I am not in the habit of making political cartoons, but I keep finding myself amazed at the above argument against a single-payer health care system. Maybe it’s because I come from a country where universal health care used to be the norm (it’s getting more and more privatized nowadays, unfortunately). But regardless, it it unbelievable to me that people are not outraged at the system we currently have. Sure, it’s much better than it used to be, back when people could be simply denied any insurance. But as long as health insurance companies are in control, as long as their goal is profit, we’ll end up paying a lot more than what we’d pay in taxes for universal health care.
As far as I know, Bernie Sanders’ plan will includes slightly higher taxes for those who make over 230K. I don’t make that much, but would be happy to pay more taxes for universal health care and other programs. When I pay taxes, the money comes back to me in the form of services. When I pay to health insurance companies, most of the money goes into the pockets of their CEOs. I still have co-pays and deductions, and have to argue with them about claims. Wouldn’t it be much nicer to just get the service you need whenever you need it, without worrying about paperwork and how much the insurance would cover, and whether it covers it at all? That had been my experience with universal health care: totally worry free.
Not to mention the fact that people are often bound to their jobs because they provide health care, which I think is totally messed-up.
Yes, government services could be sometimes inefficient. But as inefficient as they might be, I can’t see how they’d be less efficient than the system we currently have. And I’m not saying you shouldn’t be able to get extra health care for extra pay to health insurance companies if you wanted to. But that’s what it should be — extra. All the basic and necessary services should be provided by the government.
Big, puffy government that takes care of all of its people’s needs.