Right, America’s healthcare system is more expensive, delivers worse outcomes, and is less efficient than any other wealthy country. It’s more capitalist, and less socialist. The solution? Capitalism!
Don’t be really, really, really stupid.
A century and a half of the greatest sustained evidence base in the history of the human race says you are talking through your fucking arse.
Sorry, I meant public healthcare options.
As an example, where I live there’s nearly universal healthcare access. As the waiting time can be quite long, I prefer to use private healthcare options. Recently I had to do sinus CT scan and paid about 60$ in a private clinic (that is actually organized as workers cooperative). In the US average cost of sinus CT scan is about 525$ with 5,200$ maximum price. According to OECD, the average household net adjusted disposable income per capita in Poland is 2.3 times less than in US, so adjusting for that the procedure should cost about 140$, not 525$.
The US health care system is less capitalist because there are fewer opportunities for capitalists to provide competitive services. This is because the delivery of services is more heavily regulated by a variety of public and private organisations. These include, but are not limited to, insurance companies, HMOs, civil courts and regulators at state and federal levels.
In most countries with socialised health care it is still possible for doctors to set up shop wherever they want and undercut their competition. Just like carpenters in fact.
What you are describing isn’t socialism. The US Healthcare industry is neither worker owned (except in rare cases), or run for the benefit of the population of the USA.
Maybe crony capitalism is the term you are looking for.
Maybe so but the root cause of its problems is in over regulation.
I’ll disagree with you about the root cause, while still admitting that the US health industry is very badly regulated, and I think I can also agree with you that what we have in the USA now is actually far worse than a free market.
But for health care - as for many other services - a well regulated national tax-funded infrastructure would be far more efficient and effective than a laissez-faire capitalist model. This has been demonstrated in other countries I have visited.
There’s a whole lotta third world in this first world nation.
Just sayin’.
Hell, it was demonstrated here post war up to the 70’s Neo-liberal ascent,
Upon reading the headline, my first thought exactly.
Money is wonderful, for the living.
Where is Sidney in New York? Is New York the only state that has no hospitals and no State clinics? How were the girlfriend and her kids insured and vaccinated? And why didn’t he sign up for healthcare under Obamacare? Did he have the money to pay the tax penalty for not having it?
This is top shelf satire right there.
Do they have lotto in the US? It is usually referred to as the lottery. Lotto is European (Australian?). This article is so full of holes.
Yeah though Cuba is a small country and doesn’t have the scaling issues which would impact a monolithic government funded health system in the US. My perspective as an Australian is that US people focus too much on the socialistic characteristics of foreign health systems, and not enough on other factors such as limiting legal liabilities, to keep a lid on insurance costs.
Legal costs form a very small part of why US healthcare is so insanely expensive.
The overwhelming bulk of the problem is caused by profit extraction. The insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the private hospital corporations…they’re all hugely profitable, far beyond any reasonable standard.
Yeah and profit opportunities like that exist because the infrastructure (laws, regulations, etc) create barriers which inhibit competition. Why aren’t other companies moving in on those markets, and sharing in the profits?
Short answer: because capitalism is a scam.
Slightly longer: cartels, cronyism, corruption, regulatory capture. And the massive advantage given by incumbency in capital-intensive industries.
