Health care may be 1/5 of what you spend

[choji 0]

In this example the free market fails the people...

Exactly. The free market had decades to prove it can establish a working health care system and it miserably failed. All it has accopmplished is a bloated machinery of red-tape and overhead that nop government even managed to create. Meanwhile, one out of six Americans has no access to health insurance and to adequate health care. There's simply no denying that.

I'm happy to report that I am actually already living in the future. Between the monthly premiums I pay for the coverage for my family, my employer's contributions to my health benefits and what I pay in co-pays, deductibles and whatnot, there's more than 1/5 of what I make going for health care today. I always thought that the health care related taxes in Germany back when were bad but really, they weren't. In comparison to what health care sucks up here, it was a pittance and over there, I got top notch, hassle-free health care services in return. I guess less overhead and red-tape has positive side-effects.

Unfortunately the health care system in Germany is fast approaching the US standard. While getting more and more expensive, the level of service and care one receives in D in return is falling fast. The only way out is to buy additional private insurance, which then adds up on top of what one already pays.

But they are not yet chucking people out of the system. Maybe that will be the next step.

Sure. Germany did make the mistake to open the doors to a private leg in the health-care system some time back. What essentially happened was that those that were contributors to the system as a whole (young, healthy, good income) were allowed to exit out of the public system leaving the latter with the burden and the private insurance companies with the profits. Some of those that exited the public system in their vital years, however, later returned to the public system when the private coverage became either unaffordable or altogether unavailable to them worsening the situation some more. The damage that this particular step has done to the German system is yet more proof that the "market" is not working well when it comes to healthcare. There is, in fact, not a single example worldwide where the free market has managed to establish a functioning health care system. Not one.

This view (or explanation) is a tiny little bit too easy. A multitude of facts led to the situation as it stands today in D. An interesting (not brand new, but still valid) article concerning these facts can be read here:

http://tinyurl.com/39o7q3

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

In this example the free market fails the people...

Exactly. The free market had decades to prove it can establish a working health care system and it miserably failed. All it has accopmplished is a bloated machinery of red-tape and overhead that nop government even managed to create. Meanwhile, one out of six Americans has no access to health insurance and to adequate health care. There's simply no denying that.

I'm happy to report that I am actually already living in the future. Between the monthly premiums I pay for the coverage for my family, my employer's contributions to my health benefits and what I pay in co-pays, deductibles and whatnot, there's more than 1/5 of what I make going for health care today. I always thought that the health care related taxes in Germany back when were bad but really, they weren't. In comparison to what health care sucks up here, it was a pittance and over there, I got top notch, hassle-free health care services in return. I guess less overhead and red-tape has positive side-effects.

Unfortunately the health care system in Germany is fast approaching the US standard. While getting more and more expensive, the level of service and care one receives in D in return is falling fast. The only way out is to buy additional private insurance, which then adds up on top of what one already pays.

But they are not yet chucking people out of the system. Maybe that will be the next step.

Sure. Germany did make the mistake to open the doors to a private leg in the health-care system some time back. What essentially happened was that those that were contributors to the system as a whole (young, healthy, good income) were allowed to exit out of the public system leaving the latter with the burden and the private insurance companies with the profits. Some of those that exited the public system in their vital years, however, later returned to the public system when the private coverage became either unaffordable or altogether unavailable to them worsening the situation some more. The damage that this particular step has done to the German system is yet more proof that the "market" is not working well when it comes to healthcare. There is, in fact, not a single example worldwide where the free market has managed to establish a functioning health care system. Not one.

This view (or explanation) is a tiny little bit too easy. A multitude of facts led to the situation as it stands today in D. An interesting (not brand new, but still valid) article concerning these facts can be read here:

http://tinyurl.com/39o7q3

Granted, there are multiple factors in play here. I don't think I said that there aren't. The over a decade long economic stagnation, high unemployment rates, early retirements, etc. have not exactly improved the situation in regards to the health care system. Some modifications and limitations were coming for sure. However, privatizing and thereby removing the affluent part of the system has done nothing to help the situation but rather accelerated the looming breakdown. One has to wonder whether that was the goal of the privatization to begin with. After all, there's a lot of money to be made. Not that it does the public at large any good but the economically powerful few would stand to gain handsomely if the German system was to be converted into something as profitable and disastrous as the US system.