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This is peak #LateStakeCapitalism, no fault to GoFundMe but these campaigns are such like something out of a YA dystopian novel. Slowly but surely I do believe
by 40acres 7y ago
This is peak #LateStakeCapitalism, no fault to GoFundMe but these campaigns are such like something out of a YA dystopian novel. Slowly but surely I do believe American's are becoming more comfortable with the idea of free healthcare, in whatever form that comes in.
- err4nt 7y agoThere isn't really such thing as free healthcare as long as staff need education and training, doctors have to be paid, hospitals need to be administrated, and treatments have material costs, etc. If it's being paid for by the taxpayer, it's not coming at no cost to them, they're paying for it in a pretty direct way.
- silversconfused 7y agoI wonder if it would cost as much as the F35 program. I'd rather pay for a junkie's health care than a token national alliance tech project jet that no one needs.
- harryh 7y agoEstimates for the cost of the F35 program vary widely, but a decent guess is 1-1.5 trillion over 50 years or 20 to 30 billion a year. The US currently spends ~3.5 trillion per year on health care. So yes, taxpayer funded health care would cost as much as the F35 program. In fact, quite a bit more. Perhaps 150x more per year.
- supergauntlet 7y agoYes, but we're already paying that and we're spending more than everyone else. [1] Universal healthcare isn't just morally justified, it's also financially justified. The only justifications for our insane system are regulatory capture or sadism. 1. https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#item-relative-size-wealth-u-s-spends-disproportionate-amount-health https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-...
- 0xffff2 7y agoYou seem to be assuming that introducing universal healthcare in the US would bring down costs. I've never seen any evidence whatsoever to support that claim.
- ikiris 7y agoYou could look at every other country that did it for the evidence you seek, provided you aren't limiting to the pool of evidence "in the US".
- 0xffff2 7y agoChanging the country changes too many variables at once. The US also spends a whole lot more on infrastructure than virtually everyone else in the world, and there's no obvious reason why. Just assuming that universal healthcare would solve all of our cost problems is comically optimistic.
- tylersmith 7y agoPeople don't really care about it being free they just don't want to be responsible for paying for it themselves.
- einpoklum 7y agoDon't nitpick. "Free" as in "sick people get healthcare without paying anything that healthy people don't".
- mikeash 7y agoEverybody knows this. There’s no need to repeat this every time someone says “free health care” any more than there’s a need to repeat “the sky is blue.”
- carapace 7y agoThere is. Sri Sathya Sai Super Specialty Hospital >The Sri Sathya Sai Institutes of Higher Medical Sciences also popularly known as Super Specialty Hospitals are tertiary health care hospitals established by Sri Sathya Sai Baba to provide patient care facilities to all irrespective of caste, class, creed, gender, religion or nationality totally free of charge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Sathya_Sai_Super_Speciality_Hospital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Sathya_Sai_Super_Specialit... It's staffed and paid for by devotees of Sri Sathya Sai Baba.
- rolltiide 7y ago> Slowly but surely I do believe American's are becoming more comfortable with the idea of free healthcare, in whatever form that comes in. I perceive that Americans are primarily undecided on how it gets paid for. And if that comes from taxpayers directly, or government coffers directly, then the Americans turn on themselves and prefer a Machiavellian paradise, or the exact opposite where taxpayers and government drop helicopter money on the insurers who laugh all the way to the bank. A smaller but growing group looks at the insurance companies and other structural issues, hoping to alleviate cost pressure, perhaps to make it more practical to subsidize healthcare after the costs are managed.
- einpoklum 7y agoUS opinion polls suggest over 2/3 of the population now supports federal government payment via taxes in the "Medicare for all" scheme. https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/403248-poll-seventy-percent-of-americans-support-medicare-for-all https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/403248-poll-seventy-pe...
- StreamBright 7y agoThere is no such a thing as free healthcare. Somebody is going to pay in some form for every service provided in a professional setup. If you disagree please explain how healthcare could be free.
- mikeash 7y agoIt’s shorthand for “free at the point of use.” There’s no need to assume people are so clueless they don’t realize that services cost money.
- StreamBright 7y agoIt is pointless to claim that something is free when it is not.
- mikeash 7y agoYou do understand the concept of shorthand, yes?
- whenchamenia 7y agoBut free is not shorthnd for not free.