Could we have been able to have a good healthcare system after all?

[dolphins4life]

California is giving free healthcare to illegal immigrants.  It will cost taxpayers $2-6 billion dollars per year.

I wish I was an illegal immigrant.  What a great life.

But setting that aside, does this mean we could have afforded to have GOOD Universal Health Care this whole time if we had secured our borders?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

We could have good healthcare, immigration policy is irrelevant.

Most countries treat healthcare like a public service like libraries, schools or fire department.  The US allows it to be a for profit business. 

[CF DolFan]

We could have good healthcare, immigration policy is irrelevant.

Most countries treat healthcare like a public service like libraries, schools or fire department.  The US allows it to be a for profit business. 

And yet rich people from other countries come here for medical treatment. Go figure.

[Spider-Dan]

And yet rich people from other countries come here for medical treatment. Go figure.

I don't think anyone disputes that if you are in the class of people wealthy enough to fly to another country for an elective procedure rather than wait and get it for free in your home country, the American healthcare system is awesome!  Like, I have no doubt that Mark Cuban's experience with the American healthcare system is fantastic.

But I don't think that's who were really talking about here.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I don't think anyone disputes that if you are in the class of people wealthy enough to fly to another country for an elective procedure rather than wait and get it for free in your home country, the American healthcare system is awesome!  Like, I have no doubt that Mark Cuban's experience with the American healthcare system is fantastic.

But I don't think that's who were really talking about here.

Actually Mark Cuban is highly crucial of our healthcare system, and he is even attending to improve one aspect of it. 

There are more Americans who find it less expensive to fly to another country for healthcare than pay the local rates.  Exact numbers of Americans who travel to Canada or Mexico to buy medicine is unknown as it is illegal.  There are more American medical refugees (Americans living in foreign countries because they can’t afford to pay for life sustaining medicine in the US than wealthy foreigns traveling to the US for healthcare.

[CF DolFan]

I know several who have flown to South America and other places for cheap cosmetic surgery but they are not looking for good quality care. They just want cheap. In fact one woman I know went for gastric bypass and ended up landing in one of our hospitals. She ended up having it reversed or something. Not really sure but she was out for quite a while because of it.

We have expensive but top quality care and can be seen in a relatively short amount of time. Something the so called cheap healthcare is not.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I know several who have flown to South America and other places for cheap cosmetic surgery but they are not looking for good quality care. They just want cheap. In fact one woman I know went for gastric bypass and ended up landing in one of our hospitals. She ended up having it reversed or something. Not really sure but she was out for quite a while because of it.

We have expensive but top quality care and can be seen in a relatively short amount of time. Something the so called cheap healthcare is not.

We have better quality care  (if you can afford it) than some  South American, most African and the poorer Asian countries.  We have more expensive but inferior healthcare than most of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Japan and any other rich country.

[Spider-Dan]

We have expensive but top quality care and can be seen in a relatively short amount of time.

The direct reason why waits are so short is because of how few people can afford it.
So the real question we should be asking is: do Americans even want their fellow citizens to have healthcare?
After all, if I have healthcare now, and someone else who can't afford to see a doctor is suddenly able to see them, that means a longer wait for me.