One thing is for sure. The system as it currently stands is only benefiting one subgroup of people; the rich! We’ve tried the hands-off approach. A “free-market/capitalistic” system. It’s not working. Too many Americans are being denied what should be an essential right. The right to be a healthy human being. Under the current system as it stands and has stood for more than two centuries, it’s a remarkable failure.

as the age old trope goes, “we have the best healthcare is the world, the best money can buy.” Well, I hate to burst your bubble peeps, but healthcare isn’t a Porsche. It’s not a Plasma television. It’s a matter of life and death for millions. Healthcare has no place being commodified. When it is, as our system is you get rampant, flagrant abuse and people being neglected viable, quality healthcare based not on their apparent needs but instead their income bracket.

No, western Europe isn’t some backwater hick nether-region that hasn’t the first clue about running a healthcare system. No, it’s just quite the opposite. They’ve managed to remove as much as possible the greed factor from what they view to be a critical and important facet of their lives. The right to live a dignified life. The right to be healthy. And yes! Oh my goodness, it’s a “Socialistic” approach to healthcare (gasp!) Yes, that’s right, the Stalin kind. And guess what? at least their healthcare system works. As much as one can expect it to work in any case. By “work” I mean people aren’t going broke and destitute simply because they have to seek medical help. Something all too pervasive in this bastion of “Free” Market capitalism we got here in wonderland.

Coverage in Germany is not nearly “whole dollar,” there are signficant co-pays.

The Swiss have a mandatory-purchase setup whereby private regional insurers compete to provide policies with the state-standardized “basic” benefits. The hospital system is state run and supported, but is paid for somewhat by their treatment billings to insurance. I believe the basic policies are pretty much a flat 20% co-pay, and people can buy additional (non-mandatory) and upgraded coverages if they like, but everyone is required to have a “basic” standardized-benefits policy. You can choose any provider, but providers can set their own rates and insurance pays only the standardized fee. There is a healthy amount of competition both among insurors and providers. They pay about a third less overall (%GDP) for healthcare than we do, and are quite happy with it.

Many or most European countries have universal coverage without having government/single-payer insurance structures. In particular the Swiss and the Danes and the Germans have universal coverage without having single-payer, and all four have both better health-care outcome ratings and higher patient satisfaction ratings than the United States. The French have more of a blended system, but also have higher outcome and satisfaction ratings than we do.

Interestingly, Italy has single-payer and some of the highest outcome ratings–with some of the LOWEST patient satisfaction ratings. IOW it works pretty well for them, but they hate it. :-)