| >The United States does actually have government health care programs for low income and disable people (Medicare, covers approximately 23% of the US population) and for elderly (Medicaid, covers people 65 and over). We also have government subsidies for lower income people (up to 400% of the federal poverty level) who need to buy their own health care plans through the marketplace. Another way of putting your point is that 91% of Americans have medical insurance, whether through their employers, or government programs like Medicare/Medicaid. That's compared to 95-97% in other developed countries because there are always some people who fall through cracks, like (say) a Canadian who doesn't get a new provincial health care card after moving, or a German who neglects to buy into a new sickness fund after changing careers. The only such systems with actual 100% (or as close to it as possible) coverage is something like the UK NHS, which does not have a requirement to show a membership card (because, well, there isn't one) to receive treatment. PS - Obamacare did not greatly expand coverage. 85% of Americans had medical insurance pre-Obamacare. >Again, it’s not perfect and I agree that improvements are necessary, but the reality of the situation is a bit different than many of the reductionist comments you read online. Indeed. There are things I'd certainly improve about the US system—decoupling primary healthcare coverage from employment, for one—but the way people online lie^H^H^Hexaggerate it's not surprising that so many non-Americans believe that every American is one hangnail away from bankruptcy. Speaking of which, another common lie^H^H^Hmisrepresentation about Americans and health care: Only 4% of US bankruptcies are because of medical bills (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/0...). A tipoff that [insert large percentage here] of bankruptcies aren't actually because of medical costs is that only 6% of bankruptcies by those without health insurance are because of that cause. The biggest cause of bankruptcies is lack of income, which health insurance doesn't affect. |