Probligo, There is no simple answer; however, the numbers you show include all the free passes given to illegal aliens [1] and moochers living off those who actually do pay their fair share[2]. That having been said, another reason for high costs have to do with greedy lawyers making a fat living off civil court cases filed simply to make money rather than to correct some fault which may or may not have caused injury to their client. Regardless of the outcome, doctors have to protect against such suits, hospitals raise their prices and so on and so on [3].
Having watched our government screw up almost everything they get their hands on, what is to keep them from destroying the health care system far below any standard we now have? Nothing! [4]
This isn't about government providing health care so much as it has to do with government taking control of health care which in turn turns citizens into subjects. Subjects are much easier to control when you have their health controlled.[5]
Aside from the cost of doing business, there's another detail, that of Agency, the right of individuals to act on their own without having to bow and scrape to anyone.[6] Our system, as inefficient as it is, mostly due to government intervention I might add, does work to supply the best medical service anywhere in the world [7] as proven by the fact that world leaders come to the USA for treatment when the going gets ugly [8].
No, you can have your government health care doled out [9] and may you always enjoy good health; I'd have preferred the socialists we have here to have moved to a country which would more suit their desires and to have left the best form of government alone [10].
[1] Valid point number one. Do those illegals have green cards, TF? Alternatively, you have agreed that you would not find carrying a photo-id as being an insult to your freedoms (despite the fact that two of your most notorious enemies in Hitler's Germany and Soviet Russia had the same government controls). Why should the health system not ask "green card, please". Or perhaps you could have your number tattooed on your forearm! That would be even better, never leave it at home!
There is the first grouch here as well. It is the practice of using politically correct generalisations such as " all the free passes", "illegal aliens" and " those who actually do pay their fair share".
Now I do understand the category you think of as "illegal aliens". It is a very extensive group that ranges from Mexican wetbacks who pick fruit in California all the way through to ET himself. But in truth, what proportion of the total population would they represent. Here in NZ (yes, people do try very hard to immigrate here illegally) they might number in their hundreds. A "clean out" of illegal Polynesians(in the late 1970's), most Samoans and Tongans, in what became known as "The Dawn Raids" resulted in about 800 people being sent home and about 2000 being granted permanent residence eventually; in the main justified by the fact that they were employed in jobs no one else wanted.
Perhaps, just for me, you could explain your concept of "their fair share"? Is that just a politically correct code name for "only for themselves"? or perhaps "no more than I absolutely have to"? Or is it more a convenient way of dropping out of an unsupportable position?
[2] I have already dealt with the politically correct generalisation here. Still, valid point number two. NZ has its share of "free-loaders and moochers" too. It is probably as big a problem here as it is in the US.
Our current government (it is Conservative to the extent of being "right of centre) is arguing that that number includes women whose men have walked out (to Australia) to avoid paying family support, those teenage girls who get pregnant and whose families refuse to support them, and other instances of one parent families. There are some 40,000 on the DPB at present, about 1% of the total population.
Do you include unemployed in that total? Yep, they are freeloaders too.
How is about youngsters no longer covered by their parents insurance, but who are not able to afford their own insurance?
How about those aged over 55 whose insurers have told them "you are too much of a risk - insurance declined".
When did you last look at an insurance proposal form? Ever seen that question "Have you ever had a proposal or policy of insurance declined or cancelled? If yes, please provide full details." You automatically write or tick off "No" and pass on to the next. How much do you really know of insurance law? The principle of a "fiducial relationship"? The duty you have of full and relevant disclosure, and the consequences if the insurer gets the slightest whiff that you "forgot" something relevant.
[3]Valid point three. How to overcome the litigious nature of American life? Why does anyone in the US become a doctor? I certainly would not want to... By all means expect professional standards of health care.
But what you are getting is truly what you want - an unregulated society. After all, if locksmiths do not need to be registered, why should you expect doctors to be the same? It impinges on their God-given right to work as and how they please. Caveat emptor prevails. Pick the wrong one and you might be able to get yourself rich. Sue someone just because he cut your fingernails instead of curing your in-grown toenail. Who cares?
[4] You mean you are happy with the way things are? I'll repeat my previous question, TF. What will you do when you can no longer afford your health insurance? Go on Medicaid?
If it is broken, what have your political champions ever done to try and fix it? Anything? Ever? Why did their solutions not work?
[5] Political claptrap number three. If a Democrat government ever changed the system so it applied only to members of their party, what would be your solution? Mine would be armed insurrection.
[6] Political claptrap number four. I had heart surgery two years back. In what way did I have to "bow and scrape" in order to have that (life-saving to me) done? It was two spits better than my private insurance that refused to fix it "because it is a pre-existing condition". OK, I could have sued them, but there is no way I could afford to... That would have cost more than the surgery.
[7] ...providing US citizens with the 46th highest life expectancy in the world. If that is what the best can do, give me our second-rate health system any day.
[8] Yep, state leaders from places such as Israel, Iraq, Zimbabwe and Russia. Name one world leader from the EU, or any of the members of OECD, who has gone to the US for health care. There are none. They use the health system in their own country.
[9] Political claptrap five. Doled out? No. Sufficient resources to meet demand? Yes.
[10] Political claptrap six. You have the government and system that you deserve.
What is becoming apparent, TF, is that for reasons you can not explain - other than the fact that he is a Democrat - you do not agree with what Obama is doing. It becomes a matter of opposing simply because he is "one of them" and not "one of us". The important thing is to sling around as much shit as you can in the hope - vain hope I believe - that more of it will stick to others than does to yourself.
Your simplistic response that "the money does not matter - I leave that to my wife and my accountant" is clear evidence of that.
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