There's a lot of plausible-sounding bullshit being regurgitated as reasoned and informed opinion in this thread...
Some simple FACTS:
America currently ranks 37th for healthcare in the world, it is far from the best healthcare system around.
What criteria was used to make this list? Just because the WHO says something doesn't mean it's correct.
For example, I'm from one of the 20 countries on this list. My grandfather was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of glaucoma, he was put on a waiting list for, get this: 1 YEAR. This is standard procedure in Europe, here in America he would have been seen the following week. Which one would you consider to be health care?
Infant mortality in the US is comparable to that of non-industrial Third World country.
Ok, all it took was short trip to Wikipedia to refute that pile of bullshit. America has 6.3 deaths per 1000 births, compare this to 4.7 for the Netherlands, 4.8 for the UK, and 5.0 for New Zealand. Now compare actual third world countries such as Sierra Leone (160.3 per 1000), Afghanistan (157), and Somalia (110.97). Not even close, where do you get this nonsense?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rateHMOs are run for PROFIT... that profit costs lives: denial of coverage; denial of service; denial of drugs.
You think people in Universal Health Care systems aren't denied treatment? Think again
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/health/2512639/Kidney-patients-denied-too-expensive-life-extending-drugs.htmlWho is denied anything in the US? It it ILLEGAL to deny people health care in the US. Just look at the millions of illegal aliens who are abusing the system.
Not for profit government departments are NOT inefficient, they are in fact far more efficient cost-wise than the private sector has ever been... the inefficiencies seen in these fields are caused by chronic underfunding, which in part is promoted by private-sector lobbyists eager to benefit from the privatization of these same sectors.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Are you insane? Have you ever been to the DMV, dealt with Social Services, anything? The private sector is MUCH more efficient than the government. Inefficiency in government is because it is almost impossible to fire anyone, and government bureaucracies cannot go bankrupt. They have no incentive to be efficient, all they have to do is claim their piss poor performance is because of "lack of funding" and demand more money. If a private business is inefficient then it goes out of business and is replaced by a business that is more efficient.
Just look at Jack Welch, the guy took over GE and began a policy of flushing out the bottom 10% of performers annually, the result was a super efficient corporate machine. The government needs a policy like this, big time.
Statistics for cancer survival rates pushed by small-government Republicans and HMOs (Giuliani just made up the figures he quoted in the Republican debates for example) are patently FALSE!
US cancer survival studies do NOT include:
-the 1% of Americans that are homeless
-the 2-3% of Americans that are illegal immigrants
-the 50 million (16%) of Americans who are not insured
-the huge disparity in life expectancy between whites and minorities (black males don't get cancer as often as they only live to be 58 or so on average)
-the insured who are denied coverage as a profiteering strategy by HMOs
Why is that? Because you say so? This is something you have to back up for it to have any credibility. Oh and I see one festering pile of horseshit in that laundry list already. The life expectancy of African American males is 70 years not 58
http://www.webmd.com/news/20080611/life-expectancy-reaches-new-record...and the most important FACT of all:
Americans currently pay considerably more per capita (nearly twice) for their 37th best healthcare system in the world than the French pay for their best healthcare system in the world.
First of all it's about 1.5 times as much. French doctors are also paid a lot less than American doctors (1/3). But your right, American health care expenses are ballooning out of control. But this is because the American health industry is the most regulation industry in the world. What it needs is to give people more choices about their health care, and make common sense changes that could make health care more efficient and affordable. Making Medicaid and Medicare a mandatory nationwide system is NOT the answer.
Socialised/universal American government funded healthcare WOULD mean a tax increase... but that increase would be something on the order of 20% of what the insured are currently paying in premiums... and for that tax-increase/cost-decrease Americans would get:
Do you actually research this stuff or do you just make it up as you go along? America has one of the highest tax rates in the industrial world and you think jacking it up 20% would be no big deal? A 20% increase on someone making 60 grand a year would be an increase of 12,000 dollars a year. I don't know anyone who's paying that high of a premium.
Plus, the thing is that the top earners here pay most of the taxes, so the top 10% is going to foot most of the bill. Raising taxes on the top earners is just increasing the tax burden on American businesses, small and large. If you believe that huge tax hikes won't have a negative effect on the American economy I have a bridge to sell you.
-truly universal healthcare
-a first world healthcare system
-treatment for the homeless (mentally-ill homeless cause crime)
-treatment for poor drug addicts (less crime)
-treatment for immigrants (again, less crime)
-considerably less bankruptcy among the middle class
-considerably less divorce/domestic violence/child physical abuse etc as all these things are fueled by monetary pressures such as medical bills
- American healthcare system is a first world system
- The homeless are treated
- Drug addicts are treated
- Illegal immigrants are treated
- Any less bankruptcy due to socialized medicine will be offset by an increase in unemployment due to higher taxes
- Medical bills are responsible for divorce, domestic violence, and child abuse? Where do you get this crap from?
Arguing AGAINST socialised healthcare is just plain ignorant and stooopid.
The Luke
No arguing against something without backing your points up and using false statistics is stoooopid.
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