Do you support universal health care?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Of course

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

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?

I'd always assumed that you are far too intelligent to make an assumption quite that stupid. You are perfectly well aware that the American health industry is comically inefficient (and quite deliberately so), even when compared to the Canadian system.

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The main reason why it's so much higher is (beyond some very inefficient government programmes) because the health industry screws people financially (as is inevitable in a system dominated by private healthcare; there is (and I've made this point endlessly) no incentive for things to be different). And to assert that there is no "rationing" is wrong. Healthcare is, of course, a finate resource and has to be (and is) rationed under any system. In America it's rationed with money.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

About 10% of health insurance premiums go to administrative costs. This greater than in most other countries, but it not a huge amount compared to, say, Germany with 5.7%,

10% is more than 5.7%. Was that a typo? If so, I'm not exactly a great fan of the German healthcare system either.

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And you continue to completely miss my point.

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...if you have enough money.

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...if you have enough money.

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...but only because the rationing is done on the basis of ability to pay, rather than on need.

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No, they're working to make a profit for their shareholders.

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Only people who make enough money not to be hurt by being screwed financially. Which is, of course, fine by me.

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I've never thought that simply extending the existing government programmes to the rest of the population would be a good idea; after all, the problem with them isn't that they are government programmes but that they are badly designed government programmes.

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Perfectly equal, no. (Much) more equal than what exists in the States right now? Yes.

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I somehow doubt that everyone in Canada is made miserable by their healthcare system...

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Distorting reality to fit in with your view of the world is a very Marxist trait you know.

NICE certainly isn't perfect (and neither is the NHS; or any other healthcare system), but it's problems come more from an obsession with spending as little money as possible (other things as well (including extreme scepticism about the safety of new drugs) but that's the main thing) rather than anything more sinister. And, with a few silly exceptions, it doesn't actually do a bad job.

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How much do you know about the NHS, beyond the usual ultra-free-market-propaganda/tabloid-scare-stories?

I realise that personal anecdotes are far from perfect, but I've spent a great deal of the past decade in hospital (several different hospitals I might add) and I've never experienced anything that could be sanely thought of as "sub-optimal standards of care".