4 ms·

We could have had healthcare.

• onlyrealcuzzo 8mo ago
  US healthcare costs on the order of $3T per year. The Iraq war cost about $2T over a decade. You could have about 10% subsidized healthcare, which I would obviously argue is better than pointless war killing tons of people. But you couldn't just "have healthcare".
  • fma 8mo ago
    I don't think OP is talking about a specific war, but the overall cost to maintain such a capability and project force all over the world. At least that is what I perceive when people lament about lack of healthcare. The United States military budget is now 1.5 trillion dollars per year.
    • onlyrealcuzzo 8mo ago
      Sure, we could just not have a military and hold hands with Russia and China and everyone else. We wouldn't need healthcare. We'd just be dead.
      • ParentiSoundSys 8mo ago
        Of course it might cost a lot less if we didn't need to pay for unprovoked attacks on countries like Venezuela and Iran.
      • Ajakks 8mo ago
        What if they didnt try to kill us tho? What if the world is so interconnected now, that we actually could hold hands - especially if we already had those asteroids already at the Lagrange points - if we were "post-scarcity" as a species, what would be worth fighting over? We absolutely can, and will, go get those asteroids.
  • eqvinox 8mo ago
    You're forgetting that U.S. healthcare costs are also massively overblown compared to other western countries, due to the absence of proper collective bargaining. (And possibly even collusion between insurers and healthcare providers to rip off citizens and the government.)
    • onlyrealcuzzo 8mo ago
      That has nothing to do with the Department of Defense / War, or its budget.
      • eqvinox 8mo ago
        It does with the root comment though, it's all just piss poor politics :-)
        • Sabinus 8mo ago
          The root comment implies that if not for warmongering, you could have had healthcare. That's not the case. If the USA had a more functioning political system (ranked choice voting etc) and didn't hate 'communism' so much then they would have healthcare.
  • dcel 8mo ago
    The UK spends around £200bn a year on public healthcare that covers everyone, for a population around 1/5th the size. Scale that up and convert to USD and you’re still well under half the $3tn figure you quoted.
    • onlyrealcuzzo 8mo ago
      [flagged]
      • NegativeK 8mo ago
        > You also can't see a doctor in the UK unless you're effectively dying This is not true.
        • yunnpp 8mo ago
          I don't know where that narrative comes from, but man, is it getting old.
      • davidguetta 8mo ago
        You have no idea of what you are talking about. Universal healthcare is the norm in all of west / central europe, it's good quality, accessible for EVERYBODY (including the poors), and doctors still have great quality of life and are rich. You guys are just getting f** by a mafia in the US and defending it for no factual reasons. Both by the military industrial complex AND the medical field btw.
  • shermozle 8mo ago
    Yep just like many things Americans are sure can't be done, universal healthcare has never been done anywhere in the world, ever. And healthcare everywhere costs what Americans are willing to pay (public and private money). See also: not having daily mass shootings.
• moogly 8mo ago
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  • glob_roman 8mo ago
    [flagged]
• 486sx33 8mo ago
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