Look, as far as bad systems go I favor the sort we have here with universal health care but that doesn't mean it isn't bad.
As it happens I'm engaged to a palliative nurse and the shit she has to go through in getting the government to authorize the barest necessities of care really is quite nuts. And the clients don't always get it.
And we have it pretty good given if you have the money you can pop over the boarder to access really good healthcare. My other girlfriends father has issues with recurring skin cancer and routinely goes to the US for biopsy and treatment... There was at least once instance where he would have died during the wait time here.
So it looks like tonight the house republicans have revealed a new bill to repeal and replace Obamacare.
Personally I'm of the mind that there really isn't any good option with health care just options that suck for different reasons but looking at the rising cost of insurance it seems apparent to me that Obama care was sucking a little more than most.
How do we all feel about this new bill? Has anyone taken the time yet to read and understand what exactly is being proposed?
I'd love to hear thoughts both on the new bill and your thoughts on the best bet for managing health care policy in general
Or were you speaking purely in terms of the US? Because the rest of the industrialized world is doing fine with healthcare, on costs and otherwise: Even MEXICO has universal public healthcare. Sure, you dare not drink the water, but the same applies in Flint, Michigan; the difference is that Michiganders are not guaranteed treatment if they develop lead poisoning. Is Canadas healthcare system going bankrupt? Or Frances? Outside the US, the only developed country I know of having trouble is the UK, where recent Tory decisions to reduce National Health coverage and let private insurance pick up the difference, while demanding doctors work 7 days/week, is failing miserably.
The moral seems to be, as it proved with Social Security, public education and Medicare, that laissez-faire capitalists are not only unwilling, but pathologically and fundamentally UNABLE to administer even a stunted welfare state. The best way to "insure" government fails is to let people convinced government MUST fail run it: Then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.