Originally Posted by Troxx
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I'm a health care professional (MD) working for the US military. I spent the last 3 years of my life abroad in Germany and got to see first hand just how well a centralized health care system actually works. It works ... amazingly well. The closest thing we have to it is what US military members and their dependents have.
In Germany, our landlord's brother lived in the adjacent house. He worked road construction his whole life. He brought home a reasonable living income, had his health care always covered by the government, and retired with a pension and health care that will cover him for the rest of his life. He had disposable income to drink at the pub with his friends, go on vacation (30+ paid days per year), and buy all the things in life he needed to be comfortable. This is true for every working German citizen. Do they pay much higher % taxes? Yes, much higher taxes. Tax % there also appropriately escalates with your earned income, but they have no shortage (believe me) of rich people screaming down the Autobahn in their Ferraris. Is their quality of life higher than the average American? Yes. Do they worry about health care, debilitating injuries, illnesses their kids have, whether or not they will be able to retire? No.
Whether Americans like it or not, a well thought out 'socialist' (everyone works, pays their taxes relative to their income, and reaps mutual societal benefits) approach to 'everyone wins' does work. It really does. It's sad that the party (republicans) whose average 'member' most vehemently oppose this fail to grasp this. I used to be a republican - no more. I'm an atheist, and have unfortunately learned that I don't really have a place in a part that panders to the religious evangelical right.
Republicans are a weird mix of the ultra-wealthy (a minority but very politically powerful sub-group) and the blue collar predominantly white middle to lower-middle class. Most republicans spend a lot more on private healthcare or miss out on a lot of wages and retirement pension in having their paychecks curtailed for the preferred non-centralized health care. They are worried about the poor and people 'free-loading' without realizing that the poor already have their asses covered with Medicaid.
The privatized health care industry is the REASON why health care costs in the US are exponentially higher than every other westernized rich nation on this planet. Yet the average American who works hard has worse health care that covers less in terms of benefits than the average European. For all the hate on 'socialism' and the fear that leeches will steal your hard earned dollars funding their health care ... you are getting far less for YOUR money than every other citizen of every other well-to-do nation on this planet. Health insurance companies make profit. They are your middle men. They pocket the difference. Imagine taking them out of the equation? Yeah taxes are higher but you don't have to pay for health insurance anymore. Your employers don't have to pay for your health plans. That money, if employers are properly regulated, goes back into your pocket.
Look. I don't really have a vested interest in this other than the fact that I want you and your kids to have the same health benefits I and my children have. Your tax dollars pay my salary and pay for my healthcare, my wife's health care, and my kids' health care. I pay nothing for that health care. You do. Your tax dollars do ... and those tax dollars are already covering the cost of health care for the poor and the old. The people left out in the cold from those benefits that already exist? The working lower-middle class and up that make too much money to qualify for medicaid. The only health care not already covered is for everyone else .. and those people are paying exorbitant amounts of surplus money to line the pockets of the private health insurance industry.
I do medicine for a living (Teppler doesn't - he does Hierophant in seb for a living). Every day I take care of people and their health care needs. I see broken systems. I've seen systems that works, and a single payer system that uses tax dollars to cover everyone is a lot more cost effective, efficient, and is more fair to everyone. We in our nation are already paying for poor people's health care (Medicaid). It's the predominantly white middle, lower-middle, and upper middle class that are currently paying a disproportionately huge amount of their income to have less-than-adequate health care. Cut out the middle-men (insurance companies) and we can all win.
Right now we spend more on health care than any other nation - but because of the inefficiencies in our system our health care quality per capita is abysmal.
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Food for thought: The nation on this planet with the highest rated quality of life, standard of living, access to health care, and functional/disposable is not the US. When rated on the above things, the US does not even hit the top 10. Those nations that do have higher tax rates ... but it is counterbalanced with significantly better health care systems, pension programs, family maternity/paternity leave ... you name it. The citizens of those nations are living great lives. Us? Us in the US? Well, we pay more money for practically everything. Our rich get richer. Our middle class stagnates. Our poor get poorer. Wage gaps between those at the top and those in the middle keep getting further and further apart.
I personally would like to pay more in taxes so we in the US can experience a similar standard quality of life. I already pay more in taxes than most of you probably do, and I would not for one minute mind paying a hell of a lot more in taxes if it meant every man, woman, and child in America could have consistent access to health care, high quality education, and not have to worry about whether or not they can afford to live past the age they can reasonably continue working.
I really do not know what else to say ...
(other than that it is fucking funny to ready Teppler's posts)
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02-14-2019, 09:48 PM
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