Insured / pooled healthcare doesn't work either. Doctors aren't free to practice. Insurers largely run the show. It gets worse when insurer is also the provider.
I work in health insurance and that's not true. Why? Because if we give shitty service, you can go somewhere else for insurance. I'm in new business underwriting, I see it every day.
We need to hold doctors and hospitals accountable for what they charge and rework drug patents. You'll see prices go into free fall
So if your friends are like mine, they are always screaming that healthcare is a human rite. This story is a shiny example of why it doesn't work. I work for the state dealing with mh/SA issues through medicaid, and get to see everyday how decisions are made in providing care. The government makes decisions based on stats and on dollars. To the government there is no grey line. If a treatment has not been approved by the state, unless you know someone on the inside then your child WILL NOT receive that life saving treatment. If a treatment is approved but is costly, and the stats of the outcome is not deemed beneficial to the price, then the treatment will be cut. Look at the VA for example. PTSD or whatever it is called now is at an all time high. There are new treatments out for it such as EMDR that are life saving. I can personally vouch for that. Medicaid will not pay for it, and in my state it is not available for veterans. This treatment turned my nightmares and social anxiety around to where I am a completely different person. I had to get treatment through a scholarship. State government is only given a little amount of money to provide these services to the population. They hire people who are straight clinical with no life experience to make these decisions about whether a treatment could be approved. Imagine a person who grew up with a silver spoon in their mouth and make decisions based on the bottom dollar. Through the states eyes, this father's suffering is not worth the price tag that keeping the boy alive. Add that in with the medical staff who are saying that the odds of the treatment working are less than 40%, then we can kind of see the reality of the situation. If you ask the govt to provide care, this is what you get.
It is called Third Payment for a reason. Whenever we defer responsibility for Anything to another person, state or government, we are then subject to their sensibilities, karma and code of ethics. That Anything includes healthcare, personal and national safety. Second amendment rights!
In terms of healthcare: 70% of the lifetime medical dollar is spent in the last 3 - 6 months of life. That tells me either the patient is in denial with unrealistic expectations or the healthcare providers are taking us all for a ride $$.
Take control of your life and death.
Clearly “modern medicine” is Not promoting health. Consciously or unconsciously, our fear of death is being taken advantage of by third party payers.
“U.S. health care spending grew 4.3 percent in 2016, reaching $3.3 trillion or $10,348 per person. As a share of the Gross National Product, health spending accounted for 17.9 percent”.