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> most hospitals are bankrupt for lack of running any profitable procedures That's a very American problem due to having private hospitals...

fennecfoxen 6y ago
The UK equivalent would be more orderly, but they still need to pay for the NHS with finite supplies of tax dollars and borrowing. They had staffing and recruitment and budget issues before the crisis, and some lockdown approaches might deprive them of seeking any more talent from major sources like India.
dahfizz 6y ago
You ignored the rest of that point. What happens to the European hospitals when tax income falls way below what the government needs to operate?
- user5994461 6y ago
  Tax income is already way below spending. Countries are going deeper and deeper in debt every year. The healthcare budget is a rather small part of the total government budget, a small increase is probably too small to register on the radar. But if it does, one might assume that the government would rather keep healthcare running, especially given the circumstances, and cut money anywhere else. To make a comparison for US readers. Healthcare in Europe is like freedom of speech in the US. It's deeply ingrained in each citizen and cannot be taken away.
  - dahfizz 6y ago
    > The healthcare budget is a rather small part of the total government budget, a small increase is probably to small to register on the radar. According to the commonwealth fund[1], Germany spends over 10% of its GDP on providing health insurance. This insurance is funded by a tax on income. If GDP contracts, and there are less income earners, this can become a very large part of the budget which would require cutting other programs. Obviously healthcare would be a priority. But in a country where people rely heavily on their government, cutting out social programs will really hurt. > Tax income is already way below spending. Countries are going deeper and deeper in debt every year. This is what I am concerned about. Governments fund their debt by selling bonds. In the USA, roughly 70% of the federal debt is in the form of bonds held by the public. If people stop buying bonds (because their returns are awful right now, or because people have much less income to be investing), then the governments of the world cannot continue to operate the way they have been. [1] https://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/germany/ https://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/germany...
BjoernKW 6y ago
It's still a problem, though. "Haha, told you so." is not a solution. Besides, publicly funded hospitals and healthcare systems in general need money, too. If there's hardly any tax income anymore because there's hardly any taxable income anymore funds for publicly funded hospitals will dry up, too.
- true_religion 6y ago
  In the American case, we might have to end one or two of the many foreign wars that we are waging, but we would get by.

fennecfoxen 6y ago

The UK equivalent would be more orderly, but they still need to pay for the NHS with finite supplies of tax dollars and borrowing. They had staffing and recruitment and budget issues before the crisis, and some lockdown approaches might deprive them of seeking any more talent from major sources like India.

dahfizz 6y ago

You ignored the rest of that point. What happens to the European hospitals when tax income falls way below what the government needs to operate?

user5994461 6y ago
Tax income is already way below spending. Countries are going deeper and deeper in debt every year. The healthcare budget is a rather small part of the total government budget, a small increase is probably too small to register on the radar. But if it does, one might assume that the government would rather keep healthcare running, especially given the circumstances, and cut money anywhere else. To make a comparison for US readers. Healthcare in Europe is like freedom of speech in the US. It's deeply ingrained in each citizen and cannot be taken away.
- dahfizz 6y ago
  > The healthcare budget is a rather small part of the total government budget, a small increase is probably to small to register on the radar. According to the commonwealth fund[1], Germany spends over 10% of its GDP on providing health insurance. This insurance is funded by a tax on income. If GDP contracts, and there are less income earners, this can become a very large part of the budget which would require cutting other programs. Obviously healthcare would be a priority. But in a country where people rely heavily on their government, cutting out social programs will really hurt. > Tax income is already way below spending. Countries are going deeper and deeper in debt every year. This is what I am concerned about. Governments fund their debt by selling bonds. In the USA, roughly 70% of the federal debt is in the form of bonds held by the public. If people stop buying bonds (because their returns are awful right now, or because people have much less income to be investing), then the governments of the world cannot continue to operate the way they have been. [1] https://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/germany/ https://international.commonwealthfund.org/countries/germany...

BjoernKW 6y ago

It's still a problem, though. "Haha, told you so." is not a solution. Besides, publicly funded hospitals and healthcare systems in general need money, too. If there's hardly any tax income anymore because there's hardly any taxable income anymore funds for publicly funded hospitals will dry up, too.

true_religion 6y ago
In the American case, we might have to end one or two of the many foreign wars that we are waging, but we would get by.