Universal health coverage is different than universal healthcare but is used because sound so similar that it sometimes slip by. He does add single payer so at least he's keeping the door open for Medicare for All or other programs like that but he's also keeping the door open for whatever programs insurance companies think up.

Yeah, that's typical third way Dem-speak where they try to say something that sounds nice but doesn't actually force them to commit to anything.

ahh, i think you're right. i've been had.

this mother****er

thank you for telling these folks one of the reasons they should not want beto

F*ck off Nazi

I can't believe you guys no true leftisted Beto.

Is Universal Healthcare even viable in the USA . You would have to eliminate For profit hospitals. Good Luck with that. When as a CDN I see your surgical bills it is shocking what they charge per item. Sure differs to what is paid in Canada but our Hospitals are not for profit.

Medicare does just fine with our hospitals.

Kind of.

Medicare pays enough to keep the doors open, pay the staff and (cautiously) invest in new equipment. Medicaid pays markedly less (for the most part - it's state specific) but getting something is better than nothing.

So you cost shift from private insurance to cover your medicaid losses, and you can borrow money to build that new tower you need, or buy that new PET scanner for your oncology department which the banks will lend you because you have that sweet private insurance money coming in.

By about a 2-1 ratio, not-for-profit hospitals outnumber for profit operations - although the differences are (for me, anyway) sometimes hard to parse out.

Most hospitals would RAPIDLY go under if they were reimbursed at the current level of Medicare without private insurance $$ to balance Medicaid/nonpaying patients. Medicare for all kind of solves this, if you stipulate no further construction/technology/etc. Don't get me started on Medicare not being able to negotiate drug prices - you'll be able to tell we're serious about figuring out this crap when that is changed.

It's a swamp.

MM MD

At some point under nationalized health care the medical equipment companies are going to have to adjust to the new realities of the market aren't they? How much inflation is there in all costs associated with health care due to our ****ed up system?

Not surprisingly, it's complicated.

From the equipment companies point of view, I'd guess they'll just stop (or massivley cut) R & D budgets, and we'll just coast along the tech we now have. This might be OK - I don't know how much more utility there is in incrementally improving a lot of the tech for huge costs, anyway - we're already trapped in the CT area by scanners that are TOO sensitive, and pick up a lot of phantom crap that we don't really know what to do about.

Drugs/immunotherapy, not so much - there have been BIG changes, especially in cancer care. My brother died at 42 from a lung tumor that today could have been treated with meds that would have given him at least a 50/50 shot at long term survival. We're just starting to actually understand a lot about how cancer works (from what I can gather) - but it's REALLY expensive to sort this stuff out.

The huge elephant in the room is treatment for dementia - because if an actual treatment is ever found, it won't be cheap, and essentially EVERYONE will need it eventually. It's a hole with no bottom.....

MM MD

Long-term goal is to eliminate "profit" entirely so this is fine.

Yeah profit is like the whole problem, isn't it? I laugh every time one of these studies come out where they try to determine if variable X is THE SECRET REASON for higher costs in the U.S. Well, we controlled for everything else and it turns out (wait time, doctor quality, junk food, etc) isn't responsible!

No ****, dude. Might it be the bajillions of dollars that flow to the owners of medical companies? Maybe look into that.

Why would you need to eliminate For profit hospitals?

Australia has universal healthcare and for-profit hospitals, they're not incompatible.

Can confirm that the UK also has private hospitals.

Same for Canada. Not many, but they exist.

Private Hospitals? For Profit? Name one. We have some services that are privatized but a whole hospital? Not in Alberta

Arnprior Regional Health in the Ottawa Valley is one. There are a handful that were grandfathered in when the Private Hospitals Act was passed in Ontario.

Countries with universal health care would know they were providing adequate care for their people if private hospital didn't exist only because there wasn't sufficient demand for them.

When you have profitable private hospitals or people are leaving your country to get care. You suck at providing healthcare for your people.

Is this guy serious?

lol

Oh? Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Not sure what your point is. If you are claiming the United States health care system sucks, I thought that was a universal given.

Does it suck more or less than the system in the United Kingdom?