Ford is in his Flivver!

The Haunted Police Car has returned from the autobody shop, looking better than it has since a brief three week period in summer 2007, in between initial painting and backing into a pole in Pittsburgh. The front grill and bumper are shining, and a man can see infinity in the hood.

The experience of driving a Crown Victoria after a week in a 2010 Toyota Matrix was somewhat akin to driving a small cathedral while sitting in grandpa's armchair.

Some basics!

Image posted by cargoweasel, detailing the average cost, annually, per person of public and private healthcare spending in various nations, tied to life expectancy. The line thickness represents the average number of doctor visits. It indicates that the U.S. has a higher relative expenditure, and that Americans see the doctor less often than many countries with socialized healthcare.

Some basic points!

1. Medicine is very expensive. It costs the taxpayers a lot of money.
2. For-profit provision of medical care is not less expensive.
3. Private insurance companies have a duty to their shareholders to increase profits every year.
4. The easiest way to increase profits are to increase rates and decrease service.
5. YOU will need medical care, inevitably.
6. The older you get, the more care you will need.
7. The more care you need, the more your insurance costs.
8. It will never cost less, even if you never get sick and die instantly in an accident. (See point 3.)

I've seen the question, "Why should my tax dollars pay for someone else's unhealthy lifestyle?"

It is a valid question, but it should also be asked of private insurance. When you buy into private insurance, you are also helping pay for smokers, overeaters, closet alcoholics, people who live in polluted cities, sickly asthmatic children, and old people who are never, ever, ever going to get better.

Socialized healthcare has the advantage of "getting it at cost," essentially. It also removes much of the detritus of the insurance structure - transcriptionists, coders, case workers, financial consultants, sales people, resellers, brokers etc. There also an enconomy of scale to consider. 30 million people are insured more cheaply, per person, than 300 people, or 3000.