Re: US healthcare system
interesting alternative views janab-e-ali :k:. Like you I’d prefer a market based scheme that doesnt reduce the quality of US care to UK/Canada levels, who provide universal, but sub third-world care to most of their population. Part of that has to be working on the supply side of the market, and not just attempting to increase purchasing power. Thats the only way forward for those whom tax breaks wouldnt be much help, and there is a sizable number of such people.
if you think not enough people would be willing to put themselves through med school if the payoff isnt as high as before, just try it. Every second guy in the hospitals would be an Indian, but hey atleast hed be a doctor. and to lots of people money isnt the main incentive in studying medicine. The pay of doctors isnt that high in Pakistan, and there are now many careers more lucrative than medicine there. no seat ever goes unfilled, not in govt schools, not in the most third class private schools either. infact in private schools people pay in more money than they are likely to earn in 5 10 years after they graduate… heck half of those graduates dont even practice usually (the women)
finally there does need to be the government provided safety net for those who still cant afford market prices. in a way that is manifestly the refuge of those who dont have anything else, possibly through a reduction in quality, increased waiting times, more foreign looking doctors who blankly stare at the wall while talking to you etc.