Penny

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

<Snipped quote by Penny>

I know you are just stripping posts of all nuance in order to get in a jab at your ideological enemies and beat up a few strawmen but I actually think it could be done if we did it state by state. The UK has a lower GDP per capital than Tennessee and they have a national healthcare system, after all.

@Kratesis

Ok? So we agree that a universal (in the sense that all people would be covered) healthcare system is possible? Great, like I said I'm on board. Imagine the efficiency of scale you could get with 300 million people....

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Also all costs will be quoted in number of F-35s.

A CBC will now be priced at 0.00000012 F-35s

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@POOHEAD189

What you really need to do is call it the Biological Readiness Initiative and get it classified under the Department of Defense. That way we can stealthily make people healthy with the aid of the sacred defense budget.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Call it "Thoughts and Prayers"

@POOHEAD189

... mind blown ...

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

do exactly like Australia, Canada, France, Sweden, Denmark and Germany and have different plans for different areas with their own challenges, resources and values rather than trying to create one super-plan that addresses every region successfully.

@Kratesis

So cover everyone with mandated government healthcare with flexible systems of delivery? I'm on board.

We can even call it something other than universal healthcare if that will make people feel better.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Also if you have an esoteric or undiagnosed illness, come to America. Put in one call to Mass general and the whole country swings into action!

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

<Snipped quote by Penny>

By that logic there is no difference between Somalia and Sweden because both countries face the challenges of murders and homelessness to a lesser or greater degrees.

@Kratesis

Is America Somalia in this analogy? Every country faces those challenges, as you say, to greater and lesser degrees. is America really so much less able to deal with them then Australia, or Canada, or France, or Sweden, or Denmark, or Germany, or ......

I'm not suggesting that America dosen't face challenges in implementing some version of universal healthcare, just that I don't think that they are as insuperable as people claim.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

The quality of care in America is second to none assuming you can get it without being literally bankrupted.

The problems are with the insurance system, the lack of a government backstop and the impact it has on pre-critical care. If you show up at my ER we will treat you regardless of insurance, but half the time the time you wouldn't be there if you had regular access to a GP. Similarly you aren't likely to engage in necessary follow up therapy if doing so will literally bankrupt you and so your condition worsens until you end up back in the ER. At that point we treat your critical issues and send you back out to repeat the cycle again. In the mean time all that care is basically done for free, which means to make ends meet we have to essentially overcharge people with private insurance, which leads to raised premiums which leads to less companies offering quality (or any) insurance, which leads to more uninsured people showing up at the ER, which starts the whole cycle again.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

@Kratesis

My point being that all countries with universal healthcare systems face these challenges to a greater or lesser extent. I know the current administration doesn't exactly inspire confidence but you can do it! I believe in you USA! The idea that the greatest superpower in the history of the world cant confront the horrors of regional diversity in order to provide healthcare to its citizens is ludicrous.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

<Snipped quote by Penny>

I'm willing to bet they were also smaller.

@mdk

Yes. Also all other countries are completely homogeneous with zero regional diversity. It is known.

The US is very large and very diverse (meaning geopolitically -- population distribution, regional income, infrastructure, etc). The policies that work in New York are different than the policies that work in New Mexico. I don't think universal healthcare will work at the federal level in the US, and I base that on my experiences with TriCare and the VA system. I think that most, if not all, of the patients operating in either or both of those federal healthcare systems will back me up on that.

Put simply -- this is not a conversation worth having in the US until the federal government can demonstrate competency with the VA. Until that happens, universal healthcare is delusional.

@mdk

I've heard very little good about the VA. I looked into working for them once but turns out I'm a filthy foreigner. Are you in favor of dissolving it completely?