health care, and yet they're getting nothing.
The fact that the healthcare industry can have it both ways shows that it doesn't matter who's in charge at the moment, the healthcare system is a corporate health Care system not a people healthcare system. And it really doesn't matter if you're on the left or the right, that should be such a damning indictment of both sides of the political spectrum for letting this continue that it should almost be disqualifying for everyone involved.
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My argument would be that if the US is going to pay enough for universal healthcare they should provide it, and if they're not going to, they should cut spending to be commensurate with the level of services being provided.
The US model is to charge for single payer and not provide it, and so the taxpayers pay twice, once for the public healthcare they don't get, and second for the private healthcare that must replace it. That's why per capita healthcare spending in the US is so much higher than any other country on earth.
Problem with free healthcare such as in Canada is obviously that you remove all limits on demand but you heavily limit supply, so of course you'll have shortages, that's econ 101.
Canada's free healthcare also leads to some perverse incentives with bad outcomes. Drug addicts will clog up emergency rooms so they can pretend to have a toothache to score prescription drugs. In the far north, my mother told me stories of parents making their kids drink drano so the hospital could be a babysitter while they go out drinking.
No dispute that both private and public systems have their problems, but the US specific hybrid is the worst of all possible worlds.
The US model is to charge for single payer and not provide it, and so the taxpayers pay twice, once for the public healthcare they don't get, and second for the private healthcare that must replace it. That's why per capita healthcare spending in the US is so much higher than any other country on earth.
Problem with free healthcare such as in Canada is obviously that you remove all limits on demand but you heavily limit supply, so of course you'll have shortages, that's econ 101.
Canada's free healthcare also leads to some perverse incentives with bad outcomes. Drug addicts will clog up emergency rooms so they can pretend to have a toothache to score prescription drugs. In the far north, my mother told me stories of parents making their kids drink drano so the hospital could be a babysitter while they go out drinking.
No dispute that both private and public systems have their problems, but the US specific hybrid is the worst of all possible worlds.