[GnarfGnarf]

There are three things a nation needs to accept about universal health care:

(1) It’s expensive (2) Everybody has to pay (3) The government’s gotta run it

[gosub100]

Computers and software used to be extremely expensive about 30 years ago, yet private industry advanced the state of the art and brought the prices down.

There seems to be very little talk about making medical education cheaper and more accessible. Why wouldn't it be cheaper if we had more MDs and nurses? What if we made it easier to become an MD ?

The insurance system is a cartel and they are greedy. However the regulations (upheld by the government) enable it.

[aerostable_slug]

We've done that to some extent via the legal enablement of nurse practitioner and physician assistant led care. Of course, largely speaking all they do is supervise the recording of patient metrics and prescribe drugs in label-consistent ways, but that often works out reasonably well for the patient. When the patient needs specialty care then the NP or PA simply punts them into the winds of referrals and insurance justifications.

I'm not sure there's any realistic way to enhance the availability of specialists. You can't 'stub' your way through providing the care of a skilled gastroenterologist by substitution with a NP, though PAs in specialty care are becoming common.

[Spooky23]

Because your congressman gets lots of donations from doctors and hospitals. Doctors like to drive fancy cars.

In places with Catholics, you usually get the bishops advocating for the local Catholic hospital system.

[satyrun]

Health care is so different though because the market doesn't work.

If you are facing death, no one wants the off brand, budget cancer treatment. No one is going to shop around for the best value cancer treatment.

If you have a heart attack, no one is going to call around for the best price on the ambulance.

It is like a luxury market. People shop around for the best doctor/treatment with no regard at all for the price.

So it is like complaining that a luxury service market is expensive.

The only way around this is a completely state run health care system that you have no choice.

[throwawayqqq11]

Without relgulation, the profit seekers would remain in power and the same applies to more medical staff.

The insurance system is a profit seeking institution, that functions as intended. Why dont you talk about that BURNING aspect?

[bluGill]

Government does not have to run it. Gokernment needs to ensure it is run well but there is no reason they have to run it.

[reactordev]

Oversight doesn’t work, look at the finance markets.

[gruez]

>The government’s gotta run it

But there are plenty of countries with functioning healthcare systems that are private? The Swiss, for instance. Moreover depending on what counts as "government’s gotta run it" (paying for it? administering it? actually providing care?) you can argue that the German or even Canadian systems aren't government run, at least to some degree.

[mike_d]

In the Swiss system the private insurance companies are required to be non-profits. The government sets the standard for care and coverage and all the companies can do is compete on price.

Basically what Obamacare was originally intended to be before they had to compromise to get it passed.

[vondur]

I've heard good things about the Dutch system of healthcare and that it may be adoptable to the US. I'd totally agree that healthcare corporations become non profit like Kaiser here in the US. They aren't perfect, but they seem to be better than the their for profit competitors.

[olddustytrail]

So why don't we see Republican Americans advocating to adopt the Swiss system which provides universal coverage at a lower per capita cost?

[vjvjvjvjghv]

(1) is not correct. The US spends more than other nation per capita on health care

(3) isn't correct either. It needs to be regulated in some way. Government doesn't have to run it. I think it should be treated more like a utility

[byryan]

Your first point doesn't mean that universal health care in the US would not be expensive. It definitely would, not that the USG couldn't afford it, but it wouldn't be cheap.

Agree with your second point.

[bradleyjg]

It’s not a matter of acceptance. We can’t accept the cost of anything consistently growing at a rate faster than GDP. That’s just math, not ethics or political choice theory or anything else. Health care cost growth is going to slow one way or the another.

[reactordev]

Watch what happens to the GDP if they don’t tackle the health care problem. You think it’s expensive now? Negotiating drug prices isn’t going to solve the problem. Having “health insurance” isn’t going to work when an AI decides whether your illness warrants saving you.

You all need to think about what’s going to happen to you when you can’t move anymore. Will you have enough money? Triple it. Maybe 6x it. Only the rich will be able to live healthy unless you’re diligent about your own health or strike it rich in an IPO.

[toomuchtodo]

But growth is also going to slow due to demographics, and this is unavoidable. Are we going to prioritize caring for humans? Or line goes up? Because line goes up is going to hit the demographic wall eventually.

https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-research/dependency-and-dep...

https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/spring/summer-2018/demogra...

https://www.cato.org/commentary/clear-eyed-look-our-demograp...

https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~jesusfv/Slides_London.pdf

[fnordpiglet]

It has more to do with demand than being anything. Demand for healthcare is highly inelastic. If the price of Pokémon’s grew faster than GDP consistently we would be fine. But if the price of a necessity for life does, we will not be fine.

This is why life necessities are often treated as a public responsibility. Health care is one of the few that is treated as a luxury.

[wredcoll]

What part of the cost of healthcare involves providing profits for middlemen?

[cowcity]

Americans are perfectly conditioned to instinctively and aggressively deny all three. :(

[dayjah]

Hey now. America is a broad spectrum of people — some of us are heretical and believe governments have a role in everyday life, some of us believe the opposite.

[tiahura]

This isn’t about health care. Please read the article.

[i80and]

Elder care and memory care are under the umbrella of healthcare.

That they're nonsensically broken out as a separate insurance category is intrinsically linked to the problems the article describes