Should america retain a free-market health care system?

[Fdfddf]

I think the united states should retain a free-market health care system. what do you think?
matt-there are more advantages in having a free-market then in having a socialized one.

[VagineDentata]

Many millions of Americans have NO health insurance at all and Americans have a shorter lifespan than Canadians. They also have a higher infant mortality rate than Canada does.

Howz that werkin fer ya? Not so good, eh?

[Matt]

I think we should join the rest of the developed world and have a universal health care system that provides quality care to everybody and doesn't discriminate based on income.

"matt-there are more advantages in having a free-market then in having a socialized one."

The only "advantage" I can think of in a free-market health care system is that if you're rich, you'd probably get better care, at the expense of the less fortunate. That may be an "advantage" from the perspective of a selfish rich person, but it's not what's best for society as a whole.

[Nuclear Fusion]

No. The same goes for the free market dental system...which isn't a system at all. It's chaos. Only the very-well off can afford care of either kind in this country (the US). The poor have state assistance to help them. The middle class (the majority) is completely screwed.

[Luckycoil935]

Retain? The U.S. doesn't have a free market health care system now. There's Medicare, which is taken out of our paychecks. There's Medicaid and Tricare, which our tax dollars fund. For all intents and purposes, HMOs do much of the rationing of treatment countries with universal health care do.

Americans subsidize defense and medical/pharmaceutical R&D costs so Canadians and Europeans can have cheaper prescriptions and devote more money to social programs instead of their militaries. That sound like free market to you?

A lot of health insurance policies can't be sold across state lines. If you could pick and choose what kind of coverage you want like you can with auto and life insurance, you wouldn't have to hear women whine anymore about how Viagra is covered, but the Pill isn't.

Retain? The U.S. should probably start one.