If Universal health care is such a bad thing, why is it we are the only country without it?

Question

Our present system is a sham.

Answer 1

Ever notice how people who live in countries with universal health care and have money come to the United States for their big health problems?  If we had universal health care the quality of the health care would go down because the funding for research and facilities would go down.  And nothing is free.  the more "Free" things we get from the government the more money we pay out of our pocket for other things.  I'm not saying our healthcare system is perfect, but universal healthcare is not the answer.  

Answer 2

Capitalism has injected itself far too vigorously. I don't have a problem with our system only when our system makes it all but impossible to do what is absolutely necessary for the common man. This correlates quite nicely to life expectancy as well-gee, imagine that? I guess money really is more important than life itself.

Answer 3

all people in the world have a health care ,is excellent for the people to be protected,but the politician in USA are so corrupted by the drugs co.and the lobbies in the white house that do not l**k to loos all that money

Answer 4

It's obviously not a bad thing to have all of the people in a country covered for health care. Countries that now have universal health care may have a few complaints but I don't see any movements in the industrialized countries of Western Europe, Japan and Australia, for instance, to ditch it in favor of the mess of a health care system that we have here.  

Answer 5

All about the Money man.  Everybody else including places with more people have Universal Healthcare, but the Richest Nation on the Earth, cannot...Money makes the world go round at the end of the day it ain't about Black/White g*y/Straight, it all boils down to Money and how to generate more of it...Its a Shame!

Answer 6

Why do you think we are the only superpower left in the world. It's because we lead; we don't follow.

Answer 7

You best research the foreign health care fiasco, as more than not, many countries have found it is now TOO EXPENSIVE and does NOT work.  In fact they are looking at other ways for their health care.  Our Politicians before going down this Universal health care road, could do well to study and see what has happened in those countries (all of them I might add) where IT HAS FAILED BIG TIME.

Answer 8

You can't afford insurance and it is MY fault? I don't think so. I have insurance. If you can get everyone insurance and not charge me more I'd be fine with that. Thing is YOU CAN'T. I don't have some $20 an hour job. I can't afford to pay 5 times more then what I pay. I can't afford an extra $100 a week. Based on my own insurance at work the family would be like $100 a week. Now since we have to cover all the people who DON'T have it I have to figure it will be closer to that then the single payer cost. I can't afford insurance at that cost. Oh good I'd be STUCK with that cost. Who cares if I can afford it or not. Who cares if the company can afford the extra costs. I work for a small company. They couldn't afford that much of a cost addition. I'm sure there are people who don't have insurance where I work. For the record I know there are. So should they have to add to THEIR costs to make up for people who can't afford, or won't get, insurance. Sure let's bankrupt some companies so that others have to incur MORE costs, since people will be out of work when some places close. That is just getting in to the cost side.

If it is so great why do other countries have TWO Health Care Systems. The ones for rich, and the ones for everyone. The rich can pay extra for better care. I've heard Canadians saying that they have people who go to private hospitals. Where do you think the best doctors are going to go? Where they get paid better. Just like I see people from Canada coming to the U.S. for Health-care. If our system is so bad why do other people come use it? We have some of the best hospitals in the World here in America. Part of the reason is because the hospitals recruit the best and pay them to get them from other hospitals.  

Answer 9

Because Government controlled health care SEEMS like a really good idea, on paper, and that made it very popular in the 20th Century. That is why it was adopted in so many countries...it was popular and seemed like a good idea at the time.

However the 20th Century also shows that like "Universal" (i.e. Government run) health care, many ideas that were popular in the 20th Century were in fact very poorly thought out and in the long run, very very bad ideas.  Amongst the once highly popular ideas of the 20th Century that didn't work out quite as well as planned were Communism, Stalinisim, Fascism and  The Thousand Year Reich, Maoism and the Great Leap Forward, Anti-Semitisim, nuclear weapons, firebombing major cities (Rotterdam, London, Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo) , terrorism, (still quite popular in some parts of the Middle East), collective farming, car bombing, do it yourself pharmacology (i.e. drugs), crystal meth, disco, cocaine, ABBA, network television, the AMC Pacer, the AMC Gremlin, stopping production on muscle cars, "soft rock", "glam rock", the Carter Administration, bell bottom jeans long hair and open shirts on men, wage and price controls, leasure suits, Betamax tapes, 8-track tapes, Kevin Costner movies, fighting to keep schools from being integrated,  investing in anything that had ".com" in the corporate name, Broadway plays about g*y men coming out, forced bussing as a way to try to integrate schools, 100% polyester clothes, communes, EST, Nehru Jackets, the "stubble look" for men, being among the first to get the new Microsoft upgrade, thinking that being a White House Intern would look good on your resume, odd numbered Star Trek movies, thalidomide, and catching a ride home with Ted Kennedy.

All of these SEEMED like good ideas at the time...that's why they were popular. Then once people actually had to deal with these things, and the consequences that followed, there was a lot of "buyers remorse" as people learned that things didn't quite live up to the hype, just didn't work,  or discovered better ways to do things.

Government run health care, like the other ideas l listed above, has been tried and it doesn't work as well as advertised. It is an idea who's time has come, and gone.  

Answer 10

  It looks like you should have done some research before posting this question, as we are not the only country without it, not by a long shot.

  But, aside from this fact, the main reason is our system of government, that is the two party system, where no matter what one party proposes, the other for strictly political reasons, will oppose it.

  This includes about everything that might be good for the nation, they only care about who runs it and who gets the credit or blame.

  Look at  any suggestion that goes up for vote, and it most always goes along party lines.

  Now, the only government program that has seemed to work is social security, and they're doing their level best to break it and s***w it up, so , do you want this band of mis-fits in control of your health, or health care?

Answer 11

We're using our money to pay off the national debt.

Answer 12

Our current system has problems, but that doesn't make it a sham.

People get the care the need. There are not people dying in the streets. And if you use an objective test (not WHO or UN), we have the best care in the world.

Universal health care is a problem because it is unconstitutional and against the principles of individual liberty and freedom. Furthermore, it is inefficient and immoral. Using tax dollars to pay for a smoker's cancer, or a drinker's liver, or an athlete's broken leg, or a w***e's STDs is immoral any way you look at it.

And if you are in favor of the single payer system, then why  not single-payer housing, or single-payer food, or single-payer water, or single-payer clothing, or single-payer cars? Why not just give the government 100% of your income and let them provide you with everything if you really believe in a single-payer system?

In 1776 we where the only "civilized" country without a monarchy. Should we have stayed a monarchy since that's what all the other "civilized" countries were doing?

Here's an idea: if you have an idea for a better system, implement it in the private sector. If it really is better, then it will work and you will make money. Don't get the government involved because that takes away my FREEDOM. What if I don't want to participate? The government puts a gun in my face and forces me to. Please tell me how that is not evil and the very definition of government tyranny that our forefathers fought so hard to get rid of.

Answer 13

Because a lot of Americans refuse to believe that we are not the greatest at everything! When truth be told, we're not the greatest at a lot of things anymore!! Dont get me wrong, I love our country just as much as the next person...I just dont like our government

Answer 14

Lobbyist groups.

Answer 15

I agree. It was better 20 years ago or so I remember. I think the "owners", the ones that have the power and control don't want it because it means less for them. I think it can be reduced to that. It's unconscionablele in a country as rich as ours to have people suffering or possibly lose everything due to an illness or disease. It is saying who lives and who dies. Our government and the people that control it are in essence playing God with people's lives.