> I think we should become a First World country, which means universal healthcare.
The US has univeral healthcare. As I've pointed out, most people opt out, in part because it's a lot like the DMV. It's unclear why making it bigger would change that.
The US has a lot of experience with govt healthcare and it's mostly bad. (The Indian Health Service is especially bad.) It's unclear why we'd go for more before demonstrating that we could do it well.
In other words, as long as Medicare and Medicaid are disasters, why would we want more?
And yes, you can fix Medicare/Medicaid without increasing their scope. If they're fixable. And if they're not, increasing their scope won't fix them either.
Medicare is a "disaster" because of the funding cuts, which are a direct result of our tendency to elect assholes to represent us.
In many areas, government can do a great job when it's not being kicked around by bunch of asshole politicians who think government fails at everything (I include almost all Republicans and at least a third of Democrats) and are therefore invested in proving that point by making it fail.
> Medicare is a "disaster" because of the funding cuts, which are a direct result of our tendency to elect assholes to represent us.
Whatever the cause, we're going to continue electing the same kind of people, so if the result of doing so is broken govt healthcare ....
I am curious about the argument that medicare would be less of a disaster with more money. Govt healthcare advocates claim that govt healthcare would make medicare cheaper. That claim is inconsistent with medicare needs more money.
Medicare with more money might well produce better outcomes, but that's not cheaper.
FWIW, Obama's cost numbers assume significant additional medicare cuts. Those cuts aren't likely to happen, but ....
As I've written before, I'm perfectly willing to give Obama free rein over everyone currently covered by govt healthcare (not just IHS, VA, and medicare/medicaid, but govt employees, including state and local govt employees, and maybe the beltway bandits too) to see what happens. Part of the deal is a 5%/covered-person-year cut in years 3-6, which is a bit over 20% total, which should be a slam dunk given the claims of 30% cheaper with better outcomes. (That's starting from what they're spending now to cover those people.)
If he wants to spend the savings on convering more people, great. I'm also open to letting other folks buy in at cost. The only non-negotiables are "all govt employees" and the per-covered-person budget cuts.
If the claims are correct, that experiment will be a huge success. If the claims are wrong, govt employees will revolt. Either way, we'd know.
The US has univeral healthcare. As I've pointed out, most people opt out, in part because it's a lot like the DMV. It's unclear why making it bigger would change that.
The US has a lot of experience with govt healthcare and it's mostly bad. (The Indian Health Service is especially bad.) It's unclear why we'd go for more before demonstrating that we could do it well.
In other words, as long as Medicare and Medicaid are disasters, why would we want more?
And yes, you can fix Medicare/Medicaid without increasing their scope. If they're fixable. And if they're not, increasing their scope won't fix them either.