Opinions On Gov. Sponsored Health Care Outside of the USA

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Originally Posted by Bruno

Well, I mustn't grumble about my health, but my brother and mother have chronic conditioins that would have bankrupted us and in the US system. That would have prevented all of us from getting a decent education, and set us back for the rest of our lives.

The only time we had a rude awakening was when my brother was in the US to hold a lecture at a computer science conference.
He needed an emergency root canal treatment, and the public dentist wouldn't touch it (malpractise and all... he only did easy cases. wonderful system) so he needed to go private... and pay an advance of 2000$ in advance... for a root canal :soapbox: what are -you- supposed to do? shop around when a dental root is inflamed? :rant: Cost him 3000$ in the end with meds. :eek:

Yes. That was a rude awakening indeed, and a good indication that our system is working a lot better than yours.

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It's stuff like this that terrifies me about going back to the states. Yes, I get travel insurance, but it's all reimbursement--I'll still have to pay up front. I wonder when the travel insurance companies will stop covering travel in the US? One or two accidents and it'll stop being worth it...

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Originally Posted by AussiePostie

Free basic health care? Who said countries with healthcare is free? Even the impoverished classes pay there part to the system. If someone has any income, he pays his dues.

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Sorry for my being over simplystic, I should have said low cost. It is true everyone pays based on what they earn. But I just like the fact that everyone can obtain the same level of care wether your disabled and earn $0 or you earn a $1,000,000. and not have to sell a kidney, your house, or first born to get it.

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Originally Posted by majurey

But the comparison is not that simple. NHS provision is driven by non-profit motives. The problem (in my opinion) of the US-type system is that everything is driven by profit motive. It's all private sector. So how would I, as a medic for example, maximise my profit? Why, I'd simply offer the most expensive treatments, and manage care by maximising the amount of my time and expertise required. The outcome seems to be levels of treatment inappropriately OTT.

This profit motive in healthcare supports everything from the newest most expensive drugs (pharmas cheer) to unnecessary interventions (medics cheer) to peolpes' need to protect themselves against these inflated costs (insurers cheer).

At some point, the motive for profit comes crashing headlong into the interests of the patient. That is, if you believe in access to good treatment for all. If you believe that health (and other social basics like education) should be tiered like commerce, effectively blocking the poor's access to good treatment (or education), then an entirely privatised health system is as good as any I suppose.

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What would really be good would be a private health system where people decided to help each other without being forced to help each other by a government. But for the to be economocally viable you would need the rich people to stop welling the poor people posionous products and the poor people to stop consuming posionous products. And for the poor to know what is good to consume and what is not they would also need good education. And for all this to happen the rich would need to realise that it would be in their best intrest to educate(real education not the fake indoctrination of schools and colleges of today), and elevate the quality of life for poor and middle class.