robi2106's Journal: Still Think Universal Health Care Is A Good Idea?

Filmmaker Stuart Browning shows the callousness of "single-payer", government-run health care systems as practiced in Canada.

When a person has to wait 8 months for surgery, or 4 months just for a MRI, then you know there is a problem with your health care system. And when your single-payer, aka-government monopoly, system is struck down as unconstitutional in one province, that should be another red flag. There are many more examples of why a universally poor monopoly on a service, especially a life threatening / saving service, is a bad idea.

Give that video a look-see. Enlightening to say the least. The Libertarian in me shudders to think of this scenario playing out in the US.

jason

unnecessary dichotomy

[capoccia]

why does it have to be either/or? why can't universal healthcare be the foundation with supplimental health insurance plans that allow someone with money to get faster/better/experimental treatment.

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[eglamkowski]

Could be, but we're talking about politicians here. Politicians don't give a damn about you or me, they care about power. Giving citizens that kind of option doesn't maximize their power, therefore that's not how the law will read, or at least not for very long.

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[robi2106]

I believe it cannot be both ways because one will be inherently superior to the other. The competition will eliminate the service that is inefficient. By its nature, government is slower than private business because of elections, committees, arguments, political infighting, etc. A business is just after money and they will follow whatever brings it in.

If a government system is NOT a monopoly but is competing against private business, I believe, the private business will move quicker to satisfy demand an

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[Ethelred Unraed]

There are a number of glaring holes in your argument. First and foremost, there is no reason why universal health care can't be provided in a market-based, yet regulated system. Such a system exists and works in much of Europe (and is not socialized medicine, either). Germany's has worked (with some modifications) for nearly 120 years -- it ain't perfect, but it works a damned sight better than America's (much cheaper and with better coverage, without rationing). Second, there is no reason why universal hea

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Hmm- an MRI in 8 months

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Or no MRI at all because "migranes don't exist" accoring to your health insurance, or worse yet, because you have no health insurance at all. I'll take the former, thank you, if you're going to give me a choice (and because I'm an Oregonian, I'm about to have the choice).

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[Marxist Hacker 42]

lol. mh, you are absolutely adorable, in your own wacky way. those two have got about a snowballs chance in hell,

Thus making my Technocratic bid for the presidency more reasonable. Not much, as I'll lose no matter what I do, but heck, I'm 36 and losing the Presidency of the United States is now my Constitutional Right!

but the way you never let reality intersect with your opinions. that's one of the reasons i love you.

In my high school senior photo (1989 Silverton Union High School, Oregon) I'm weari

The problem isn't with universal health care.

[Short Circuit]

The problem isn't with universal health care, it's with the insufficient resources to sustain it. Not enough doctors? Educate more. Not enough hospital beds or MRI machines? Buy more.

The other option is to reduce demand, but not through raising costs. You can (and should) take preventative measures like eliminating carcinogens and air pollution. But you also need to train the populace in what does and doesn't require treatment. Or train them to perform some treatment on their own.

Supply/demand economi

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[tomhudson]

We're working on reducing demand by, for example, public pressure to force people to quit smoking (eliminating it in the workplace, restaurants and bars, etc).

Also, while some people have to wait, its because there are other cases that are more urgent, that jump the queue. It might not be "fair", but it saves lives. Someone who needs a CT scan or MRI in a life-and-death situation will get it - there's no "lets see if they have insurance first".

A DC evangulast of this is here.

[GMontag]

Ezra [typepad.com] is crazy about that single payer stuff, as well as single payer elections. Well, his idea of single payer is all of us, of course.

Americans have the world's MOST expensive

[Philip K Dickhead]

Heatlthcare system.

The quality of care is argued to be between the 20th and 40th best in the world.

Someone is ripped-off, big time. If being "libertarian" means "hands off, man. This is gonna' work out. To intervene is EVIL," then libertarian is nothing but another name for "useful idiot."

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[Degrees]

Of course, one reason it is so expensive is that there is no downward pressure on prices. Illegal alien nearly dies, goes to hospital. Hospital knows it won't get paid. Hospital piles on all sorts of uneeded charges. At the end of the fiscal year, they adjust the cost of ALL services to cover the "charity care expense" - which is four times larger than it should be.

This is one of the reasons why health care rates grow 12% - 15% per year (and have for more than a decade) when the rest of the country grows a

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[Philip K Dickhead]

I think that your example pales to the exorbitant gauging done by insurers, pharmaceutical companies and the medical device manufacturers.

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[Degrees]

Could be. All I know is that when I worked at the County Health Department, the local hospital tried to get the county on the hook for an illegal alien's treatment. They kept sending in bills under different variations of the guy's name. If the county slipped up and paid one bill, we were on the hook for all of them. The hospital kept him in for ten weeks (his initial service would normally have been two, max) and ran up the bill to over one million dollars before they gave up and turned him loose. And of c

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[Philip K Dickhead]

Don't have to wait. The jobs have gone, and now medical refugees [wired.com] are fleeing to India, too.

I agree.

[eugene ts wong]

I agree with you. Unfortunately, I can't comment too much on the video, because I can't play videos on my box. I live in Surrey, BC, where this issue is important. In fact, a private clinic opened up about 1.5 miles from here.

I think that any form of helath care won't work, because there is no accountability to usage. With auto insurance, you are not supposed to get benefits, if you are risky, or if it's your fault. There are no boundaries like that in health care.