Democrats should heed this warning from Mass.

[mrstickball]

Chairman-Mao said:

famousringo said:

Chairman-Mao said:
Socialized health care isn't as good as people think. I'm Canadian and we have it. Our taxes are much higher and if you don't get injured then you're paying higher taxes for nothing.

Did you know that the United States spends more government money as a share of GDP on health than Canada does? The average Canadian isn't actually paying more taxes for health care than the average American does. You or your employer might be paying less in premiums, though.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_exp_pub_of_gdp-health-expenditure-public-of-gdp

Really? That seems odd. Where's the money going then if the US doesn't have free health care?

Lets not forget:

• No national competition for insurance prices (insurance companies cannot compete with nation-wide policies, only state level)
• US doctors and nurses are paid more than any other country
• US government spends 88% more per insurer than private insurers
• Lifestyle issues (Americans are more obese and sedintary than other countries)
• The cost to practice medicine is much, MUCH costlier in the US than any other country. It costs >$100,000 for a medical degree in the US...Factor that into doctors administering care.

Its outside of the major points, but I wonder how much worse off Americans are for geriatric care than other nations. I'd dare say that is what is killing American costs - we keep a lot of old, dying people in nursing homes, keeping them barely alive to funnel their social security $$$ from them. Most nursing homes are ~$3000/mo. I'd think that insurance companies get raked over the coals for that.

And having said that, I worked in the medical field as a lowly transportation officer. The amount of rules, regulations and paperwork to transport someone from a nursing home to a medical facility for a simple checkup is INSANE. And insanely expensive. It costed patients $100 for a simple 15-minute trip from a nursing home to a medical facility, all the while I, the driver, was paid $8/hr. So there is certainly something in the system that kills the costs - and it wasn't wages.