The Mexicans already get free health care. All cities have a hospital that is free depending on income. I see those hospitals full of immigrants. In terms of the Canadian system...the quality doesn't approach the US, whatever the cost may be. OldTrader
That's the trade off. Our system doesn't have as high a quality of service overall. It's spotty though, some locations and I believe some services have as high quality.
Look simple fact is, there are places where the stand of living is significantly higher than in the US. It may be hard to believe for some of you but they do exist. For example Norway.Whether on PPP or nominal basis its GDP per capita is higher. Would you be interested in what kind of health care system they run? Take a guess. Back to basics: If you believe that certain things are a right not a privilige then it naturally follows then things should go from there. If you believe education is a basic right (and every sane country does) how can health care not be? This is a divide and conquer approach. First health insurance companies do their best to f*ck everyone over in terms of cost (one example to be discussed later) then they convince you it is a luxury good that not everyone deserves. Then they use "red neck" values to convince that god forbid you would be subsidizing baby mommas in da hood or illegal mexicans and there you have it. Some real life examples of the dysfunction of US health care system (various parts). It is not a rare practice for doctors to try to overbill insurance companies knowing that they(insurance companies) will greatly discount that figure anyway and thus bring it to the originally desired number. I pay over $300/per month (payments are bimonthly actually) for a plan that was supposed to cost half of that. They took my deposit and then explained that you cannot pay monthly unless you have an automatic withdrawal arrangement therefore you have to pay bimonthly. Deposit does not cover the first month (in fact it is held on to like a rent deposit) Do you believe there is something wrong when a 24 year old college graduate non smoker non chronic disease man has to pay off a perpetual "car" that will only get more expensive and provide less and less coverage? Company is blue cross blue shileld btw. This does not pass the smell test. US healthcare is dysfunctional and it is the HMOs fault. Ultimately a country can have certain NATIONAL priorities(that trump individual priorities). Even on a local level there is something called eminent domain whereby a local government can confiscate your land provided it gives just compensation and the land is used for public benefit (there was a recent supreme court case where it was decided it could be done so for private benefit as well but) I don't care about profit possibilities of health care companies. Certain national interests can trump that. If instead of making somebody rich the money gets diverted to provide health care I am ok with that. Health care is a special industry by its very nature. US postal service exists not to gouge people but provide realiable mail(and package/document) delivery. Do you people get angry that an illegal mexican gets protection of a US ohio class submarine you paid for as a taxpayer? Bottom line is as follows: A)A healthy population is a logical national priority B)US market based solution health care is expensive as hell C)IF you cut out profit from an industry that fundamentally is not compatible with it (egalitarian industries can't be) health care will be cheaper D)those of you that oppose it are really tricked by an illusion of voluntary payment. You pay a tax on health care as it is, just not to government, but to HMOs. For an easy illustration of those principles go back to "market based" solutions to education that existed before mandatory public education. Education was expensive and was not widely available nor could it be. In economics terms, certain things are public goods and public goods are not efficiently distributed by the private sector.