Which is better: Private or Public Healthcare?

Question

Let me make my case. I believe that universal healthcare is superior to that of a private healthcare system.

The United States is the only developed Western nation that doesn't have a universal healthcare service. The US also pays most for healthcare, and yet we have 45 million people uninsured and that number is growing. The United States is ranked far on the list of ranking by the United Nations, while places such as Canada or France, which have healthcare for all, are at the top. Also, it is a whole lot cheaper to have a universal healthcare system paid by taxes (http://cthealth.server101.com/universal_healthcare_is_cheaper.htm ).
I think it's time for some action.

Answer 1

You're exactly right, onlytheirishsurvive!

Health-care is not an area of an economy that can be justly and equitably guided by market forces. Private health-care delivers health-care based on ability to pay, not NEED. This is counter-intuitive when life and death are the issue. Markets are useful for the distribution of resources when you have choices. This is a fundamental distinction that is often not recognized by people who don't understand economics. Someone suffering from congestive heart failure can't CHOOSE to have a pimple instead! Therefore, market based health-care is unjust and irrational.

Any sufficiently advanced society characterized by high ethical standards will not stand for something as critical as health-care being delivered unfairly.

If health-care is delivered via private market forces, scenarios like the following will be too common. A gentleman with no history of health-problems is suddenly feeling chest pain. He must quickly find a physician or a hospital to get treatment. Since he's never shopped for private health care before, he has to check prices. He picks up the phone and starts calling around for estimates from medical centers & physicians. By the time he gets his second estimate, he's dead.

Profit in the United States is more important to Americans than health-care. Our ethical standards are no match for those of the rest of the world, which sees health-care as a human right! Consequently, a rich Florida retiree with the ability to pay for endless treatments for hypochondria lives while the poor or working poor die from their heart disease.

Answer 2

The idea of private Health care is a good one. As with all true Free Market systems..competition should keep prices down and service levels up..

Unfortunately we live in a "fixed" world where the costs of "RnD" drive pharmaceuticals through the roof.. where litigation and malpractice suits make insurance rates soar..etc. So by the end of this long gravy train we the consumer have to suck it up.

Now there are places in our capitalist systems where this derailment doesn't effect us negatively...consumer goods and so fourth, while expensive and getting more so, don't "threaten" our well being, ...health care is different.
The costs of us not Having a "quality" national health care program is astronomical. It's very obvious that if you can't afford a check up then very likely in your 40's-60's (2 out 3 men will deal with cancer 1 out of 2 women) you will experience some major health care issue.. and guess what ? The public sucks it up again with our Tax dollars in the form of medicare and medicaid.
Clearly your question/statement is absolutely correct.. and the burden should be removed from the citizen all together. It should be funded by a corporate flat tax.. that can not be passed along to us.. the consumer.
Have we had enough of a system that works diligently for shareholders but penalizes the public for being born

Answer 3

I think the purely private system is superior in that it promotes research and innovation. It also creates a system which can accommodate resource intensive procedures in a timely and effective manner. A private system simply lacks the incentives to do either.

That having been said, the US system is not purely private any more. It has been affected by partial government health care programs for years. Some have been beneficial, some have not. In many cases just the workload of bureaucracy has imposed undue strain on the system. That inevitably relates to more costs.

I believe the best system would involve personal health care savings accounts. The money would be taken out of peoples pay like taxes, but would belong to the individual. Insurance would be private, health care would be private, and government would stay out of it as much as possible. If an individual purposely does not buy insurance the risk is theirs alone. They would only get emergency treatment on the public dime and would be required to pay it all back.


A separate tax would be used for administrative fees and a safety net to cover the disabled.

Tort should be limited in some way to avoid the lawsuit lottery.

Answer 4

I think public healthcare is better. I live in the UK, so I've never known any differently, but as I mentioned in a question I asked on the same topic, I just can't comprehend the notion that someone should have to pay for healthcare. It's not like they chose to get ill. However, I got some incredible responses from people who seem to like having to pay for something that should be a basic human right, so I'm guessing any action will be a long way off.

Answer 5

In theory I would think public health care would be better because there would be no middleman which would make it cheaper. But in reality private health care is better. What the politicians need to do is work to make it more affordable. Start out with tort reform. Any time the medical industry is sued the cost is passed on to the customers. Of coarse the lawyers probably wont allow it because its their bread and butter.

Answer 6

I'll second CHEVICK_1776's answer. The current system is the worst of both worlds. Private is definitely better, but the current insurance system is a pseudo socialistic system that encourages over-demand, running up costs. A health-care savings account system with adequate catastrophic care insurance would work much better.

Answer 7

Private is better...if you have good health insurance.

Healthcare should be a basic right, not just for those with insurance.

I hope the USA can have universal insurance by the year 2015, like the rest of the civilized world.

Answer 8

Private is definitly better, Imagine your hospital running like the DMV, you have to wait in line all day and might not even get your problem taken care of, the people employed there are non-chalant and really dont care and take their time no matter how big of a hurry you are in. So yeah, definitly private.

Answer 9

Private health care is better. The last thing I want is a government employee working on me with a knife in hand.