4 ms·

There's no such thing as a free lunch. You can't just wish free healthcare into being. Nothing of value is free.

harimau777 6y ago
The rest of the developed world has single payer healthcare with results that are generally comparable to those in the US.
- mmaurizi 6y ago
  This is not true, and keeps getting brought up as if it were. The rest of the developed world has _universal_ healthcare. In many countries it is provided through single-payer, in some it is through mandatory private insurance, in others it is a mix. Where the United States stands alone is not the lack of a universal government program, but that we have many millions of people not covered by any health insurance system at all.
  - harimau777 6y ago
    Fair enough, I don't necessarily see a problem with a non-single payer universal health insurance system as long as it is affordable for people.
Latty 6y ago
Here in the UK we pay literally half as much per person for healthcare for similar outcomes, and everyone gets covered with no cost at the point of use, no medical bankruptcy. No one is talking about a free lunch, they are talking about a better, more efficient way of doing it.
- rtx 6y ago
  Not sure if UK is having same level of medical break through as US.
  - crooked-v 6y ago
    Most medical research in the US is, at a minimum, government-subsidized already.
    - rtx 6y ago
      So the budget is going into research instead of something like NHS.
      - freeone3000 6y ago
        No; the budget is going into insurance companies' budgets and pharma benefits budgets. There's a trillion-dollar industry that exists in the US solely to take money from people needing healthcare. That's where the money is going - look to the thing that doesn't exist elsewhere.
cortesoft 6y ago
No, but some things are more efficient than other things. We aren't expecting health care to not cost anything.... we already spend more money than anywhere else on health care, and we get less! We are saying "it is much more efficient and fair to have single payer health care"... it is not a free lunch... it is a cheaper, healthier lunch.
scrollaway 6y ago
An inefficient system will waste more money. You know that.

The rest of the developed world has single payer healthcare with results that are generally comparable to those in the US.

mmaurizi 6y ago
This is not true, and keeps getting brought up as if it were. The rest of the developed world has _universal_ healthcare. In many countries it is provided through single-payer, in some it is through mandatory private insurance, in others it is a mix. Where the United States stands alone is not the lack of a universal government program, but that we have many millions of people not covered by any health insurance system at all.
- harimau777 6y ago
  Fair enough, I don't necessarily see a problem with a non-single payer universal health insurance system as long as it is affordable for people.

Latty 6y ago

Here in the UK we pay literally half as much per person for healthcare for similar outcomes, and everyone gets covered with no cost at the point of use, no medical bankruptcy. No one is talking about a free lunch, they are talking about a better, more efficient way of doing it.

rtx 6y ago
Not sure if UK is having same level of medical break through as US.
- crooked-v 6y ago
  Most medical research in the US is, at a minimum, government-subsidized already.
  - rtx 6y ago
    So the budget is going into research instead of something like NHS.
    - freeone3000 6y ago
      No; the budget is going into insurance companies' budgets and pharma benefits budgets. There's a trillion-dollar industry that exists in the US solely to take money from people needing healthcare. That's where the money is going - look to the thing that doesn't exist elsewhere.

cortesoft 6y ago

No, but some things are more efficient than other things. We aren't expecting health care to not cost anything.... we already spend more money than anywhere else on health care, and we get less! We are saying "it is much more efficient and fair to have single payer health care"... it is not a free lunch... it is a cheaper, healthier lunch.

scrollaway 6y ago

An inefficient system will waste more money. You know that.