• @[email protected]
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    4 months ago

    The US government spends the most per capita for healthcare and that money is used to cover only a minority of citizens.

    People are then paying extra for private insurance over that.

    Having a governmental monopoly for healthcare is the best because the government can decide how much medications and services cost, the providers don’t have a choice since they only have one client and that client’s goal isn’t to make profit or to make sure others are making profit, its goal is to pay as little as possible.

    • @[email protected]
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      374 months ago

      Norway has universal healthcare for everyone. Going to the ER is free. Ambulance is free. Surgery is free. Checkups and tests are heavily subsidised where we only pay a small fee (like $20). If you spend more than x-amount on fees annually, you get the fees waived for the remainder of the year.

      We have health insurances, but that will only allow you to go to private clinics with less wait times. These insurances are normally paid by employers with highly skilled workers. It’s not considered to be a necessity.

      The Norwegian healthcare isn’t cheap, and we pay around 35-40% income tax, and 25% VAT, but our income doesn’t dictate what type of services we’re allowed to get. Poverty is low, and crime rates are low.

      Socialism works.

      • @[email protected]
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        104 months ago

        We do not really pay 35-40% income tax in practice, it’s a progressive tax system

        For example, I pay about 25% in tax on my income, which is roughly the median salary

      • @[email protected]
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        104 months ago

        Reading “ambulance is free” is still crazy for my European mind. ===> “Of course it is… If the driver asks you for money, we’d put them in jail for years.”

        • @ripcord
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          104 months ago

          It’s crazy to my American mind too.

    • @ripcord
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      14 months ago

      A minority? Howso? Does that mean most people are uninsured? Or just that the majority of insurance payments go to less than 50% of people? Or…?

      Just hadn’t heard that one before, so curious about details.

      • @[email protected]
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        4 months ago

        Public healthcare insurance covers about a third of the population, the rest are either uninsured or covered by private insurance.

        • @[email protected]
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          4 months ago

          Medicare only exists to cover the most expensive patients who require the most care, so that we can support a massive private insurance industry, and to ensure that industry remains profitable.

          Anyone who denies that this system exists to explicitly elevate one class of people over another whom are exploited is living in a fantasy world

      • @ripcord
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        14 months ago

        Ah, I assumed you meant the US in general spends the most, including for public and private.

        • @[email protected]
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          4 months ago

          Let me repeat what I said.

          The US Government spends the most PER TOTAL CAPITA (that is $/330 million citizens) and that money only insures a monitory of citizens, a big chunk of the population ALSO spends money for private coverage OVER the share of their taxes that goes to pay for public coverage.

          The US government spends 12k * 330 million citizens for public health coverage to cover about a third of those citizens, in Canada it’s about 6k * 40 million citizens that we spend to cover everyone!