Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: uc50ic4more
It's always just been there, like fire departments, schools and police, and it's never cost me a dime.
Who pays for it then?
Oh, good gravy, man! No one - *no one* is dumb enough to believe that this is free, and that medical professionals are paid from, and medical facilities sustained by, a magic fairy money tree. NO ONE. Come on, fellas: I meant - and you KNOW I meant - it didn't cost me a dime *out of my pocket at the time of my medical incident(s)*. Meaning that I needed not to concern myself over insurance or money when I became ill or injured.
Honestly, I would love to see some un-bias-buggered numbers that balance quality-of-care with cost; comparing the bloated, inefficient system here with the profit-driven model there. Surprises may abound.
Americans always seem to concern yourselves over money first; and secondly, you all seem to want to make certain that the minimal amount of your own accumulated wealth goes to help anyone else. Wealth wealth wealth. Me me me. This, of course, is your choice, and that choice comes with immense rewards and equally deep consequences.
Also, you folks seem to be missing the point really, really badly. Medical care as a social service is NOT about efficiency or negative rights. It is about providing a service that, as a society, is deemed required to call ourselves a civilized society. We don't deny folks police protection, nor fire departments; and the treatment of illness and injury, in the opinions of most people (at least outside the U.S.) is just one of those things that should not be an "if" for folks. I am a dyed-in-wool Libertarian, and am as anti-government as any of you; and make most of you who consider yourselves suspicious of government look like Castro. I don't like, respect or trust government, but treating the sick and suffering is a matter of humanity.
To thicken the plot just a bit - and I do not know if this has yet been brought up in this thread - Our system here is primed for abuse; both malicious, fraudulent abuse and the kind of casual, taken-for-granted abuse that involves folks using the system when it is obviously not warranted.