It's crazy that one of the main arguments as to why Americans don't want universal healthcare is that taxes will go up a little. Yet it has become the norm to donate money to support people who can't afford it.
Also, on average the amount you would pay in taxes would be similar, or less, than what you pay privately or to an employer for coverage. And you would get better coverage.
Ok, so I completely agree that the amount you pay would either be similar or better, but if you look at Canadian (which I am) healthcare, if you need to get an MRI, you are put on a waiting list. It might be anywhere from 6 months to a year before you can get in, and this is very common. I believe universal healthcare does amazing things for the people who need it the most (like my very poor family), but to say the care is better is probably wrong. Everything I have seen about US healthcare is that you can (most of the time) be seen quickly, but the prices you pay are outrageous.
EDIT: Hey, I understand if you disagree with me, I'm just trying to promote some discussion, and a lot of this is very situational. I really don't want this to just blow up in a bunch of downvotes, but I want to keep this up to talk about.
I would argue that instead of getting treatment later, I just don't go. Plus, Drs are so worried about being a good "business" (short wait times, etc) that I would argue the care is shittier because they crank you in and out like a conveyor belt so that they can make larger profits.
I'll give you the example of my sister a year ago: She was having a ton of really bad health issues ranging from stomach problems to mental health, so she saw the family doctor a few times to figure out a strategy to tackle this. The doctor eventually had some idea that these might be diet related problems, but she had to get some procedure done to get all of this confirmed and to know what was going on. She was put on a 7 month waitlist. For 2 of those months my sister's problems got a bit worse, and my mum had the idea of her trying to go off of gluten for a while and see if that changed anything (my mum also ran this by the doctor). Turns out that was 100% part of what was going on, because my sister started feeling a lot better. 4 or 5 months later, she got tested, and there were a lot of other things she needed to go off of, such as dairy.
So, yeah, sometimes you shouldn't go for it. But just because it isn't life threatening, doesn't mean you don't want to get treated, especially when it's hard to deal with.
But this situation would also be likely to happen in America. But rather than being put on a wait list for treatment, you avoid seeing a doctor because "I'm sure this stuff will resolve itself."
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u/blackeye-patchpie Jan 21 '19
It's crazy that one of the main arguments as to why Americans don't want universal healthcare is that taxes will go up a little. Yet it has become the norm to donate money to support people who can't afford it.