|
Aswad -> RE: Doing Away With Employer Healthcare (11/5/2012 8:29:44 PM)
|
~fr~
Universal healthcare, almost universally, more than pays for itself in the long run.
May I suggest the skeptics have a look at what this shit can be like, for less than you currently spend (link)?
An American viewer would get a fairly accurate impression of Norway from that video, although it covers other issues than healthcare, too; and we're doing quite fine "despite" (indeed, because of, going by the numbers) things like universal healthcare and extensive welfare. It is the case that our surplus has grown faster than the US deficit, per capita. The fact of the matter is, it works, but it takes some time to implement things. Universal healthcare is a key enabler of such improvements in society.
If the USA would implement something similar, step by step, that would become a pretty damn utopian place, without some of the drawbacks we have up here (cultural issues not present in the USA). And to those worried about people growing soft or lax, that doesn't seem to happen in any of the countries that have stuck with the Nordic model. Indeed, most people do whatever they can to avoid welfare, and crime isn't the least bit appealing for the vast majority of citizens. Note that we spend 30% more per capita on welfare to achieve what you see in that clip, and far less per capita on police, prisons, courts, healthcare and the like, so it's just a shuffling of money in the budgets to get more for less, not a question of throwing more money at people.
Incidentally, the system works fine in the other Nordic countries, which lack our substantial oil income.
Also, our beurocracy has always been huge by any metric, even before we introduced these things, so you'd spend less to achieve the same.
IWYW,
— Aswad.
|
|
|
|
