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Originally Posted by shiumai
I guess my issue is with the use of the word 'free'. JC might be 'free' to the student, but it's paid for by taxes, which is other people's wages, time and effort. I think that 'subsidized' is a more accurate word.
Years ago my wife, who's in the health care/medical industry was giving a talk to some high school students. One of them raised his hand and asked her 'What do you think of free health care', and she answered 'There is no such thing as free health care' and proceeded to ask them some questions. None of them really had a concept of how it worked - it just sounded good, like 'free ice cream'.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TommyW
You can call it whatever you want however it strikes some semblance of balance for the pros and cons of how to deal with college educations from a financial standpoint.
Free healthcare is a whole other F story.
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People don't actually mean free healthcare. It obviously comes from taxation, but it is free at the time of use. I frankly would prefer a single payer option like medicare with a private supplement plan like most people have for what is not covered by medicare. The larger insurance pool will keep costs down.
Coupling healthcare with employment is the biggest bad idea. People lose their job, get fired, get laid off, or whatever like during this pandemic then they lose their insurance. If they change employers then they change their insurance, and possibly, their doctor. If their employer changes carriers then they could possibly lose access to the network their doctor is on. If someone wants to go to school or if they want to change jobs then this often means losing their insurance, even temporarily. It is actually a barrier for advancement. I know of people who were offered a per diem position at a higher wage/posiont, but it was without full healthcare benefits, and they didn't want to take a chance of going without insurance until a full time position opened up.
Currently, those that don't have insurance just go to the emergency room and don't pay the bill. Hospitals rely on private insurance to make up the cost for any shortcomings for anyone without insurance or with substandard insurance, which is why premiums continue to go up and up. The inefficiency of people using the ER instead of using doctor's offices and having preventative screenings are one reason why the US pays more for healthcare, but has worse outcomes. We pay high pharmaceutical costs, and for-profit insurance has larger margins here too. We could do better.