See, if you'd stated it in per capita terms to begin with we could've saved a step here, and probably reduced the peevishness as well. So okay, the UK NHS model doesn't look like it would scale well to the US. How about the Canadian model? (There is, of course, the question of whether the costs scale linearly or not, but since that can cut both ways and I currently lack the economics background to figure out which way it bends if it bends, I'll accept an assumption of linear scaling for a first-look comparison.)
While I am utterly convinced that Something Needs To Be Done, I'm not advocating a foolhardy rush to Just Do Anything. At the same time, I remain very hopeful that there is at least one Right Answer.
The big fear I have is that the insurance industry (and the number of jobs it represents) will have enough political clout to be an obstacle to fruitful change, and may take advantage of a Just Do Anything mindset to push through changes that do make things worse. But I do not think that outcome is a foregone conclusion, nor that attempts to fix the problem are inherently doomed for other reasons, nor that it is just or wise or safe to Do Nothing and leave the current setup in place intact and unmodified.
So far you've only convincingly demonstrated that we could possibly do worse (which I already knew), not that we can do no better.
(no subject)
While I am utterly convinced that Something Needs To Be Done, I'm not advocating a foolhardy rush to Just Do Anything. At the same time, I remain very hopeful that there is at least one Right Answer.
The big fear I have is that the insurance industry (and the number of jobs it represents) will have enough political clout to be an obstacle to fruitful change, and may take advantage of a Just Do Anything mindset to push through changes that do make things worse. But I do not think that outcome is a foregone conclusion, nor that attempts to fix the problem are inherently doomed for other reasons, nor that it is just or wise or safe to Do Nothing and leave the current setup in place intact and unmodified.
So far you've only convincingly demonstrated that we could possibly do worse (which I already knew), not that we can do no better.