Simple enough premise for discussion; which system is inherently better than the other in the terms of provided the best healthcare to as many people of a nation as possible without ruining their lives. I'll come up with some pros and cons to help kick off discussion as I think it's a far more nuanced topic than most give it credit for. Public/Single Payer +overall cheaper +provides more ubiquitous coverage -typically sees long wait times -involves paying for other people/higher taxes Private +Typically provides better care +Typically sees much shorter wait times -Good quality care is out of reach for those who cant afford it -Typically far more expensive If you have an idea for a system you think would be better than both of these, feel free to share!
Private health insurance. My job is to take care of me and mine. I refuse to be bled dry paying punitive taxes for inferior health care.
Private. As a former Military member I am on Public Health insurance (My VA benafits). If US gov can't keep the VA functioning properly then I fear the day the government in put in charge of it all.
Agreed. The VA system is directly responsible for the deaths of both of my maternal grandparents, and I've heard horror stories from relatives who deal with the VA regularly. The government-run VHA is charged with the care of 8.9 million American veterans. And it's not up to the task. Now imagine trying to expand that to cover all 325 million American citizens. To me, it sounds like a recipe for disaster. Don't get me wrong. I know the current system has a lot of flaws. And I'd sure like to see them fixed. But as it is now, it's the best option we've got.
Conversely, one of the biggest causes of the VA nightmare is that it's nigh criminally underfunded and has a huge lack of proper oversight. And while you can use the VA as an argument against, you can also use Medicaid and Medicare, which are very successful, as a pro argument
Fair enough, but remember that Medicare and Medicaid only cover the bare minimum. In many cases, patients are denied necessary care because some government official arbitrarily decided what people do or don't need.
You also don't see people dying in droves from lack of healthcare in countries that have single-payer systems in place (many of them have higher life expectancies than the United States does). Even dirt poor Cuba comes very close to the USA in life expectancy in spite of that country spending far less on healthcare than the US does (not to mention inevitable bureaucratic distortions, bungling, etc. that are inherent to Stalinism). Can anyone forget how Michael Moore had to bring Ground Zero firefighters to Cuba because they could not get affordable coverage in the USA? Having insurance over here in the USA also does not necessarily constitute affordable coverage. Some people, myself included (I work in a union shop) have outstanding access to healthcare, and pay very little for it. Others with good coverage sometimes have to shell out a pretty penny for the premiums, especially for family coverage (I've met people who pay almost $1000 per month for such a family premium). There's also no shortage of healthcare insurance plans with coverage so poor that it can cost $150 to $200+ just for an office visit. And let us not forget about those with deductibles (sometimes as high as $10,000) so high that unless they have a serious ailment, the insurance company will provide very little, if any, coverage. If my memory serves me correctly, medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy over here in the USA. Vis-à-vis other industrialized countries, we typically spend more on healthcare and get less out of it in the USA. It's high time we repeal "Obamacare" (a crony capitalist "reform" that requires one to buy a broken product from the private insurers) and replace it with a single-payer system. The so-called arguments against it constitute propaganda from the private insurance industry and its right-wing political allies (people who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo in the USA). You deal with chicanery and outright distortions here. We have death panels over here in the United States. They are the private insurance companies.
