[quote=AN]
It’s a fine line. I hope they pull it off. They didn’t reference Germany or other European country in their example of universal health care, but they reference Canada A LOT. I just hope they don’t go to that extreme. One huge difference between us vs everyone else is malpractice insurance. Here in the US, we can sue for almost anything. A doctor career can be destroyed by 1-2 lawsuit. That in itself contribute to the huge cost. That’s also one of the many reasons why 90% of med students decide to go into specialized area instead of general practice.
Sorry, I never have to look for health insurance. My employers have always provided that to me. So, it’s not the question of who should I choose but more a long the line of, PPO vs HMO. My health care insurance is better today than it was 6 years ago because the employer decided to give a really good plan. My out of pocket either stayed the same or went down (don’t remember exactly).[/quote]
Are you sure it’s not just the naysayers who are referencing Canada?
BTW, on the malpractice thing – my father is a MD (still practicing). Malpractice is an occupational hazard – it does not ruin an MD’s career unless it’s very extreme. All MD’s carry hefty malpractice insurance (btw, specialists, not GP’s are the most frequently sued). Most MD’s are sued several times during their career for malpractice. Yes, some of the extreme abuses need to be curtailed (and in many states, like CA, they already are), but it’s largely overblown. The average MD spends less than 5% of their salary on malpractice insurance. Curtailing malpractice clearly would not even come close to closing the cost gap between our healthcare system and other developed nations healthcare systems.
