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How Much Does Basic Health Insurance Cost Around The World
How does one define most basic health insurance? If one is Deutsche Bank, as follows: "Health insurance annual premium is for a basic policy for a local resident between 25-35 years. Since the definition of a standard package varies between countries, we have tried to stick to an insurance policy which covers inpatient events and no extra covers like dental, etc.... The data has been sourced mainly from local providers of heath insurances, reports of organizations engaged in research of health care and news clippings."
And how much does "most basic health insurance" cost around the world? According to Deutsche Bank the answer, when presented in dollar terms, is as follows:
Clearly what the US, with its highest in the world costs, needs is for the government to step in and really fix the problem.
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AND WHERE’S THERE A FUNDING? http://youtu.be/EYa_fhLkg5c?t=10s
That right there is a national disgrace. And to think it was just made much worse than it was.
American Exceptionalism?
Glad I front-ran this bubble. Time to sell some pharma/healthcare/insurance stocks...
I must remember to apply more lube.
One Word...........LAWYERS...the most important part of Healthcare reform that is never fucking mentioned
This is BS! There is no option of buying health insurance in Europe there is a Mandate! and the mandate(at least in Germany) is a minimum of 15.4% of your (pre-tax) income, so even if the insurer wanted to offer you less he could not!
So somebody who say earns 50,000 pre-tax a year would pay 7,500 (minimum) for health insurance, regardless of circumstances(health, age or otherwise). So how in the world is Germany listed at sub <1000$ ?!
The chart includes many non European countries but if it get this that much wrong how can u trust the rest? Ofc if you're (permanently)unemployed you get Healthcare for 0$ so I guess it could be an average(?)
I'm quite sure the self-serving above chart ignores taxes- it's just a compilation of what health insurance costs. No matter that a "basic" insurance policy in Germany and one in the U.S. are completely different coverages. Correct- just more bullshit numbers to support an idiotic comparison.
Having lived in Canada and the US, I can see you have no idea what you're talking about.
In Canada, basic coverage is covered from the day you are born until the day you die. Yes, it is payed for by taxes, and everyone has access to it, and is covered. In the USA 40 million people have no coverage, and obviously don't have the money to get any either. It is too expensive. I think that's the point of the article.
Whats the waiting time for an MRI up there these days? I mean, for a human? Your pets can have one today.
I'm quite sure the self-serving above chart ignores taxes- it's just a compilation of what health insurance costs. No matter that a "basic" insurance policy in Germany and one in the U.S. are completely different coverages. Correct- just more bullshit numbers to support an idiotic comparison.
15.4 % thats the rate, correct more or less. But the employer pays the half of the premium (mandatory). So its only appx 7.5 %.
So if you earn a 30,000 Euros a year you pay 2.250,- Euros. If you are have children under 18 then their are even included in this price. No matter 1 or 10. Maybe your wife or husband is not working and staying at home the insurance covers him/her also.
The thing is, that the higher your salary is, the more you have to pay but there is a limit. The maximum is appx 7.5% from 80,000 Euros. Thats then appx 6,000 a year. But as stated before this includes also dependent kids and a partner with no own income.
So it can be pretty cheap. If one earns only 1,500 Euros a month he can cover for 112.50 Euros per month his whole family, complete with hospital, childbirth, medicine, dental care etc. More or less a full service for everything of importance. So small earners have an insurance. Often low income families do have side jobs like cleaning jobs or gardener where they make an extra money which is mostly paid cash on the hand. Compared to most countries comparable to Germany its like paradise since the clinics and doctors do offer a realtively high standard.
More bullshit.
According to German wikipedia, the current rate is 15.5% of which 7.3% is paid by the employer and 8.2% by the employee.
As the costs for the employer don't disappear overall, you can at best say the "real" rate is 15.5% / (100% + 7.3%) = 14.4% which are 4300 Euro of your 30,000 * 1.073 = 32190 "real" income.
Yes because the Employer will not deduct this 8% from your salary .. and they can get away with this because of ppl like you how can't follow basic logic
Beyond depressing. I have cut so much over the past seven years just to stay afloat. Not even counting my losses over that time, I've reached the point where my pay no longer even meets the bills per month. Even with all my cuts, I'm having to dip into savings now. I haven't had to do that in 25 years. I'm working 60 hour weeks at two jobs, and it's still not enough. The past few months I've even resorted to selling my possessions on EBay. Though, like my wage, all the proceeds will be sucked away by bills.
These past six years, I've seen everything increase in price, while I've personally taken pay cuts and make less. I apply for at least 10-15 new jobs per week, but never have any luck.
I know I'm not alone, and I know this cannot continue. I fear the breaking point for many people is rapidly approaching.
If there weren't so many fucking dumbass sheeple out there hooked on Dancing with the Retards and Oprah, and who believe every fucking lie they are told by the facist corporate media -we could all rise up and do something about it.
Agreed.
Dan Rather and Brian Jennings are trustworthy though. Listen to them.
da fuk? How are those couch tubers stopping you from doing "something about it"?
Kick ass and take names. You can't change the past, but what you do today might change the future.
If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.
Fuck you Obama.
In all those other nations the government stepped in and fixed the situation. Ameirca absolutely refuses to learn this lesson.
The government has "fixed" them here in America.
It's called Obamacare.
BlueCross BlueShield kindly jacked my health insurance premiums up ~9.7% this year alone. I have never even filed a single claim on this policy since I purchased it 4+ years ago, but the premiums surge ever higher.
It is open enrollment at our firm and I had a CA employee call me in regard to his PPO program which is the same being offered for 2014.. His indivudual policy went up 256% YoY. He asked HR if it was typo. The answer was no.
I was "fortunate" that my plan with BCBS met the requirements of the ACA (i.e. I was not required to purchase a replacement policy), but that didn't keep my premiums from rising regularly.
You're so lucky. For me the increase was 16%
Savage animals, vermin of the most vile kind, prey upon the sick and dying.
Oh and so do the globalists and Washington D.C. politicians.
Go into an American hospital with shortness of breath. Come out with a toe tag and cause of death of MRSA (methycillin resistant Staph aureus) or VRE (vancomycin resistant enterobacter.) Touch a bed rail and wonder why it's sticky.
What about the publicy finansed health care systems and the parts that are publically financed ? Their cost for the same cohort should be added. It has been at occations and then usually shows a much more even level among the wetsern nations. I´d say the comparison is hugely flawed and just taken to add to the "bad" file against Obamacare. The time bomb of demographics has started to burn the slow fuse. The cohor analysed is of no interest, look at the 55-65 and 65-75 there is the action. For 25-35 it is not about the current cost of their healthcare that is all about the taxes they have to pay in the next 10-40 years.
Here is the deal: our CULTURE does not penalize those that eat like pigs, drink like fish, etc.
Plus, government interference casues prices to explode (see housing, tuition, etc).
Over 80% of medical costs are form chornic conditions....you know, like the diseases caused from smoking, diabetes, ets. etc. etc.
People in this country want something for nothing, or next to it. Enter the Wal-Mart effect.
As long as consumers are seperarted from the true cost, along with the government causing massive price distortions due to its liberal psuedo-compassion......prepare for perpertual fleecing.
Until then....stay thirsty (and healthy) my bitchez. Your health is the best investment you can ever make.
"our CULTURE does not penalize those that eat like pigs, drink like fish, etc"
That's the job of the insurance company to assess risk and assign premiums but since health insurance no longer functions as insurance should thanks to government interference....there is no regulatory mechanism. I hope they get more involved in car insurance so we can all play bumper cars all the way to the welfare office.
Well if it makes you feel any better, things might be starting to change a little bit. Starting this year, because of Obamacare my company instituted a program where you get discounts on your pumped-up medical insurance premiums by doing well on your annual physical or by completing various challenges like mini-triathlons and such.
E.g. last year I paid about $115/mo for my plan.
This year, apparently because of ACA, slightly worse plan, sticker price $140+!!
However: if you took the company-sponsored physical exam last year and did well they knock off $50/mo for this year. If you completed a bunch of other various things (gym membership, run a triathlon, take a company-sponsored cooking class, etc.) you get another few bucks knocked off for each thing you complete. If the company I work for is doing it, I'm sure others are too.
So net this year my monthly premium is just under $90/mo. Granted, the coverage got worse...thanks Ogolfer.
"Clearly what the US, with its highest in the world costs, needs is for the government to step in and really fix the problem."
Define "fix". Because the US gubbermint already stepped in to "fix" the problem with Obamacare only to raise healthcare costs to the moon.
Indeed, when government has been captured by industry then all government action makes the situation worse.
I'm pretty sure this article would benefit from a great, big /sarc at the end.
that's because obamacare is just what the doctor ordered to crash the current healthcare system.
it won't last and will have to be re-architected.
which is a good thing.
too bad it will probably take another 4 - 6 years.
You could cut that USA number in half if people who bought insurance did not have to pay for the people who do not buy it...and another 20% if you shut down the Trial lawyers
Yeah but the problem you would have is that illegal aliens would no longer be able to have 12 kids for free -at our expense. My last kid 12 years ago cost $29,000 (2001 dollars) for a four day stay for a C-section. 20 grand alone for the anesthesiologist that we only saw for abbout 15 minutes. Apparently he was monitoring from his office about 6 other patients who I assume were also billed obscene amounts. Fortunately my out of poacket costs were only $7,000. My first kid (Alexandria Hospital in Virginia only cost me $7,500 (1985 dollars) I had no insurance. took me three years to pay it off.
If you don't have free insurance for illegals, some of us may have to mow our own lawns or have our teenage sons do it. We may have to clean our own houses and do our own laundry.
I could not bear the shame of doing so. Therefore, I willingly pay $14,000 for Obamacare for my remaining family of four, which kicks in after I meet my 14,000 family deductible. Granted, I have little in savings and retirement and me and my kids are saddled with monstrous student loan debt, we were nearly wiped out by the Wall Street gangsters twice, we pay far more proportionate taxes (combined state, local federal, etc) than Buffett and Bill gates, we haven't taken a decent family vacation in years - but that's a small price to pay for living in the greatest country in the world.
Don't forget the lawyers and malpractice. A lady OB-GYN told me she paid $300K per year in malpractice insurance alone in 2004 (in MA - probably worse elsewhere like NV and IL). Anesthesiologists are right up there with them for insurance costs. That's before medical school loan payments and everything else. I assume it has only gotten worse with time.
So you would blame the lawyers before you blame the insurance company charging them this? It's mind boggling to me...
Everything's bigger in America: The cars, the people, the food, the insurance costs...
edifice
Everything's bigger in America: The cars, the people, the food, the insurance costs...
Bigger looney bins too!
Don't forget the wages are bigger..........to start with untill taxes and health care costs kick in
I am going to up arrow you for the feck master picture! LOL
Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!
yes that's the one
Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!
Got to love American big business. If Big Food doesn't get ya, then Big Insurance will, if you manage to slip through the net then you can be sure the banksters haven't forgotton you, then throw in some more taxes/regulations/costs from Big government and you're about done.
All that's needed now is for Wall Street to finance Big Undertaker and it will be cradle to grave folks.
To make it today and be as debt-free as possible, you basically have to live like a monk: No expenditures beyond necessity. Don't get married, don't have kids, no mortgage, no credit cards, drive a 10 year old beater, etc. Keep your monthly expenses to less than 10 bills a month. Mine are: Housing, Food, Insurances, Student Loans (yes, I know...), Utilities, Fuel, Gym Dues.
All that's needed now is for Wall Street to finance Big Undertaker and it will be cradle to grave folks.
Done and done: The Ten Companies That Control The Death Industry
Best advice to any American: "Marry a foreigner and emmigrat, renounce citizenship"
Looks like Phillipines pay more than Mexico.
It's very easy to blame hospitals and health insurance companies. However, the profit margins for hospitals and health insurance plans are each less than 5% on average. Even though total executive compenation seems very high, it doesn't add significantly to the overall margin.
Shouldn't this be presented in a cost/benefit methodology?
@SanfordandSon
cost/benefit methodology to who?
patient?
Hostpital/doctors?
Insurance?
Big Pharma?
Government?
to just name a few
I am now being charged for pediatric dentistry (all cillrens are adults) - not worth 2 hours on the phone to chnage it
While shopping for health insurance on ehealthinsurance.com, I noticed that of the options avaialble to me most included that "pediatric dentistry" in the description for my single male policy search and now I know that it wasn't a typo. Thanks!
Oh joy, just posted this morning 3 insurers now creating yet another portal on the web to shop for insurance coming out in 2015, so guess they figure they can do a better job than the feds? Also if states go along with it, Medicaid information will be included, so maybe the states will make some money providing this data? All states in the US do make money selling data, just look at any data broker page and they get money for providing data.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/05/three-health-insurers-working-wit...
As insurer business units grow in numbers too it's getting more difficult for them to manage the data as well. Here's an example to where United goes out and bids and wins a Medicare Advantage contract and then they find out as patients complain, the other side of their business with narrowing networks, knocked out all the doctors so there were no MDs to see patients "in network"...contract rescinded by the county in Maryland.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/01/howard-county-school-board-in-mar...
It is any wonder we pay more? All this data crunching and web services out there costs a lot of money and for the record United gets 1/3 of their revenue from Health IT and 2/3 from insurance policies. They have tons of subsidiary companies and last year bought most of the business of the largest HMO in Brazil who happens to be the largest shareholder sitting on their board. I don't know what impact this has for consumers in Brazil though with pricing.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2012/10/united-healthcare-negotiating-to-...
The United lab subsidiary in addition to hospital members like Mayo and McLaren hospitals just got a new paying client, Boston Scientific so they can have access to mine and research medical record data that has been de-identified to see how their devices are working. Somebody along the line has to pay for all this expensive data crunching and facilities. Hospitals almost have to be in the game as Mayo for example from bringing in $9 billion showed a bottom line profit of $67 million and were helped out a bit with donations as well and they see revenue declining. McLaren also in the lab group here as an "owner" also having issues with declining revenue to by providing medical records for drug companies and device manufacturers, there's a revenue stream here. It kind of competes with the FDA Sentinel program that was set up to do the same thing but someone made a business model out of it. Of course too United owns a bank as well, the Optum bank to where they can compete there too.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/05/boston-scientific-joins-optum-uni...
In the OC where I live, well you can see a post here on the merging of two physicians groups and they are buying up a lot either with a subsidiary action or buying 51% controlling interest and the report uses words that are...well not too flattering as doctors and patients are called "inventory" in being transferred to the other MD group that acquired the Memorial group already owned by United as well.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2014/05/memorial-healthcare-ipa-in-southe...
When you dig in and look around some of the United subsidiaries that do Health IT work have income from other parts of the huge conglomerate, so it keeps the expense ball rolling for sure. So you can look around a bit and find things very complexly interwoven with that company. On side wants to keep selling software (1/3 of their revenue comes from this group) and analytics and the other 2/3 of their revenue is focusing on selling policies...it's how they kind of stay under the radar as the average consumer has not a clue as to all their holdings and again every entity as we know is expected to put money to the bottom line, not unlike any other corporation so any wonder why we pay so much. Here's an archived post where I did a bunch of links to subsidiary companies and it's surprising what businesses you find in there from investing in low income housing to providing cheap Chinese made hearing aids. Where I'm at many of the MDs now are not real happy about being paid less than Medicare too in some of these groups as the use of complex contracts to be in network makes that happen. It's really time for the insurers and drug and device companies to negotiate better as we can't shove it off on consumers anymore as we are broke.
http://ducknetweb.blogspot.com/2013/07/health-insurance-business-under-r...
"That chart doesn't include how much people pay for their health care through taxes just the direct premiums paid."
Except the taxes in Canada are very close to the taxes in the US. The Canadians get health care as part of their taxes, just like everyone gets free school. Americans are taxed just as much, but we get nothing. IIRC, it's mostly because bribery is illegal in Canada. You're not allowed to give millions of dollars to a candidate, write a bill that signs away the rights of everyone in the country, and get it passed through the system without a single person reading it. Their government is also slightly different because the leader of the country is part of congress. Their leader is constantly yelled at by opposition. They don't live in some god-like bubble the way Bush and Obama do.
Canadian, British, and Australian parliament is interesting to watch. While congress is set up like a lecture room, with everyone facing the front, parliament is set up with the opposing sides facing against each other. Rather than go to the front of the class, you stand up and start ranting. Your team mates will slap their tables to cheer you on.
Here's a video of Canada's government. The leader of the country knows how little respect he gets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbzcXg7zhPk
"...just like everyone gets free school..." Would you like to take a gander at my property taxes showing 65 percent of my taxes go to the Education bureau?
Nothing's "free", Spunky. Some one pays for that "free" shit somewhere down the line.
We have to pay doctors and drug company lots of money to stop them from becoming crooked bankers!
How many include free birth control and sex change operations?
Government is great at fixing problems and never with a cost overrun either.
My son got sick and we took him to a private hospital. They recommended keeping him in-patient for 24 hours so they could make sure he was responding to the meds. No insurance, all out of pocket. We got a private room with 2 beds, 3 meals (very good meals, cooked on-site with fresh ingredients), nurses took care of everything and gave us a bunch of "free" stuff. When we checked out, they let us raid the supply cabinet for stuff we might need later. Scored 2 giant packages of diapers, and some other baby stuff. When we got home, we realized a day later that half his antibiotics were missing. The hospital dispatched their shuttle driver to deliver it to us. When we were in-patient, we literally had the entire floor to ourselves. 2 doctors on staff, 3 nurses, anything we needed, any questions or concerns, they were there the whole way. Fast internet access and wifi, access to a small kitchen area to prepare anything we needed, an espresso machine with fresh beans... pretty swanky actually.
So... the bill:
Initial checkup plus blood tests and meds: $200
In-patient for 24 hours: $350
We actually are considering going with private insurance though after this experience. Because $0 deductible, uncapped, no "pre-existing condition" crap, no co-pay, just walk in any time, show card, get everything we need and never have to pay a penny more... is a whopping $1200 a year. Add both of us onto the plan and it's around $4000 for the same level of care at any hospital globally (US for emergency only).
Oh, and that medicine that was delivered, it was $2.
But please, tell me again why USA#1? It boggles the mind.
Of course, we could have gone to a public hospital, and our total bill would have been $0, just using our basic insurance, we just wanted to not have to wait or hang around all the sick people.
WTF?
That's easy for you to have a smug throw-it-in-our-face additude. Just remember, not many of us have a Porsche 918 Spyder Health Plan. We have to settle with Tin, Pewter, or Plastic Plans.
The plan we are looking at is not even considered high-level. High level plans hook you up with shit like private suites, helicopters instead of ambulances, a few hundred bucks a day of in-patient allowance money, etc. For the plan we're looking at, it's a standard plan format... where as long as you pay-in for like 18 years for the kid and don't exceed the total premium (18 years of premium, not annual), they do shit like reward you with lump sum cash back (with interest) and paying for college tuition up to like $10k a year or so.. and for adults, after long enough, they give the option of cash money back or converting it to a life insurance plan. It's basically the way they deal with the pre-existing issue and to keep people from abusing the service... they can't just jack up rates, because you can just as easily go to the competition.
Car insurance is similar, there's the sticker price and then the price you pay. You don't get penalized for using your $0 deductible insurance, you just lose discount if you exceed the premium. We currently pay something like 30% of sticker and because I'm an awesome driver who rarely comes in with problems, they just give us free dealer vouchers for maintenence, oil changes, gas vouchers, etc.
Where are you located? China?
Yep
"Clearly what the US, with its highest in the world costs, needs is for the government to step in and really fix the problem."
Isn't that what caused these high costs in the first place?
This is when a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
While the chart says "Cost" I wonder cost to whom?
If it's cost to the actual "local resident between 25-35", does it include the taxes he/she pays?
So I looked up some fairly easy statistics.
German Health Care industry amounts to $368.78 billion in 2010 and serves 80M.
Aggregate U.S. hospital costs were $387.3 billion that serves over 300M.
I look further on this chart and see Mexico, China, etc. Would I want to be sick in those countries? No.
Car insurance would be expensive as shit too if it covered oil changes and tire replacements too. You know, normal wear and tear.
But we won't blame democrats for minimum coverages
FLW - "Hi, I am from the government and I am here to help you."
This is why, when I lived in Germany, I had no real issue with their mandate. The policies didnt cost jack, offered what I would want, and any sane person would have bought it anyway. The US prices are fucking insane, cost more than anything else but your home, and force you to buy shit you will never want or need so that bitches like Sandra Fluke can be fucking whores on everyone else's dime.
How many people in other countries are diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, or other imaginary diseases that require years of expensive medications, and countless follow up visits?
I'm sure that chart would applicable to how many fatasses we have in this country.
$6,000 is, of course, $500 a month and this is not what health insurance with dental/vision costs for 25-35 year olds. Go to eheathinsurance and find out for yourself. However, I'd say it's still about $350 or $4,200 and still double the next highest, so the point is still valid.
Look at Pharmacists as just one example of healthcare. Their average salary is about $120k which I feel is way out of line with the knowledge and experience required.
I recently sent 10 minutes of direct interation with my physician which should have been billed with procedure code 99212 and reimbused at $45 but instead it was billed at 99213, or 15 minutes of "problem focused" interation, reimbursed at $68. It is an endemic example of the waste, fraud and abuse wihin helathcare that the affordable care act only feeds, not addresses.
You'll know it's game over when the health care workers can't obtain employer sponsored health coverage.
This is really a chart of each nation's ability to print money. When money must be earned, prices tend to stay in the realm of reality.
Misleading Article ZH. I expect better from this page
I don't see Cuba on that list. They certainly have their problems with embargoed medicine and medical equipment produced in the USA, but higher education and health care is more or less free. They have more doctors per 100,000 than any other country in the world, 591, compared to USA which has about 250. Of course they don't have very many lawyers. A socialist paradise so long as you don't criticize the government. Here in the USA we are free to critcize the government, and the government is free to ignore us.
NOTHING IS FREE!
They may not pay anything out of pocket for health insurance, but the cost of that system gets taken away from citizens somewhere else by the government. It's probably one of the reason the average Cuban makes like $10/month.
Basic health insurance costs $500 (per year?) in Germany?? How is that possible - because the average 25-35 year old only makes 3500 Euros a year?
And in the US it's $500 per month (~$6000 per year) for this healthy young group, which at least should be able to find very affordable catastrophic insurance??
Sorry but that statistic is pure BS.
without clear sources for the stats, i also have a tough time accepting everything that i see in that chart. what isn't clear is if these insurance costs just look at the individual contributions or the combined individual/employer contributions, which is how the german system is funded. there are private insurance options, but only if you are earning above a certain income level. if you're a freelancer or self-employed, then you can also go for private insurance. otherwise, you are paying into the public system.
are we really looking at an apples-to-apples comparison - germany vs. US?
let's try to find out (by making some assumptions along the way).
mean/median income stats by age group:
http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=ilc_di03&lang=en
for germany 25-49 yrs old, it's 21k euros
(can't find a avg. income for 25-35 anywhere, so we'll have to accept this analytical limitation)
let's assume we look at the statutory healthcare insurance only, which is funded by a payroll tax @ 15.5% of income, with employee paying 8.2% and the employer paying 7.3%.
rhttp://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/english/statutory_health_insurance/fund...
if we look only at the individual contribution only, then 8.2% of a median 21k EUR annual salary in germany = 1722 EUR
so, yea...the data collected by DB/ZH is kind of...not reliable.
but even still, if we compare this 1722 EUR annual figure for germany vs. your $6000 for US, then germany is still way cheaper...by almost 2/3!!!!
you might be interested to read this comprehensive report comparaing the various international healthcare systems:
http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Fund%20Report... {PDF}
hmmm....
is it just coincidence that the overhwelming majority of "cheaper basic health insurance cost" countries have strong "social" market economies?
only in america
I think everyone should have access to basic healthcare. Not simply for moral reasons, but because it is good for the country. Ditto for good free education - the countery is far worse off with a stupid population, and also will ultimately have a worse "economy".
Now, if you're a "let them die outside the hospital" libertarian - you're certainly entitled to your college-level Ayn Randian approach to politics, but you can stop trying to actually win elections, now. I care about the country as a whole, and that tends to mean disagreeing with purists and the sort of assholes who talk about how we could have a society without government... a theory which relies on people being far more honest, benevolent and cooperative then they actually are.
Anyway, So what is the libertarian fix? To providing low cost if not actually "free" health care to everyone?? Is there one? I'm all for keeping Congress out of the matter, believe me, but what is the private sector solution to providing basic care to the poor, especially kids? I can already feel the downvote love for being such a "commie" but I reiterate - a country in which everyone gets basic care, including preventive, is going to be much better off, and that is my pimary reason - not simply because I have this moral idea and want to have government force you to contribute to it. I get these facile Randian arguments, my rejoinder is a kind of Americanism - not as "state" but as a non-ethnic recognition of a people and conceptual entity.
Nice dream. Except the reality is that the status quo industrial complex will never kill those golden gooses.
what would karl marx do?
Everyone DOES have access to health care. You are just trying to say something without saying it outright. You want to STEAL from ME to pay for YOUR healthcare.
I have never had a healthcare policy, and I never will have a healthcare policy. If I need healthcare, I investigate for myself and make my own decisions. If my investigations are insufficient, I go hire someone with more expertist (a doctor), listen to their advice, then decide what to do.
Think about it.
Everyone has access to FOOD.
Everyone has access to SHELTER.
Everyone has access to CLOTHING.
Everyone has access to EDUCATION.
Everyone has access to HEALTHCARE.
Everyone has access to TRANSPORTATION.
And so forth down the line. Everyone has access to every product that others do. So what you want is FREE STUFF. What you want is for people to NOT need to produce anything, but be able to STEAL WHAT THEY WANT from other people who DO produce.
The "solution" is simple.
If you want something, either produce it yourself, or produce something you can trade for the other things you want. SIMPLE and COMPLETE.
Oh, and if you want to give YOUR OWN STUFF to others for free, well... GO RIGHT AHEAD.
-----
Oh, and by the way. If none of these government theft programs existed, the cost of most items people need and want would be... about 1/2 to 1/4 current prices (and healthcare would be about 1/20 current prices). And so, everyone would have a much easier time affording them.
YOU made them expensive, by supporting the endless predator schemes.
Best healthcare systems in the world either have a gov't-financed healthcare system or a strictly administered & controlled private sector of insurance with a private delivery system. Taiwan is a good example and I would argue has the best overall healthcare system for the resources they invest. Israeli is quite good. Switzerland another. Almost all of them though are very small countries though.
Still the US doesn't have a cohesive system and the reason the US is so expensive is because the per unit cost of services and products is so expensive and no one (gov't or private sector) has ever been willing to put a serious and sustained effort to control prices.
No ... the reason healthcare is so expensive in the US is due to the fact that a liability insurance policy for a single surgery can cost many thousands of dollars.
The US healthcare industry is the most litigated industry in the world.
You want to cut our healthcare costs in half? Pass reasonable tort reform and allow insurance companies ro compete accross state lines. Those 2 things would have taken healthcare reform completely out of our political discussion.
Apendectomy takes less than 15 minutes when done fast.
It costs more than 12.000 US$ in the US.
USA the paradise for the doctors; and some other professionals
Right, because the doctors get all that money <facepalm>
Remember, prayer is free.
"Clearly what the US, with its highest in the world costs, needs is for the government to step in and really fix the problem."
I hope this was sarcasm, otherwise this guy is just another libtard idiot.