Without question, health care in America will look violently different in 24 to 36 months. Elections have consequences, and this will be a very painful consequence.
What will be more interesting is the fate of private insurance. Many on the left will be pushing to make private insurance illegal. My guess is the American people won’t bite. But eventually, you’ll end up with a much more “classist” health care system. One in which a sizable percentage of Americans will be stuck with single-payor, government managed and rationed health care. For the wealthier Americans, or people that work in jobs that are highly skilled (and thus highly compensated) probably won’t find much difference in their coverage of tomorrow vs their coverage of today.
What do you expect? By destroying manufacturing and shipping good jobs overseas that had benefits, millions lost their health insurance. As has been noted on this forum, Private insurance cost a fortune and as soon as you are ill the insurer jacks up your rates or drops you altogether. Millions of Americans will support national health care...including the unemployed, the underemployed, retirees from Delta and retirees from the big three -who either have lost retiree health care benefits or about to lose such benefits.
You talk about how long it takes to get a procedure in Europe...well my uncle could not get a heart operation at all in Ireland as he was above 60 so I know this is true and worse than you know. What is equally true is if he lived in the US and had no insurance, he would not get such an operation either...unless he was dirt poor and eligible for Medicaid...the uninsured millions are not eligible for Medicaid. If people can’t get what they need no matter what they do to better themselves-feel hopeless...they will turn to the government.
Those of you who bought foreign cars and a variety of foreign goods contributed to this problem...there is no free lunch. One of life’s great ironies is that free trade-a mostly conservative principle (yes, I know Clinton signed NAFTA, but it is more associated with Repubs. than Dems.) destroyed the jobs which stood between us and socialism...conservatives planted the seed of their own destruction.
“a much more “classist” health care system”
Yes. We want the Congress-care system for ours. Better yet, we want 1st Family coverage. At their prices.