Health Care Horrors

A few days ago, I was strolling through my neighborhood, half listening to the radio station through my MP3 earbuds. My attention was caught by a news item on the Obama-care debate. Tea partiers were demonstrating against the health care plan.

"This is Canadian-style health care. We can't afford it. America has the best health care system in the world!!".

"Really?" I thought to myself. "How much of that is true?". It turns out that none of it is.

Canadian-Style Healthcare
Canadians have what it called a "single-payer" system. That means that while most of the doctors work for themselves, the government negotiates rates and pays the bills. Under Obama-care, the health insurance providers that make the US system so expensive will still be there. The only difference is that the rules are being changed to ensure that most people will have insurance.

We Can't Afford It
Measured in per capita spending, the USA already has the most expensive health care system in the world. Will Obamacare make it worse? That depends on who you ask. But whatever the extra cost is, it will still be dwarfed by the gargantuan amount the US spends on the military. It's a matter of priorities. Do you want to spend money on a capacity for killing people or do you want to spend money to help people stay alive and healthy?

America Has the Best Health Care System in the World
By what measure? The USA has a a worse infant mortality rate than Cuba, an average life expectancy lower than other OECD countries and millions with no health care coverage. That doesn't sound like the best system in the world to me.

Will Obamacare make things worse? I'm not sure how it could.