Current Events > How would universal healthcare work in America? Logistically speaking.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Say we flipped a switch tomorrow so that every taxpayer / dependent gets access to healthcare on the government's dime.

What would happen to the hundreds of thousands of people employed in the health insurance space? What would happen to the millions of people who then get laid off when the economy tanks due to the health insurance space collapsing?

Would the government also regulate how much a hospital or a doctor can charge for service? How will they settle on the right price so that we don't get a deluge of people seeking services but a shortage of doctors/nurses/hospitals?

Who will drive competition in healthcare so that automation becomes a bigger priority? How will universal healthcare survive the increasing obesity (and the increasing medical costs associated with obesity) in America?

And before there's any snide comments about other countries, note the stark differences in 1) population size 2) population fitness 3) immigration and other variables. A bigger and fatter population that walks/exercises less than the people in Norway is more expensive to cover with taxpayer dollars, and the demand for services won't scale linearly - it'll scale much worse than that.

So how do we resolve these logistical issues without tanking the economy? I'm not happy with how deeply ingrained health insurance is as a concept, but we can thank other government intervention long away for why it is that way. So what guarantee do we have that they'll finally get their implementation right this time and that we'll actually have a benefit we can enjoy without it destroying us or bankrupting us as a nation?

Tax Wall Street and train everyone from the health insurance sector in either solar power or workplace safety.

It's almost like it's a bad idea for the US.
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silentwing26x posted...

What would happen to the hundreds of thousands of people employed in the health insurance space? What would happen to the millions of people who then get laid off when the economy tanks due to the health insurance space collapsing?

Hopefully they can find a way into the government sector
Or they can transition their experience into a new job. We didn't listen to people crying about Horse breeders when the Model T came out

Or, ultimately, we make the decision that healthcare for all is more important than propping up an industry of waste that is obsolete

And yes, the rest of your questions are answered by looking at other countries. The difference isn't as large as you're making it out to be

The same as it works everywhere else in the developed world, I guess?

*hasn't paid a cent for his cancer care*
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silentwing26x posted...

What would happen to the hundreds of thousands of people employed in the health insurance space?

This is the argument Obama made, actually.
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There is no magic answer. Every single other country that has done this has been met with tons of obstacles that no one likes to talk about. Canada's health care system nearly imploded in the early 2000s.

The best solution imo is to baby step our way towards it. Our government does not have the best track record for competently running programs. The idea that we should trust them while we dive in head first is absurd.

Personally, I'd start with changes to how things are regulated. Some of those things were actually part of Obamacare. I think we were on the right track. It just needed to be taken further and tweaked. Unfortunately, it looks like that's not going to happen.
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Death panels
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