#1 The uninsured and underinsured US citizens is a grossly inflated figure because it includes those who are in this country illegally and are unable to obtain insurance due to federal regulations...Many others are uninsured or underinsured because they are irresponsible and don't want to factor the costs into their budget (they can otherwise afford it)...Also don't forget that a significant number of people do actually qualify for medicare/medicaid due to their poverty status...that leaves the rest who have jobs but simply cannot afford coverage, which still is a large number I agree. I just want to diffuse the alarmist element that is out there.
Regardless of why they don't have insurance, they still don't have it, they still don't get the care. It's too difficult to get into why every person doesn't have it, even if they can afford it, easier to just to open the floodgates, at least then people aren't suffering, although they'd probably still be lazy (for those who don't have it out of sheer laziness).
#2 I could bring Canada into the picture to highlight how horrible it can be to have a loved one who dies while on a waiting list for a critical medical procedure because there is no disincentive for those who seek care for trivial matters. I could also talk about how horrible it is to wait for months to get an MRI to determine if you have cancer in an early enough stage to remove/treat (for many it is too late because the cancer spreads much quicker than the time it takes to wait for the MRI). There are many sources on the internet that I suggest you take a look at, specifically ones that state the average waiting period for medical procedures, the long-term effect that the system has on the economy (including the "brain-drain" of doctors moving from Canada to other countries such as the US), the quality of the care administered, and the rise of private medical clinics in Canada (currently they are popping up at a rate of ~2/week as a result of a recent key supreme court decision that took place in Canada stating that it is unconstitutional and unethical to deny patients the right to pay money out of their own pockets to seek medical care if they aren't getting it good enough or fast enough under the socialized system...this is foreboding the downfall of the current system they have in place up in Canada)
Ugh I don't want this to become a he-said she said thing but the waiting times for medical procedures is supposedly overestimated (much like your overestimation of uninsured/underinsured counterargument) by proponents of the universal healthcare system.
Anyway, Canada aside, Japan, Germany, and Britain also have working systems, but of course required more than just universal healthcare, which I stated in my prior post is not the ultimate answer to this country's problems - it will take much more, but UHC is the starting point.
#3 They say the same thing about getting rid of the middle man with regards to taxes (the IRS) if we would only implement a more simplified tax system that eliminates all these loopholes and such. The only problem is that when you radically alter a system that is currently in place you cannot avoid the distinct possibility that the system will fall through the floor and drag the economy into a depression.
Yeah but prolonging this current system just increases that possibility. The more time they spend NOT doing UHC, the more people add to tertiary medical costs, and the more the paper trail and third party companies add to the mess.
That is why nobody wants to touch universal healthcare (or the IRS for that matter). And, once again, the figures of uninsured are hugely overinflated...subtract at least 20 million from that figure to be fair to those who are here in this country legally.
Don't see why you have to cut out the ones that aren't here legally, not like their suffering is any less real.
If you think that the WHO is perfect at assessing the quality of a country's healthcare system then you must think USNEWS is perfect at assessing the quality of US medical schools.
We're not talking about two countries that were ranked near each other, there is a huge difference between #1 (France, Universal coverage) and #37 (USA, some cokehead's Sunday night tripping). Nothing against University of Rochester, but I think most would agree that Harvard Med is going to be better. It's not perfect, but it will give you a macro-perspective on where they stand, and the US isn't doing too hot. But if you needed stats to realize this...
And while we are at it, by making such a "fair" system for universal healthcare why don't we go ahead and make the tax system fair as well and make everyone pay the exact same percentage of their income to the IRS? That way everyone gets the same thing out of it and puts the same percentage into it. Sound good?
Don't know too much about the tax system, but something about this analogy just seems funky. Money =/= suffering.
I am warming up to the idea of a form of universal healthcare that can maintain a certain standard of necessary care, but I stop short of tolerating a system that doesn't allow people to opt out and buy better private coverage if they can afford it (what kind of a country would prevent someone from investing in something as important as their own health?). There are many other problems I have with the idea of universal healthcare regarding the corruption of government, but I won't get into that now.
I don't see what's wrong with allowing people to opt out either. "Boutique medicine" has such a negative connotation, but since we live in a very capitalistic society, it's only natural that options like this be allowed. Like I said, UHC isn't the end all be all of healthcare solutions, but it's a start.
You must be a psychic
