Socialized Health Care in the USA

[kandrathe]

Really, not believing in capitalism is probably the weirdest accusation thrown yet. I come from the right wing of the Canadian political spectrum, and I'm quite happy to see medical procedures that respond to free-market pressures released to the free market. That's exactly what happens, by the way. It's that much of health care doesn't respond to free market incentives.

Which, is my approach to resolving the problem. Why is health care too expensive? Perhaps there is not enough supply. So, offer to pay for student loans for those professions in short supply if they agree to practice medicine at XYZ hospital for four years. Perhaps, due to tort, doctors order more tests than are needed. Fix tort. Maybe there are not enough hospitals per capita, or that they are being misused. So in essence, fix the things that are broken, rather than move paying for the broken system to another broken system, the US federal government. What we don't need is another huge sucking money hole in our budget.

And you continue to make your argument that "if some illnesses are not catastrophic, they all aren't".

No, I'm not making that argument. I'm asserting that health care is too expensive. They average hospital stay of 5 days, costs about $25,000. But, there are many factors, one of which is the frivolous use of health care because it is perceived to be inexpensive or free. How did the human race ever make it this far without knowing what is an emergency and what is not? I propose that yes, we educate 300 million people on the basics of first aid, and health care. In fact, lets make that a mandatory class in the 9th grade.