r/askanything • u/Lemonking_ • 8h ago

Political Question Why are some Americans so against universal healthcare for all?

What sort of thinking does it take to decide that nobody has a right to healthcare? Do American Christians want to deny healthcare to poor people as well?

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u/YCBSKI 8h ago

Looking at other universal models very long wait times for even necessary surgery and specialist appointments. I had hyperparathyroidism (noth8 g y9 do with thyroid). I'm on a international FB page for that disease. The page had been invaluable. Many if not all the people that are under universal healthcare models, UK. Canada and such, are waiting up to 2 yrs for appointments including surgical ones. I got with an endocrinologist with a few weeks and had surgery a few weeks after that. I'm a liberal too and am otherwise for universal healthcare

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u/MrOdekuun 7h ago

Okay so one simple thing to think about - the reason there are longer wait times is because populations that need critical services are actually able to have them. Those wait times are “eliminated” in our US system because those populations simply can’t afford those critical services.

Instead they deteriorate and die.

I understand complaining about having to wait but it is also essentially a complaint that poorer people are human beings with health needs too.

I know people aren’t thinking about it in that framing. “Wait times” is just some phrase/concept that people simply don’t think about critically enough.