Discussion»Questions»Politics» In a MARKET based health care system, people will die on the street. SUBSIDIZED health care is VERY expensive. How should we PAY for it?
Personally, I would choose to put hefty taxes on firearms and ammunition (although a lesser tax should be put on those weapons approved for hunting animals that are considered a food source; I realize that many impoverished people feed themselves this way). Also, I would redirect tax dollars from the DOD. The number of Americans who die from treatable conditions because they cannot afford to go to the doctor is staggering. I think that it would be fair to encourage Americans to be mindful of their health by linking the guarantee of free (socialized) health care to an annual "check up". In the end, I think that it would save taxpayers money, because the way the system now works, MANY people don't attend to their health because they can't afford to, then when they get very ill, they're awarded "subsidized" insurance, and the taxpayers end up footing the bill for that.
It also goes without saying (in my opinion) that the uber-rich (e.g. Trump) should NOT be allowed to avoid paying taxes by funneling their wealth out of the country, setting up companies that are designed to lose money, etc.
Your question is based upon a false premise (two, actually).
There is no such thing as "market-based" health care if we consider "health care" to be something resembling what most North Americans (or people in other rich industrialized countries) receive. The number of market restrictions and cross-subsidies inherent in modern health care delivery is so great calling it "market-based" is simply misleading.
But the greater misleading premise is the notion "subsidized" health care is expensive. Numerous societies around the world provide near-universal "subsidized" health care at a per-capital cost typically about one-half what Americans pay. Here are some of the reasons why.
I think our efforts need to be focused on figuring out how to cut our health care costs in half (so they're comparable to the rest of the world) rather than figuring out better methods for paying the inflated prices we do.
Wellllllllllll as a Brit I find the US system very strange and confusing... we have the National Health Service here... NHS and so really no one pays for their healthcare, well unless they want to go private..
That's not to say the NHS system is perfect, its not!! There are problems and you will often hear about underfunding... mostly however that can be, and should be, resolved by redirecting money away from managers and for example paying for temporary/agency cover when nurses etc are off sick themselves so I guess I mean that it can be improved..
But even so no one is refused and in an emergency generally speaking they are good-ish...
I've heard it said that we pay high taxes here.. yes we do, but for the most part we are happy to do so.. and everyone pays so we dont resent it..