US healthcare system

[ravage]

Re: US healthcare system

@ahmadjee

Ravi, quit using buzz words like nationalized, military complex and (astugfurullah) democrats.

:o i find it puts people on the defensive. evidently not

There are great public universities in the US too, it doesn’t prove anything. Just like there are third class private universities in the US, which doesn’t mean having private universities is a bad thing. But it has nothing to do with the fact that all people (and I really mean the humanity) has the right to basic education (and health care).

Madrassa system is brilliant if people send their kids there out of choice. In Pakistan parents send their kids there out of poverty and lack of better public or private psudo-secular schooling.

So fair to say that the madrasa system is not fundamentally bad, even if they set their agenda? Rahi baat public schooling ki, I think the key word you used is “better”. In my limited experience of rural life in Pakistan, public schools are absolutely abysmal, and private schools are expensive. Not so different actually from my experience in LA and most of London. Doesnt seem like the “better” goal is realistic, given Pakistan’s state.. but thats a seperate topic.

The very premise that you (or I) should pay for the services I need and not for anything else is fundamentally flawed. I pay into the city fire department and have never used it. I pay for city police and I have never seen them roam my streets either.

Good points. So we are basically disagreeing on whether hospitals are in the same category as police and firefighting.

I think the key differentiation for me is that both of these services involve groups of people, therefore they arent personal. Crime requires more than one person, fires usually impact more than one person too. Sure have state services for epidemics and such, thats the equivalent health service.

Also privatizing it doesn’t mean you are getting what you paid for. I pay the same in health insurance that the overly obese twice my age co-worker does. While I go to the doctors once a year, he goes every month. Obviously I am paying far more for health care or he is getting a great deal.

You choose to pay the insurance premium dont you? Obviously that is based on a financial calculation whereby you would possibly end up paying more if you werent covered by insurance, and being risk averse you choose to pay in. So really, the overly obese dude does nothing but change the calculation. The moment he impacts the rate to an extent where its significantly less expensive for you to not pay the insurance, you can opt out.

No such luxury in universal care.

And before I get accused of advocating big government, I am not. I am advocating better priorities, such that ‘basic’ health care is a core responsibility of the government if it is truly ‘for the people’. Be it by regulating the private sector or making it nationalized/universalized. Actually If it was up to me, I would half the military budget and make it more volunteer base military (You feel Iraq is a threat, you go raise money and fight there) and spend the same money towards better education (private or public) and health care (private or public).

Agree with you on the military. And I would also like a domain of government healthcare that doesnt mess with the private sector’s already problematic mess of insurance companies and co-pay and whatnot. programmes like medicare are part of the reason why healthcare is expensive. If anything the government should establish seperate hospitals of its own without messing with extant healthcare, much like the public/private universities.

The usual connotation of universal care is a homogenous system like canada or the UK which in my experience is really crappy.