Many in the U.S. argue against universal healthcare and how terrible it is, yet I never heard anyone from outside the states voice their disdain for it nor how they held an envious desire for U.S. style healthcare. Someone claimed that this was because you're too oppressed to know better. So what's the case?
I have read some comments here, and there seems to be some false assumptions being made.
Is healthcare a ¨right¨ ? The US Constitution which enumerates the rights of Americans does not say so. It is a philosophical question.
I read the word free many times in regard to socialized medicine.
Nothing is free. Someone always has to pay for it. This cost is reflected in higher taxes and other money redistribution schemes.
In America , the aged pay a small monthly amount for Medicare, a government administered program that allows one freedom of choice of physician, hospital, etc.
The poor have access to Medicaid, which they pay nothing for, another government administered program.
The majority of Americans have health care insurance through their employer. These programs may be funded 100% by the employer, or in a collaboration between the employee and employer.
There are a variety of programs and services from which the employee can choose, more, if he chooses to pay more. From basic catastrophic coverage to full medical coverage.
There are few for profit acute care hospitals, most are non profit facilities. They can pay their operating costs and carry over a percentage of profit for emergencies in the coming fiscal year.
Most physicians are in private medical groups, and they are for profit, and that is a good thing.
A physician is rarely an employee. He has a vested interest in providing quality service in a timely matter. If he does not, market forces apply and the customer will find another health care provider.
Sometimes insurance companies will only approve services from a network of providers, and no others, yet the patient has freedom of choice within the network.
The freedom to choose a hospital is another benefit of market principles, those hospitals that do not provide quality services to their patients don´t get enough patients to pay their costs.
Americans are always suspicious of government intruding in their lives. We don want the government telling us what doctors we can see, dictate to the doctor what tests or procedures he can use, or tell us what hospital we can check in to.
Anything with government control, is a bureaucratic mess rushing to mediocrity.
I have read of the horrendous waits for surgeries and other procedures in Britain. In the US, if a physician determines that a procedure is required at a hospital it gets scheduled, quickly. When it was determined that my knee needed to be replaced, in ten days I had the surgery.
I know less of the Canadian system, but I do know that many Canadians come to the US for treatment. One man I spoke with wanted his surgery done, and he was tired of waiting in pain, so he came to the US and had it done.
I would much rather pay my healthcare premiums, pay lower taxes, and have my healthcare decisions made by my physician and me, not some government bureaucrat, and an employee doctor who knows I have to see him, regardless
