So, I was having a debate with my boss about healthcare. In the US, health insurance is almost completely private, except for retired people and people with certain disabilities. And even then, the government provided medicare isn't great.
But, we have a LOT of people who have no insurance. And so, those people don't get the care they need and die or they are financially ruined.
But, in Canada, everyone has government provided insurance, and many canadians come down to the US to pay cash for many different procedures because healthcare in Canada is so poor [1]
I've also heard that in the UK, health insurance is provided by the government, but that almost everyone has a supplemental insurance plan so they can go to "real" doctors.
Is there a good system that works for everybody? It seems like the private insurance model provides good care for those that can afford the insurance but leaves a lot of people with nothing, but the socialized plans provide consistantly crappy coverage for everybody. Neither are very attractive.
[1] I cannot speak to this first hand - only repeating what I've heard from formed Canadians.
