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Yes, it amazes me when folks come on to a site like HN and decry socialized medicine as “free”. You rob your neighbor for substandard care, and usually have a s

Yes, it amazes me when folks come on to a site like HN and decry socialized medicine as “free”. You rob your neighbor for substandard care, and usually have a smugness about it.

jojobas 3y ago
Well it's not robbery as there seems to be no electoral pressure to abolish it, and it's generally in line with Australian concept of mateship and supporting your neighbour. A minimum wage worker pays more like 1k in taxes per year towards healthcare, still somehow "$1000 for a couple of stitches" strikes people more than "$1000 for nothing at all", and somehow people seem to be grateful to the "free healthcare" for getting a 4-man 10-hour surgery "for free" rather than their neighbours. Go figure.
bigger_cheese 3y ago
Disagree about the robbery part - As an Australia am I also robbing my neighbor to pay for the fire service, or the public roads I'm driving on or the public school I attended? Public health system is just another part of the governments tax revenue I'm happy for it to be distributed this way.
- a-user-you-like 3y ago
  Of course some things are justified expenditures for taxes, I’m not a minarchist, but those things should be thought through very carefully. Healthcare is a commodity unlike power generation, roads, or perhaps even fire service. On that sense I’d argue it’s just a direct $$ transfer at that point and essentially stealing.
  - jojobas 3y ago
    That "stealing" argument doesn't fly in Australia, just like disability and unemployment pension are not seen as stealing, even though they are much more redistribution-y. I wasn't poor even before I moved to Australia, and I would go to a store, buy some crap for a week (far from everything I needed) for $X, then see a notice saying "hiring cashiers, $2X a month". I'm probably speaking for a lot of Australians - I want none of that working poverty here, and high minimum wages and Medicare always were big parts of that.
    - a-user-you-like 3y ago
      Oh I’m aware it doesn’t fly a lot of places, but man’s eye is often on his neighbor’s goods to provide himself “essential” services.

Yes, it amazes me when folks come on to a site like HN and decry socialized medicine as “free”. You rob your neighbor for substandard care, and usually have a smugness about it.

jojobas 3y ago

Well it's not robbery as there seems to be no electoral pressure to abolish it, and it's generally in line with Australian concept of mateship and supporting your neighbour. A minimum wage worker pays more like 1k in taxes per year towards healthcare, still somehow "$1000 for a couple of stitches" strikes people more than "$1000 for nothing at all", and somehow people seem to be grateful to the "free healthcare" for getting a 4-man 10-hour surgery "for free" rather than their neighbours. Go figure.

bigger_cheese 3y ago

Disagree about the robbery part - As an Australia am I also robbing my neighbor to pay for the fire service, or the public roads I'm driving on or the public school I attended? Public health system is just another part of the governments tax revenue I'm happy for it to be distributed this way.

a-user-you-like 3y ago
Of course some things are justified expenditures for taxes, I’m not a minarchist, but those things should be thought through very carefully. Healthcare is a commodity unlike power generation, roads, or perhaps even fire service. On that sense I’d argue it’s just a direct $$ transfer at that point and essentially stealing.
- jojobas 3y ago
  That "stealing" argument doesn't fly in Australia, just like disability and unemployment pension are not seen as stealing, even though they are much more redistribution-y. I wasn't poor even before I moved to Australia, and I would go to a store, buy some crap for a week (far from everything I needed) for $X, then see a notice saying "hiring cashiers, $2X a month". I'm probably speaking for a lot of Australians - I want none of that working poverty here, and high minimum wages and Medicare always were big parts of that.
  - a-user-you-like 3y ago
    Oh I’m aware it doesn’t fly a lot of places, but man’s eye is often on his neighbor’s goods to provide himself “essential” services.