Is socialized medicine a good idea for the United States?

Question

What 2008 presidential candidate has the best idea to make US healthcare better?

Answer 1

yes.

The HMOs did this to themselves. All of the red tape and corruption put them in this position. Being denied healthcare due to "pre-existing conditions" and needing to get procedures "pre-approved" is downright sick and discrimnatory. It's getting so bad that if you drive a motorcycle, your HMO can drop you because you are "high risk" for injury. Nevermind the fact that with high gas prices and global warming, bikers are doing the environment a favor by driving a fuel efficient vehicle. Slap in the face.

I hope it does become universal. The sick fat cat CEOs have no one to blame but themselves.

Answer 2

Canada does it fine. The only down side is that they taake money away from you if you do certain things like smoke or drink. it would make weed legal but they take away things, like an incentive program by your parents and I'm sick of parents. I'm not sure what side I support much like you.

Answer 3

Probably not.  It seems really good in theory, but it essentially boils down to how the system is implemented.

(For instance, Cuba has a socialized medicine system which is amongst the cheapest and best in the world, whereas many others perform poorly and were the US to get universal health care it would probably do even worse).

The central problem with the US health care system is that it's a for profit system, where every single party is motivated to charge the most they can for every step.  As such it's very common for one procedure to exist which effectively cures an ailment and costs very little, while another does not cure the problem well and costs an astronomical ammount, and then in turn have the expensive one become mainstreamed and the cheap one ridiculed.

Many of the "health care reform" people have either been funded or tricked by the medicial industry to claim that the problem with health care is "there's not enough funding," and to fix it we just need a bit more money.  But time and time again, once they get an increased revenue, service doesn't improve and they just raise their rates.  (also it's not well known, but the profits currently made by medical insurance companies more than suffices to pay for all the medicial expenses of non covered people in the US).

So, if the US were to say adopt the plan Hillary Clinton put forward (everyone pays a 2nd income tax to pay for universal health care), if we were to analogize this problem to a fire, it would be like pouring gasoline on it.  The industry gets a captive audience, and vastly increased funding.

On the otherhand if the health care system were to be restructured (and the government say footed the bill, so they have a strong motivation to pick cheap and effective therapies....like in Cuba), it would dramatically improve the health care system.  Unfortunately, from how I've seen the entire debate on health care framed this possibility hasn't even been mentioned.

Thus, if universal health care were to pass,

Those who already had medical insurance would get poorer service (long waits are just the start of it)

The medical industry would make a fortune (and I'd invest a lot of money there)

Every citizen would be forced to spend more on taxes.

Thus, in conclusion I believe "socializing medicine" is just a cop out that allows one to ignore the fact medicine in the US is structurally flawed.

Answer 4

No, it is a terrible idea.  Socialized medicine generally decreases the quality of health care, and VASTLY increases wait time.  I just read a study about how it takes many more weeks to see a specialist, or just get into a hospital, than it does here.  Also, countless Canadians come south across the border for serious health care.  Let's be honest - health care equipment is expensive! Countries with socialized health care also tend to have less than up-to-date equipment.  There are only a select few cases where socialized medicine is plausible - namely nations like Sweden.  The scandanavian nations have very small populations, large amounts of money through oil reserves in the North sea, and in many cases, a very controlled immigration policy.  We have enough economic and immigration problems as it is, and regardless of what some people might assume, those without health insurance are NOT turned away from getting the care they need in this country.  Aside from the legal (ie Constitutional) and moral (should we be FORCED to pay for other people's health care), the logistics of socialized health care are all wrong for this nation.

Answer 5

No!

I was born in the USA and now currently reside in NZ, where socialized medicine is practiced. First off, we are living in one of the highest taxed countries of the world (yes, even higher than the US) for the "benefit" of socialized medicine. Getting in to see a doctor, even for something fairly small, can be a hassle, let alone something major (God forbid!). We have friends here that have been living with certain health conditions for many years and it has taken that long before their doctor would even write them a referral to a specialist (yes, it requires a referral here), and THEN it takes MONTHS on a waiting list before they can even get in an appointment to SEE if the specialist can help them. The cost is very similar to your co-pays in the USA when you have insurance, although we have noticed that doctors and pharmacies are very inconsistent with pricing. We can take a script to one pharmacy and pay $30 and take the exact same script to another pharmacy and pay $5. There seems to be no rhyme, nor reason. I do think the USA's health care system could use some re-vamping, I do NOT think that socialized medicine is the way to go.

Answer 6

No.   If our medical system is so bad then why does everyone with a serious medical problem from around the world come to the states?   Because we have the best system in the world.  Could it be better of course.   But to think of the government running our health care system scares me.  Look how well they handled Hurricane Katrina