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If individuals aren't free to make these financial decisions for themselves, then insurance companies or the government will. My mom had a severe infection whil
by bsbechtel 9y ago
If individuals aren't free to make these financial decisions for themselves, then insurance companies or the government will. My mom had a severe infection while on chemo because the insurance company didn't want to pay for an injection that would've boosted her immune system. Having these decisions made at the population level, instead of the individual is far worse.
- pjc50 9y ago> individuals aren't free to make these financial decisions for themselves An individual can only be free to make this kind of decision if they've got a spare $1500.
- gambiting 9y agoWhat do you mean individuals aren't free to make that decision? Even in a fully public healthcare system you can always opt to pay for treatment which is not covered(as rare as those are). How is that different than your insurer in US refusing to pay for treatment and you paying from your own pocket?
- awinder 9y agoIf the state was paying and your mother wanted to pay out of pocket nothing would stop her. Elective course of action is not banned in any single payer system that I know of.
- phd514 9y agoCanada -- a Quebec ban on private health insurance was overturned in 2005, but there are still open court cases on whether that applies nationally and whether healthcare providers may charge privately for services.
- gambiting 9y agoI don't know about Canada obviously but in Poland hospitals are not allowed to charge for anything that is refunded by the national health service, but they are free to charge for anything else. So if a patient says they want an extra injection that is not funded and they will pay out of their own pocket for it, they absolutely can.
- cryoshon 9y agowhy not do some research online, buy the meds for a penny on the dollar via the darknet, and give them to your mom's nurse with a $100 note to seal the deal? is it absurd that i have plans for these exact situations already worked out?
- ataturk 9y agoLet's be totally honest--outside the US your mother wouldn't have even gotten the chemo treatment. If she had gone to Mexico and paid for it herself she would have been better off than living in any Euro nation, the UK, or Canada.
- Joeri 9y agoThat’s a red herring though. Few countries have a system that forbids paying extra for extra care. The point is that in the U.S. system you can’t get basic care without paying extra, which is not the case in other countries.