I started to feel differently about Universal government mandated and regulated Health care. I realized how many times my family had avoided hospital care because of our lack of coverage. When I mentioned to Canadians that I had been in a car accident as a teen and hadn’t gone into the hospital, they were shocked! Here, you always went to the hospital, just in case. And the back pain I had endured ever since would have been investigated and cared for with whatever X-rays, Physiotherapy or even Surgery that was needed, which would have been at no cost to me. In our particular province, even chiropractic care was provided after a car accident by the provincial care insurance.When I asked for prayers for my little brother who had been burned in an accident, they were all puzzled why the story did not include immediately rushing him to the hospital. When they asked me to clarify and I explained that many people in the States are not insured and they try to put off medical care unless absolutely needed, they literally could not comprehend such a thing.
I started to wonder why I had been so opposed to government mandated Universal Health care. Almost every western country in the world has Universal Insurance of some kind, except the USA. Here in Canada, everyone was covered. If they worked full-time, if they worked part-time, or if they were homeless and lived on the street, they were all entitled to the same level of care if they had a medical need. People actually went in for routine check-ups and caught many of their illnesses early, before they were too advanced to treat. People were free to quit a job they hated, or even start their own business without fear of losing their medical coverage. In fact, the only real complaint I heard about the Universal Health Care from the Canadians themselves, was that sometimes there could be a wait time before a particular medical service could be provided. But even that didn’t seem to be that bad to me, in the States most people had to wait for medical care, or even be denied based on their coverage. Depending on where one lived and how rural the area was, one's access to care could be limited, and that was regardless of what country one lived in. The only people guaranteed immediate and full service in the USA, were those with the best (and most expensive) health coverage or wads of cash they could blow. In Canada, the wait times were usually short, and applied to everyone regardless of wealth. If you were discontent with the wait time (and had the money to cover it) you could always travel out of the country to someplace where you could demand a particular service for a price. Personally, I never experienced excessive wait times, I was accepted for maternity care within a few days or weeks, I was able to find a family care provider nearby easily and quickly, and when a child needed to be brought in for a health concern I was always able to get an appointment within that week.
The only concern I was left with was the fact that abortion was covered by the Universal Health Care, and I still believed that was wrong. But as I lived there, I began to discover I had been misled in that understanding as well. Abortion wasn’t pushed as the only option by virtue of it being covered. It was just one of the options, same as it was in the USA. In fact, the percentage rates of abortion are far lower in Canada than they are in the USA, where abortion is often not covered by insurance and can be much harder to get. In 2008 Canada had an abortion rate of 15.2 per 1000 women (In other countries with government health care that number is even lower), and the USA had an abortion rate of 20.8 abortions per 1000 women.
As always, ignorance is our enemy in making people understand that universal health care is not some Socialist plot to take away their freedoms, nor force them to have abortions.
And of course that ignorance is being fed by the overt lies coming out of the Fox News.
But hopefully as people become more and more disenchanted with the lies being foisted upon them by the GOP, and the older more stubborn population begins to die off, Americans will start to come around, and perhaps our children can FINALLY have the kind of healthcare that we all deserve.
Of course even WITH universal health care you simply cannot fix stupid, so there will always be those easily manipulated mouth breathers who will believe that this type of health care is the sign of the Apocalypse, but let's face it once people begin to see the benefits of this kind of health care who will bother listening to the Rush Limbaugh's or Glenn Beck's of the world anyhow?
I am in the process of trying to get private health insurance for my family now that my COBRA has ended from a prior employer. I work for a small employer (3 employees) so we don't have group coverage. Since my husband has a pre-existing condition (had open-heart surgery), he can't get picked up and has to get three "declaration letters" saying--Oh No Way, motherfucker, we don't cover people who actually need care--before he can apply for a shitty state plan. They said my daughter's ADHD medication may not be covered or may be offered "at a premium", oh, and they don't cover maternity care.
ReplyDeleteSo think about that: If you are a woman who works for a small employer or is covered by a private plan in my state YOU CAN'T HAVE A BABY UNLESS YOU CAN SHELL OUT $25,000 TO $30,000. And that's for a healthy baby and delivery. If you are one of the many mothers with complications or require a C-section...Good Luck With That. It's enough to make me sick.
If we had universal health care--or once the Affordable Care Act stipulations that require being a woman not be treated as a "pre-existing condition" you would have the freedom to, oh, I don't know, get PREGNANT without going bankrupt.
But you have FREEDOM (to get screwed by insurance companies). Bad socialized medicine takes away our freedom!!!
DeleteYup, 'merica has the best health care in the world. The most expensive and the worst access to that care but we have FREEDOM!!!
I have only one concern about Universal Health Care - cost.
ReplyDeleteOh, not the taxes that would go up due to the cost, but rather, the fact that NEVER has there been anything that the US Government takes on that is run efficiently or even REASONABLY efficiently.
Now, if they adopted one of the systems from other countries which run their system effectively, MAYBE we could get it done properly - but only if it was set up as completely independent from Congress!
Those idiots could screw up a wet dream and call it YOUR fault! (And probably try to charge you with a felony because Onanism was a sin!)
You think you could take Medicare or Social Security away from your grandma? Most seniors are happy with the way social security and medicare are run. Step away from Faux News.
DeleteIf we didn't have to pay for a military to "defend" the whole damn world (when it's "our" oil at stake) we'd not only have more friends throughout the world, we'd have free healthcare second to non and world class education for all.
DeleteYeah, because there's no red tape at insurance companies. You and your conservative, Rush Lumbaugh, Sarah Palin-adoring friends are DE-lusional about the efficiency of the private sector. I work at a really small company, less than 25 employees -- guess how many managers there are? Like seven!!! SEV-EN!!! Every job has been this way, too many managers doing too little work for too high a salary. PS -- I'm not including in that SEVEN Managers figure the CEO and his brother...whose job is, basically, undefined. Yeah, the private sector is awesomely efficient (eye roll...)
DeleteDeni, thank you, but read it again. Never once did I mention Medicare or SS - NEITHER of which is EFFICIENTLY run! (If it was we wouldn't be prosecuting for millions and millions and millions of dollars in fraud ever year.
DeleteI am a senior, so that argument doesn't hold - and wouldn't if a true Universal system became part of our lives. And, No, I have yet to meet ANY senior who is happy with the way SS or Medicare is currently run, mainly because those idiots in Congress are constantly trying to reduce what we have contributed to ALL OUR LIVES! Are YOU a senior?
And as far as I read things, there is no connection between SS and Universal Health Care. Medicare, yes, but until things are studied we won't know.
And if you think that taxes WON'T go up when Universal Health Care is instituted, I would like to know what color the sky is in your world. NO country can pay for UHC without a tax increase - unless they force their government to be cost effective, which ain't gonna happen with the Congress we have. (Personally, I believe the tax increase would be worth it IF we got what we paid for!)
As for Fox News? I don't even have TV service. How the Hell can I watch that crap?!
Medicare is run very efficiently, with only a few percent for overhead and the rest going directly to medical care. There are no profits and no shareholders involved.
DeletePeople's very lives are legally secondary to the maximizing of dividends for shareholders in our current for profit healthcare system. It is barbaric and uncivilized.
More to the point of health insurance ineffectiveness, I'll tell you a little story. I have shitastic care that I pay for myself. I went to get some tests -- WHICH I HAD TO PAY FOR MYSELF -- and the insurance company sent me, like eight bills, for the same test. They all came on the same day, too. So, this company, one of the largest in the country, btw, and whose Chicago office, btw, has added space TWICE since 2000, couldn't get their shit together to send ONE BILL for the same test. No. They sent EIGHT bills with EIGHT stamps and EIGHT envelopes and EIGHT pieces of paper, and I think, EIGHT prepared return envelopes. Yeah...the private sector is soooo efficient. We should totally stick with this system/SNARK.
DeleteLeland, of course your taxes will rise with universal healthcare. BUT, so will your paycheque, because your employer won't be paying insurance premiums for you!
DeleteAs for inefficiencies: Do you realize that a good 20-30% of the cost of your healthcare is going to pay for NON-medical care? In my province, administration accounts for just 3% . My doc doesn't have to employ extra staff to handle the myriad of insurance policies, nor does he spend any time at all arguing with an insurance provider to get a test approved. Your insurance companies are the actual death panels Snowdrift Snookie likes to (still!) talk about.
Googled this...
Deletehttp://healthaffairs.org/blog/2011/09/20/medicare-is-more-efficient-than-private-insurance/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/01/09/1053022/-Medicare-is-still-more-cost-efficient-than-private-insurance
And this came up too...you decide.
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/private-insurance-is-more-efficient-than-medicare-by-far/
My opinion is that I would rather see a small tax increase and have universal health care. It's too much headache to "shop" for insurance. Right now we pay $180 dollars a week!! My husbands company no longer pays overtime so over the past three years his pay has gone down and the health insurance has gone up. I looked at his pay stub from 2005 and our health insurance was $75 a week!!!! We can't afford a house because we can't save for a down payment. If our taxes increased $180 a month and we had universal care we could save approximately $540 a month. Yea, I'm happy to have health insurance but it's bleeding us dry!! Private health insurance is a leech on the middle class and it needs to be stopped. Imagine all the disposable income families would have to spend on the economy if they weren't making a second mortgage payment in health care. Think about it, we pay $1200 in rent and $780 in health care insurance EVERY MONTH (never mind we still have to pay co-pays and prescription costs). My husband makes $40,000 a year thats over half his monthly income.
I am self-employed and make a good hourly wage but if I were to get hurt I have no unemployment. We would be homeless if I couldn't work. To think our country has come to this, where honest hard working Americans are one paycheck away from destitution, it's just sad. I am beginning to wonder if it's time to move away because we seem to be on a decline and if the next administration is GOP heavy I'm scared at what will happen. I have an education in the arts (no money) but maybe that's enough to get me and my family into Canada if we have to leave.
Maple 7:58
DeleteI agree. I've said the US has to 'take the insurance companies out' -- literally. They are the middle man -- for profits -- the death panels making the decisions from a desk as to whether the patient lives or dies -- gets approved for the test or treatment or not. It's not the decision of the government.
In Canada -- the Doctor advises what tests, what treatments you get. Not the government.
The Gov negotiates the fee setting. The costs of drugs which the majority are paid for for seniors. Very few are fee paid drugs.
I, the patient, make the decision of my family doctor. I don't have to worry whether the doctor at the hospital is 'out of program' or whatever they call it in the states where drs are covered by some insurance companies and not others. I can also seek medical attention anywhere in Canada and be covered - therefore not worry if on vacation etc.
Leland-I am a senior and I think Medicare is great.If we did get Universal Healthcare and taxes went up,people would not be paying healthcare premiums and employers would not be paying healthcare premiums.No copays and deductibiles ,too.I imagine their would be some small increase in taxes that could be offset by getting our noses out of the affairs and wars of other countries.
DeleteLeland at 4:59 am. Both Medicare and Social Security are amazing efficiently-run programs. And Medicare's overhead costs (administrative expenses) are way below those of private insurance companies. Obviously if Medicare were extended to the entire population or if another route were taken to universal health care, taxes would go up. So what. The tax burden would be shared by all and it still would only be a fraction of what comparable private insurance would cost. And, with private insurance, there are enormous administrative costs. Those executive golden parachutes and annual bonuses and private jets have to be paid for by someone.
DeleteEvery other industrialized country has had universal health care for decades now. The happiest people in the world live in Denmark and some of the healthiest are in France - both countries with excellent and long-standing universal health care programs.
Too many Americans are so caught up in their chauvinism that they refuse to look at how other countries address such issues.
I was thrilled to see the celebration of Britain's NHS (National Health Service) last evening during the opening event at the Olympics. It made the insufferable Romney and other Republican ads marginally bearable during the commercial breaks. (I must admit that we tried to outwit them by changing channels at those times.) It must have disheartened many a Republican watching for a glimpse of their hero (Mitt) while the virtues of universal health care were vaunted. Mind you it began in Britain in 1948 when the country was bankrupt and facing years of reconstruction. But they did the right thing anyway. Why can't we? Because some people think their taxes might go up or are afraid that they might not be able to see their own doctors? How ludicrous. Our "exceptionalisn" is digging us into an abyss. I, for one, am perfectly willing to spend more in taxes (and I'm not rich) so that my son and his children can have access to the excellent medical care that I get through Medicare.
Beaglemom
This is an observation. I married a wonderful man whom I love very much. He works in the construction industry here in MA. He got his GED and went on to follow his father's footsteps and became a painter. He is very good at his job and lucky for us he is often asked to do side work, because his paycheck is really just for the health insurance.
DeleteHe was never into politics when I met him and has never voted--I'm working on that. I am trying to get him to vote even if though our state is a blue one the senate race is going to matter this election cycle.
Anyway, his friends at work are all what you might call "blue collar" workers and they are also brainwashed that "crackheads" are taking all of their tax money.
Overall, my husband is trying his best to sway his friends opinions or at least get them to think about the big picture. One of them had an intestinal problem and uses a colostomy bag now. And yet, even though the ACA would let him in with a pre-existing condition he still is against it!!! I just find this type of stubborn adherence to these ideologies against any common sense so frustrating!!
On the other hand, I went to college and now I'm working on a masters degree. The people that I know in school and at work are predominantly liberal. I guess the RWingers should worry about their kids getting an education because it seems to me the better educated (in general) are more liberal or independent.
Ultimately, it seems to me that the "I don't want my taxes paying for abortion" is one of the cruxes facing this health care argument, as pointed out by the post. Yet, I don't want my taxes going to religious school vouchers, crappy textbooks. Along with tax free religious institutions, the Dept of Defense...and so it goes.
Liberals need to start talking LOUDER than these other low infos. If they can whine about abortion why don't we whine about the school vouchers. There needs to be pushback. The "crackhead" meme that I mentioned earlier was generated during the Reagan years and it's still holding on, even after Clinton enacted welfare reform!! Gahhhh. I'm sorry to ramble. Fini.
Quiet possibly, one of the few perks of being an Alaska Native (Aboriginal, as opposed to Sarah Palin's little sister being born here) is our access to health care.
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic Church, then the BIA, then the Indian Health Service first operated the system in Alaska, before we ourselves become owner/operators in the 90's. The Anchorage Area Southcentral Foundation has become a model for the health industry to follow their lead in cutting costs while not compromising service and access to their population.
Each region has their own health program, and Todd Palin's Bristol Bay region is lucky they don't really have a blood quantum minimum to service him, his minute-blooded children and already his grandchildren if they so choose. Sarah herself couldn't get access with the exception of her pre-maternal status (maybe, perhaps that's why she got pregnant so much? Save a buck on her own health care that was reduced to only coverage for catastrophic illness?)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/22/opinion/sunday/a-formula-for-cutting-health-costs.html?pagewanted=all
Growing up in the poverty and crippling pathologies the church, the government and other outsiders unleashed on the Natives, the one bright shining light was having access to a hospital if we needed it.
The villages are finally being better equipped (because it is still an underfunded and rurally inadequate system) but people still go in when they feel sick and especially when their kids feel sick. Some of them do wait until their condition is emergent, but at least a lot of worsening illness doesn't go unchecked as a way of life.
I can't imagine what the quality of life would be like for Alaska Natives if we didn't have universal health care, and for the life of me, can't understand why my non-native neighbors begrudge such a concept for themselves.
Maybe they are so threatened and so offended because they are chronically ill. If we are become a nation of better health, maybe we'll be a nicer country to each other.
I have lived in a native village for almost 20 years now. I had to quit working for the tribe because they wouldn't give me enough pay to cover health insurance costs - which they didn't provide as an employer because everyone else was Native and gets free IHS care.
DeleteAnd yet, many villagers are very conservative. They don't understand that I want and need what they have by right of treaty and agreement for reparations. (nor do they seem to make the connection between the Conservatives and the lack of support for Tribal Sovereignty, subsistence rights and fossil fuel extraction -environmental justice issues.)
And the real kicker? My husband is a health aide in the village. A 1/3 of our combined gross income goes to pay for inadequate health care coverage with Alaskan Premara Blue Cross/Blue Shield Insurance. And as a non-beneficiary I can't be seen in the clinic for care, I have to fly to Anchorage for any health care needs.
Well, I'm so glad he feels better about abortions. . .not. He can still go take his views and fuck himself.
ReplyDeleteUh, maternity care? I believe it is a woman who is writing the piece. Now please go fuck yourself because you only get to make CHOICES about your body, not mine.
DeleteCould not have said it better myself WakeUpAmerica!!!
DeleteActually, Medicare is much more cost effective than insurance companies to run. There's no profit to be made with Medicare, and no huge pay and bonuses for the top guys.
ReplyDelete5:10 - WTF is your problem? People can believe abortion is wrong or not wrong. All the write expressed is he is opposed to abortion. He didn't say he pickets, protests, makes bombs or shoots health care personnel. He doesn't approve of abortion - lots of people don't but they don't shove it down your throat. You sound angry at him because he doesn't approve? You might want to check out your anger
ReplyDeleteI swear that those who jump up and down forcing their abortion believes on others -- that no one should have the choice -- truly believe that those of us that do believe in the woman's choice, that we make plans to go out on the weekend to party, get drunk, get screwed just so we can get preggers and have an abortion. In their small-mindedness -- it's like that our addiction. Gotta get preggers -- Ohhhh, an abortion -- what fun!! Everybody should have one!!!!
DeleteSo her brother is so badly burned that she's asking people to pray for him, but not badly burned enough to be rushed to the hospital? This doesn't pass the smell test.
ReplyDeleteIn the old days when I attended church to apease my parents,we would be asked to pray for common colds,a tick bite,a scratch,a burn on the hand from grabbing a hot pot,even one time for a bad case of acne.So yeah,I can see this happening.
DeleteJust a couple things about Canada's healthcare. The citizens do pay a small premium each month for their healthcare. They also have a sales tax, about 7% I think, on top of their regular sales tax that helps pay for the healthcare as well. Wait times depend on where you live in Canada. I know that on Vancouver Island, you might wait a year for knee surgery for a torn cartilage. However, in other less populated areas you might wait only a couple weeks. I think France's system is supposed to be the most efficient.
ReplyDeleteHealthcare should be a right for every single person, not a privilege for the wealthy.
Depends which province you live in; they are not all the same, either for small premiums, nor for wait times.
DeleteFrance's system is quite efficient, however their docs are paid a pittance compared to docs in either US or Canada. France also does not have large areas where population is sparse and only accessible by plane. You see, there are a whole multitude of factors that determine a country's cost of healthcare. However, the idea that it is a commodity that can work on the free market is ludicrous and, actually, hurtful.
WakeUpAmerica -- Don't broadbrush paint the Canadian system as to wait times, premiums, etc. Every Province has their own healthcare system. Also every Province has their own 'sales tax' rate -- no different than you in the U.S. Some charge sales tax - some don't.
DeleteI didn't broadbrush paint the Canadian system. You need to read it again. I also am not opposed to the Canadian system, but it is erroneous for people to say it is free, right? That was the point of my comment. It is a far better system than what we have in the states. One of key components is that drug companies are limited as to how much profit they can make on drugs.
DeleteSlightly o/t but did anyone watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last night? A major part of the program was the salute to the British National Health Service and Children. Think any of it sunk in when Rmoney was there watching or did he probably not even get it.
ReplyDeleteI thought the tribute to the Great Ormond Street (Children's) Hospital was especially thoughtful. I didn't know that J.M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan etc.) directed all royalties to the Hospital in perpetuity. So every time Peter Pan is performed on any stage throughout the world, the Hospital benefits.
DeleteI thought the Mr. Bean segment was side-splitting, BTW!
The Giant Baby was awesome!
DeleteI thought it was great to see the NHS singled out and celebrated. I just heard that more Americans watched the Opening Ceremonies than ever before. I hope the program made more of them think about what we could and should have in this country.
DeleteBeaglemom
The way I see it, we have two options. One is what we have now: "conflict of interest care" where insurers make money by NOT giving the service you're paying them for and doctors are motivated to give unnecessary tests, procedures and drugs in order to cover their overhead.
ReplyDeleteThe other is "socialist health care" which may indeed have some drawbacks (especially if your goal is to become rich being a doctor), but ultimately results in better health for the majority, which I believe is better for the economy in the long run.
The sick thing is that Palin knows full well the virtues of "socialist care" since she admitted her mother used to jump the border with the kids to steal free care from Canada.
My family doctor is living a VERY good life here in Canada thank you very much. It's like everyone else working -- they bitch about their earnings but will never tell you truthfully what they make.
DeleteYou said it in the first paragraph as both the insurance companies and the medical companies who are the owners of the many hospitals and are the employers of many of the doctors -- are for profit -- for their shareholders. That's where there is a major failure in the US system.
Health care in Canada is not FREE. Residents of Canada pay a set rate per month. When obtaining care they present a card showing their account number (MSP of BC, AHCIP, whatever). I think there's a three month waiting period in each province before the premiums and coverage begin.
DeleteIf Palin's family did get services in Canada, they would have paid out of pocket. I live in the US, but the closest walk-in clinic is in Canada, and I always pay the fee for a non-covered patient, then apply to my US insurance company for reimbursement less my co-pay.
Yes, there are waits for some services, especially for rural patients, but overall I've always been pleased with the Canadian system.
The lack of responses so far, (22) shows that Americans don't think they need universal health care. They have praying to baby jesus and who needs health care when you have a hot line to the sky fairies over your own personal imaginary two-way radio to the clouds.
ReplyDeleteYou're just not pushing the right hot buttons Jesse.
Yeah, he needs to throw in Death Panels to get some action!
DeleteAs a Canadian, I can tell you that we often bitch and moan about our own system as it's up to the provinces to run it so quality varies.
ReplyDeleteBut even at its worst, we'd never do without it. Having everyone covered just makes sense. You won't lose your house and employers don't have a headache with it.
Actually there's a good argument to be made that a more healthy society is better overall for the economy.
At any rate, not my business how you all decide you want to run your country but just thought I'd thrown my own 2 Canuck cents in.
New York state paid for my late term abortion (I was 20 weeks, 116 lbs when I found out I was even pregnant, 22 weeks when I had my actual abortion) thru a program called P-CAP, which covers everything a pregnant woman may need, including all dr and hospital visits, pre and postnatal care, and, if she should choose, abortion.
ReplyDeleteEvery abortion story is different. I was sick. Five years deep into an eating disorder that controlled every aspect of my life, I had no idea of what I really looked like, and I also had my "period" thru the first three months. It was too soon to tell if it would have even been a viable fetus, but my doctor told me, in my condition, this fetus could very well kill me in its attempt to survive. The 200 calories a day I allowed myself to NOT throw up, was going to the fetus, not to me. I could, however, still live, and perhaps still give birth to a normal child.
I chose not to. And, in my condition, I was not allowed to be put under, because I was so weak, I may never wake up.
I could have never Have afforded the hospital bills. My insurance didn't cover maternity care. But since I qualified for P-CAP, I didn't have to worry. It was one less thing for me to have to go thru.
I <3 NY.
From the viewpoint of someone who lives half the time in Canada, and the other half in California:
ReplyDeleteI feel "exposed" every time I cross the border, to go south for the winter, and relieved, each Spring, when I return.
It bothers me to think of how 70% of the nation of the United States was angry as hell about their healthcare situation, and showed it by electing the guy who promised to fix it.
Suddenly, with the expenditure of many millions of dollars by those who are expert in brainwashing, the same 70% hated the solution, which became known as "Obamacare."
Doesn't it dawn on anyone, how amazing that transformation is??? Enough to recognize you have been DUPED, big time, by those who make obscene profits, if the system remains as it was?
I've lived with Universal Heathcare (we call it Social Security) all my life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I'm sick I go to the doctor and pay $28 for the visit. The doctor is not allowed to make me pay higher. Out of this money, at least $20 are reimbursed to me later on, by Social Security.
When my kids are hurt or have illnesses that seem unusual I go straight to the emergencies in the hospital. We wait - the more I've ever waited was 4 hours. When it's our turn a kid specialized doctor sees the kid, orders tests, radios, whatever's needed, and they will be done right here and there. Weeks afterwards I get a bill - it's never been more than $50, I pay and Social Security reimburses me most of it.
When my kids were born I went to the private hospital (more expensive). Uncovered costs ? $360 for the epidural and $20 a day for a room shared with another mother. All the tests on the kid free for me ; Social Security pays directly for the big costs. If the kid had needed intensive neonatal care for months, I wouldn't have had to pay anything either.
How does it work ? A small portion of each and every salary paid in France is given to the state-run Social Security, before the salary is given to the employee. People who earn more pay for people who earn less - in return, their poor employees are healthy and miss less days of job. Unemployed or too poor people automatically get a coverage too, paid for by all of us, where they don't have to advance the money for the small costs, unlike me. They're already struggling enough without a job, to find a place to live in, we're not going to let them fall in ill health on top of it, are we ? It's basic solidarity.
On top of that, one can buy special coverage, for a monthly fee, that reimburses the costs not entirely covered by the Social Security.
Whatever tests are needed will be done on me, without having to ask Social Security to agree to it "because it's expensive", a la NHS. The doctors decide on health grounds, not bureaucrats, not entrepreneurs.
Remember the movie "As good as it gets", where the waitress's son is saved because one of her clients has money and will pay for his care ? I saw it and that sounded so like a 19th century plot to me. "Why doesn't she go to the nearest hospital and get her son treated ?? Oh, yeah, I forgot, she's American, healthcare is still pre-WWII there."