Free Healthcare, Why and Why Not?

Question

Social Medicine sounds great to me, so why isnt it established in the US? I am not very educated on the topic so please educate me with out the use of the word Liberals or Left, or Neo Con or Bushites.

Answer 1

The only people I have spoken to about socialized medicine are Canadians. They claim free health care is a myth and not free as they pay huge amounts in taxes for it. I will try to find more information on it for you.
~~~~~As promised, what I found~~~~~
National health care, currently operated in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand,a single-payer national health care system would come at enormous cost to American taxpayers. For example, Russo- Wellstone would require employers and the self-employed to pay a tax equal to 7.5 percent of wages. The top individual tax rate would rise from 31 to 38 percent. Corporate income taxes would increase from 34 to 38 percent. Social Security benefits would be taxed at 85 percent rather than the current 50 percent. And the elderly would be assessed a $55 per month fee for long-term care.(2) Even those levies may not be enough to pay for national health care. Some economists put the cost as high as $339 billion per year in additional taxes.(3)

Great Britain, a country with a population of only 55 million, more than 800,000 patients are waiting for surgery.(4) In New Zealand, a country with a population of just 3 million, the surgery waiting list now exceeds 50,000.(5) In Sweden the wait for heart x-rays is more than 11 months. Heart surgery can take an additional 8 months.(6) In Canada the wait for hip replacement surgery is nearly 10 months; for a mammogram, 2.5 months; for a pap smear, 5 months.(7) Surgeons in Canada report that, for heart patients, the danger of dying on the waiting list now exceeds the danger of dying on the operating table.(8) According to Alice Baumgart, president of the Canadian Nurses Association, emergency rooms are so overcrowded that patients awaiting treatment frequently line the corridors.(9)

Answer 2

Health care in the US costs about 2 trillion (yes, with a T) dollars a year. There's nothing free about that. Americans have an insatiable appetite for healthcare, and there's no way we could afford everything for everybody, and we don't have the doctors, nurses, or hospitals even if we had the budget. If we go to a single-payor system, care will have to be rationed. I think it would work IF the public don't get caught up in arguments that the system should be "fair" and mandate the same level of care for everyone. If we can agree on a level of care that is reasonable for everyone to have AND allow private supplements for added care that isn't covered in the basic plan, it should be possible, but that's been a major if unspoken stumbling block in the past.

Answer 3

Since not any doctors, nurses , med techs nor hospitals operate for free, there is not really FREE health care anywhere.
The actual debate is about WHO pays .
Either individuals have plans via employment (earlier days) or the government (taxpayers actually) pay. This is why Australians and people in the UK & Canada have huge federal tax bills. They pay for their medical care via their taxes.
Only when we get the robotic surgeons and med staff will prices go down (just pay to oil the bots !)

Answer 4

Its a Marxist idea. The Soviet Union failed, it was not a sustainable system. Where do you draw the line? Should everyone have equal incomes as well? Rewards in life, whether healthcare or income, should be based on how well you serve others. If someone devotes themselves to helping others, they will indeed make well more than the minimum wage and also have excellent healthcare coverage. People don't have insurance because they choose not to learn skills to serve others and earn the income that provides insurance; they are basically selfish. Now, we definitly should have insurance for the infirm or those unable to work. But Medicaid already provides that for most, as it should. We must support free markets and work based rewards, but the US government is growing rapidly on a path to Socialism and national healthcare will soon be here, to the detriment of our nation and quality of care.

Answer 5

Depends on how it is structured.

The government has demonstrated it does not run welfare programs such as housing, cash welfare, and Medicare/Medicaid well. Why would the overall health care system be any better?

Answer 6

Read about the European countries that offer it, rather than asking for opinions from biased individuals here on Yahoo.

Answer 7

Cause dr./ hospitals won't make the big money.