Do you think healthcare is a shared responsibility of society similar to education?

[rinsd]

We currently have several large healthcare programs within the government that strive to protect those of us who cannot afford healthcare coverage such as MediAid., MediCare & SCHIP.

I believe in a single payer system as a means of making sure everyone has healthcare.

Should we strive towards single payer even if getting there is done incrementally?

[Occam Bandage]

1. Yes. Unfortunately, neither candidate is proposing single-payer, and so we ought

judge the proposals of both candidates on their merits both as plans and as stepping-stones to single-payer.

I'm going to say now that I believe that as long as you can't opt out of risk, you shouldn't be able to opt out of the risk pool. That said, I have absolutely no idea how Clinton's plan can be realistically enforced, especially for the self-employed, unemployed, and with small businesses.

We have single-payer education (this is actually a complete lie, but for the purposes of this discussion we do), and so enforcement is easy; you pay taxes and that's it. I would be perfectly happy with mandatory payment to a single-payer healthcare scheme. Clinton's mandates are a whole different animal. If you could demonstrate how you could enforce the mandate universally, fairly, and cheaply, I would have less of a problem with it, but as it stands, I think the mandates will only provide the illusion of universality.

Now, as to which brings us closer to single-payer care? Neither. Single-payer will require a complete dismantling and rebuilding of the government's health-care program. Expanding government programs--which both Obama and Clinton do--is a good step. Mandating private insurance is not a stepping-stone towards single-payer care.

[grantcart]

2. i believe in socialized medicine in the same way i believe in

socialized fire stations

[Schema Thing]

3. It's more important than most education

I can learn almost anything on my own, but I can't learn enough to do surgery on myself or provide proper care for the poor kid down the street with a chronic illness.

[baldguy]

4. The sad little secret is that we already have national health insurence.

If you are indigent & have no other health insurence, Mediaid will pay for your treatment. But the GOP has made it a difficult, expensive & humiliating process to go through.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

5. It is disgusting that so many companies are profiting off of misery

The sooner we can completely and utterly dismantle the health insurance industry and reduce pharma's stranglehold, the better off we will all be.