Socialized / Universal Health Care in the US... Pros and Cons?

Socialized health care tends to lead to corporate waste. I will discuss the cons because I am sure there will be enough proponents to give the pros.

Our health care system needs to be helped, but going 180 degrees to a socialist system only bring about new problems. The problem is that it does not address all the abuses in our system. I believe we need to look at what doctors do to abuse the system like performing unnecessary procedures for money. Insurance companies forcing the doctors to only do certain procedures. The legal system that allows physicians to be sued too easily. Lastly the individual Americans who think that we deserve Ferrari health care at used Chevy prices. Americans already see the doctor more times a year than almost any other country. Japan is the only other country that sees the doctor more times on average.

I would suggest first having doctors post a sign with their price structure and what the procedures are for. Find a way to rate the procedures in order of need or importance.

Require every American to have health insurance the same way we must have auto insurance. People who cannot afford it will be subsidized. Also, raise the premiums to force individuals to use preventive measures and to stop going to the doctor every time they have a sniffle. Insurance should pay for serious illness, not the common cold. Americans do not need to see the doctor more than once or twice a year. Currently we are going to the doctor 7 times annually. This is a strain on health care.

Change tort laws to allow doctors to practice medicine. There should be tort to protect patients, but the current legal system allows for too many frivolous law suits. This cost is then passed on to you and me.

Here is a video on universal health care:

http://www.onthefencefilms.com/video/deadmeat/

Socialized and Universal Health Care systems can help reduce the waste in unnecessary use of health care resources. Few payers have more clout to demand better prices and can discourge unnecessary treatments provided by physicians which are fee-for-service. This, however, means people can be refused treatment, something that many Americans are absolutely against regardless of what the ailment really is.

Universal health care systems eliminate the problem of people with preexisting conditions not being able to find an insurer. But these costs end up being spread over the rest of the population.

In most universal systems funding is paid for by a governmental body through taxes. Many people are against paying higher taxes. They fail to realize, however, that they then have no out of pocket costs for healthcare. What happens is universal systems create solodarity, the healthy and wealthy subsidize the sick and poor. It takes a collective view of the population that healthcare is a right, not a luxury, in order for this to fly.

Waiting times are generally longer for socialized systems (note that I'm not saying universal systems, universal does not imply socialized). However, this comes from capitation of limited resources. If there is no control over the use of health care, costs get out of control. If a physician gets paid per service and is more interested in his pay check, or a patient can be treated immediately with the newest, most expensive treatment, the percentage of GDP spent on healthcare is never going to go down.

Many think that universal systems that have the healthy and wealthy subsidize the sick and poor promotes unhealthy behavior. On the flip-side, when people cannot avord insurance they do not seek treatment when things could be kept at a reasonalbe cost. Instead they wait until things are incredibly serious and go to the ER. One answer to the incentive for unhealthy behavior is to tax the heck out of it. Norway has extremely high taxes on alcohol and cigarrettes and these taxes fund a good chunk of their national healthcare system.

In short, no system is perfect. There are pros and cons for any set up. Many things could be improved in the US for our health care system that would not require a socialized or a universal system. Joe makes some great points. Reducing frivolous law suits would decrease costs tremendously; however, in the 'land of the lawsuit' if something goes wrong those affected want someone to be held accountable. Making all physicians salaried instead of fee-for-service, as well as restrictions on allowing very few qualified candidates into med school would increase some competition into a naturally monopolistic industry. But physicians aren't likely going to back something that brings their pay down.

And one quick moment on the soap box. Universal health care can be done in a privitized system. The Netherlands has universal coverage through private insurance companies, and they do it with public and private run health care facilities.

I'll do my best. Socialized health care has no positive role model - Canadians are constantly bemoaning their own system, for example. They have no choice about their doctors, if, say, they prefer either a more conservative or more aggressive means of medicine. The pros are, of course, that EVERYONE gets health care - so I'm more in favor of a "universally available at no charge" plan for all the basics, with a competitive market supplement for those who are capable of more - not to discourage the "poor" from getting cutting edge care, but to discourage the cutting edge from being blunted and failing us all. It's the same no win situation with public schools, btw.

Bad news, we'll end up with food and every day things costing almost twice as much and have even crappier medical care.... If we are going to make health care free, shouldn't food be free also? It too is a basic need? my point. The guy who needs the free health care will end up more hurt by the added sales taxes on basic needs than benefiting from the free health care...

The government can't even wipe their own *** let alone manage our healthcare.

The best solution in my mind is to privatize it like our home and auto insurance. This current system of getting it through your employer is a total farce and is not working.