The over-inflated costs of healthcare have very little to do w/ the government. Costs have been rising exponentially for decades. What are you basing your contention that keeping the government out of healthcare is the secret to bringing down costs? What precedent can you point to?
I don't think the government should "run" healthcare - but I also don't think the free market is the answer on this one. The free market has led to rampant price gouging, and quotas for insurance companies. When profit is the only motivating factor, you're not going to end up w/ the best healthcare for anyone, or the most affordable.
What is my precedent? Well, I can't point to a country that has a free market based health care system, as one does not exist. However, I can point to objective evidence.
Just look at Obamacare. One of its provisions is that EVERYONE pay for mental health coverage whether you want it or not. Does that drive up costs for people or reduce them? It is simple math.
Here is another example. Do you know it is against the law to charge anyone less than you charge Medicare? So even if a physician wanted to treat a patient for free, they would be breaking the law. That drives up costs. Look at all the regulations around HIPPA. Whether you think HIPPA is a good thing or bad thing, it drives up cost. It was driven by government.
Government prevents medical insurance from being sold across state lines opening up competition. Therefore, customers have fewer choices. That drives up costs it does not reduce them.
One last example of how the government drives up the cost of care is through Medicare. When Medicare first started, it was a free for all wild wild west. They pretty much paid for everything without question. As with all things, people realized that it was unsustainable. So the government fearing a backlash didn't want to tell the people the truth, so they implemented a scheme where they would pay physician's 80% of what physicians billed. Problem solved right? Nope. Physicians just billed 20% more than they used to. Oh, and guess what? Because it is against the law to charge Medicare more, physicians had to start billing private insurance companies more. POOF just like that the cost of care went up by 20% just because the gobblement was involved.
As I was typing, I did come up with an example of the free market in healthcare. Plastic surgery. Once thought to be the sole purview of the wealthy, it is open to all manner of income brackets. How is that so? Because there is a free market. The government is not involved in payment. People decide what they want, when they want.
Now, I know what you will say "that's elective and doesn't count". Again, you are applying emotional appeals and not logical, factual economic ones.
The majority of healthcare is delivered on a non emergent basis. Insurance should be ONLY for those things that could potentially bankrupt you. That is what insurance does. We have perverted the notion of insurance to cover things like routine doctor's appointments and physicals, medications etc.
As with most things, you are out of your depth debating this topic with me. You would be better off just saying you think you have a right to other peoples money to pay for your healthcare because you believe your healthcare is more important than their rights to their own property. It would at least be honest
