People with chronic illnesses, the type of disease that is skyrocketing in the states would die of either poverty or lack of care, most likely a combination of both.
No they wouldn't. But hold off on that for a second, will you?
A hospital visit is roughly a grand, stays of longer then a day very costly. A child with asthma would need several stays over the course of his childhood if it is moderate-severe. It wouldn't be feasible at all, people with chronic illness or pre-existing conditions would never get insured, unless you bypass them and use MC as you eluded.Or maybe a genetic disorder like Cystic Fibrosis would sink the ship. Either way there is going to be a situation where the sick use the resources, as it should be, while also coming off the back of the healthy. I get you self-centered view, why should I be forced to do anything, but we have informally agreed to participate in a civilization and further in a democracy where decisions we might not agree with get implemented.
Let's as ourselves
why is cost skyrocketing? A generation ago you could get great healthcare without going bankrupt. You could afford to see a doctor and pay for him out of your own pocket, and insurance for "big" things was much more affordable.
Fast forward to 2013... most Americans rely on insurance to pay
everything and complain about $10 co-pays. Many have no primary physician because they can't afford the cost of a visit so they go and utilize the Emergency Room to get care, knowing full well they can't be turned away but will get billed and may or may not pay said bill.
Forgive me for pointing out the 800 elephant in the room, but something is fucked up here. And I'm pretty sure that the "what" is obvious.
You demonize insurance companies that have an expensive product that's not affordable. But it's not their fault that they need to keep providing more and more expensive services and are expected to cover more and more things.
Now we can go back to your earlier point. Under the current system nobody gets good healthcare. Under the older system, everybody gets healthcare, some great and some good. No need for mandates.
Your idea is probably better then obamacare, however, if he is able to provide a plan where the penalty was menial by relative measure to the poverty line whilst still providing healthcare to all, it would be ideal.
Ideal is a relative world. I don't see a world with universal government healthcare as ideal. I see it as a world in which government is not the servant of the people but their ruler.
Such systems have been tried before and failed. Of those that haven't failed, most are in the process of failing, and those that aren't are operating under unusual circumstances that don't apply to everyone else.
I kinda take the view from biology with regards to our communicable nature and language that generosity is a guiding principle. Collectively we can do some really amazing things, our nature is to share and use team work.
I take another lesson from natural selection. The playing field isn't level and some are better suited to survive than others. This may sound cruel and heartless and it's not the popular thing to say, but there you have it.
With that said, we do live in a society in which even those who could otherwise not survive are given a chance to. I don't know that we should – or should – model our society to guarantee their survival.
I guess if you want more freedoms, move to Holland, the US is not very high on the list.
Sorry, but politically Europe isn't my cup of tea. Wonderful to visit, but not somewhere I'd want to live on a permanent basis. Have you heard what the nutjobs at the European Parliament and the Commission are doing? Yikes.
The U.S. may not be perfect, but long ago, I made a conscious decision about where and under what system I wanted to live; the U.S. is, for all it's faults, the place I chose back then and would choose today.
