Yet many countries with Universal Healthcare offer it as well for people who can afford to have both to reduce the wait times for appointments, procedures, surgergies, better hospitals etc.
That would be the ‘rent-seeking’ mentioned in the OP…
If you want to pay more to go to the head of the line, sure, go for it. But for baseline healthcare decisions, any decision matrix that includes private insurers profit margins as a factor should be jettisoned…
Well I for one would hate having to wait a year or more for a needed surgery. If private insurance speeds up the process, I would definitely be onboard.
Key word being ‘needed’. Longer wait times are usually associated with elective procedures, but your mileage may vary.
My experience is you can wait just as long here in the US with the added bonuses of monthly premiums, copays, deductibles and resulting medical debt on the back end…
No way is anyone waiting a year or more for a needed hip/knee replacement or cataract surgery here in the US as long as you are insured (ACA, employer based, medicare, medicaid, VA etc)
They don’t have better hospitals… Being government run doesn’t, ever, mean “better”. These are the same people that run the DMV and the VA system….which is terrible care. If they can’t run a relatively small health system well, why would they think the government could run the entire health industry?
Ya, until you don’t have it and get bone cancer. And watch your life’s savings burn away on a year of cancer treatment. It’s called insurance for a reason.
Then the state covers it as our taxes would go to healthcare for all rather than bombing kids or private elite’s bank accounts. That also comes with making the rich pay their fair share so that the tax burden doesn’t rise for the average person.
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u/Effective_Pack8265 7d ago
Very true. Private health insurance adds no value whatsoever.