US health-care, a showcase of free-market failure

[ddstory]

One of the problems with America is that EVERYTHING is for profit. Some services like health, public schools, and prisons should be provided by the state. There is simply no other way. Trickle-down economics and the invisible hand of the infallible free market does not work here (not to mention that it's bullshit

Comments

[mahnmut]

But, but, bootstraps!

[luvdovz]

We can bicker in partisan quarrels about whose plan is worse, Obamacare or Trumpcare (if such a thing exists at all), but I do believe that neither really adds up for a four-member family. Of course all disabled and contributing members of society are entitled to some level of healthcare but neither the proposed Trumpcare or the existing Obamacare adds up. Obama did not address the huge cost of American healthcare, and neither did this Congress because both are afraid to push back against the medical/insurance industry.

[mikeyxw]

Health care reform would be much tougher than health insurance reform, so you can see why congress isn't going to be taking it on anytime soon. But yeah, if you've got a health care system that is too expensive for the country to afford, spending your time convincing people that the health insurance industry is the problem still leaves you with a system that is too expensive.

[mikeyxw]

Really the system in the US is very good if you've got insurance. I've had experience with the systems in the US, UK, and Canada and of the three, the US is by far the best in my opinion.

The part about being three times as expensive is certain right on the mark. But then, US hospitals are like five star hotels while those in the UK are kinda like government housing.

[airiefairie]

Do they have to be like five-star hotels, or is it more important to provide accessible high-quality health care? People tend to vote with their feet, and thousands of US citizens go to get quality health care in... wait for it... Cuba.

[mikeyxw]

That would be sensible, but we're the USA after all. We're going to try to provide everyone a five star hotel treatment and just assume that in 10 years everything will have fallen apart enough that it'll be more like public housing.