Universal Healthcare
A question for you:
The idea of universal access is a noble cause. In my opinion, I believe it is possible. However, we have not come to consensus on how to finance (pay for) healthcare coverage for all Americans.
Democrats point towards countries that have described themselves as Socialist Democrats; Sweden for example. The problem here is that in practice, Sweden had to return to more capitalist practices after the socialist experiment failed. See https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/2020-02/cpr-v42n1-1.pdf for more information on this topic. Another interesting paper is https://globalizationandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12992-019-0517-3 . The author seems to be presenting a case for financialized capitalism. However, in the end the author proposes more redistribution of wealth. This is not capitalism. However, the author does bring up legitimate obstacles to universal healthcare, even if the solutions are not new.
On the Republican side, the concepts of individual choice and competition drive policy initiatives. You can find an interesting article here: https://www.heritage.org/health-care-reform/report/the-cure-how-capitalism-can-save-american-health-care . You can also view the following articles that focuses on consumer driven healthcare: Consumer-Driven Health Care Lessons From Switzerland Regina E. Herzlinger, DBA Ramin Parsa-Parsi, MD, MPH. Both of these articles point towards possible solutions relative to our market system.
In today’s marketplace of ideas, we have individuals, healthcare providers, and policy scholars who understand the challenges, but differ on the solutions. I do not presume to understand why they feel the way they do, only the ideas they present. In addition to a difference on solutions, opposing views are targeted with ad hominem attacks instead to public discourse in the hopes of finding bipartisan solutions.
What do you think about today’s attempts to provide universal access? Can America lead the way for industrialized nations on universal consumer driven healthcare? If yes, how? If not, why?
