Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If designed well, yes. I think that everyone should pay into a system for quality, affordable healthcare. I don't like conservative vision where only rich and young get good healthcare and anyone poor or sick is "free" to get totally screwed by greedy insurance companies.
Conservatives seem so adamant about protecting the right to forego medical treatment if they get sick.
As a Canadian living in the U.S and having experienced both systems, YES I would support single-payer. Way too much paper work here in the U.S and my taxes are the same here in California as they were in Canada, but the difference is I pay a healthcare premium here on top of that and I'm not even 100% covered like I was in Canada! In Canada I could choose which hospital and doctors I wanted because Canadian hospitals are a private enterprise, just like here in the U.S. All I had to do was show my government issued healthcare card and fill a little info and that was it, they could not refuse me care because healthcare is a right up there.
In the U.S, Americans are held hostage by private insurance companies. You have more restrictions here because healthcare is not a right, but a privilege. And the more money you have, the more freedom you have to navigate the healthcare system here.
Don't get me wrong, Americans are far superior in so many things when it comes to private enterprise in many goods and services, so I'm not trying to make this a Canada vs. U.S.A thing, because the U.S would blow Canada out of the waters easily. But I think it's important to pay attention to how things are done differently in other countries and learn from their mistakes and lessons as well.
As a Canadian living in the U.S and having experienced both systems, YES I would support single-payer. Way too much paper work here in the U.S and my taxes are the same here in California as they were in Canada, but the difference is I pay a healthcare premium here on top of that and I'm not even 100% covered like I was in Canada! I could choose which hospital and doctors I wanted because Canadian hospitals are a private enterprise, just like here in the U.S. All I had to do was show my government issued healthcare card and fill a little info and that was it, they could not refuse me care because healthcare is a right up there.
In the U.S, Americans are held hostage by private insurance companies. Big business runs the show here.
no, because then the govt gets to decide who lives and dies.
That's exactly what the insurance companies do now! Woman with cancer who lives in a right-to-die state: "her doctors suggested that switching to another chemotherapy drug might buy her time. Her medical insurance company refused to pay. She says she asked if the company covered the cost of drugs to put her to death. She was told the answer is yes — with a co-payment of $1.20."
Insurance companies put profits before your life. Always.
I would rather pay private companies to run health care, but I think there needs to be law around it to make sure it's fair deal for everyone. The problem stems from government employee tends to be lazy so they go hire another 3 people do 1 persons job. They create a lot of process and procedures in order to have the need to hire more lazy workers. These workers can't be let go because they have unions behind them which cripple managements ability to do anything about it. This environment tends to draw in more lazy workers people who are not lazy want to get away from it and find a job in the private sector.
All political scare tactics coming from the right-wing. These are people whom we should simply ignore.
Not a smart move.
Conservatives must be dealt with since they make up most of the votes in the legislature. Perhaps a more intelligent approach would be to convince them (I am one) that Single Payer is the best alternative.
Smart people present an argument; dumb people show the finger.
I am not opposed to single-payer if designed well but I'd rather the U.S. try something along the lines of what Switzerland has first. The Swiss have universal coverage (and care) and it is achieved through private insurance (albeit regulated private insurance).
Back in 2008 or so Democrat Ron Wyden (Oregon) and Republican Bill Bennett (Utah) co-sponsored a bill that called the "Healthy Americans Act."
In a nutshell it would have provided 100 percent universal coverage (and care) through a health care voucher given to every American. No pre-existing conditions, the vouchers would be covered on a sliding scale basis so the poor, working class and even middle class would also be covered. There would be co-pays to encourage cost savings.
Labor market mobility would increase as the antiquated employer based system we have now would go away. And no American would have to stress about lacking basic health coverage or how to pay for it.
Last edited by Astral_Weeks; 09-23-2017 at 11:23 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
