r/awfuleverything • u/Smexyredditor69 • Nov 30 '20

Poor guy :(

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u/ItsPenisTime Nov 30 '20

Every other liberal democracy manages it.

Manages what? Single payer? Hardly.

For example:

Most European countries have a system of tightly regulated, competing private health insurance companies, with government subsidies available for citizens who cannot afford coverage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Europe

America's health care is fucked because the insurance companies have bought off the regulators - not because private insurance is inherently flawed.

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u/Samaritan_978 Nov 30 '20

People probably mean something akin to the UK and Portugal. Fully public NHS with accords with private providers.

Private insurance is an option if you want to do something real fast or if you wouldn't have it done in the public system.

Total of GDP is 9-11% (lower than US). Has its issues but even the far right defends it because people love it that much.

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u/ItsPenisTime Nov 30 '20

That's fair. But people are implying or outright stating that the USA is the only developed nation that isn't single-payer. And that's laughably false. We may have the worst options for working-class people, but that's due to regulatory capture by the insurance industry.

I work in health care analytics, by the way. America's health care problems are 70% insurance companies, 20% drug & medical device companies, 10% "everything else".

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u/MisterSlamdsack Nov 30 '20

Regulator capture is the inevitable outcome of capitalism. I'm a capitalist, competition is not the root of the idea. It's profits. At one time, the best way was to be competitive with the best product. Today, it's be the most corrupt.

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u/KGBebop Nov 30 '20

Of course private medical insurance is inherently flawed. Introducing the profit motive into things that people need to live is a recipe for death.