3 ms·

It seems to be working rather well in a large number of other first-world countries (I'm speaking from experience - I'm British, and my wife is half-French and

It seems to be working rather well in a large number of other first-world countries (I'm speaking from experience - I'm British, and my wife is half-French and grew up in France. Now we live in the US where we enjoy just about everything except for the healthcare system). "single-payer gives consumers no incentive to consume less" Having been fortunate enough to live in a country with a single-payer system, I never saw the kind of over-consumption you're hinting at.

RyanMcGreal 17y ago
I live in Canada, and have to laugh at free market fundamentalists who claim that single payer monopsonies encourage over-consumption. When it's pointed out that Canadians actually see doctors less frequently than Americans, they turn around and conclude that Canadians can't get access to doctors.
- pwnstigator 17y ago
  Mouth-breathing teabagger reasoning: It's soshullism, therefore it must suck. Also, Canada's cold and Europe can't decide on a common language, so no point taking those people seriously. I also find it odd that these people can focus on the comparably miniscule problem with the Canadian and British systems, while completely ignoring the glaring faults of ours.
yummyfajitas 17y ago
I didn't say it couldn't work. I said that there are minimal (if any) benefits to a national health care system, as opposed to city, state or private systems. The economies of scale just aren't there. As for overconsumption, the RAND experiment (as well as plenty of other statistical studies) shows that consumers will consume up to 40% more health care than they need if it is free (but not if they must pay out of pocket for it). Most likely your country either prevents this via other rationing mechanisms (which are politically infeasible in the US) or else you observed it but were unaware of it.

3 ms·

It seems to be working rather well in a large number of other first-world countries (I'm speaking from experience - I'm British, and my wife is half-French and

by abstractbill 17y ago

RyanMcGreal 17y ago
I live in Canada, and have to laugh at free market fundamentalists who claim that single payer monopsonies encourage over-consumption. When it's pointed out that Canadians actually see doctors less frequently than Americans, they turn around and conclude that Canadians can't get access to doctors.
- pwnstigator 17y ago
  Mouth-breathing teabagger reasoning: It's soshullism, therefore it must suck. Also, Canada's cold and Europe can't decide on a common language, so no point taking those people seriously. I also find it odd that these people can focus on the comparably miniscule problem with the Canadian and British systems, while completely ignoring the glaring faults of ours.
yummyfajitas 17y ago
I didn't say it couldn't work. I said that there are minimal (if any) benefits to a national health care system, as opposed to city, state or private systems. The economies of scale just aren't there. As for overconsumption, the RAND experiment (as well as plenty of other statistical studies) shows that consumers will consume up to 40% more health care than they need if it is free (but not if they must pay out of pocket for it). Most likely your country either prevents this via other rationing mechanisms (which are politically infeasible in the US) or else you observed it but were unaware of it.