Socialized Medicine in Action

[rtcell]

It's pointless to compare with "other countries" unless they have the same lifestyle and genetics. E.g. people in Europe walk to a store where they buy more-or-less natural food, that makes them way more healthy that driving to buy processed junk. "universal healthcare" puts them back, but some physical activity and better food still make them healthier than Americans. Also 6 weeks vacations per year helps.. Try to get a surgery in the UK or just stay in a hospital bed there, you'll see why government-managed tax-paid medicine is nothing to write home about.

When you advocate for "decent, accessible, and affodable healthcare" the question is "on whose expense"? Medical care (as any other service) is not a right - just like a house or a steak is not a right. A right is something you have without forcing other people to work for it. Like 2A rights. Medical care is a service (or goods) that somebody has to provide you. Who will pay for this and who will manage this? The socialized medicine says "taxpayers should be extorted to pay for other people medical care, and the government will do awesome job managing it" . The former is immoral , the latter is delusional.

 

[Grunwald]

Contrary to popular belief insurance companies have a very low profit margin. Another bit of information that most do not know is that many of them operate as "Not For Profit" entities.

The points made about socialized medicine countries ranking above the US in healthcare are pure conjecture. Most often used examples are Scandinavian countries. There is a big difference between the typical Scandinavian living there and a typical American living here and all has to do with diet. If you walk round the streets of Oslo or Copenhagen you'll be hard pressed to find anyone waddling down the street. These people don't eat the kinds of crap that passes for food here and so they do not have the same health problems that Americans have.

I actually think that the healthcare system is pretty screwed up here, but a lot of it is by government mandates that just make things way too complicated.

In the end when I think that government run healthcare system would be a good idea, I keep coming back to one question:
"If I was having issue with being turn down for treatment and had to fight to get it, would I rather fight a private insurance company or the federal government?"