Quote:
Originally Posted by spronk  USA spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world (both in total terms and per capita) and has some of the lowest living standards (life expectancy, obesity, diabetes rates, infant mortality, etc) in western nations. So yeah, we can keep doing the same ol' shit and hope something magically changes or try to make things better.
Prob half the people reading these forums are healthy. We eat right, exercise, perform preventative healthcare (checkups, exams, vitamins, etc). The other half, and at least 50% of America, don't. It is infinitely more expensive to wait until someone has diabetes, high blood pressure, etc, etc and then try to "fix" them than it is to get someone to have healthy eating and living habits from a young age.
And thats really what universal health care is all about. No matter how poor you are, you don't skip medical checkups and such because you can't afford it. You go in, get the right advice, and hopefully follow through. Obviously lots of people are still going to stick to the MickeyD and lard diet, but the more people we can convince to live healthier the cheaper it gets overall. Its not about giving everyone access to lipo, or breast implants, or $1 million worth of aids drugs - its ensuring no one ever has to think "hmmm.... go see the doctor or buy food this week?"
It is pretty retarded that the worlds "richest" country has 50 million+ uninsured people, most of whom basically go without any health checkups until something goes wrong. We take better care of our cars and electronics in America than ourselves. |
So let's say that the government comes in and takes control here. We just eliminated any competition in the medical industry. The government pays a flat rate for everyone's medical visit, so why should any doctor try to be better than any other? The government pays a flat rate for all of these medications for everyone, so why should the drug companies even attempt to make better drugs?
That is why it won't work.
Why do you people keep insisting on giving the government
more power. Leave these things up to private industry.
Let's not forget that the government runs the only retirement plan in town where you actually lose money.