Poll: what is your opinion of universal health care?

Question:Can you give examples to support your reasoning? I am not taking a stance one way or another; I am just interested to know that people here on YA think.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Can you give examples to support your reasoning? I am not taking a stance one way or another; I am just interested to know that people here on YA think.

Those who claim that universal health care works in other countries should take a closer look. Many Canadians come to the US for health care because the wait for treatment is waaaay longer up there--sometimes, lethally longer. In jolly old England, try getting dialysis if you're over 55; since health care is by necessity rationed, dialysis for older people is considered a waste of valuable resources since they're going to die in a few more years anyway. And Cuba? CUBA??? Anyone who holds Cuba as a good example of anything other than cigars should actually go there and have a look around beyond the carefully sanitized tourist spots.

Take a look at where all the cutting-edge medical procedures, imaging equipment, new pharmaceuticals, etc. are coming from. Could some gov't committee have ever come up with the MRI?

Like it or not, profit serves two extremely valuable purposes. First, it is an excellent incentive for innovation. Communism has decisively shown that altruism alone is vastly insufficient a stimulus for helping others. Second, profit provides the funds and resources to make not only innovation happen, but supply of anything. There is no rationing of dialysis (to take one example) in the US because as demand grows, increased demand provides increased funds to pay for increased supply. Under socialized or nationalized health care, all funds ultimately come from the taxpayers, and quite involuntarily. That limited supply combined with inevitable political diversion of resources to other sources and inherent inefficiency in anything the gov't does, means that many things just aren't going to have the same resources available than they would in a market economy.

Health care in the US is certainly not perfect. Our system is part free market, part socialized (Medicare & Medicaid make the gov't by far the largest purchaser, payer, and influencer of health care in this country), but if you look closely at the problems we have, most of them ultimately stem from gov't involvement as opposed to market failure.

The idea of being covered for any medical expenses and not having to pay (much) for medical care is extremely powerful and attractive, but ultimately it is a fantasy. Health care is just as subject to the basic laws of supply & demand as any other sector of commerce. "Free" health care is anything but; its costs are merely hidden from the end consumer by being paid for via taxes rather than a direct bill to the patient. Hidden costs, in turn, artificially inflate demand by giving the illusion that it is much more affordable than it actually is. The inevitable result is shortages in health care, decreased quality, significantly higher taxes, or (usually) all three. This is not political dogma, but firmly established economic law. It is fact.

But if I may close on a quick political note, you'll notice that Hillary Clinton's health care plan makes no mention of universal health care. Rather, she wants to mandate universal purchasing of health insurance, which is something similar-sounding but not quite the same. Even on the political left there is little disagreement that many people will be made poorer by this. So would we actually be any better off, if we trade our economic prosperity for a cotton-candy promise of health care we can't afford?

It works in France, Cuba, and England. They have longer life spans and happier attitudes all around.

We already have universal health care. The problem is universal bill payment.

well if we stop wasting money on the space program we could afford universal health care. That the long and short of it.

That would be great if the whole universe cared about health.

Fine, as long as I don't have to pay for it. I'm already paying for every deadbeat on welfare.

I like the idea in principal. There are too many people in this country who have no health insurance, and they will always get the minimum amount of care allowed, and they sometimes die because they are not under the care of an MD.

When they get sick, they often go the emergency room, where thay cannot be denied medical care, so long as a crisis exists. Then since the patient has little or no income or insurance, the hospital and the doctors get stiffed. With UHC nearly everyone gets treated, and everyone gets paid. The treating agents may get less than they are used to, but at least they get paid.

Also, I really would like to see our congressmen get the same health insurance that we do. Then we would see much greater attention being paid to the health care needs of the average person, at a reasonable cost.

Lol...the space program....That's so Dan Brown.

I think it's a good idea. And why does everyone use Canada as their argument agains universal healthcare!! All other nations with universal healthcare have higher life expectancies and lower infant mortality rates. Think about it: you say you don't want to have to pay for blokes on welfare, right? Well how about when a low-income mother gets pregnant, doesn't recieve proper prenatal care because she can't afford it, and then when she has the baby it's premature and has tons of health problems?They stay in the hospital and run up the bill to almost a quarter of a million to save to poor infant who might have continuing health defects for the rest of its life--and who pays for that? The tax payers! Better prenatal care willl decrease how much you have to pay for those pricey procedures because it lowers birth problems associated with poor prenatal care--and this prinicple goes with all forms of healthcare-not just pregnancy. I don't see masses of poor, disease ridden Europeans drifting across France. And we seem to be the ones flocking to Canada to get drugs. Anyway, that's my take :)

Rikki,

It's good to read a young person asking about this.

Several countries already have Universal Health Care. Bill Clinton wanted to introduce it early in his administration. Our Republican Party began a campaign to con the American public into believing it was similar to Socialized Medicine, also a better system that the pathetic system we now suffer.

The Germans have had it since the late 1800's and it was the first decree Bismark made after he realized that, as Chancellor, he and not the Kaiser, was actually running the country.

I stayed in Europe after my military service, working for an obscure American company. I decided to improve any medical, available to me by my government, by taking National Health from the German government. I paid a small fee each month whether I needed anything or not.

This is the system. Young people pay in and use the benefits seldom. Older people pay in and use the system more. This is not unfair because, whether they realize it or not, young people, if they're lucky, become..old people. The thing is, the system is only overseen by the German government; it's operated by German Insurance companies.

The difference between theirs and ours, you will not find German Insurance executives pulling down $400 million in annually salary, like in our country. Why can't an Insurance "executive make it on a couple of million annually?

Our system is broken and serves big business and the politicians to which they..."contribute; it does not serve the people.

Americans deserve National Health just as much as other Western Countries and for the same reason.

I have personal friends, American, who have relatives in Germany. The mother, is elderly and in need of care. You would not believe the facility she is ti be sent to. Luxurious, is one term that applies; it will cost them...NOTHING!

Compare this to our system where at the least, she would have to sign over her real estate to the state or facility to even be admitted.

You decide.

I know what works for me.

i hope it will be implemented in our nation.... the health care here is only for those few privileged people.. while the majority of the poor people is suffering and dying without proper medication at all... and medicines here is like gold.... higher than most of its neighbouring country.... we are the only catholic nation in asia but...... its the way we are living here...

I support universal health care for one simple reason: in every single country that has universal health care, the citizens enjoy a higher standard of living and a longer lifespan than do the citizens of the United States. That's 37 countries that have something we don't...so much for being the greatest nation, eh?