Posted on 11/01/2025 6:35:09 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Democrats, especially Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, continually advocate for single-payer (taxpayer-funded) health care, proclaiming that health care is a human right. No one wants to see people suffer from untreated ailments, and it's indisputable that health care costs are skyrocketing. But conservatives argue that relief lies in free-market principles prioritizing innovation, choice, and efficiency. In contrast, proponents of socialized medicine -- often cloaked as "Medicare for All" -- insist it will deliver affordable, universal coverage. History and data paint a far grimmer picture: ballooning costs, endless wait times, rationed care, and needless suffering.
Our own Medicaid program and failed experiments abroad betray socialized systems utopian promises that burden taxpayers and endanger lives. Medicaid, the crown jewel of U.S. socialized health care since 1965, was originally designed to aid the needy. It has since morphed into a bloated entitlement devouring federal and state budgets, from $10.9 billion in 1975 to nearly $909 billion in 2024, an increase of approximately 8,256%. This includes adjustments for inflation and population growth.
Enrollment shows a similar tale of unchecked expansion. From roughly 18 million beneficiaries in 1975 to nearly 91 million in 2024 -- nearly 25% of Americans -- despite economic booms and welfare reforms.
This is fiscal insanity. Bureaucratic red tape stifles competition and drives up costs while delivering subpar outcomes. Fraud is rampant, with billions lost annually to waste and abuse, and providers fleeing the program due to reimbursements below market rates. We (conservatives) see this as government overreach at its worst: a one-size-fits-all mandate that crowds out private innovation and rewards dependency.
In the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), 3.7 million people languish on waiting lists for non-urgent procedures, a 54% increase since 2008. One in 10 waits over 18 months; in England, one in 14 citizens is queued up.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
No
“Is a single-payer system a better alternative?”
Of course single-payer is better...until you need major surgery, particularly if you’re no longer a taxpayer.
Over 80% of elderly patients report NHS discrimination. Ambulances reportedly left an 82-year old woman writing on a Welsh floor for eight hours.
Canada's system is worse, with median wait times ballooning to 20 weeks from GP referral to treatment -- 115% longer than in 1993. Specialists? Over two months on average, plus almost nine more weeks for procedures. Every year, 52,000 Canadians flee to the U.S. for timely care, especially since Canada is promoting Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID).
Obamacare was designed to fail, for this exact reason.
Instead realize socialism is a failure and bring back the free market.
The best system is 350 million payer.
Brazil has free government healthcare. Locals call it The Butcher Shop.
The government intrusion into health care is precisely the reason that it’s such a mess. The government ruins everything it touches.
At that point, Americans will have to fly to Cancun if they don't want to get on a waiting list for a surgery.
Let me spell this out for any liberal lurkers… the government is the reason healthcare is screwed up. The solution isn’t more government.
No. No one wants to see children mindlessly sterilized by Doctor Mengeles who have practiced on chimps. This is the fruit of this “single payer’ weed. It is not medicine, at all.
NO! HELL NO! F#<#ING HELL NO!
Give us back actual medical insurance plans, across state lines with optional coverages.
Single Payer my fat, white @$$.
No.
Of course single payer is better. My insurance, I pay. Full stop. The only role the government has is *reasonable* regulations and oversight to keep the insurance companies and providers honest.
Now, separately, if a private company wants to offer group plans and other incentives in order to attract good employees, that’s between employers and employees. But that’s *still* me as ‘single’ payer shopping around for the best deals.
“Is a single-payer system a better alternative?”
N.
O.
No!
There are better alternatives.
“the government is the reason healthcare is screwed up”
That and treating medical care as a business.
There are some ideas. Government pays high deductibles. Government contracts with hospital emergency rooms and urgent care to make visits free or cheap for everybody, making insurance cheaper.....or government takes over as single payer when out of pocket costs exceed $50,000 per year......so people only need to buy $50K worth of insurance. Plus, there must be ways to help markets work better....insurance and healthcare markets. I remember Hillarycare was an HMO model that was popular at the time. Canada and Europe control costs by denying care and involuntary euthanasia, which seems ghoulish to most of us. USA has more MRI machines than the rest of the world combined, and they cost money and use energy. But to some extent, drug companies own doctors and patients and we don’t necessarily got the best outcomes, and we sometimes are given the cheapest drugs, not the most effective ones.
I have a three letter reply for anyone who asks that question: NHS.
Single payer? The old saying “you get what you pay for” does not apply when the government is involved. It would behoove us all to never forget that.
Absolutely not. Giving government the power over health decisions is the end of personal freedom and self determinism. Do you want AOC playing a role in deciding what kind of health care you get?
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