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I actually think a true universal healthcare system is needed just like how we have public schools. There will still be private hospitals and private health insurance for those who want to pay extra and receive better care.
However, Obamacare is a complete mess and we would be better off just scrapping it and simply sign a bill that prohibits insurance companies from denying people with pre-existing conditions.
I'm a Trump supporter btw.
I am too young to have my own health insurance yet, but I will walk in to the insurance market with a couple of big pre-existing conditions and on top of my college debt and low wages for entry-level workers especially Millennials it would have been tough for me to live assuming the old healthcare laws. In the olden times of healthcare policy, I would assume that a lot of insurance companies would turn me down out right for an autoimmune disease I was born with and getting cancer while I was in college. Having those two things will cost me a lot, both completely out of my control (it's not like I got diabetes from eating poorly, you know?) more over time through insurance by extra premiums than the 40k bill I got for surgery (insurance covered most of it but we are still fighting them on some claims) and the medications (very cheap fortunately) I need to treat my disease.
You can tell everyone who voted against universal healthcare has never had a serious illness or they would be saying otherwise I guarantee it. Or if they had a kid with a disability they would be saying otherwise unless they are in the top 5% or so of Americans.
People here don't want to admit it but we benefit from having an educated society--yes you could argue a lot of people are stupid today but believe me without public schooling they would be "stupider" --and our economy certainly benefited from it back in the day as another poster mentioned. We would also benefit from universal healthcare.
I do believe that living Americans have the right to life. If the condition can be treated, it should be with the patient's discretion that doesn't discriminate like private healthcare does today (i.e. also supporting the right to death as Oregon has passed and I do believe Colorado will vote on) I feel that it is unjust and unfair that I *can* see double to triple the insurance costs of my peers because I was not born as lucky. It creates a larger class inequality gap than we need, healthcare is one of our biggest costs for Americans and it is easily something we can control as well.
You can tell everyone who voted against universal healthcare has never had a serious illness or they would be saying otherwise I guarantee it. Or if they had a kid with a disability they would be saying otherwise unless they are in the top 5% or so of Americans.
I am not in the top 5%. I have several autoimmune conditions, and I am against universal healthcare.
As you said, you are too young to have your own health insurance. I think once you enter the "real world" where you alone are responsible for your situation, you may feel differently. But you may not.
Someone noted a few pages back that the biggest difference (and IMO the problem with the poll) is that education is a local/state system. Yes, the fed has some minimum requirements, but all-in-all, the schools are run at the state and local level.
A universal health system is federal. And I have my doubts that the federal government can effectively and efficiently run a health system.
The person who talked about Medicare seemed very knowledgeable and reasonable. However, my parents are having a difference experience with it. Their medications and treatments are being denied by Medicare and/or they have reached their max limits for the year. So...they face a difficult choice. Buy medications or buy food. It could be a tough choice for many.
I should've clarified that when referring to universal healthcare, that doesn't necessitate it being only at the federal level. It could be at the state/local level, too. Same with public schooling. Either way, people living in that jurisdiction will pay for the service and can use it as well.
I'm more curious about the general principle of everybody somehow paying in taxes to fund "free" healthcare or K-12 schooling.
I guess I'm for school choice, not necessarily against a public option. In principle I think public schools are awful, don't like paying for them, and would never ever enroll any brood of mine in one (I don't have any, never will). In practice we need somewhere to house millions of juveniles during the day, may as well be a publicly-funded school I guess.
You guys do know that universal healthcare in Canada is operated by the provinces and not the feds, yes? It is mandated by federal law there that the provinces have public healthcare systems, but the provinces can choose which services they can provide and this is voted on. This is why you will still see private healthcare institutions in Canada to cover these other services. No one said that healthcare has to be operated by the Federal Government. I would agree that would be a poor way to operate the system in the United States. It works in Europe because their countries are the size of our states. Also their countries are more homogenous, which is important when it comes to politics unfortunately.
Lunetunelover, if we had universal healthcare your parents would not have to make that choice. Obamacare and Medicare/Medicaid have their problems absolutely, all three of them need to be fixed and publicizing all of it is the best way to go. You forget that MANY people in this country make that choice as well probably in the millions. This halfway thing we have going on in this country is simply not working. We need to go all the way.
I study healthcare policy as part of my major here in college. I suggest looking into Canada's system and Italy's (ranked #2 out of all countries in the world for their healthcare system, behind France) and see how we could implement similar programs here in the US. We could fuse some of Canada's (arguably the most similar country to us, yes?) and some of Italy's and see success. I know Sweden's is commonly mentioned, along with the French especially, but I do believe their healthcare systems are too centralized and would not work here. Actually the hybrid of Canada's and Italy's I could see working very well here.
I mention Italy because 70% of all people are supported by public healthcare, but are given the option to visit private healthcare institutions if they want--can afford to--which is roughly what the other 30% do. This, operated on state level similar to Canada, would work very well I think in the United States.
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--and our economy certainly benefited from it back in the day as another poster mentioned. We would also benefit from universal healthcare.
