Healthcare Debate: Should the U.S. adopt a single-payer healthcare system?

[@seanbell69]

The argument that "other countries do the same bad things we already are doing" is so weak. I can't believe that, as Americans, we have just decided that there is no reason to aspire for something better than how things are right now.

[@laurencelewin7648]

Given any amount of money for health care, the money is most efficiently spent on providing the resources and the salaries to those in the foxholes, providing the service. Bureaucrats don't detect heart murmurs, or treat edema. Bureaucrats are a necessary evil, but the larger the bureaucracy, in a fixed budget, the fewer resources that can be directed to actual health care, diagnosing and treating the diseases, or preventing them. So, since a bureaucracy is necessary, start the reform of healthcare by trimming all bureaucracies down to the minimum size that performs the essential function. Medicare is less costly than private insurance because profit, and subsequent growth of bureaucracy isn't the mission. Nor is profit! If you agree that in the 21st century, in an industrialized nation, health care has become a human right, and that science and perverse incentives, and a capitalistic society, all drive the expense of health care upward, then the conclusion is simple: take the profit out of health care, treat it like a utility, and select the most efficient and least expensive bureaucracy. That is, today, Medicare. And, for the equality that a democratic society demands (Remember the "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness"), make that Medicare for All. The bureaucracy, everywhere, is the enemy of the professionals who have the mission of trying to preserve and improve the quality of life, and the length of life.

[@davidcanmoocanu8127]

Anyone have a source for the opportunity costs claim at 46:00?

[@davidcanmoocanu8127]

Found some stuff if anyone was interested: USA has half of medical doctors per capita then comparable countries: o www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/medical-doctors-(per-10-000-population) Other US opportunity costs metrics:  www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-health-care-resources-compare-countries/#item-acute-care-hospital-beds-per-1000-population-2017