American healthcare should be cheap and getting cheaper, easy to access, effective yet rapidly improving, and with nearly endless options for treatment, pricing, and method of delivery. The cheaper-faster-better dynamic we enjoy in high-tech areas that are not blighted by government regulation and control could and would apply to the medical and pharmaceutical industries if only we let it.
I disagree with this assumption. Healthcare is a labor-driven service, not a technology. The technologies in healthcare have exponentiated, but they require people to run them.
Also, as others have pointed out, healthcare is already being rationed in the US. Not between people near the top of waiting lists and those at the bottom, but between rich and poor. This is true of all private goods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_goods), but the question is whether it's morally acceptable for something that has a direct impact on an individual's continued survival.
The Swiss healthcare model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland) is interesting. It is basically a free market, with a compulsory "public option."
"The Medicare program operates with just 3% overhead, compared to 15% to 25% overhead at a typical HMO. Provincial single-payer plans in Canada have an overhead of about 1%."
From http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php (http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php)
And part of my big problem with the last administration was that, despite the fact that government does have duties and responsibilities, they felt all government was crap. So they didn't even bother to try.
To the extent the government is supposed to do a job, we the people need to make sure they're doing as good of a job as possible.
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I disagree with this assumption. Healthcare is a labor-driven service, not a technology. The technologies in healthcare have exponentiated, but they require people to run them.
Also, as others have pointed out, healthcare is already being rationed in the US. Not between people near the top of waiting lists and those at the bottom, but between rich and poor. This is true of all private goods (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_goods), but the question is whether it's morally acceptable for something that has a direct impact on an individual's continued survival.
The Swiss healthcare model (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Switzerland) is interesting. It is basically a free market, with a compulsory "public option."
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From http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php (http://www.pnhp.org/facts/singlepayer_faq.php)
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And part of my big problem with the last administration was that, despite the fact that government does have duties and responsibilities, they felt all government was crap. So they didn't even bother to try.
To the extent the government is supposed to do a job, we the people need to make sure they're doing as good of a job as possible.