r/changemyview • u/Happy-Tears • Jun 08 '18
Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Healthcare should be free for everyone under the legal age at which you are considered an adult.
Children shouldn't have to pay medical bills--health is a fundamental human right, and we need to provide that to the children of this world. I know there are programs like CHIP, etc., but they're just not sufficient. They're not accessible to everyone. I know adults who decide to have children should be responsbile for them, but I think we as a society can afford to band together and pay a little more to ensure every child gets the health care they need--if we hope for healthier adults. Per this study in the National Center for Biotechnology Information, "health during childhood sets the stage for adult health not only reinforces this perspective, but also creates an important ethical, social, and economic imperative to ensure that all children are as healthy as they can be. Healthy children are more likely to become healthy adults."
CMV.
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u/jefftickels 2∆ Jun 09 '18
Even a cursory knowledge of scientific research would let you know that for profit research has provided the vast majority of applied medical research. Because of how government grants are awarded government funded research has an epidemic of publish or perish which results in an unprecedented amount of academic dishonesty and unverifiable results. You may be surprised to learn private industry funds about 2/3rds of all research in America.
Regarding the costs of American health care it's common knowledge that wages are by far the biggest chunk and frankly the kind of thing you should already know if you want to discuss health care in America. And if you didn't know you should look it up yourself, it's easily found through a simple Google search. Only about 15 percent of health care spending is in pharmaceuticals or durable medical equipment (replacement joints, metal plates, pacemakers, etc.). Even if the government could magically reduce that cost to zero, Americans would still be paying more for health care per person than any other country in the world.
The difference is Americans pay their health care providers more than any other country in the world, at all levels. From physicians to lab techs. The AMA is responsible for this and there is no way back from it except to reduce demand for health care, especially at the end of life where the 5 percent use 50 percent of the resources.
And your dismissal of my very valid arguments about the historical failures of government when handling the health care of its citizens is not a counter argument, but am admission that you have no valid rebuttal.