News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Boy, 16, was given estrogen at L.A. juvenile hall, suit says. Parent comment

Re:Boy, 16, was given estrogen at L.A. juvenile hall, suit says by gruez on Thursday July 16, 2020 @06:10PM (#23864394)
I presume you're talking about pharmacy profit and insurance company profit. "universal healthcare" just means everyone's covered. It doesn't mean everything's owned & operated by the government. That means there can still be private insurance companies and pharmacies, both making a profit.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Boy, 16, was given estrogen at L.A. juvenile hall, suit says by Latty on Thursday July 16, 2020 @06:36PM (#23864638)
I would assume they are referring to most of the current suggestions for universal healthcare in the US, which follow a centralised model where a central body could collectively negotiate for drug prices (as the NHS does here in the UK, very effectively).
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Boy, 16, was given estrogen at L.A. juvenile hall, suit says by gruez on Thursday July 16, 2020 @06:46PM (#23864744)
>which follow a centralised model where a central body could collectively negotiate for drug prices

That's orthogonal to universal healthcare or even a single payer system. There's nothing preventing you from having the whole country be represented collectively, but still have private insurers, like in germany. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2019/how-drug-prices-a...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Boy, 16, was given estrogen at L.A. juvenile hall, suit says by Latty on Thursday July 16, 2020 @06:52PM (#23864790)
Sure, that's true. It's not exactly uncommon to conflate a term with the most common/likely implementations known though, which is what I assumed happened here. It is true that universal healthcare could solve those problems, even if it doesn't have to.
[ Parent | on HN ]
[dead]
Re:Boy, 16, was given estrogen at L.A. juvenile hall, suit says by gruez on Thursday July 16, 2020 @07:53PM (#23865270)
> No need to be deliberately obtuse

It's important, because using the wrong/imprecise terminology muddles the conversation, and allowing it to go uncorrected normalizes it. When it comes to something like politics, all this will lead to is more polarization.

[ Parent | on HN ]