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The problem with the Health Care debate is that it's become so polarized that advocates of Single Payer won't admit its failures in other countries while those
by SamAtt 17y ago
The problem with the Health Care debate is that it's become so polarized that advocates of Single Payer won't admit its failures in other countries while those opposed to Single Payer won't admit we have a problem.
Graphs like this are designed to create a visceral response but rationally they mean very little if not accompanied by an item by item breakdown of why the numbers are what they are.
For example, the Canadian system puts price limits on patented medicines while the U.S. system does not. That has nothing to do with being a Single Payer system but is definitely a factor that contributes to higher costs in the U.S.
- revorad 17y agoIndeed, politics is the mind killer. - http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/ http://lesswrong.com/lw/gw/politics_is_the_mindkiller/
- sailormoon 17y agoSpot on. People absorb some opinion from somewhere - it's almost a cultural, tribal thing. They adopt that opinion. And then confirm it endlessly via Google University's excellent and popular Confirmation Bias program, as demonstrated by the GP's links. All systems fail, even if it's only rarely. But as soon as they do people seize upon the failure as if it's some kind of conclusive proof of the gut feeling they had all along. They are seemingly completely incapable of thinking in terms of statistics and average, large-scale outcomes. This is, of course, not at all confined to the health care "debate". The situation is so bad that I wonder if some kind of rational risk assessment/statistical thinking course should be introduced in schooling.