Should Health Care be considered a Private Business as it is in the USA or a Public Service / Right?

Question

If we live in a society, then shouldn't we provide equal opportunity to those around us so we can have a healthy and productive society? Don't you think this is one of the reasons USA has such high crimes, low poverty in certain areas? Shouldn't the government spend in the society, and see it flourish?

Isn't this what the basis of religion is, sharing, caring, and helping for another? Then how can certain 'religious' people tolerate people dying of illnesses they cannot afford to heal?

Students unable to afford college? Children left without summer camps? Decent class sizes and caring schools?

Why can't humans in this "glorious" nation come together and help one another? Is all this just idealism and America is too weak to achieve this dream?

hey smilytrysh, I don't know where you get your news from but nobody (important) in Canada is thinking of privitization of health care. Even the president of the only private walk-in clinic in BC is in favor of Public Health Care. Even the conservative party supports PUBLIC health care and has promised to better it.

Also, we don't have a bad system, either. It is getting better and better day by day. Look at Ontario; the wait times have significantly gone down in the past couple of years.

MWAT07, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Canada has more than 147 MRI machines in the whole country. I wouldn't trust the source you get your info from.

Right from CIHI:
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=media_13jan2005_e

Answer 1

What amazes me that Why the richest country in the world can't have a Universal health care system for its citizens where as a poor country like Cuba can have one?

Answer 2

You're going in two different directions there. The US is non-secular. That is, there is a big line between church and state. I'm not real sure where you are going with your comment section. Are you asking about religion or government buying health care for all?

I think you want the government to pay for everyone's health care and I think that's a terrible idea. The amount of money spent on health care every year is staggering. Where would the money come from I ask? You want the government deciding what treatment you receive and do not receive while you are ill? That's nuts. Besides, hospitals must legally treat any life threat at no cost to anyone that walks in the door.

Answer 3

Here's my problem with making it a government entity.

Most folks can get health insurance from their employers, which can cover their family members too. Yes, you pay part of it out of pocket. Whether people elect this coverage is another matter.

I hear what people say about drug companies and to a point, it's correct, but, if you ran a drug company and you lived or died by years of research and whether a product failed or made it, you'd want to charge to recoup your costs and apply it to the next product. That, in a nutshell, is the economics of drug R & D.

A HUGE problem we have here are the tort lawyers. Our system for medical malpractice makes it very difficult for doctors. Yes, you see stories of doctors with their 8 series BMWs, etc... but, I'll give you an example.. my wife's OB/GYN, who is considered a very good doctor has elected to stop delivering babies. Why? It's not because she screwed up. She can no longer afford the Malpractice Insurance premiums. That's our screwed up tort system.

Now, transpose that over a public health care system, with all of its faults (like the MRI machine example) and you have an even bigger mess. It just won't work unless our tort law is reformed.

Answer 4

Wow.. that's a big question. Right now in Canada we are fighting with the decision 'to privatize or not to privatize' and privitization has it's drawbacks and it's plusses. See in Canada everyone will be given the same medical treatment, it's very affordable and equal. However, we struggle with lack of beds, outdated equipment, and underpaid health care workers (not in all places), and everyone has to wait for a long time to get procedures done. So I don't know - goverment/personal call.

Answer 5

Government provided healthcare has one serious limitation: cost controls put a great deal of stress on the system.

Professional salaries are kept lower than under a private system, so doctors and nurses have less incentive to work hard.

Doctors and nurses are under incredible pressure to limit the number of tests & procedures performed, to treat a large number patients every day, to cut the amount of in-depth contact with each patient to a few minutes each, and to not develop long-term relationships with their patients.

As a consquence, patients can expect to wait, and wait, and wait long times before seeing their doctors. And even longer times will be required for surgeries or other in-patient procedures and treatments. And spending on advanced equipment will be curtailed in the name of efficiency.

In other words, a publicly-financed healthcare system would rather make you wait long enough to either heal yourself, give up on non-life threatening treatment, or die.

If you don't believe this, then go research the typical experience for the Canadian or British public health systems.

Answer 6

Allowing private companies to compete increases the quality of service. Public services are of lesser quality because there is little motivation for the government to do better. One example is in Canada - there are only 6 MRI machines for the entire country. The waiting list for one is 6 months long. In America, if a company provided service as bad as the Canadian government, consumers would switch to a better company, and the bad company would be forced to improve to profit. The Canadian government has no competition.

Answer 7

I would like to see in the constitution where the right to Health Care is covered. You don't even understand what rights are or where they come from. Rights are not handed down like gifts from heaven by the government. Besides every thing we put the federal government in charge of gets screwed up just look at education.

Answer 8

Are you retarded? The government does spend money on us. Social Security? All these tax cuts are depleting the amount of money left, creating a bigger defecit and disabling the governments ability to help us when we need it.

The basis of religion is a belief in a higher power to attain a certain state of being after death. What does the toleration of people dying from uncurable illnesses have to do with religion anyway?

Not everybody goes to college, but if that person puts forth the effort to make the best of his/her childrens future, their children will eventually have a better life than their parents. Summer camps don't do jack.

"gloriuos" nation? I think you made that up. It's the "Land of Opportunity" and people do help each other. The only weak part of America is you, ye of good deeds.

Answer 9

Objective: good, afforable health care for every American.

Solution: The govt. needs to shrink. The govt. doesn't have the capacity to run a universal health care system. We should start by partially privatizing health care and even social security. This is the best option for America.

Answer 10

Look to Canada for the answer.

There are too many pharmaceutical companies lining the pockets of politicians in the US.

Sad but true.