The trouble with that is that there are always tons of individual stories.
There are more than 250 million Americans with outstanding health care coverage that don't experience any of these issues, and get health care of a far higher standard than any of the European nations.
Those hundreds of millions of people have no interest in the long waits and limited choice that the nationalized systems provide.
And as Americans we are working to develop a system that provides good care for everyone. We don't want the fallback of 'crap coverage for everyone' -- that's an acceptance of failure that Americans just don't ascribe to. I certainly don't want MY health coverage to be crappy!
You have to be a total idiot to think that the only options in the world are crappy cheap coverage for everyone or good coverage for some.
For someone that prides themselves on saying "health care is a right" you continually overlook that Norway's health care has some of the longest wait times in Europe. How is that right? In my book, that's just a scam. You say "health care for everyone" but it really means "crap for everyone." That's not admirable, it's abominable.
The only right answer is top flight coverage for everyone.
but you don't even try. That's disgusting.
Steve
First of all, those 250 million are quite happy, and for the most part they are when they get sick, unless they are of those who get dropped.
Health care is a right, and it's just despicable to even allow such a system, if you need a medical procedure, you should get it.
There's good coverage for most, and there is good coverage for ALL. I know you've been force fed stories about how horrible socialized health care is, and I'll be the very first to admit that there is not perfect system. That's not the point.
If you need critical care, there are no waits. And there are no bills. If you need a non critical procedure, there are waits, which is regrettable from the human pov, but as far as I understand not from a medical pov (no, I won't be able to source it, just read a study showing that waiting times significantly improved results from surgery in a medical journal), but no matter what, you will get the pocedure. It's guaranteed.
Be honest, really, what is your choice, waiting for a procedure that's not critical, or not getting it?
How would you feel if you were denied insurance in the first place, then? And what if you payed your insurance for ten years, and then got dropped because you failed to mention when questioned a medical problem that you might not even remember having, or indeed not actually knowing you even had it?
That happens. It happens every day to real people, and they fucking suffer. That's not civilization, that is barbarical, I would rather punch an insurance executive in the nose than drink a good single malt, and that says a lot..
And after the scare stories from ideologically coloured sources, how many Norwegians have you actually talked to about it? I've never met a single person who had proper griefs with hospitals. Some complained about hospital food, some complained about telephone calls being expensive, but I have not met ONE person who did not get top notch treatment, not one.
Does that mean there aren't mistakes and issues? Fuck no. But I can rest assured that no one can deny me health care, you can't.