Would Universal Healthcare Really Work in the U.S.?

Summary

This video explores the concept of universal healthcare in the US, contrasting it with the current system where health insurance is often job-based and can leave many without coverage. It discusses the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), various universal healthcare models like the UK's socialized medicine and Canada's single-payer system, and the potential impact on cost, quality of care, and individual choice. The video raises questions about whether the US should adopt universal healthcare, increase taxes to fund it, and the possible trade-offs between coverage and care quality.

Takeaways

• 😱 Appendicitis surgery in the US can cost around $15,000, which can be a huge financial burden for those without good health insurance.
• 🏥 Countries with universal healthcare guarantee access to medical services without the fear of high costs or bankruptcy.
• 💸 In the US, health insurance is often tied to employment, which can lead to loss of coverage if one loses their job.
• 🤔 The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) aimed to increase insurance coverage but did not provide universal healthcare.
• 🌍 Different countries have different models of universal healthcare, such as socialized medicine in the UK, single-payer in Canada, and heavily regulated private insurance in Switzerland.
• 💼 The US healthcare system's complexity, with multiple insurance companies and high administrative costs, contributes to higher prices.
• 💊 US healthcare spending per person is around $10,000 per year, double that of countries with universal healthcare.
• 🏢 Lack of insurance affects millions in the US, with 22,000 deaths annually from treatable diseases due to unaffordable care.
• 💹 The US leads in medical innovation due to competition and profit motives, which might be at risk with a universal healthcare system.
• 🤝 Conservative viewpoints suggest that individual ownership of insurance and reducing government involvement could improve the US healthcare system.
• ⏰ Potential drawbacks of universal healthcare include longer wait times for certain procedures and possible rationing of care.

Q & A

What is the average cost of an appendectomy in the US?

The average cost of an appendectomy in the US is around $15,000.

What percentage of Americans have health insurance, and how many are uninsured?

Around 91% of Americans have some form of health insurance, while 9%, which is over 27 million people, have no insurance.

How does the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, aim to increase health insurance coverage?

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, aimed to increase the number of people with insurance by requiring everyone to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, and it helped lower-income Americans pay for it.

What is the difference between socialized medicine and a single-payer system?

Socialized medicine, as seen in the UK, involves government ownership of hospitals and government-employed medical staff, with no direct payment for services. A single-payer system, like in Canada, involves private healthcare providers but the government acts as the sole insurer, paying for services.

How does the Swiss healthcare system differ from Obamacare?

Switzerland requires everyone to have private health insurance, heavily regulated by the government, which also pays for part of it if you don't have enough money. It's akin to a more intense version of Obamacare.

Why does healthcare cost more in the US compared to countries with universal healthcare?

Healthcare costs more in the US due to a fragmented system with hundreds of insurance companies, each with different billing practices, high administrative costs, advertising expenses, and executive salaries.

How does the lack of a universal healthcare system affect the uninsured population in the US?

The lack of a universal healthcare system means that around 9% of the US population, or 27 million people, have no insurance, often because they can't afford it or their jobs don't offer it.

What is the impact of not having health insurance on Americans' health and financial stability?

Without health insurance, 22,000 Americans die every year from treatable diseases because they couldn't afford to go to the doctor. Additionally, two out of every three bankruptcies in the US are tied to medical issues.

How does the US's investment in healthcare research and development compare to countries with universal healthcare?

The US spends billions on cutting-edge research and drug development, driven by companies competing for profit. This level of innovation might be at risk if the US switched to a universal healthcare system.

What are the potential drawbacks of implementing a universal healthcare system in the US?

Potential drawbacks include increased taxes to fund the system, a possible decrease in the quality of care, and less individual choice due to more government control over what treatments are covered.

What alternative to universal healthcare is suggested in the script?

An alternative suggested is to allow individuals to buy health insurance on the same terms as employers, giving individuals more control and continuity over their insurance regardless of job changes.

Outlines

00:00

🏥 Healthcare Crisis in the US

The paragraph discusses the high costs of healthcare in the US, exemplified by a $15,000 appendectomy surgery. It contrasts the US system with universal healthcare systems in other countries where citizens don't face such high costs. The paragraph also touches on the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), its goals and controversies, and how the current system leaves 9% of Americans uninsured. It ends by exploring different universal healthcare models like those in the UK, Canada, and Switzerland.

05:00

💸 The Cost of Healthcare

This paragraph delves into the financial burden of healthcare in the US, where the country spends nearly twice as much per person compared to countries with universal healthcare. It points out inefficiencies in the US system due to multiple insurance companies and high administrative costs. The paragraph also addresses the issue of 27 million uninsured Americans and the impact of medical costs on personal finances, including bankruptcy. It raises concerns about the potential trade-offs of universal healthcare, such as possible decreases in quality of care and access to cutting-edge treatments and drugs.

Keywords

💡Appendicitis

Appendicitis refers to the inflammation of the appendix, which is a small pouch attached to the large intestine. In the video, appendicitis is used as an example of a medical emergency that could lead to a costly hospital visit, highlighting the financial burden of healthcare in the US.

💡Health Insurance

Health insurance is a type of contract in which a person receives medical care from a third-party provider in exchange for a monthly premium. The video discusses how health insurance works in the US, often tied to employment, and the risks of being uninsured or underinsured.

💡Universal Health Care

Universal health care is a system where all citizens have access to healthcare services, regardless of their ability to pay. The video explores the concept of universal health care, contrasting it with the current US system and examining different models used in other countries.

💡Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)

The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is a comprehensive healthcare reform law enacted in the United States in 2010. The video mentions it as an attempt to increase insurance coverage but clarifies that it did not achieve universal health care.

💡Single Payer System

A single payer system is a type of universal health care where one public entity, usually the government, funds health care coverage for all citizens. The video uses Canada as an example, explaining how the government acts as the single payer for health insurance.

💡Healthcare Spending

Healthcare spending refers to the total amount of money spent on health services, supplies, and administration. The video compares US healthcare spending, which is significantly higher than other countries with universal health care, suggesting inefficiencies in the US system.

💡Medical Bankruptcy

Medical bankruptcy refers to the financial ruin caused by overwhelming medical expenses. The video cites that two out of every three bankruptcies in the US are tied to medical issues, illustrating the impact of high healthcare costs.

💡Healthcare Rationing

Healthcare rationing is the deliberate allocation of healthcare resources, often due to limited availability. The video discusses how universal health care systems might lead to rationing, potentially affecting access to certain treatments or surgeries.

💡Employer-Provided Insurance

Employer-provided insurance is a benefit offered by employers to their employees, covering healthcare costs. The video points out that this system ties health insurance to employment, which can be problematic if one loses their job.

💡Taxation for Healthcare

Taxation for healthcare refers to the use of tax revenues to fund public healthcare services. The video explains that countries with universal health care typically have higher taxes to support their healthcare systems.

💡Healthcare Access

Healthcare access refers to the ability of individuals to obtain appropriate healthcare services. The video discusses how universal health care aims to improve access for all citizens, regardless of their income or employment status.

Highlights

Appendicitis surgery in the US costs around $15,000.

Good health insurance may cover most of the surgery cost, but bad or no insurance leaves patients with high expenses.

Universal healthcare in other countries guarantees access to medical services without the fear of high costs.

In the US, health insurance is often tied to employment, and job loss can mean loss of insurance.

The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) aimed to increase insurance coverage but was not a universal healthcare system.

Countries with universal healthcare have different models, such as socialized medicine in the UK and a single-payer system in Canada.

Universal healthcare is funded through higher taxes in countries where it's implemented.

Healthcare spending per person in the US is around $10,000 per year, double that of countries with universal healthcare.

The US healthcare system's complexity and multiple insurance companies lead to higher costs.

Almost 9% of the US population, or 27 million people, have no health insurance.

22,000 Americans die every year of treatable diseases because they couldn't afford healthcare.

The US spends billions on medical research and drug development, which could be affected by a switch to universal healthcare.

Universal healthcare could lead to longer waiting times for certain procedures and limited access to new drugs.

The government's role in healthcare decisions could increase with universal healthcare, potentially leading to care rationing.

An alternative to universal healthcare is allowing individuals to buy insurance on the same terms as employers.

The decision to adopt universal healthcare is a significant issue in US elections due to its impact on every citizen.

Transcripts

- It's 3 a.m. and you're wide awake,

your stomach is on fire.

It is literally the worst pain that you've ever felt,

I'm talking more painful than if

Iggy Azalea and Kanye West made a duet album,

because it's that painful, you head to the emergency room,

the diagnosis, appendicitis.

Doctors wheel you into the operating room,

do their thing, and eventually, you leave the hospital,

alive, minus your appendix.

Modern medicine folks.

Very impressive.

But that's not the end of your journey.

The average cost of the surgery you just had

is around $15,000.

Now if you happen to have good health insurance

that'll probably pay for most of it.

But if you have bad insurance or no insurance,

you're on the hook for paying most of it,

or all of it yourself, not a fun position to be in.

Here in the US, we do healthcare

differently than just about every other

greatest country on the planet,

those countries have universal health care,

where the government guarantees that everyone

has access to doctors, hospitals, and medicine without

having to worry about paying thousands of dollars

and potentially going broke.

And that leads me to the question

I'm digging into for this episode.

Should the US offer universal health care?

In the good old US of A,

how you want to pay for health care is entirely up to you

as long as you have the money for it.

Do you smell that?

That's freedom folks.

Most people choose to buy health insurance

and if you're low income or over 65,

you can get it from the government.

But pretty much everyone else has to buy it from companies.

It kind of works like car insurance.

You pay a set amount of money every month,

and in return the insurance company pays for most of

your medical bills if you get sick or hurt.

You're insuring yourself against the big time costs.

That's basically what insurance is in a nut shell.

You can also choose not to buy health insurance

and just pay doctors and hospitals directly.

If you're young and healthy and never have

to go to the doctor or a hospital,

you're going to save money, but you're at risk

for paying a lot of money if you do have a medical emergency

like a car wreck, or you fall off your bike

and break your arm.

So it is a gamble.

In the US around 91% of people

have some form of health insurance,

while the remaining 9% has no insurance.

That's over 27 million people.

For those that have insurance,

the most common way to get it is through their job.

The individual pays for part of the insurance

and the employer pays the other part.

It works great for a lot of people

but it does have a big drawback.

If you lose your job, you lose your insurance.

In countries with universal health care

they don't have this problem.

Insurance isn't tied to your job so you can't lose it.

In fact, many people keep the same insurance

for their entire life.

Now you've probably heard of the Affordable Care Act,

aka Obamacare.

In 2010, President Obama signed it into law.

It required everyone to buy health insurance

or pay a penalty, and it helped lower income

Americans pay for it.

The main goal was to increase the number

of people with insurance,

but it was not universal health care.

Obamacare was really controversial.

It was the biggest change to healthcare in over 50 years.

Some people saved money with it and loved it

other people had to pay more and hated it.

It was a whole thing.

And when Trump became president

he removed the penalty for not having insurance,

that means today we remain in the healthcare system

where you can choose to buy insurance or go without.

Now, there are a bunch of different ways

to get universal health care,

and every country does it a little bit differently.

In the United Kingdom, they have what people call

socialized medicine, the government owns the hospitals,

and the doctors and nurses are government employees.

For most medical services you don't pay anything directly,

you go to the hospital, get treated and leave.

There's no bill you have to pay,

and you're not paying for health insurance every month.

Imagine.

In Canada, they have a single payer system,

doctors and hospitals are private businesses,

but private insurance is rare.

Instead, the government provides health insurance

for everyone, and they are the single payer

that then pays the hospitals and the doctors

every time you have an appointment.

In Switzerland, people buy private insurance companies

but it's heavily regulated by the government,

which requires everyone to have health insurance

and even pays for part of it if you don't have enough money.

It's kind of like a more intense version of Obamacare.

Now, this may all sound great,

but before you grab your protest sign

and start picketing the streets for the US

to get universal health care, remember this,

it has to be paid for somehow,

and the way most other countries do it is through taxes.

Check out this chart.

People in countries with universal health care

are paying more taxes than we do here in the US.

That means the government is taking

even more money out of your paycheck

and changing the entire healthcare system

goes beyond how we pay for things,

it'll affect how we access doctors and medications,

and it might affect the quality of care we get.

Okay, so how does the US compare

to all these other countries?

To answer that, we talked to T.R. Reid,

he's a journalist and author who wrote

The Healing of America,

which looks at how healthcare works around the world.

- We pay more for health care than any other country

by a huge amount, we pay about twice

as much as people in France, Germany, Britain, Sweden,

Italy, Spain, pay, even though they

cover everybody and have better overall health statistics.

- Check out these numbers.

Healthcare spending per person in the US

is around $10,000 per year.

All the other countries with universal health care

are spending around $5,000 per year.

We're paying for the cost of two universal health care

systems without getting universal health care.

A big reason for this is that our system isn't one system.

It's a bunch of difference systems.

There are hundreds of health insurance companies

and they all do billing differently.

It's just a bunch of paperwork.

These companies also spend millions on advertising

and salaries for high paid executives,

the result is that almost everything costs more in the US.

Remember that appendix you got removed for $15,000?

In the UK, it's under $10,000.

An MRI is almost $1200 in the US,

but under 600 in Switzerland, and the list goes on.

- If we covered everybody with a sensible single system

with the same rules, and the same fees for everybody,

we would cut our costs by billions of dollars,

it's just much cheaper to run a coordinated system

that covers everybody.

- Basically, the simpler the healthcare system,

more money you as a patient save,

and that's what universal healthcare gives you.

The US also has another unique problem,

almost 9% of our population has no insurance at all.

That's 27 million people.

For most of them, it's not that they're choosing

not to buy it, it's that they can't afford it,

and their job doesn't offer it as benefit.

- In the United States, according to the US government,

22,000 Americans, 22,000 die every year

of treatable diseases, because they couldn't afford

to go to the doctor.

That is we could have treated that person

and saved their life, but she died because

she didn't have health insurance.

- And when people do pay, they often struggle

to come up with the money.

In the US, two out of every three bankruptcies

are tied to medical issues, that just doesn't happen

in countries universal health care,

but the cost of healthcare isn't everything.

We want it to be high quality, and that costs money.

In the US, we spend billions of dollars

every year on cutting edge research and drug development,

those companies are competing with each other

to make a profit, that spurs innovation.

Switching to universal healthcare could change that.

You might be able to cover more people,

but they may not have access to the best treatments.

To discuss these trade offs, we talked to Chris Pope

who researches healthcare policy at the Manhattan Institute,

which is a conservative think tank.

- I think universal health care is basically

the idea that everyone has some

sort of health insurance coverage.

Now, what does your insurance cover is an issue

that can vary enormously.

Coverage can provide great access to care everywhere,

or it can provide access to very limited package benefits

with very high out of pocket costs.

- Remember, 90% of Americans already have health insurance.

Completely changing the entire healthcare system

will be disruptive.

People who have private insurance and like it

might be forced to give it up.

On top of that, universal health care means

the government has a much bigger role in deciding

who and what gets covered.

Some care might be rationed which means the government

decides who gets what and when.

- And a typical thing that gets rationed

would be knee surgery or hip surgery,

if you need this kind of joint surgery in these countries

you might be waiting for months

or the best part of the year to get access to care.

Also the most expensive drugs.

There are a lot of new cancer drugs

that available in the United States.

In Britain and Canada these aren't going

to be available necessarily to much of the population.

- Instead of bringing the government in to healthcare,

why not take employers out of it?

Remember, most Americans get insurance through their jobs,

but it doesn't have to be that way.

- I think it's a big opportunity for change

and improvement in American healthcare

is really to let individuals buy health insurance

on the same terms that their employers can.

If it was an individual that controlled the insurance,

it would be your insurance, you would own it,

and you will have a right to renew it

as you move from job to job.

- Oh, hey there.

Thanks for making it to the end of the video.

We know that that was a lot of information

that we threw at you.

So just to make sure that we're all on the same page,

I thought it'd be cool if we did a quick little recap,

just to make sure that we all understand

universal health care.

So, the pros for it, are that everyone

would have access to it, it wouldn't be tied

directly to your job and going to the doctor

or to the hospital will cost a lot less money.

Now the arguments against it

are that your taxes may have to go up to pay for it,

the quality of care may not be the same,

and with more government control,

the individual has less choice.

So, do you think that America should keep

doing health care the same way?

Should we switch to a universal health care system,

or should we do something different entirely?

Now this is a big issue on the elections because you know,

eventually everybody's gonna have to go to the doctor.

And as always, leave us a comment below.

Oh, I forgot.

If you liked this video, check out our other video

with universal in the title,

all about universal basic income.

When you watch it it'll all make sense, I promise,

they connect, I swear they do.

I'm your host, Myles Best.

Till next time, peace out.