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sabvre42 said:
generic-user-1 said:
sabvre42 said:

Doctor #1 - Charges $500 for a procedure.

Doctor #2 - Charges $1500 for a procedure but is closer.

People who have no consideration in the transaction (aka free healthcare) will always choose Doctor #1. I then have to pay their taxes.

like i said, your system doesnt work.  in europe nobody cares to what doctor you want, they all the the same money for the same procedure.  and it works BETTER than in the US.


I just want to know - Do you Europeans ever realize (let alone admit) that you reap the benefits of the US healthecare system indirectly? In fact, do you realize that one of the largest exports from the United States is Medical Technology?

Pharmaceutical companies, Medical Technology companies, etc are all huge in the US because the system actually supports it. Capitalism begits competition; and competition begits innovation. 

There are plenty of examples in the United States were state controlled healthcare actually hurts the system. One big example is the quasi-single payer system known as Medicare. Medicare is the government's health insurance system for people over the age of 65. Its one of the largest single expenditures of United States Tax dollars, yet, the government mandated rates are often too low to actually cover the clinic/hospitals costs.

2.9% (1.45% employee and 1.45% employer) of every taxable income dollar earned in the United States (and the "rich" get an extra 1%ish i think) goes to paying for the healthcare of the elderly. The funny thing is -- medicare also has cost sharing.


1. europe has a lot of huge pharma companys too.

2. the cost for pills  arent lower in the EU,  the rest of the system is just much cheaper because the state regulates the prices for everything,and there are alot less people wo make a profit.

3. the problem is that just a small part of the system is state controlled, and 2.9% isnt that much to cover all the old folks.