Healthcare in the United States
Listening to the KUNM call in show right now, and it's on healthcare. I think, when you start hearing doctors talking about the US system, you realise just how badly broken it is. ER units that are nearly bankrupt because nearly half of those who go are never able to pay their bills, the fact that here in New Mexico, it costs every family with insurance $1,400 to pay the bills of the uninsured per year. Essentially it's freeloading by (for the most part) companies who don't pay the insurance of their employees (Wal Mart, I'm looking at you). But geez, you listen to where the money goes, and you realise how bad the system is. Last I looked, around 60% of the US population were in favour either of a single-payer goverment healthcare system, or a socialised system (no prizes for guessing which I'm in favour of, coming from Britain).
[edit] OK, so here's an interesting factoid - the cost of the insurance industry in the US and its beurocracy is higher than the cost of covering every uninsured person in the United States.
Oh, nice, and now we have the ranting polemic about why the hell should I pay for other people's healthcare? Well, two reasons - one, because letting people die because of lack of insurance is immoral, and secondly because by covering these uninsured people you actually save money. Because the uninsured cost a lot more than the insured because of lack of preventative treatment, and the cost of them not paying their bills is passed on to everyone else.
[edit] OK, so here's an interesting factoid - the cost of the insurance industry in the US and its beurocracy is higher than the cost of covering every uninsured person in the United States.
Oh, nice, and now we have the ranting polemic about why the hell should I pay for other people's healthcare? Well, two reasons - one, because letting people die because of lack of insurance is immoral, and secondly because by covering these uninsured people you actually save money. Because the uninsured cost a lot more than the insured because of lack of preventative treatment, and the cost of them not paying their bills is passed on to everyone else.