Coach Power'T's Thread for Knowledge Absorption.

[TGHusker]

I asked a similar question in a different thread as Coach T - glad he started this thread. So related: Here was my question:

What are the Advantages of a one payer system over a truly free market solution to health care? And Visa Versa - market solution over a one payer? My thinking is that is the ultimate debate long term- are we going to solve this healthcare issue via a govt system or the market?

Not necessarily the free market answers, and I completely know that Vox is viewed as a liberal source, but this ironically just came up in my feed, and the article seems well written and easy (for simpletons like myself) to understand. Klein is typically pretty balanced.

i really don't know why the US has stayed away from the VAT. There was recently a great NPR story about that if anybody is interested.

I wonder wt the AmeriPlan mentioned if one would still need to buy supplemental plans like seniors need to do wt medicare to fill in missing coverage?

 

[TGHusker]

I asked a similar question in a different thread as Coach T - glad he started this thread. So related: Here was my question:

What are the Advantages of a one payer system over a truly free market solution to health care? And Visa Versa - market solution over a one payer? My thinking is that is the ultimate debate long term- are we going to solve this healthcare issue via a govt system or the market?

TGH.....

just my personal view point. Healthcare is something that is way way different than any other type of market. It's not like someone can choose to not participate in the market if they think it's too expensive or just not interested. It's a system that every one of us needs. I have also never had any "free market healthcare" advocate explain to me how everyone has access to healthcare in a purely free market system.

I'm typically a pro-business/pro-capitalist type person. However, I just don't see how healthcare can fall into that. If you have a heart attack and need heart surgery, are you going to go do research to decide what hospital is cheapest? If you need an MRI, do you research to figure out where it's cheapest? No, your Dr. says you need an MRI, he sends you to a different office to do it and it's done. You in turn get a bill 10x more expensive than if you would have gone to Germany to have it (including airfare) and nobody questions it because your insurance just pays it and figures it into your astronomical premiums you pay each month......along with a nice profit.

good points. By market driven - I was thinking of coverage across state boarders, tort reform, etc. Some of which is being discussed in the ACA repeal thread.

I'm beginning to see the need for a different way forward.

 

[zoogs]

Healthcare is something that is way way different than any other type of market. It's not like someone can choose to not participate in the market if they think it's too expensive or just not interested. It's a system that every one of us needs.

This is so well said. Those of us who are against "market-driven" solutions to healthcare aren't against the concept of markets or economics in the general. It's just that health care is a different beast. The entire question is whether or not everyone should get access, or whether it's some consumer luxury you choose or don't choose.

There's been a lot of discussion on the state borders idea floated around already so I'll defer to people who've shared more on that.

I think a basic, fair summary of all these "pro-market" -- allegedly -- alternatives is that they're shots at the concept of healthcare as a right, couched in whatever terms are least offensive. If that's a no go, then yeah, a different type of solution is needed. And while I'm quite open to different proposals, I feel like it's also fairly clear that single payer is the best one that we have collectively developed in modern society. It's just a question of when the particulars of U.S. special interests and political waves will allow us as a country to catch up in this area.

Our democracy moves slowly, and that can be a good thing in a lot of ways. It also means we'll take longer catching up.