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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (3396)	12/20/2007 6:23:20 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

ie the US system is twice as expensive as the European systems. Health care in the US is twice as expensive. That doesn't mean if you took one of those systems and applied it here that the care would cost half as much, or if you took our system and applied it there that the cost would double.

To: Road Walker who wrote (3396)	12/21/2007 2:53:35 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

I wonder what the real cost is if you were to adjust for the free rider effect of Europe failing to pay for medical research. I strongly suspect that the costs would be close. The allure of Socialized Medicine is that people believe that they can legislate themselves into Eden. It is about a realistic as voting free money. Somebody always has to pay. Right now it is the US consumer paying for Europe's free ride. This too shall pass.

To: Road Walker who wrote (3396)	12/21/2007 6:41:34 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

Which seems a good reason to use real world experience... ie the US system is twice as expensive as the European systems. That's a good starting point, not the be all and end all. There are a lot of factors involved in why it costs less. You have to analyze each of the factors and see which are legitimate and salient and which aren't and the extent to which the factors might apply in a different venue. You can't simplistically pick up the French approach, apply it here, and expect to get the same results or that there wouldn't be unforeseen consequences.