American health care?

Question

my question to all is why do you have to pay for healthcare when we in australia get it for free, is see many of your politicians go on and on about a "communist system" in which all doctors are paid the same, and paid less.

This is not the case here in australia, the doctors still are paid $145 per patient appointment, more for specialists and plastic surgeons.

How do you feel about having to pay for something that should be free? " a healthy population is a happy polulation, who pay more taxes, and live longer".

ok first of all obviously there is a government parrot in our midst as no one could possibly beleive that a health care system benefits from insurance companies involvement.

some of you claim to not want the government to regulate your healthcare, personally i would prefer to know my doctor has been sanctioned by the government to perform the surgery on me or my family.

some of you seem to be scared of the government, lets not forget the government is there to SERVE you you voted for them (except in the instance of G W).

You claim your "free market" encourages drug companies, but realistically it is the money they make from over charging that drives them, for my astma medication i pay $2.50, a price check in america shows the regular price at or around $20.00.

Yes i can certainly see how your system is oh so much better than ours!

Personally i am ashamed to share the same webspace as someone who beleives a person who has made a mistake by taking drugs or has been put into a position where prositution is the only option should suffer because they (the writer) does not want to pay $5-10 at tax time.

I would prefer to pay $10 and see those who are less fortunate be healthy than to watch thousands of people die from simple infections.

The option to pay for private health insurance here is a personal one with many drawbacks and positives, yes we have long waiting lists for say explorative surgery, but our health care system benefits from having a government that is not corrupt.

We (the australian people) pay a "medicare" levy so that the strain on our government resources is limited and our government CAN afford the other necessities like education and public works.

I also find it ammusing americans are scared of tax considering you pay tax on a cup of coffee, so G W can goto war and "protect the peace" by means of "pre-emptive strikes" on countries that do not even have a military so to speak.

I note Pearl Harbour is known to all americans as a "tragedy", yet to the japanese this was a pre-emptive strike (hit them before they hit us)

Personally I think if you want someone to disarm thier nuclear weapons one should do the same.

Cold war - america builds nuclear reactors after WW2 using german technology, and then creates weapons of mass destruction, Russia does not like america having such a thing and builds its own defences, and so on and so forth.

I wonder if South Korea said to G W you must disarm, or we will invade you, what he would do exactly?

after all south korea would just be ensuring those weapons were not used against them.

but that is off topic,

If your gov can spend 500 billion on war, why not put it to healthcare

Answer 1

Education, Police,Army, are goverment responsabilities, and this isn't socislism.
All Europa has UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE .-include England- Are England socialist ?. ISRAEL also.
Please see "SICKO" the movie of Michael Moore, learn more and see where are we going. Somtehing like Bangldesh ... ?

Answer 2

There are many answers about why Americans pay for healthcare. The fundamental idea is that in a capitalist system, people are driven to make as much money as they can. It is therefore assumed that a doctor who is really good can charge more money than a doctor who isnt as good. This would cause the doctors to keep trying to get better and better in order to be able to make even more money.

Americans also have an extreme fear of taxation. To put it quite simply, Americans pay the lowest taxed of any stable country in the world (countries at war don't count), so they can't afford a national health care system because the government is spending the money on a great number of other things. The government actually spends tons more money than it brings in every year, so completely rewriting the health care system is not exactly an easy option either.

Finally, there is the insurance industry, a multi-billion dollar industry. They are some of the most vocal speakers in American politics, so they would be outraged by any system that would practically shut them down.

Answer 3

One of the reasons the US claims that healthcare should not be institutionalized is that it would stop the innovations in research that a free market encourages.

Of course that is hogwash because the Universities get lots of funding from the government and pharmacutical companies get tax breaks.

The healthcare would not be free since taxes pay for it, so I would like healthcare provided by the government.

US investors and corporations could care less about the general population.

The people who say the wait is less in a free market are wrong. I've had to wait over a month to see doctors. And the costs are outrageous. The out-of-pocket expenses are going up, as are the premiums.

Answer 4

I don't know Australia's system but if it's like Canada's free system, there are MAJOR downsides.
1. You have long waiting lists to see specialists when we in the US have nearly instant access.
2. There's a "brain-drain" where doctors leave the socialist system and come to a place where they can earn more by excelling- these smarter proffesionals come here to the US.
3. Your country has the money to spend on universal health care at the detriment of other government functions whereas the US must defend the free world once in a while so spends a ton of money to protect places like Canada or maybe stop the Japanese from invading Australia (refering to WW2).

Answer 5

1) so many different groups have stakes in healthcare, from insurance companies to investors and they would probably have to be bought out

2) the goverment already pays for about 25% of our population's healthcare (the poor and the elderly) and adding the rest of our population (most of which has private insurance) would cost another $2-3 trillion and we are already over our heads in debt and continue to run the tab up by over $500 billion per year

3) quality tends to suffer when our government runs stuff

i would like to see free preventitive healthcare. 1 in 3 americans is overweight or obese, which is ridiculous. and obesity is a major cause of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and about everything else. its estimated about half of healthcare expenditures are on treatment of disease or complications that are preventable by lifestyle changes. itd be nice if more americans actually took responsibility for themselves, ate better, lost weight, quit smoking, etc. then healthcare would be affordable. but the average person is too lazy, stupid, and/or irresponsible of themselves to do these kinds of things

libra: especially with drugs, the vast majority of new medications comes from the private sector not universities

Answer 6

I'm an American in Australia and while I'm enjoying my time here, I'm not so impressed with the health system. Doctor's offices look like untidy homes. Public hospitals are full and have long waits. And I know the Aussie government encourages people with high incomes to purchase private insurance (which isn't so free, is it?). So your question is invalid. Particularly when you hear about health care troubles in rural Australia and/or aboriginal communities.

Better question. How do we ensure equal access to quality health care that everyone can afford?

Answer 7

There is a problem with that. Your health care is not free. Every time you pay your incredible amount of taxes you pay for health care.

Health care is NOT a right guaranteed by our constitution.

America is a free market.

Ask yourself this. Why should your or your children pay for a crack addict who whored out their body and have aids? Why should you pay for their health care?

Why should you pay for health care of others if you lived a healthy life and they smoked and have lung cancer?

Why should you pay for other's health care if you eat right and exercise and somebody else chowed down at the buffet and was 500lbs has diabetes and is a slob?

Freedom exists by the individual being responsible for the individuals self. That being said,
1) I do not have health insurance because I can't afford it.
2) I save what I can for health care.
3) I am willing to accept my fate before I accept the government taxing somebody else for me.

Freedom is more valuable than life.

Live free or die!

http://www.ronpaul2008.com

Answer 8

Healthcare is not free anywhere.

You pay taxes, and the government pays the doctor out of that money. You have much less control over your healthcare than we do here, even though our system is not perfect and needs some overhauling.

Putting the Government in charge is not the answer.

Answer 9

It's not Free...you pay for it, and here in America we have the best research and development in the world. There are always people who complain, but even the poor here live well compared to the rest of the planet.

Answer 10

Clearly you supposed "United Statesian well being care" no longer "American", America just like Europe is a CONTINENT with 37 American countries. When you assert "American" referring most effective to United Statesians you gallantly push aside over 70% of America and over seven-hundred hundreds of thousands Americans. Would you adore it if seven-hundred million non-Uninted Statesian Americans check with Europeans after we talk of Germans? They are finally probably the most robust European country.

Answer 11

Why do you think health care should be free? Besides, nothing is "free." Here, in America, many people don't like the idea of the government running and regulating our health care. It is a socialist institution that would do more harm than good.