Rath said:
mrstickball said:
Rath said:
mrstickball said:
Argh_College said:
sethnintendo said:
That is what you get with most of the population fat and unhealthy. Relying on prescription drugs rather than address the real problem. Americans have become too lazy and will take a cure all pill for anything even though that pill is only hiding symptoms (and probably causing more problems). Too bad the only way to really address it is with a lifestyle change. Eating as little processed foods as possible and rarely going to fast food is a start. Eating what you are supposed to goes a long way. If you eat shit then you will probably become shit. You are what you eat.
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Thats nor just a US problem but WW.
Well i guess you´re right but most people are lazy and like to eat shit and drink alot. I dont think we can do anything about it...
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Sure you can.
It'll have everyone screaming bloody murder in the streets.
Its called "Letting Darwin Do His Thing"
Cut off all subsidies. All freebies. Make people pay for their care, or go to a charity that can help them with their problem on a case-by-case basis. Then, if someone wants to eat cheetoes for lunch and have Mt. Dew for dinner, or have unprotected, STD-ridden sex all the time, they are free to do it. But if they won't get a free ride. In one generation, you'd have all the lazy, (physically) useless people gone, and the ones that survived knowing what it takes to live life proper and in good health. Not because its just the right thing to do, but its the most affordable way to go.
Of course, such a method requires smaller government and a responsible populace. Those are the core reasons we have the problems we do today.
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Christ that's extreme, and disgusting. Things like that are exactly the reason why I despise the extreme libertarian point of view.
The core problems with Americas healthcare system aren't down to the fact that the government is involved, otherwise other countries with socialised healthcare (ie. pretty much the entire developed world) would have the same problems.
Americas healthcare system is plainly fucked, the rest of the worlds is not. This can be basically seen in this graph.
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So then, please give me an exact dissertation as to why our health care is so expensive, and what can be done to directly lower costs. I've already given my answer(s) as to why our system is so expensive, and I'd like to hear your reasons as well.
As for the extreme nature of a libertarian system: Just remember that prior to social medicine, hospitals still existed. My contention is that if the government weren't taking 3.5% of every American's money for Medicare, and loosened regulations up, cost of care would plummet, and the better off would give charitable contributions to hospitals for those unable to pay.
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Once again socialised systems exist (and are universal) in many countries which have far lower healthcare costs than America.
Americas costs come from quite a few angles - the influence that big pharma is allowed to have with doctors (including things like kickbacks), how easily and often doctors can be sued for malpractice and how long it takes for doctors to become fully qualified. It's not as easy to fix as letting the poor people who don't really matter die.
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Actually we spend less on drugs as far as a percentage of healthcare costs when compaired to the OCED average. It like healthcare are actually very small contributors to the problem. What we pay doctors is above average though... that to is about average percentage wise. As other OCED nations, so a bigger problem but still not near the biggest.
One issue is that well... american's want the best... and because it's a capitlist soceity, essentially hospitals need to get the best equipment.
If an MRI has a .5% chance of finding head trauma better the hospital needs it. The US is a heavy adopter of new medical technologies.
Versus something like socialized programs, where they can place new technology in relativly few hospitals and hold it out only to specific groups, or heck, not even adopt it for years. Since there is little to no competition.
Also, interesting story... New Zealand where you are from, actually pays a higher percentage of medical treatments "Out of Pocket" then the US does... as do most OCED countries with socialized systems. Something that's... strange, to say the least no?
http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34175_20070917.pdf
