As the richest country in the world, why can't the U.S. provide health care for all of its citizens?

Question

I know plenty of educated, hard-working people that have no health care because their employer doesn't offer it. Wake up people!

I think I know the reason now, selfishness, greed and an inability to see past your own nose....

Answer 1

Capitalism.

Besides, universal health care isn't as wonderful as some would have you believe. You have to wait longer for assistance. In fact, if what I've read is true, the SARS outbreak in Canada was caused by the long waits at the hospital (seven to eight hours).

EDIT: I'm a hard-working, intelligent, educated American who didn't have health insurance until I broke down and got a desk job! I survived by putting aside extra money for health visits.

And by the way, the problem isn't health care coverage. It's health care costs!

Answer 2

Of course the U.S. can provide healthcare to all of its citizens, but so far it chooses not to. The U.S. has the largest economy in the world and the government has sufficient tax revenue, but it finds other things are more important. It does provide healthcare for some of the most helpless members of society. Some of the elderly, disabled and poor have government paid health care.

It is true that many hard working people cannot afford health insurance. The costs have been increasing much faster than the rate of inflation. It is a strange idea for employers to be held responsible to pay the costs of health insurance for their employees. In the global economy employers in the U.S. are handicapped by these extra expenses that foreign companies do not have. This is a problem that has hurt U.S. manufacturing companies.

The real question is why does the U.S. not choose to do what every other industrialized nation has already done?

1) Many people in the U.S. don't believe the benefit to the country from having universal coverage is worth the expense. Many in the U.S. have an almost religious belief that free market capitalism will always do better than anything that government can do. This leads them to conclude that government involvement will make healthcare worse than it is now.

2) There is an enormous amount of money being made in the medical industry, and some of the great wealth being earned is spent lobbying the politicians and funding their political campaigns. This corrupting influence is the main reason the government often does not seem to act in the best interest of the people they are supposed to represent.

Answer 3

Healthcare is becomming a big problem in all countries. The third party system of the U.S. probably going to move toward a socialist system and the socialist systems of europe are going to move toward a more free market based system because of the rising costs. No one has the correct answer. The United States spends more money per capita on their people than any other nation but also gives the most choice to their patients. The high costs reflect a lot of waste although the choice is good. Choice is the primary reason why America does not have universal healthcare yet. There is strong resistance to telling people where they have to go for surgery and even worse resistance to waiting in lines to receive care. Furthermore their are studies that show that the United States produced more than half of lastest breakthroughs in medicine.

What I feel will be the final deciding factor in the United States is how to control costs. The universal system may end up being cheaper compared to our Third party system. With our third party system, the consumer pays very little of the cost. Americans go to the doctor whenever they have a little cough because insurance pays a lot of the bill. Those who are not insured just go to the emergency room where they are treated which costs a lot of money. The costs for this are paid by people with their own insurance. Deductables go higher for them. To control costs, there are more free market suggestions like Health Savings Accounts and higher deductables plans that have been suggested where consumer will share more of the cost for treatment.

In Universal systems the government rations the amount of healthcare for their citizens and you pay for it anyway though high taxation. You can not go to where some of the best domestic and internationl doctors in the world for surgery practice, New York City. Those who don't have insurance still can walk into the best medical school's emergency rooms in the world in New York City for treatment.

I can't really comment on your friends situation because I don't know more about their jobs and etc.

Answer 4

We think we're a capitalist society (except for bailing out a few industries here and there, and a few subsidies now and again), and that means, you're on your own bub!

Actually, if you look at a lot of the countries that provide socialized medicine, they don't have the number of people that we do. The sheer number of children that we have to provide education for is enormous. And you see how well that works! Add all the adults, and that's millions of people to provide medical care for. Plus, we're an aging society, that is living longer, and requiring more long-term care since when we do get sick, it's serious. So it makes sense that we are going broke trying to support such a huge volume of people medically, as well as for retirement.

In the past, businesses were expected to take the load off of the federal or state govt and provide medical care and retirement for adults. When there were a lot less to care for, they could handle it. But now? Plus, they have to compete globally, with businesses that don't have to provide any benefits to employees.

I use to think Americans were greedy and selfish, until they lost their job and found out what it's like to lose your medical coverage and your home. Now, I just think it's logistics. We've run up a huge bill, and use to be able to pay the minimum. Now we're scrambling to pay for a zillion aging baby boomers who are living longer than Americans have ever done before..

Answer 5

Because the United States is NOT rich - Its citizens are rich. The riches belong to the citizens and the only way the government can "provide" anything, is to first confiscate it from its citizens.

Private property rights and individual liberty are not just nice words to pretend to live by. And I don't want to hear about that "common good" anti-freedom nonsense. If you want my property, don't get the government to do your dirty work for you, come take it yourself. Oh wait, that's called theft.

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
-Thomas Jefferson
.

Answer 6

Because those people who think they pay too many taxes for the "lazy People" to use it don't realize alot of them was like me. A single mother with two kids making barely over minimum wage. I got medical aid and that was it. If I did not have that medical aid when my kids were young they would have went without, because for me to afford insurance, even through work,we would have had to live in the streets. And you know what I paid taxes also, Maybe if out senators didn't get paid so much and the rich people actually had to pay taxes in proportion to what they actually had, maybe it wouldn't be so rough for some of the people out there who struggle on low paying jobs.

Answer 7

The country is not rich. The people of the country are rich. The country has no money to provide free health care. To get the money, they have to take it from us. It would be cheaper to pay for it ourselves.

Answer 8

Because of laziness.
There are too many people who refuse to get a job.
They get: Housing, Food Stamps, Welfare, Social Service, etc.
Why give people another incentive NOT to work?
And why should those who DO work pay for those who don't?
We're getting to a point in this country where there are too many people living off the hard work of others.

Answer 9

The US government, get is money from ME and you if you work. I already pay way to much tax, I pay for roads, wars, medical care for many already, and a bunch of wise men and women in Washington DC, to waste more of my money. So for me, I am already paying enought and I dont want to pay any more taxes so every one can have health care. How much of your Pay are you willing to give to the government? I give around 40% already.

Answer 10

Because the government wants to spend all the tax dollars it gets on things that it considers to be more important.

My belief is that the government should also get rid of medical plans for people on welfare, if they aren't going to cover everyone else too.