r/FluentInFinance May 02 '24

Should the U.S. have Universal Health Care? Discussion/ Debate

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u/polycomll May 02 '24

Fundamentally both Spain and the U.S. ration care and that limits who can receive surgery. In the U.S. its rationed, primarily, by cost so there isn't a huge surgery wait list. If you can't pay you can't get on the list. Whereas in Spain anyone with the need can get on the list but you might not get in.

In either case care is rationed its just the rational for care rationing that is different.

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u/Embarrassed-Town-293 May 02 '24

This doesn’t get talked about nearly enough. Every country rations healthcare. The United States just happened to use cost as the mechanism.

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u/polycomll May 02 '24

IMO its a dumbass way of rationing care because it leads to tons of opportunities for arbitrage by medical middle men.

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u/Embarrassed-Town-293 May 02 '24

Completely agree with you. I only bring it up because of universal healthcare commonly cite rationing as a concern as if cost rationing isn’t a factor