What is Helium

There are 123 articles on this title. You are reading the article ranked and rated #1 by Helium's members.

Should the United States have universal health care?

Results so far:

Yes		72%	801 votes	Total: 1112 votes
No		28%	311 votes	Total: 1112 votes

1 of 72

Yes

Write now

Article Tools

by Paul Wallis

THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

A society full of sick people is a sick society. Even if the diseases aren't contagious, their effects are. The United States is extremely vulnerable to the damage which can be caused by those effects. In practical terms, a very dynamic, challenging social environment is bound to be at serious risk from any significant number of people under physical or mental stress. The costs of the risk are potentially gigantic.

It's bordering on tautology to say that the US is a tough human environment. The old Melting Pot has become a pressure cooker, and the human effects are all too plain. Even in clinical tests, social pressures are dangerous. Add to this the fact of very large numbers of people suffering from a range of serious diseases, from TB to depression, and what's added is an avoidable dead weight.

Less appealing is the obstacle course for those seeking health care. The fact that medical costs are very high, for most people. Few can afford the prices of proper treatment, and given that in many cases that treatment is ongoing, a huge amount of capital is literally being sucked out of the economy. Perhaps worse is the result: a lot of sick, poor, people, unable to recover economically, and sometimes medically. Another economic burden is added to the losses.

It's a pity that Newton didn't come up with a Law Of The Conservation Of Capital, because that's about the only thing that would make this massive drain on finances balance out. Capital spent on medical treatment is "transferred" to other people in the society, but that capital is tied up within the industry, and there's no evidence that the massive prices are somehow translating into anything becoming cheaper. Quite the opposite. The higher prices are escalating costs.

This situation has the particularly unhealthy possibility of achieving damage to the entire nation that even a war would be unable to match. World War Two and Vietnam, combined, compared to normal modern health issues for civilians, would barely be noticeable in terms of casualties. Economically, it's debatable, but think of the cost of a few Iraq Wars per year, and you'd be in the ballpark.

The human cost is appalling, and the economic costs are actual disasters, in more ways than one. Pharmaceuticals are particularly expensive, and since they do most of the actual case management, people do run the risk of not getting proper treatment if they can't afford them. Hospitalization

Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Should the United States have universal health care?

Yes

1 of 72
by Paul Wallis

THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE A society full of sick people is a sick society. Even if the dis...read more
2 of 72
by Robin Luther

I always kept my family insured, because I felt it was my responsibility. When I was in the category known as "the wo...read more

No

1 of 51
by Jeremy Jameson

Insurance works as follows: everyone in a plan pays premiums, which in turn pay the costs covered by the insurance co...read more
2 of 51
by Pat Gray

No, No No, and NO! I've lived in a land with a 'universal' (national) health care system and it didn't work, for a...read more