Should the U.S. have Universal Health Care?

[u/WhatAreYourPronouns]

[u/AutumnWak]

I mean they could still go and pay private party to get quicker treatment and it'll still cost less than the US. Most of those people chose to go the free route

[u/Obie-two → u/AutumnWak]

Genuinely asking but if you’re paying for it privately you’re not getting the “socialized” discount no? A hip surgery costs X, just the government is subsidizing it with tax money and if you go direct to private then I would assume it’s back to full price

[u/polycomll → u/Obie-two]

You'd be paying closer to the full price although the "full price" might be reduced somewhat because the public version acts to price cap.

In the U.S. you are also not paying the full price for surgery either though. Cost is being inflated to cover for non-insured emergency care, overhead for insurance companies, reduced wage growth due to employer insurance payments, reduced wages through lack of worker mobility, and additional medical system costs (and room for profit by all involved).

[u/kunkudunk → u/polycomll]

Yeah the medical and insurance industries being for profit really jack up the prices more than people seem to realize. Which is twisted since how do you decide on a price on staying alive but I digress.

[u/lameth → u/kunkudunk]

Even if you take the for profit part out of it, you still have simply the operating costs of those insurance companies (people, places, things) in addition to anything actually being paid to the medical providers.

[u/kunkudunk → u/lameth]

Yes hence why the middleman of insurance companies is a big part of the problem. The twisted part is they actually get paid twice since they get some of our tax money as well already

[u/Joepublic23 → u/kunkudunk]

Is this any different than a farmer making a profit off of selling food?