| Megiddo said: I'm not sure why you put universal healthcare in quotation marks. Healthcare is universal in Singapore. It's just not a nationalized system (like nearly all countries with universal healthcare). The main objective is to get the government to control healthcare costs instead of private interests. In Singapore all prices are controlled directly by the government, whether it's a public or private medical practice, both are entirely regulated by the government, which keeps costs low and the care efficient. |
It's "accessible" almost like a regular household utility such as water and electricity but by no means is it "universal" since citizens have to privately fund most of it themselves ...
At this point "universal healthcare" like we see in the vast majority of western liberal democracies today is synonymous with a nationalized system when we constantly see tons of advocates recommending America to emulate the European model ...
I have no doubt that the government has a hand in keeping costs low but is that supposed to be the right model for Americans where extreme rationing happens under Singapore and while being several years behind pharmaceutical technology ? (Singapore shortchanges pharma companies really hard despite the fact that they can most easily pay for the exorbitant prices but I guess they're happy being just a trading hub where they have no intention to have a competitive pharmaceutical industry unlike Switzerland who has shit ton invested to the point where Roche and Novartis is a corporate national pride to them and that 30% of their exports are pharmaceutical products)
Each and every system or model has their own downsides and upsides so it's impossible for them to outright supersede each other. Most europeans seem to think that they have good balance between value and innovation ratio per cost even though their nowhere near as good as Singapore in the former and admittedly in the latter where they aren't quite upto American standards with an uncontested lead in biologics (b) which is the most innovative field in medicine ...
If we all really wanted to be as cutthroat in savings we'd be copying Singapore by sun setting the pharmaceutical industry, prioritizing preventative care, overworking our medical staff, and heavily taxing many causes of mortality ... (a lot of freedoms to give up such as owning a car, resisting the drug war when most illicit substances are harmful effects and of course less treatment/doctor options too)
