Yesterday I had lunch with a group of people that included one guy who ordered an extra side of bacon to go with his country breakfast and then proceeded to salt his bacon. Later that afternoon I watched a guy who must have weighed in at around 325 light up a cigarette.
Under government-provided health care -- aka "free" health care to many on the left -- you and I would pay for the costs of their medical problems. No thanks.
But, many people point out, nationalized health care is found throughout Europe and seems to work.
Well, that depends. Take a good look at the mouth of the next British person you see and tell me how good their dental system is. But plainly people aren't dropping dead in the streets of Western Europe due to poor health care, they must be doing something right.
I think we have to remember that the effectiveness of health care should not be measured in overall health of a population, but in treating illnesses, and it is by no means obvious that Americans and Europeans get sick at similar rates. Indeed, it would be surprising if they did. Your average Dane is more likely to commute via bicycle and eat more fish than your average American. The American is less likely to smoke. The Dane is less likely to be shot (although not a disease, dealing with gunshot victims is certainly a strain on health care). Even use of mass transit can have an impact (you're more likely to suffer an accident in a car than a subway train).
Further, I would imagine that these cultural traits explain support for the welfare state -- of which health care is a key part -- in much of Europe. That Dane is likely to have neighbors who look like him and have the same cultural values and similar more healthy habits, so when they experience misfortune he won't have much of a problem with their receiving taxpayer support.
Whether that solidarity will be maintained in the face of an increasingly less homogenous society in Europe and differing cultural values will be interesting to observe.
Under government-provided health care -- aka "free" health care to many on the left -- you and I would pay for the costs of their medical problems. No thanks.
But, many people point out, nationalized health care is found throughout Europe and seems to work.
Well, that depends. Take a good look at the mouth of the next British person you see and tell me how good their dental system is. But plainly people aren't dropping dead in the streets of Western Europe due to poor health care, they must be doing something right.
I think we have to remember that the effectiveness of health care should not be measured in overall health of a population, but in treating illnesses, and it is by no means obvious that Americans and Europeans get sick at similar rates. Indeed, it would be surprising if they did. Your average Dane is more likely to commute via bicycle and eat more fish than your average American. The American is less likely to smoke. The Dane is less likely to be shot (although not a disease, dealing with gunshot victims is certainly a strain on health care). Even use of mass transit can have an impact (you're more likely to suffer an accident in a car than a subway train).
Further, I would imagine that these cultural traits explain support for the welfare state -- of which health care is a key part -- in much of Europe. That Dane is likely to have neighbors who look like him and have the same cultural values and similar more healthy habits, so when they experience misfortune he won't have much of a problem with their receiving taxpayer support.
Whether that solidarity will be maintained in the face of an increasingly less homogenous society in Europe and differing cultural values will be interesting to observe.
Update: This morning on the radio I heard a caller -- a self-described "big girl" who confessed to smoking a pack a day -- say that she's had two heart attacks. And she's 26. I guess it's a real character flaw on my part that I have no interest in footing her medical bills.
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