I might surprise some people with my opinion on this, but here goes:
I am in favor on nationalized health care.
There, I said it. Now for the reasons why.
Anyone who thinks that we don't already have nationalized healthcare is fooling themselves. In the US we have two issues which demonstrate this. First is the Patient Bill of Rights which allows ANYONE access to healthcare without payment. As such, a great many people show up at emergency rooms nationwide for free attention to their sore throats knowing that they'll just ignore the subsequent bills. Secondly, nearly every state in the country has completely subsidized healthcare programs for the "poor", in addition to Medicaid. This often means that the least productive members of society actually find themselves with more disposable income that some in the middle class. Think about it: someone relatively healthy pulling in $18,000/year on welfare can be quite a bit better off than someone making $30k but has to provide their own $1200/month coverage because of a pre-existing condition (I'm not making this up, actually - my father-in-law is faced with a very similar situation after losing his job recently. Fortunately we can help him out, but not everyone is so lucky).
Indeed, I've heard the horror stories about the waiting times for important surgeries in nations with socialized healthcare. I believe that allowing independent insurance coverage as an option would SOMEWHAT help to alleviate that problem.
The problem I see with attempting to make the healthcare industry free-market is that it really can't be such a thing. In my opinion, people HAVE to be entitled to some measure of healthcare.
Our healthcare system is absolutely broken. We currently have a system that absolutely overburdens the middle class. Think about it: if you're poor you've got a free ticket to one of the most expensive cost-of-living items there is. If you're rich than this really won't affect you.
But, if you happen to fall into the category of the middle class family paying your mortgage, credit card bills, etc. on time, a major issue can send even the insured individual to the poorhouse with a high deductable. Imagine if you just lost your job, however - now the "class warfare" system of healthcare has just sent you to the lower class. Either that, or you'll be doing without urgent medications and treatments.
I personally hate to ever relinquish control of anything to the government, but honestly I don't trust insurance companies a whole lot more.
I do have a proposal for how to fix healthcare in the US, but I'm kind of getting tired at the moment. Maybe tomorrow...
