Nor is health care as complex as you might think.
I'm sorry that the EU culture of entitlement has caused you the inablity to think in logical terms, but all that you said doesn't change the basic economic principles involved.
I'll explain it so your liberal mind can understand. Economics involves limited resources versus unlimited needs and wants. Prices are necessary to make sure that the supply is distributed in such a way that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from it. Health care is EXACTLY like any "normal commodity" in that there is only so much of it; there are only so many doctors, hospitals, medicine, etc. When you open it up and make it "free" for all, you've now broken down that barrier between supply and demand.
Now demand is up because any hypochondriac with a sniffle will go to the doctor and waste both time and money. Meanwhile, supply remains the same or decreases because the incentives that existed in a free market for more labor to get involved in medicine are gone.
Government regulation is exactly why health care is so expensive. They've created an environment much like the oil companies - there are only a few players because those are the few that can actually afford to be in the game. Meanwhile, to offset the limited fees they collect from programs like Medicare and sums they must pay in frivolous lawsuits, insurance companies have to rely on high prices and questionable business ethics to ensure high profits.
There are federal and state laws that actually require insurance companies to cover certain procedures that are either unnecessary to many people or subjective in their efficacy - accupuncture, for example. But because government requires that insurance companies to cover them in all their policies, guess what? The consumer is forced to pay for services they don't want or need.
Yes my friend, health care is a different kind of product in a moral and vital sense. But it is exactly like any other product in that government regulation is exactly why it becomes too expensive for the average American.
If government were to get out of it completely, and consumers treated their health care like they do their autombiles - pay for the maintenance themselves and use the insurance in catastrophic instances, you would see insurance prices drop to the point where anyone can afford them. Furthermore, you would see more companies crop up offering plans in which consumers could pick and choose which services they want covered - just like they do with auto insurance.
That's the truth my socialist friend. Perhaps if your nation didn't have such a sense of guilt and moral superiority, they could look at their economy logically. Maybe it would remedy those high taxes and low unemployment that you and the rest of your EU buddies enjoy.
Auf-keep your socialism out of my country-sein!
Could one you please explain to me how you can claim that the US is system is the world's best when the absolute facts are the following:
- The American system does not cover between 10% and 15% of its citizens at a given time although every other industrialized nation covers all of its citizens.
- The American health care system is the world's most expensive by at least 3% of GDP
- The American life-expectancy is among the lowest of the world's industrialized nations.
Apparently you either chose to ignore these facts and are so caught up in the rhetoric from Health care lobbyists who have the most to lost (that 3% goes to their bottom line duh) or you are, in fact, lobbyists for the health care industry.
I have been at doctors and hospitals in both the US and in Germany. In terms of care it is equal. In terms of efficiency the latter is far superior. And, by the way, my wife will get 3-5 days in a hospital once our 1st child comes to the world in May. In the US she would only get 24-48 hours - and that stay would be 2-3 times as expensive.
In terms of number of doctors per thousand people Germany has the most. And all for the bargain price of 13% of GDP (which by the way is still too expensive).
The clouded minds are not on this side of the Atlantic. Your press spends too much time looking at other Anglo-systems like in Cananda and the UK.
If you would like to actually learn how we do it in German y (yes there is private insurance) rather than keep your head in the sand while the healthcare providers have their hands in your pocket, feel free to ask.