[oliwarner]

The waste is a byproduct of a many-layered insurance system forced between patient and provider. Everyone in the chain wants their pound of flesh. That problem will exist until the government provides a managed alternative and takes corporate profit out of healthcare.

And that all comes down to the appetite for social spending. It's patriotic to funnel $tn to arms suppliers but only a Commie would want health, dental, mental and social care free for all.

It's not a pseudoargument, it's pointing out the madness in US public spending. This money was available to blow stuff up, kill kids in another country. Why not spending something similar to improve the US domestically.

[mschuster91]

> This money was available to blow stuff up, kill kids in another country. Why not spending something similar to improve the US domestically.

Because there is already more than enough money in the US healthcare system. Just shoving in more money will not help anybody at all.

[oliwarner]

I think we're possibly saying the same thing in different ways but the only way you take the money going to insurance companies and debt collectors is by providing a service that doesn't rely on them.

Getting there is the hurdle. Forcibly nationalise insurers and their hospital networks? Price capping all the things? Doesn't sound very American.

That leaves competition. To fund that, you need tax revenue. Eventually people will pay that tax instead of insurance but it's infrastructure, so it's front-loaded.