We Love Our NHS

[kingandy]

Yeah that private healthcare option scam they have going in the States sounds like a great idea.

Government-funded healthcare? Won't somebody think of the poor insurance companies?

Comments

[kingandy]

"Hospitals need money. Doctors and nurses don't work for free, and when they're running on a government stipend that's being paid from a government already massively in debt, you're going to need to raise your prices to cover your ends. Understand?"

Not really. Are you saying the heathcare reform involves paying the hospitals less for things, rather than making the same payments from a government fund? I don't think I was aware of that.

Anyhow, my original point was that the current system sucks, on account of it will kick people to the kerb and watch them die if they can't pay, so I'm glad we agree on that.

We Love Our NHS

[zombie-all-star.livejournal.com]

I may be missing some basic maths here.
Citizen A is taxed amount X to pay for government subsidy of health care.
Citizen A also spends amount Y on private health care.
Citizen A stops paying Amount Y and instead relies on government subsidized health care.
Which is higher? Amount X or amount Y?
If X is greater than Y, then Citizen A has been screwed. If Y is greater than X, then Citizen A is getting a better deal.

Is it worth pointing out that some european / scandanavian countries tax their populace by around 50%, and then churn the money back into healthcare, education, science, the arts and welfare.
Those countries are doing really well.

The problem that i see is how the tax dollar is spent. Our politicians have been known to piss it up the wall, as have yours. The government using tax dollar to pay for something its citizenry needs is good. I suspect you will require some form of healthcare in your life. Wouldn't it be great if it were free?

Re: We Love Our NHS

[zombie-all-star.livejournal.com]

Apart from Scandinavia, where the standard of living is exceptionally high, they nations are stable and their economies in the sweet spot.

Whereas this open market idea generates a massive gap between the haves and have nots, socialism has, at its core, the basic idea that you give the people below you a helping hand up, not step on them so you can get higher.

Re: We Love Our NHS

[samharber.livejournal.com]

Lower prices = cheapest solution for business at expense of patient.

[samharber.livejournal.com]

I want government to have NOTHING to do with medicine. NOTHING. Government has proven itself to be a fuckup in everything.
So who is going to check that medicines actually work?
Are you happy for a return of snake oil salesmen and psychic healing? It's the free market way after all. These people have the right to sell you their medicine, and if someone dares to say it doesn't work, they'll sue you. In London!
Or if you do have a respectable doctor who can treat you in a scientific manner, what happens then?
"Hi. I've got this tumour in my bowel. It's a fairly simple operation to remove it."
"Oh dear. That's potentially life threatening. It will cost $50,000 dollars"
"But that's ridiculous - it's a simple operation. You can do it in an hour!"
"Actually it's $50,100 now. The longer it takes the more lethal it is. The more lethal it is, the more desperate you are to have it cured. The more desperate you are, the more you'll pay to have it cured."
"But that's ridiculous!"
"$50,200 now. I hate to have to do this to you, but my hands are tied by the free market."