I would gladly pay higher taxes for universal healthcare?

Question

It seems a major argument for people who say universal healthcare is a bad idea is that taxes would be higher. Obviously the money has to come from somewhere but currently Even if you have health coverage, you pay into it every paycheck and then have deductables and not everything is covered and you can be denied for big expenses - dont you think not paying all this would cancel out the tax raise?

Answer 1

Maybe, but it would cancel out you getting to see a physican in a timely manner. Sure, it's 'free,' but every time someone gets the sniffles, they rush out to the doc. Two weeks after you bust your ankle, you get to see someone. Universal healthcare won't work with our society of coddling every little sneeze and sniffle.

Lines would be down the street.

Answer 2

No, I work hard for my money and do not want to be denied the right to cover my family as I see fit. I certainly do NOT want the government involved in my families health!

The government already has a government owned health care system, the VA hospitals. Do you seriously think everyone should be forced into that level of care?

The US government does not run anything all that well. Everything is far more expensive and full of corruption then in the private sector.

Universal Health care also denies a huge portion of our population from free enterprise, if doctors pay is regulated who is going to be inspired to be the best at anything?

Universal Health care only works in socialist societies, and there not that well. The US is capitalist, to change that would have a terrible effect on our society.

Answer 3

Why on earth would you want Universal healthcare? The US Government is causing enough problems as it is. Look at how FEMA handled the Hurricane Katrina issue. I live in the South, but I certainly DO NOT want anything to do with FEMA handling my residential issues, let alone healthcare. You need to research the current Canadian healthcare system. There are people dying everyday in Canada because they are waiting months and months to see a doctor. Here in America, we don't have to wait more than a week to two weeks if that to see a doctor, and if you get a diagnosis of Cancer or Heart attack issues, etc., they take care of you immediately. Do some research first before you start looking to vote something like that into law that affects the rest of us!

Answer 4

Would you really now? And no, not having to pay the copays wouldn't come close to making up the extra taxes that would be needed.

A bigger problem is - do you really want the government making the decisions on your healthcare? Have to wait months for certain procedures, or not be eligible for them at all because you are "too old", as happens in many countries with government-controlled healthcare?

Years ago I visited relatives in the UK. One of them said "when the new healthcare plan came in, we thought it was really great - but it hasn't turned out that way".

Answer 5

Not really. It's been proven time and again that business can run more efficiently than government when it comes to the provisioning of goods and services.

Countries that have instituted socialized medicine have come to regret the decision. Costs have run rampant and the population have come to expect it as an entitlement. Routine health care tends to be OK, but people who need expensive treatments such as coronary bypasses or organ transplants often die waiting for one of the relatively few slots allocated for those procedures each year.

The portion of taxes allocated for the National Health Service in the UK are considerably higher per-capita than than the per-capita cost of group health insurance in the US, yet the quality and availability of care in the US is considerably better than that in the UK especially for expensive non-life-saving treatments.

We do need universal access to healthcare in the US, not socialized medicine. Mandatory health insurance systems, like is being tested in MA right now, may well be the solution. Costs are lower for all but the super-fit as everyone is placed in the same risk pool regardless of their health. That is what the original concept was behind insurance in the first place -- shared risk -- but insurers have been allowed to pick the "low hanging fruit" for so many years they tend to view that as a "corporate entitlement" more than anything else.

We also need to jack up certain employers who tend to use Medicaid as their "health care plan" for lower-paid part-time workers. Yeah, that refers to Wal-Mart though they're not the only offenders there.

Answer 6

No. Not when there is no audit or accountability for the civil servants that manage and operate the programs administration. For example, the ridiculous bonuses the higher-ups at Walter Reed received that was brought out in the press last week. As for good health care in Canada, my friends that are canadian come here for medical care because they'd die waiting to see a doctor. And it is appropriate to provide Medicare/Medicaid only to those that are the poorest or can demonstrate actual need for assistance. All of the able bodied can make their contribution and not attempt to freeload.

Answer 7

You are an idiot. Don't you realize what a large percentage of the actual cost of your current health care that your employer pays? And do you really think that "universal health care" would take good care of you or would your body be maintained like the run-down I-35 bridge? Don't put the government in charge of things that are your own responsibility.

Answer 8

Government run universal health CARE is bad, but universal health INSURANCE is good. We already have universal health insurance in the U.S. It is called Medicare and it works great. All we need to do is extend it to all people, not just those 65 and older.

Answer 9

I doubt that it would be any cheaper. I'll end up paying for health care for everyone who doesn't bother working for a living. The US is already handing out too many freebees as it is. People need to learn to get jobs and purchase everything on their own!

Answer 10

The government already takes way too much of my money which I work very hard for. The worst way to spend a dollar is to give it to the government. Besides name one benefit program that the government has run and run well.