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Originally Posted by tzwien
That's how a lot of the world works. When people want "free" stuff, everyone pays for it through taxes. For example, instead of just buying your own healthcare for cheaper than you're paying now in taxes+insurance, you're paying taxes into a large pool for everyone to use, whether they paid into it or not.
But I don't give a crap about inner workings of the system. All I really care about is that if I need to go to a doctor I can and it won't bankrupt me. I can do that in Canada while people in the USA can't.
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But to make it worse, when things are guaranteed "free" through taxes, the rates can keep going up because people are forced to pay taxes and have no say in the matter. This is why anything that is publicly funded through taxes is inefficient. There is no competition and there is no positive incentive to produce better, cheaper products.
So please explain why it's the wonderful US system where costs are spiraling out of control and the socialized systems where it's not? Like the article I poasted said, an MRI in Japan costs $98, in the USA it's $1500. If the market-based approach was better, shouldn't it be the other way around?
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But people love things they think are free! That's why it's not unrealistic to think free laptops, cellphones, TVs, etc. could happen in the future. You'll just have to pay more for them while innovation and quality cease to improve.
I love it how you compare getting treatment for your kid's stomach infection or cancer to getting a free cell phone. With one I have my child's life in the balance and the other an easy means to play fruit ninja. Very analogous situation there.
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So it's all fine and dandy if you're life busto and are literally getting things for free, but the rest of society is being dragged down by the government because of all the free things people want. It's also a good way to busto the nation, as seen in the present. When you promise people free things and the tax pool is dry, debt accumulates.
But the tax pool isn't dry. Taxes are at their lowest point since like 1950. Meanwhile 40,000 people a year are dying because they lack health care coverage, all because a few ideologues are scared to let the rates revert back to where they were under that communist Ronald Reagan. It's fairly disgusting.
The actual reality is that when it comes to this issue the right is as usual full of sh*t. The US has screwed up health care not because it has a market-based system, and not because it's socialized, but because it has BOTH. I mean if you're Native or a vet, you have government provided health care, and if you're over 65 or destitute you have Medicare and Medicaid, which is kind of like the Canadian system. Also factor in that there are guarantees that ER's can't turn away sick people when they come in for acute injuries and then private insurance companies with all kinds of coverage loopholes and conditions and all you have is a hodgepodge clusterf**k.
So now someone comes along who wants to reform the system with a sensible plan that would solve a lot of the problems, and you and your buddies on talk radio an in the GOP oppose it on ideological grounds saying that you're against "government intervention" or "socialism" or whatever nonsense. So I say fine, be against it, but how about also being against it and speaking out against the VA Medical service, the Native system, and Medicare and Medicaid? Why not be consistent just one goddamn time?
Oh wait, I know why: Because if the GOP were out there standing true to their so-called values and beating an anti-Medicare/anti VA drum they'd never win any elections, would they?