What do you think would happen to medical innovation if healthcare became "free"? What do you think would happen to quality? What do you think would happen to average wait times?
I know what would happen. The quality and innovation of healthcare would decline unless there is a sea change in world market structure. Right now, the U.S. market pays for the very large lion share of profits that allow pharmaceutical and manufacturers of durable medical equipment to innovate. I've mentioned this before on JF: the U.S. accounts for only 4.4% of the world population, yet we account for something like 45% of the big pharma/medical revenue (I forget the actual number that I found based on prior research, but the number is staggering).
The other downsize to "free" healthcare, is it may lower the salary's of physicians that has been a common occurrence when other 1st world country's have shifted to single payer policies, which is projected to amplify the primary care doctor shortage we have in the country (The United States will face a shortage of between 40,800 and 104,900 physicians by 2030 without any policy changes). It would be even worse if we did not have a continuous influx of immigration from high quality physicians that can get paid a lot more here. If we go to a similar single payer, we probably won't lose the high quality physicians we have (won't get paid more elsewhere), but there is a significant likelihood that the shortage of physicians we already have in this country will get even worse if high quality students choose to enter into alternate fields (and there is little to no incentive for foreign physicians to emigrate). England provides probably the best example. Their single payer system is very difficult for primary care physicians. Some are required to see 50+ patients per day for low pay (compared to U.S. doctors). England has seen a very large drop in the number of physicians they have, something like 5,000 of non-retiring physicians quit there practices there per year as I recall.
If we go to a single payer system, (and/or simply put legislation in place that these companies can't charge U.S. citizens more than the world average of other 1st world/industrialized countries, as every other 1st world country has caps on pricing), either there will be a steep decline in profits and innovation in the medical sector, or the rest of the world will start paying more for health care. The U.S. is effectively subsidizing a large portion of medical care and medical innovation for the rest of the world. I am fine for a free market economy, including health care. The fact is, in a global market that operates with interference, the U.S. model does not work for healthcare. We need a large change, and the ACA was not it. If anything, it made things worse IMO. Lots of complication and no correction of the issues that are driving up costs.
First, I think we should cap costs of pharma/medical equipment. This will be a good start. Then, I think having a similar system to medicare, where basic care is covered by insurance, but you can pay more for additional/better coverage. It would need to be done gradually.
As far as education, I like the Australian system better than ours. Costs are controlled, and loans are guaranteed at little to no interest. Once you start working a portion comes out as a deduction (similar to a tax/FICA deduction). Interest rates on student loans in the U.S. are very high.
The other solution is just to kill all the old people like Logan's Run.
