Do you support universal health care?

[NDN]

No. I do think that there needs to be more health coverage. But I'm extremely concerned with the costs of a hypothetical single-payer or social pay system. Let's face it, even if we cut costs in half that would still mean close to 1 trillion in healthcare costs -- paid for by the government through far higher taxes. The measures the government would take to reduce those costs would almost surely result in even less personal choice, increased waiting times, etc. There needs to be a comprehensive health care plan, but I really don't think that making everyone get government paid for health care is desirable.

[NDN]

Knight:

We have multiple alternatives. We can expand medicare and medicaid, then require compulsory health insurance for everyone else (which sounds good in theory but would be complicated). We could create a government subsidized health insurance company and have people voluntarily join that. The list goes on and on.

The single payer health insurance plan a lot of dems trot out sounds nice in theory, but looking at the costs I just don't think it would be smart.

[NDN]

Well no, not necessarily. Overall healthcare costs would probably go down with less people rushing to the ER and driving up premiums. However, it would still result in HUGE increases in government spending and tax increases. Remember, we're talking about national health insurance here. That means the government would be paying for far more people than it does now.

As PJ O'Rourke once said "If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free."

[NDN]

True but euro countries manage it without the kind of problems we have. Then again unlike many liberals I'm willing to see reality on taxes/spending...

That doesn't mean it will work here though. For starters, the size and population of the United States is far greater than almost any of them. And I agree, a lot of people on both sides are unwilling to actually pay for the policies they advocate. That's why the national debt is so obscenely high, although admittedly most of that is the neo-cons' fault (see Reagan; W. Bush).

[NDN]

However, it would still result in HUGE increases in government spending and tax increases.

Then how come government's in country's that have some form of "universal" health care spend less money (as a %) than the U.S does? Hey, even Canada (which has an incredibly inefficient system) spends less!

Part of that is that the US currently requires hospitals treat people regardless of ability to pay, thus driving up costs when the uninsured inevitably get hurt or sick. Other countries obviously do not do this and have strict price controls. However, equal access is not much better at all in practice in countries like the UK or Canada, in fact in some respects it's gotten worse over the years (despite repeated government pledges to remedy it). And countries with fully socialized medicine are prone to a variety of ills such as shortages (sometimes caused by rationing), increased waiting times, etc. as I mentioned earlier.

[NDN]

However, it would still result in HUGE increases in government spending and tax increases.

Then how come government's in country's that have some form of "universal" health care spend less money (as a %) than the U.S does? Hey, even Canada (which has an incredibly inefficient system) spends less!

In the United States, government at its various levels now accounts for roughly 45% of health care spending. (And by "now", I mean 2004, the latest year for which OECD data are available. In 2004, of course, the government provided little prescription drug coverage, which means that currently, government coverage is even higher.) The United States spends about 15.3% of total GDP on healthcare. That means that government spending on health care consumes about 7.7% of GDP. Canada spends 9.9% of GDP on healthcare. France spends 10.5% of GDP. What is the magic route by which we are going to cover all the people not currently covered by government insurance for 2.2-2.8% of GDP?

American health spending is higher because of a variety of factors, including greater quality of medicine, absence of rationing (which is rampant in the UK and Canada), greater consumer information and choice, and higher incidence of lifestyle derived health-care problems.

Excellent points Bono. Let's not forget that the US leads the world in medical innovations still, and has high patient satisfaction for exactly the reasons you stated.