When will we have free healthcare in America?

Question

Or at least in California where I live where I believe it is close, but i'm not shure. Does anybody care to comment on their states state of medical care and health? What are some of the obstacles that are holding us back from taking care of our own people? Greedy doctors? Sleezy lawyers trying to sue healthcare workers and the industry? or have people in this country just given up on being healthy and not dying from heart disease?

Answer 1

You answered your own question, my friend.

Answer 2

Nothing in life is free. You, or someone who pays taxes or insurance bills, will ultimately pay. They tried it in Communist USSR, and it failed miserably. If you are poor or elderly, the healthcare is already "free" under the medicare and medicade programs. The taxpayers pay for it though.

Massachucettes is the closest to universal healthcare, but it mandates that everyone pay and has a policy of insurance.

Lawsuits are responsible for .001% of the cost of healthcare. We could get rid of that small amount if doctors would simply stop committing malpractice, such as cutting off the wrong leg or forgetting to fill the oxygen tank before going on an EMS call.

The main reason health insurance is expensive is because people are living longer than expected, and when they reach those elderly years, they require A LOT of medical attention. Smoking is directly responsible for 27% of your health insurance bill. Americans are obese, which causes many problems, such as stroke, heart attacks and diabetes. In the U.S. prescription drugs are often twice as expensive as in next door Cananda, simply because the Pharmacueitcal lobby is so strong and can get away with it here. Finally, insurance company profit is responsible for the rest. I can't fault a doctor's right to earn a living, especially considering the doc's huge investment in time and money to become a doc.

It is a complicated issue.

Answer 3

There is no such thing as "free" health care. "Free" health care would end up costing more than any health care available now through huge taxes etc., and with that we would get lower quality care. Not much of a trade-off. We are the only industrialized nation in the world without it, and for a very good reason. Universal health care is again the biggest scam being sold to the American people since the last time Hillary tried to sell it.

Answer 4

What is holding us back? You think the government who can't even manage their own lives should take control of health care?

Let me say something as a health care worker - this greedy doctor/ sleezy lawyer line is bunk.

Why should there be "free" health care? Are those who have made their way in life supposed to carry the deadbeats on their backs? You think "socialized" health care is so great - go to Canada where they pay through the nose in taxes and STILL come to the states to get care because they can't get it in their own country.

Quality care cannot be delivered if the government takes away our options - and I for one will give up my private insurance when they pry my Blue Cross card from my cold dead hand.

I do believe in health care for all children - they are helpless.

As for not dying of heart disease - put down the Big Mac, get off the couch and exercise, and limit your risk factors --- people need to take charge of their own lives and stop whining that someone else needs to do it for them.

Answer 5

You must be kidding...yourself! Free health care! No one has free health care. It has to be paid for by cash, insurance or taxes.

We have excellent health care in my state. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is a huge conglomerate of doctors and hospitals. New treatments and cures are being found.

There are no obstacles to health care. You have to pay for what you get. That is the American way. Doctors charge too much, but Medicare and Medicaid have restrictive price schedules...thanks to government. So they have to make up their losses where they can. Sleazy lawyers drive up the costs of health care. Ask John Edwards.

No one in the US has given up on health care. Millions have been cured of heart disease by medications alone. Where have you been? Under a rock?

Answer 6

I hope never. I think you need to check out the poor health care that is given to country's that have national health coverage. What we need to do is elect a president , congress (etc) that will improve our economy so that people could afford health care. Have you noticed that most of the British people on TV are missing teeth....not the best dental care. I have a friend living in Copenhagen, she had blood work done and it took 3 weeks to get the results...(national health care). Do some googling and see how the National Care works in Canada. Our current health system is much better.

Answer 7

Lack of Imagination
Greed by MANY and frustration and apathy by others.

The cost of the Iraq war alone would of covered Universal Health Care for every man woman and child for the next 20 years. With no tax revenue.
We are the most powerful country in the free world and our people are suffering and dying because they don't have medical insurance or can't afford prescription medication.

And yet we keep electing officials who do nothing.
While Pharmaceutical lobbyist buy votes like penny candy.
It's a disgrace of the highest order.

Enough to make you sick...but don't do that unless you have Health Insurance.

Answer 8

Is the healthcare system broke? you bet. But where on god's green earth do you get the concept that healthcare should be free? Hello....someone has to pay for it. Want to know why it costs so much? Add up the ways...

First look in the mirror and all around. We are fat and we don't exercise. There are still idiots who smoke. Unhealthy people who got that way through their own means drive up the cost of care for all of us.

Second look in the mirror again, aided by the lawyers. "Get rich quick" "Blame someone else" mentality has driven up medical malpratice rates to the point that some doctors cant afford to practice anymore, hospitals spend millions in it as well.

Third the govt. THeir reimbursment system of DRGs and medicare is unfair, unbalanced and has driven doctors to focus just on the areas that bring them more money. THey then go into business for themselves and indulge in self referral. They send the money making patients to their owned hospitals and surgery centers, send the money losing patients to the OTHER hospitals (public, not for profit, etc.)....making those guys lose even more money. (Ps, even not for profits have to BREAK EVEN to stay in business.)

Pharmaceutical companies...don't get me started.

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So get off your butt, put down the chips and the remote control, don't stop at McDonalds to/from work, and quit smoking.

ANd recognize that there is no free lunch and no free healthcare.

Answer 9

You will never have "Free" healthcare,although you may eventually have a national healthcare plan. However plan to pay about 15% higher taxes if you are middle class,In fact I assure you the middle class will pay more in additional taxes than they now pay for health care plans,in order to make up the difference for those who will pay nothing extra. So get ready to have European tax rates in addition to their style of healthcare,60% tax rate sound good anyone?

AD

Answer 10

Free healthcare may not be all its cracked up to be. It may be better to wait for it and ensure all the kinks are worked out than to rush it and have a poorly run medical system. In my country we have free healthcare for our citizens and I still prefer to go to private hospitals when i can

Answer 11

There are pros and cons to universal health care. But the crap a lot of people are spilling about the ridiculous tax raise we will have to pass to fund it is crazy. I read a article the other day that said the money we have spent in Iraq and Afghanistan could have funded universal heath care for twenty years. How about all the free money we give to other countries to take care of their citizens. Take that money and fund it.