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> There are parts of the world where it works much better. (And not all of them have socialized health care.) Almost all developed countries have socialized he

> There are parts of the world where it works much better. (And not all of them have socialized health care.) Almost all developed countries have socialized healthcare. What countries do you have in mind?

eru 7y ago
It depends a bit on exactly what you mean by socialized, but I have the Singaporean system in mind. (I was just quoting Cougher when using the term socialized.) Singapore has some of the best healthcare outcomes in the world, and costs about half as much as a share of GDP per capita as the British NHS. Where the American system seems to combine the worst of public and private healthcare, Singapore combines the best. In the Singaporean system individuals use a health savings account to pay for small, routine health care costs. The insurance part of the system only kicks in for larger, costlier, uncertain items. There's plenty of subsidies for poor people, too. See eg https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/upshot/singapore-health-system-lessons.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/upshot/singapore-health-s... for an American perspective. There's also plenty of easy to find material on the web. I especially like that doctors usually have a list with price ranges for their most common items hanging out prominently. Very transparent.
- DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
  Singapore has socialized healthcare. On the provider side, most of the hospitals are owned by the government. On the insurance side, employees are required by the government to pay into health savings accounts (with nearly matching employer contributions). There are additional public insurance schemes for the poor and elderly. On top of that, costs in the public hospitals are subsidized to a significant extent.
  - eru 7y ago
    Seems to be an American term? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_medicine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_medicine But I agree with what you are stating. (Though if you call that system 'socialized', then the American systems are also 'socialized' to a large extent. So it's probably better to just talk about specific feature instead of such a loaded term.) The aspect of the system that I wanted to highlight is that routine care is paid for out of the health savings account (Medisave), and not out of the insurance portion. Another interesting aspect is that the bill you get for treatments always mentions the total cost and any subsidies you are getting. All very transparent. There's also always a co-pay as a matter of principle, even if it's just a few dollars.

eru 7y ago

It depends a bit on exactly what you mean by socialized, but I have the Singaporean system in mind. (I was just quoting Cougher when using the term socialized.) Singapore has some of the best healthcare outcomes in the world, and costs about half as much as a share of GDP per capita as the British NHS. Where the American system seems to combine the worst of public and private healthcare, Singapore combines the best. In the Singaporean system individuals use a health savings account to pay for small, routine health care costs. The insurance part of the system only kicks in for larger, costlier, uncertain items. There's plenty of subsidies for poor people, too. See eg https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/upshot/singapore-health-system-lessons.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/22/upshot/singapore-health-s... for an American perspective. There's also plenty of easy to find material on the web. I especially like that doctors usually have a list with price ranges for their most common items hanging out prominently. Very transparent.

DiogenesKynikos 7y ago
Singapore has socialized healthcare. On the provider side, most of the hospitals are owned by the government. On the insurance side, employees are required by the government to pay into health savings accounts (with nearly matching employer contributions). There are additional public insurance schemes for the poor and elderly. On top of that, costs in the public hospitals are subsidized to a significant extent.
- eru 7y ago
  Seems to be an American term? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_medicine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialized_medicine But I agree with what you are stating. (Though if you call that system 'socialized', then the American systems are also 'socialized' to a large extent. So it's probably better to just talk about specific feature instead of such a loaded term.) The aspect of the system that I wanted to highlight is that routine care is paid for out of the health savings account (Medisave), and not out of the insurance portion. Another interesting aspect is that the bill you get for treatments always mentions the total cost and any subsidies you are getting. All very transparent. There's also always a co-pay as a matter of principle, even if it's just a few dollars.