4 ms·
I would love if everyone that seems to be in support of a single player system would make a mental note right now that they were in support of it, and then ye
by d1zzy 7y ago
I would love if everyone that seems to be in support of a single player system would make a mental note right now that they were in support of it, and then years later after the US moves to such a system (seems pretty likely?) they review how much it helped.
I grew up in a single payer system and I'm theoretically in support of it for the many reasons people already listed in the comments (larger negotiation position, spreading the risk to more people, because it's humane, because it removes an incentive to stay in the wrong job, etc). But while I agree with those arguments I also have a strong conviction that if such a system were to be adopted in the US, it will NOT result in better care and more efficient and overall reduce the costs in the system. Not without many other changes in other laws and even cultural changes. Just because something works in Germany for example it doesn't mean it will work in the US, there are different demographics, different mentality, different service expectations, different tax system and a largely different legal and law system. Not to mention we were just discussing a few days back about the increasing national debt and this needs to be done without increasing the deficit.
- cheschire 7y agoAfter a late night out, a man in an English town walks up to a traffic crossing at 2 AM. After waiting a couple minutes for the cross walk light to turn green, he looks both ways and notices no cars are coming. He turns to the man next to him and asks "So, you're German too?" I feel like this simple joke highlights your point about some distinct cultural differences that allow a system to work in Germany that would utterly fail in America.
- GordonS 7y agoI'm in the UK, and have unfortunately had all too much experience of the health care system here. My view is that it's optimised for the majority, and for the "easy" things. For example, all the NHS endocrinologists I've seen have only really known about diabetes, the dieticians I've seen only really know about weight loss, the pain specialists I've seen have a narrow and fixed list of mess they prescribe, and the neurologists I've seen only really knew about... well, not much TBH. I can only guess it's because they're over-stretched and simply don't have time, but it's also been my experience that consultant's knowledge is way behind the times; almost like they haven't read a paper since they left medical school. Oh, and waiting list times are often ridiculous. The NHS fails many, but I know helps far more than it fails, and if you have the money you have the option of private medical insurance or self-funding private medical care. I'd still take our "sort of works for most people" system over that of the USA any day.