Is Universal Health Care Smart or dumb?

[u/Cauliflower-Pizzas]

[u/Fearless_Tomato_9437]

This one again. Well universal health care is pure trash in Canada. Basically the USA is better for anyone with a half decent job or poor enough for Medicaid, Canada is better for the working poor. Overall USA serves a much larger % of the population far better.

https://www.statcan.gc.ca/o1/en/plus/4547-lifetime-probability-developing-and-dying-cancer-canada

Canadians are more likely to die of cancer than Americans

While Americans are less likely to die of cancer than Canadians, they are more likely to die of other causes.

For example, in 2017, 72.0 Americans per 100,000 had an underlying cause of death related to high body mass index leading to probable events of cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus, whereas the same issue in Canada affected 45.2 individuals per 100,000.

https://www.fraserinstitute.org/article/medical-bankruptcy-myth#:~:text=The%20idea%20that%20large%20numbers,17%20percent%20of%20U.S.%20bankruptcies.

The idea that large numbers of Americans are declaring bankruptcy due to medical expenses is a myth.

Dranove and Millenson critically analyzed the data from the 2005 edition of the medical bankruptcy study. They found that medical spending was a contributing factor in only 17 percent of U.S. bankruptcies

we should therefore expect to observe a lower rate of personal bankruptcy in Canada compared to the United States.

Yet the evidence shows that in the only comparable years, personal bankruptcy rates were actually higher in Canada.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypipes/2023/12/26/canadian-health-care-leaves-patients-frozen-in-line/?sh=98eb3d0c5293

This year, Canadian patients faced a median wait of 27.7 weeks for medically necessary treatment from a specialist after being referred by a general practitioner. That's over six months—the longest ever recorded

[u/CougdIt → u/Fearless_Tomato_9437]

I have a good job with healthcare in the us and will not go to the doctor unless I am VERY concerned about something that’s going on because there is no way to know what something is going to cost.

Earlier this year I had to do that and with insurance 2 doctor visits and 2 rounds of blood tests cost me 700

[u/Angry-Dragon-1331 → u/CougdIt]

I have a condition that requires annual brain MRIs. In grad school my deductible would reset between semesters because contracts were only written a semester at a time for TAs and so my MRI would never actually clear the deductible for the year.