<story><title>Both in rich and poor countries, universal health care brings huge benefits</title><url>https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21740873-argument-universal-health-care-clear-getting-there-difficult-says-john</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>merpnderp</author><text>If you think the private healthcare system is immoral, you should take a look at the 100% government ran healthcare system that is the VA. You literally couldn&amp;#x27;t make up worse things than their administration has been caught doing with little or to consequence.&lt;p&gt;If the VA is the best the US government can do, with some of the most sympathetic citizens, then it is incapable of doing better than our private system.</text></item><item><author>sykh</author><text>When a person gets a life threatening disease they ought not worry about whether or not their treatment will leave their family in penury.  This is especially so in a nation as wealthy as the U.S.  The American healthcare system is immoral and I hope it drastically changes.&lt;p&gt;Americans need to change their underlying notions of what it means to be a society.  An author was once made fun of for suggesting that it takes a village to raise a child.  When it comes to public funding for public goods we tend to worry about some poor person getting something they don’t deserve.  The go it alone I’ve got mine, fuck you attitude is unhealthy.&lt;p&gt;Until we change our collective view in what the purpose of a government and society is things won’t change significantly.  Even so called champions of progressivism in the U.S. Senate voted against allowing the importation of medicine from Canada.  It seems the public interest is subordinate to private interests and often times with immoral consequences.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ajross</author><text>&amp;gt; You literally couldn&amp;#x27;t make up worse things than their administration has been caught doing with little or to consequence.&lt;p&gt;I literally could.  The scandals you&amp;#x27;re referring to basically come down to them having been cooking books about care records.  Bad, but not exactly in the realm of &amp;quot;literally nothing worse&amp;quot; hyperbole.&lt;p&gt;In fact the VA tends to produce health care outcomes that are well within the range of US citizens in the same income bracket (which is to say, not great relative to the rest of hte industrialized world, but not bad) at a cost that is &lt;i&gt;much&lt;/i&gt; less than that of private insurance.&lt;p&gt;Really, you could do a lot worse.  The criticism of the VA tends to be very similar to the criticism of the NHS in the UK.  It&amp;#x27;s valid as far as it goes, but... neither UK citizens nor US vets are suffering serious catastrophes here.  They&amp;#x27;re &lt;i&gt;getting care&lt;/i&gt; and living decent, healthy lives by any reasonable standard.&lt;p&gt;Literally.</text></comment>
<story><title>Both in rich and poor countries, universal health care brings huge benefits</title><url>https://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21740873-argument-universal-health-care-clear-getting-there-difficult-says-john</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>merpnderp</author><text>If you think the private healthcare system is immoral, you should take a look at the 100% government ran healthcare system that is the VA. You literally couldn&amp;#x27;t make up worse things than their administration has been caught doing with little or to consequence.&lt;p&gt;If the VA is the best the US government can do, with some of the most sympathetic citizens, then it is incapable of doing better than our private system.</text></item><item><author>sykh</author><text>When a person gets a life threatening disease they ought not worry about whether or not their treatment will leave their family in penury.  This is especially so in a nation as wealthy as the U.S.  The American healthcare system is immoral and I hope it drastically changes.&lt;p&gt;Americans need to change their underlying notions of what it means to be a society.  An author was once made fun of for suggesting that it takes a village to raise a child.  When it comes to public funding for public goods we tend to worry about some poor person getting something they don’t deserve.  The go it alone I’ve got mine, fuck you attitude is unhealthy.&lt;p&gt;Until we change our collective view in what the purpose of a government and society is things won’t change significantly.  Even so called champions of progressivism in the U.S. Senate voted against allowing the importation of medicine from Canada.  It seems the public interest is subordinate to private interests and often times with immoral consequences.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Fomite</author><text>For a &lt;i&gt;large&lt;/i&gt; number of different outcomes, the VA is superior to private care. It has a disproportionate footprint because &amp;quot;The VA does something bad!&amp;quot; is national news, while &amp;quot;SmallSizeMidwestCity Memorial does something bad!&amp;quot; isn&amp;#x27;t.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not perfect, by any means, and struggles with cost constraints (veterans are sympathetic, but sympathetic doesn&amp;#x27;t mean well supported), but many of its quality outcomes are superior.&lt;p&gt;See, for example, &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;jamanetwork.com&amp;#x2F;journals&amp;#x2F;jamainternalmedicine&amp;#x2F;article-abstract&amp;#x2F;2618816&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;jamanetwork.com&amp;#x2F;journals&amp;#x2F;jamainternalmedicine&amp;#x2F;articl...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>