| >> Sounds logical on paper but doesn't bear out in reality - just about every country where health care is provided via "confiscated funds" pays dramatically less for better outcomes than the USA where people are responsible for spending their own money. The US healthcare system is truly fucked, but serves as another great example of how people use someone else's money. That's why healthcare is so absurdly expensive there. Patients generally aren't using their own money to pay for medical services, and so, insurance companies get charged ridiculous prices behind the scenes, and the customer doesn't care. Businesses are forced to buy insurance, right? Well, without the "forced middlemen" of insurance companies, and with customers paying for whatever services they use, you can bet your ass that health care would be massively cheaper. Competition drives quality up, and prices down. >> The Parasite(tm) is more bedtime-story boogeyman than observed reality I hadn't even heard of that "theory". But I bet I would have, if I were still watching Bill Maher's show. You're right in that some parasite patients are not the problem. The whole system is. Think about it. If you're running a hospital on a "limitless" supply of other people's money (as in, "public healthcare"), you're just not that concerned with efficiency, nor the quality of your services, because you don't have to be. It doesn't matter if your customers are unhappy, because you'll still be getting your money! .. It's blindingly obvious that this kind of system is doomed, but of course, healthcare is not socialized in order to make it better. It's socialized to make the masses dependent on the State. |