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Single payer/socialized heath care vs private vs combined (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Heavy question, I know. This is not intended to be political, please leave “taxes/government evil” out of it, I’m interested in a pragmatic view.

Infamously the US has mostly private health care, but we also have Medicare and -aid, the ACA, and the VA.

Most other nations have socialized health care in some format. Some of them have the option to have additional care or reject public care and go fully private.

Realistically, what are the experiences with your country’s health care? Not what you heard, not what you saw in a meme, not your “OMG never flying this airline again” story that is the exception while millions successfully complete uneventful and safe journey story. I’m also not interested in “omg so-and-so died waiting for a test/specialist/whatever”. All systems have failures. All systems have waits for specialists unless you’re wealthy, and wealth knows no borders. All systems do their best to make sure serious cases get seen. It doesn’t always work, but as a rule they don’t want people dying while waiting.

Are the costs in taxes, paycheck withholding (because some people pay for social health care out of paychecks but don’t call it a tax), and private insurance costs worth it to you?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

In Australia we have fully socialised medical care, but you can have private health care if you want.

I paid $0 for my kidney transplant and cancer treatment.

We also get no-interest loans that only increase with CPI from the government to go to university, which is paid back via a percentage of our income once we earn over a certain threshold.

This allows people to actually raise their social status, such as our current Prime Minister, who grew up working class in a single parent family in a poor part of Sydney, before going to university and succeeding.

If I was in the US I would definitely be bankrupt and most likely dead already.

I also earn more (as a teacher) and pay less tax overall than in most US states.