re: #20 Obdicut

And apparently pretending I said that there are no inefficiencies in any government programs.

I did no such thing.

Onward. What makes you say Canada is an outlier?

Can you please, please, just stop and think about the market for health insurance, and think about what incentive that private health insurance companies have to keep a sick person on their rolls?

And what makes you believe government run health care has no incentives of it’s own that are not altruiistic?

The fifth largest employer in the world is Britain’s National Health Service. Pretty impressive given the population of 62 million.

Government jobs and government pensions are a pretty big incentive. Keeping sick people on the rolls applies to them as well.

Can you explain how an article detailing the difference in costs between tests done at an imaging center vs. a hospital is relevant to the conversation? Are you somehow under the impression that all hospitals are government-run, and all imaging centers are privately run?

No, not all hospitals are government run. Virtual all hospitals do get government money. Take away the bureaucratic infrastructure and the private clinics provide services more efficiently and cost effectively.

The hospitals negotiate with Medicare, for example and the government pays higher fees than they would if the patient went to a private provider- which is exactly why insurance companies love these services.

There are all kinds of similar examples.

…please include the other first-world countries with universal health care, instead of focusing on Canada specifically because it’s an outlier?

Sure. Both Britain and France have serious problems as well. In Britain, a mandate to reduce ER waiting time resulted in patients being kept in ambulances in the parking lot so as to reduce official waiti times in the ER.

There are plenty of other documented ills.

In France (as far better system in terms of quality of care) the cost of good care is high. Taxes just for medicalo care are 20 plus percent of earnings- that is before income taxes. Notwithstanding Hollande’s bravado, those kinds of numbers are not sustainable. Whatever they call it, austerity is on the Horizon.

I’m pointing out that you’re being a hyperoblic, ridiculous extremist

That really made mne laugh, given out exchange. Thank you for the comc relief.

Now, to repeat, I am all for healthcare reform. My concern remains funding and implementation.

Also, that the insurance lobby have effectivey guaranteed ACA’s failures is unacceptable. By not allowing free market competition the federal government will fight a battle they cannot win.