Nobody can (legally) take your life from you. That doesn't mean that we, the taxpayers, should be forced to extend it.
Who says that is what we are paying for? Most of that money is for stuff like Viagra & anti-depressants. Indeed it is, and as history has shown the only answer to this is competition - not government mandated pricing.
Say what? My wife had an outpatient surgical procedure at the Lake. Scheduled for noon, we had to be there at 7. Registered and gave our insurance info, then sat in the waiting room till 12:30. Been to the ER lately? Stepfather was there this weekend, passing blood (he's on an anti clotting drug), sat in the ER waiting room for 2.5 hours. Ended up needing 5 pints of blood. We wait in line.
Yes, and they also make huge corporate profits after expenses! Why do we have to pay more than any other country for what is essentially mediocre health care?
Our lines are nothing compared to other countries. I got hurt and had to get chest x-rays, within 2 hours I was in & out. That would've taken weeks in any other country.
The data I linked to says so. Got a source for this rash claim? I think you are misinformed. Do you imagine that depression is an imaginary health problem?
The data you linked says that we spend money on healthcare. It doesn't say anything about what areas of healthcare. Would we expect infant mortality rates to drop from spending money on Viagra? No. Thus my point. I can guarantee that America spends more on prescription drugs than any other country. We can debate how necessary these drugs are, but will come to no agreement or conclusion. The point is that the mass amount of money we spend on these drugs skews data to make it appear we get less for our buck, when in fact America just has a much larger portion of health care spending dedicated to discretionary products.
This is a more pragmatic remark and may be true, but you really haven't shown any corroborating data. I suspect it doesn't account for the huge difference in spending. We are not the only industrialized country that buys viagra and gets cosmetic surgery. There is still something very skewed in American costs versus international ones.
The typical US person pays more because of the cost shift that occurs in our country. And this is directly proportiate to the un-insured population that our govt/us takes care of. For example if a person is uninsured and goes to a hospital they cannot be turned away. If they have no money to pay then who gets stuck with the bill. The hospital. Now who do they pass this cost along to? The people that have insurance. Thus driving up cost. The same examples are for Medicare/Medicaid (not in all instances of course). But most people refer to these plans as the GOLD plan. If I am eligible for these plans and get my services for free what is my incentive to actually pay into the system. If you for a second think the govt. is getting a better rate on anything healthcare related you are in denial. The solution is simple but politicall challenged. Like I said before healthcare is not a right. If you don't participate into the system then you shouldn't be allowed to play. Most people cry home to mama because they think this is "inhumane" which is a fallacy. Making everyone else pay for someone else is humane. What if it is those extra dollars that everyone else is paying for which keep them from pursueing their own happiness whatever that is. Now that is INHUMANE. 2 peole walk into McDonalds. 1 orders and pays and gets their food. The other orders and doesn't pay, they don't get their food. A hospital is no different. Unless of course it is a charity hospital run off of private donations or church.
Show me some evidence to support this. Medicare is not free, it pays 80%. Medicare bids out many services competitively and does get better rates. The charity hospitals are paid for by tax dollars and you are already paying for caring for the uninsured who now pay nothing. Shifting these folks from charity hospitals to health insurance, where they owe a co-payment gets them off the total dole and into the realm where they must assume more responsibility.
