Quote Originally Posted by Crotalus View Post
You don't have to be able to afford healthcare. It has always been and is still free for the needy. You just have to put up with the long lines at the designated Emergency Room.
Yes. And then they'll be stuck with a 100K$ bill because they were unlucky enough to need a moderately complex procedure, and they're bankrupted immediately. How compassionate.

Quote Originally Posted by Crotalus View Post
What will fix our healthcare will take a long time but you can see the results of the proper direction in a few areas. Right now healthcare costs so much because people on insurance don't know or care what it costs. They only care about their deductible.
It costs so much because it is not affordable without insurance. Ans since the insurance companies then have to pay for everything, hospitals can charge more. And dont' forget the lawyers and insurance companies.

If every person requires on average 100$ of coverage per year here, then it will be about the same in the US, right? Assuming averages work out more or less. Only in the US, each person also contributes to the profit of the insurance companies, and the lawyers that make the entire wheel go round.

Quote Originally Posted by Crotalus View Post
Lasik surgery, back treatments, lap bands, body scanning, and others are affordable and wide spread because they are in competition with each other with advertised prices. I think if all medicine was exposed to the free market like this prices would come down dramatically and quality would improve at the same time. The same is true of insurance. If companies were free to compete across state lines insurance rates would improve as well.
Because those are all optional treatements. You can elect not to have them.
Otoh, if your appendix needs to come out or you're having a heart attack or you break a leg, you don't have the option of choosing not to have surgery at the nearest hospital.

Quote Originally Posted by Crotalus View Post
We need less regulation, not more.
Because big business has proven many times over that if they're not regulated, they compete fairly to the betterment of the customers?