The pros and cons for free health care?

Answer 1

Pros for the Canadian system:

I just got an appointment with my doctor for next week. No problems there. I have been treated extremely well and recieve prompt health service in my doctor's office. I am anemic and I get a B12 shot at the lab in my doctor's office anytime I want (in the morning on weekdays). Blood tests don't come with a bill and a fight with an insurance company about who is going to pay for it. I've had two sets of blood tests done at my doctor's office in the last few months and I'm satisfied with the time and service.

If you need something done now, it gets done now. No question. Your health coverage never gets canceled, even if you have an expensive disease like cancer. We have medication for our elderly with a maximum fee of $6.00 per month, per medication. Our old people don't have to work at Wal-Mart to pay for life-saving medications, equipment, or oxygen.

Doctors are not capped as to how much money they can make. They have their own offices and do not work for the government. What they do is bill the province where they work for the services they provide to their patients. All normal life-maintaining procedures are covered by provincial coverage. If you want breast implants, you will have to pay for that yourself.

As a Respiratory Therapist, I have a job where I make $28/hour and a full-time job. I will be unionized and won't have to pay some private health insurance company to rob me for their profits.

Cons of the Canadian system:

We have a doctor shortage. More people in Canada have a primary care physician than do people in the US, but not everyone has a doctor. When I move to another province soon, I will be using a walk-in clinic to get health care. I have already talked to them, and my weekly B12 shot won't be a problem. After I am established, I will find a doctor.

Sometimes people have to wait for specific procedures. We ship people to other districts or the US sometimes, in order for our people getting treatment. THEY DO GET TREATMENT! This would be for things like hip surgery, knee surgery, etc... that are non-life threatening. If you need something done now to save your life, it will be done promptly.

Pros of the US system:

If you have lots of money, you can buy all the health care that you want right now. You can get anything you want done now, kicking other people out of line. If you're a selfish, inhuman, bully, you will like being able to shove people out of line so that you can get what you want first.

The US system is very good if you work for a private health insurance company. Last year, a CEO of an insurance company made $1 billion in bonuses. Who pays for this? The regular working people paying their exorbitant health insurance rates so their family will have a safety net.

Cons of the US system:

If you're poor, a student, old, etc.. not able to pay for private health insurance, you may not have any health coverage at all.

People with cancer can and I know of examples where people are fired from their jobs and lose their health insurance. They cost too much for their company and get thrown out like they are garbage.

Students are usually poor and don't have health insurance. I was a student in the US for 5 years. I was sick for 2 of those years. I was perfectly healthy when I went to the US. I came back with Asthma and Anemia. I was diagnosed with asthma in my doctor's office in Pennsylvania. That visit cost $60. I was diagnosed with anemia when I returned to Canada, as my breathing problems where not just related to asthma.

Think about how many people on Yahoo! Answers are asking questions about their health problems and are doing so because they can't afford to go to the doctor. The US really should be ashamed of itself. How can a supposedly first world country treat it's people like this?

Old people in the US get screwed by Medicare all the time. How would you manage if you were 85 years old, in a wheel chair, using oxygen, paying over $1000/month for oxygen, medication, and equipment. Do you think you could manage that for long? How about $6000/month for a nursing home? If you pee yourself, that's $600/month extra. How long do you think you could afford to live in a nursing home, if you develop a reason to be there? Medicare part D was just a way to take old people to the cleaners for their medication. Once you cost your Part D plan more than $3,600, you are on your own until you pay out of pocket for thousands of dollars of medication.

I know that I will be trashed, but I have tried it both ways. I have actual experience with Universal health care and the US health care system. So, when other people post their opinions based on what US health insurance propaganda has indoctrinated them to believe universal health coverage is, please disregard them.

Universal health care has it's problems, but we all have health care. Everyone in Canada can go to the hospital and not lose their home. We can afford to get sick. People in the US can't do that. If they are not working, they are not paying their health insurance fees.

Answer 2

There is no such thing as -free- health care. What we're arguing about is how we pay for it.

The Canadian plan makes a certain level of health care a right of citizenship, just as in the US police protection and fire protection are seen as rights of citizenship. The advantage is that everyone is in the same insurance pool so insurance companies don't have the incentive to cherry-pick only healthy people. Health care gets a lot cheaper because there are much lower 'administrative' expenses, including the profits of the insurance companies and the costs they incur in trying to exclude people.

I have spent quite some time in Canada and whenever I talk to a Canadian I ask him/her how he likes the health system. I have never heard stories of long lines or unavailable care. There is sometimes a wait for services that are not urgent, but important things get handled right away. Canadians are generally healthier than Americans and live longer. Their 'outcomes' are as good or better than ours, despite them paying about half what we pay, as a percentage of GNP.

Canadians who can afford to pay for their own services often come to the US to get waited on right away for nonessential services. We do have the best system for those who can afford to pay for their own care.

The disadvantage of their system is that doctors don't make as much (though they still live pretty well!) The whole health insurance industry is smaller and less profitable, and pharmaceutical companies have to negotiate prices so they don't make the enormous profits they do here.

Answer 3

There is no such thing as free health care-it would be government subsidized which means your tax dollars. If you look at the socialized systems of Europe and Canada you realize that long waits for care are common. That is even for serious, life threatening conditions. No choices of Dr or hospital- but everyone gets to use that system. Many who can afford it come here to be treated. In fact the Cleveland Clinic has opened a facility in Canada to accomodate those who can pay for private care. We need some kind of reform but a government run system would be a disaster. Many people who can afford health ins do not get it-it is expensive and they would rather spend the money on a boat or a new car and let the sysem pay their bills.

Answer 4

You know, I really have to laugh at people that b*tch about the money that drug companies make. What is it that you think funds research for new drugs? Yes my friends, it that hated word, profit. Why is it that most new drugs are developed by companies that are either American or do a lot of business in the US? Because they make profits and then have the funding to study new drugs. If you are happy never solving most of the unsolved diseases out there, then make it so drug companies can earn a profit anymore. Tell all the red dress ladies that you dont care about solving Breast Cancer, AIDS victims to suck it up, etc, because you dont want the drug companies to make a buck. Anyway. The pro of free health care is that its free (at the door). The negative is that you pay way more in taxes, and it takes a very long time to get access to that free healthcare. Just look at all the examples of people that have gotten worse or died while they wait for treatment elsewhere. Also, Doctors tend to be much harder to come by, as they make far less money, so less people want to become one. And lastly, you generally end up with a two tiered system again- one where poor/regular people who rely on the "free" system have to wait forever to be seen, and then the upperclass and rich people pay private doctors a fee to be seen, and they receive immediate care at a much higher standard.

Answer 5

There is NO SUCH THING as "free" health care.

What you're talking about is government run health care. Do you like how the government runs other areas? Personally, I'm not a big fan.

As a government employee doctor, I'd have as much incentive to work as every other government employee (think: DMV). Is that who you want taking care of YOU?

If and when it happens, a private system will pop up so quick it'll make your head spin.

Answer 6

It violates the economic law of supply and demand. Therefore, it will be a failure - a very expensive failure.

Why not free food? Free clothing? Free shelter? These are more important 'necessities' than health care.

Think it through. Do the math. Nothing is free - nothing.

Answer 7

We'll spin out of control into COMMUNISM!!!! OH NOOES!

No not really. Basically its only bad for drug companies. They won't be able to sell at 200% profit. Doctors may also be paid less (and technically be government employees, I guess), but they will still live comfortably. Insurance companies would also be almost totally out of the picture. It would temporarily damage our economy, but I think it's worth it to start the change.

Socialized health care wouldn't be free, but it'd be dam close.

Answer 8

Well, just elaborate on your question, what do you need to know about health care? Medicine, nutrition or medical procedures that doctors perform? If you can be a little more detailed with your question, it can be answered.

Answer 9

In Canada, free health care means LONG, LONG lineups in the emergency waiting room, because people come to emerg even when they or their babies have the sniffles or a bruise on their elbow.

And taxes are way higher, to pay for people who smoke and drink themselves into hospital.

Answer 10

The pro - you don;t have to pay at the door.

The con - it's not free.