Also, having one of the most privatised and least regulated health care industries in the world, we also have one that is by far the most expensive, procedure for procedure, on the whole, or by any other measure. Going to be tough to blame that one on government. Blaming torts is another common tactic, but there's no industry more protected from suit than medicine. It's as tough to sue a doctor in the US as it is to sue a doctor in many "socialist" countries.
It's pretty easy to claim other countries have "cheaper" health care when many countries are socialized and the patient isn't paying for it, but in fact they really are, just through their taxes.
And whether you like it or not, legal problems cost a huge amount of money in our system. Why don't you ask any doctor how much he pays in insurance costs against these problems. I would bet you would be stunned.
My parents spent a few years of their life living in Scotland and dealt with the socialized healthcare system they have. The
ONLY good thing I will say about the health care there was that they took my 93 year old grandmother off half the drugs American doctors had put her on and this improved her mental acuity greatly.
The paperwork, the medical practices ... all were atrocious or second rate. Call an ambulance where my parents lived ....a panel truck with a cot is what it is. No resuscitation equipment.... noit heart monitoring equipment, nada.
Need to see a specialist? You're gonna wait for months.
Could go on.
Is our system perfect? Hardly. But Obama's "solution" will turn ours into what theirs is now.
As it is, our system is hardly the "least" regulated. Many of the problems surrounding the expense of health care insurance is a direct result of
being REGULATED. This is also a big problem on a state basis. In Connecticut, for example, healthcare insurance must pay for hair transplants.
Why? This is vanity and unnecessary .... and it raises the costs of insurance for all policyholders.
And examples like that abound. If insurance companies were freer to operate in interstate ways it would open up a lot of competition and that is the best palladium to high prices.