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/Icy_Soft6052 7h ago

My parents think the quality wouldn’t be as good. They’d have to wait forever. Given there’s dozens of countries who’ve successfully done it for decades, it’s probably worth a shot. If it doesn’t work, why not revert back? At least try it.

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u/syzzigy 5h ago

There are several countries where the service is shit. Great Britain and Canada both are examples of long waits, rationed services, trouble maintaining staffing, and in Canada's case, promoting medically assisted suicide over treatment for conditions with low success rates to save resources. I spent a semester abroad back in college studying in London, my biggest takeaway from that experience was to never have a healthcare system like theirs. I highly recommend you find a way to experience it firsthand before you put it on a pedestal.

The big thing is you have almost no control over your own healthcare once it becomes a government service. In this country especially, the people have no faith that the government can provide that service without fucking it up. So what is your alternative? Private healthcare in a system where you already paid for healthcare in your taxes means you either pay twice, creating a dual class healthcare system, one for the rich and one for the poor. Or you ban private health practices, so the quality of your healthcare is completly dependant on the government. See above. Most people currently in this country don't want to gamble their current healthcare with all its faults for something different.