Should health care be private or public?

[Badassbab]

makingmusic476 said:

Healthcare is not, and cannot be, a right. A right is not something that is given to you. It is something that you are allowed given you have the means. IE, in America, I have the right to own a gun if I so choose. A gun is not given to me.

As for the benefits of public vs private healthcare, I dislike aspects of both. Privatized healthcare obviously has issues with inflated prices due to a for-profit mentality, but I believe that's more an issue with our current patent law, which enables a sole company to sell a drug for years, preventing competition.

Honestly, I think a public system could work better than a private system in a variety of ways, but I fear the inefficiency that may come with a public system (ever been to the DMV? >_>), and thus I worry about the costs associated with such a system. I don't want another Social Security-esque albatross hanging around the federal government's neck.

Ultimately, I want what's best for the most people, and I haven't seen clear evidence that one system is really better than the other. All I know is that our current system here in the US is incredibly broken, but that's not necessarily because it's privatized.

If healthcare is not a right then can we say the same for firefighters, police, postal services, the Millitary, interstate highway system, waterways.....

According to Ron Paul the reason behind the broken helathcare system in the US is Corporatism. If the free market was able to function (i.e competition between the different services rather then collusion to keep prices artificially high) then the consumers would save a great deal of money.

Problem with privatised healthcare is the main reason to care for the patient is short term profit. So as we have seen countless times the Insurance companies will try and get away with not paying up by exploiting the small print and loopholes.