I've received in-patient care, overnight studies, emergency procedures, and much more in Spain without ever paying a dollar in copays or fees, and I've never waited more than 2 weeks for non-urgent care or an hour for urgent care.
My taxes are $600/month total in Madrid. Given that I have epilepsy, my insurance alone in the US was $490/month, AND I paid more in taxes ($1100/month).
So, yes, universal healthcare isn't "free," and it's supported by taxes. And still, Americans are taxed more AND have to pay for insurance? And then you still have to pay copays? I don't think "dur dur me taxes!" is actually the strong argument you think it is. And wait times are no longer (or in fact are shorter) in many countries with universal healthcare. But you know what's longer? Life expectancies.
An interesting argument you could make against our healthcare is that we all pay for unhealthy habits like smoking/drinking. The solution is that we tax the fuck out of those things and make them prohibitively expensive.
So idk. If you're anti socialized healthcare, I'd recommend you talk about how booze and cigarettes will get more expensive. The wait list bullshit is laughable when compared to going balls deep in to debt if you or your family ever get sick.
A few years ago a study was done and it determined the worst case scenario for an individual (or family) implementing a Single Payer Healthcare system in the US was that an individual or families tax bill would go up about 1800/yr. No copays or deductibles.
Rn, I'm at the better end with an employer provided plan and I pay 300/month which is 3600/yr not even factoring in copays, deductibles, prescriptions etc etc. it's already DOUBLE than just paying it in taxes.
But no, clearly private businesses are way better in your healthcare am I right?
Europeans seem to have better "wait lists" than us right now.
Keep on parroting those right wing talking points though!
It would also get rid of all the "in network" and "out of network" bullshit right? that might help with wait times too if you don't have to rely on one of the 3 guys that takes your insurance.
I pay around 600 for myself and my wife, and that’s with my employer continuing to pick up a significant share of the cost of health insurance that I literally never see a deduction or bill for.
1,800 a year beats hell out of $7,200, a $5k deductible, 20% co ins, and $11k OOP max.
Here in Murica, with insurance, if you need a surgery for a knee or hip replacement, news flash, the doctor usually schedules your surgery for several weeks to months out. Almost no American will be diagnosed as needing a knee replacement, and have said knee replacement that day or that week.
Herp derp wAiT LiSTs!!!!111 right here in the US.
Defending our gold plated shithole country, especially with false talking points, doesn't help you or this gold plated shithole country.
Honestly I hear a lot of this complained about in Canada to try and make a Privatized system seem more reasonable...
And seriously it's grass is greener nonsense. I have American friends with joint issues. They may got their care maybe like two months faster than I did... And some of them are still paying it down five years later. I can afford to hobble for a little longer if it means the bank doesn't own my soul.
I don't understand the long wait list complaint. If I tried to see my Dr I would have to wait months. I routinely hear of people waiting over a year for specialists. In fact, my wife was scheduled to be medically induced for pregnancy due to health reasons and we had to wait day of because they were understaffed! We have to wait and we have to pay!
My dad had to wait 6 months just to get an appointment for a doctor to recommend ankle surgery surgery which took place another 6 months later. So we have wait times just as bad as any other country.
You wouldn't believe how much more Americans already pay in taxes for healthcare than other countries and then having to pay insurance on top of that.
Insurance has allowed the healthcare industry to balloon costs beyond any reasonable limit. Allowing the government to dictate prices instead can only help drive cost of medical care down and make the situation much more affordable for all, even factoring in what we pay now in both taxes and insurance.
Lucky you haven’t had to work the labyrinth of getting a prescription approved. In my experience it can take months do get medical care for some conditions.
This is the most basic fact that people in the US need to be made aware of: we spend literally twice as much per person on healthcare as the rest of the developed world. Twice as fucking much!
Sure, but isn't the principle more important to Americans that your tax money should not be used to help others? Paying a premium to privatized health care doesn't matter too much, they're already rich. Having immigrants, homeless, sick people etc be beneficiaries would be "unfair".