[conanbatt]

I am from the same country as the commenter: there is a free public system of healthcare. I'm not using it. There is private insurance as well: I'm not using it either. Im doing cash pay for visits and they cost 20U$S each.

The universal care works against my usage in the case of Argentina, but I can still handle myself privately without hassles. The problem in the US is NOT that it lacks a public option.

[jandrese]

Sure, healthcare can be super cheap as long as you stay healthy. What are you going to do if you get cancer? What if you break your leg in 5 places and need months of rehab? Just because you aren't sick now doesn't mean that healthcare is irrelevant.

[conanbatt]

I don't have specific statistics but in argentina the public hospitals that deal with cancer are decaying institutions and the people that I know have cancer use private insurance.

So didn't solve it either.

Im contesting the idea that public healthcare is what 1) lowers cost 2) guarantees good care