It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America

Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by rayiner on Wednesday August 14, 2019 @06:35PM (#20700738)

There is zero reason to believe a single payer system would cost us what it costs other countries. We have the same basic model as Europe for building infrastructure, and it costs us multiples what it costs Europe. For $6 billion, suburban Maryland is getting a light rail line that isn’t grade separated. For the same money, Copenhagen is getting a fully automatic new circle subway underneath downtown that’s almost twice as long. Why would we expect healthcare to be any different?

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Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by tzs on Wednesday August 14, 2019 @07:27PM (#20701064)

Surely it is possible to figure out why Copenhagen can get a better, longer system than Maryland can get the same money, and see if those reasons apply to health care systems?

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Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by tptacek on Thursday August 15, 2019 @01:14AM (#20702755)

I mean, there's evidence to unearth if you go look for it; for instance, the relative rate of procedures being provided on an outpatient basis in the US vs. Europe, and concomitant overprescription rates here, or the number of vacant hospital beds and general inefficiency of how we provision hospital chains. The provider side of US health care is a mess.

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Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by username90 on Thursday August 15, 2019 @04:42AM (#20703583)

I'd argue corruption, USA has very high corruption compared to most western nations. Combine the high corruption with high wages in general and you get extremely high costs of government projects.

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Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by tracker1 on Wednesday August 14, 2019 @07:31PM (#20701089)

Bureaucracy and politics.

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Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by AstralStorm on Thursday August 15, 2019 @01:00AM (#20702706)

Since when is Copenhagen less bureaucratic? Or do you mean that more of that leads to lower costs?

And politics, do you mean US lobbying?

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Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by tracker1 on Thursday August 15, 2019 @03:09PM (#20708587)

Yes, lobbying is a huge part of politics in the US. Also, don't underestimate US bureaucracy. Just because it's different doesn't mean it's less bad.

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Re:It's Gotten Too Hard to Strike It Rich in America by 033803throwaway on Wednesday August 14, 2019 @07:08PM (#20700938)

I wouldn't.

Which is why I view the situation as hopeless, but not serious.

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