@arntfu And we are still having word issues. Because in America - health care IS "freely available". Every hospital is required by law to treat anyone that walks in. Pharmacies sell quite a lot of basic stuff over the counter that is prescription-only in other countries. There is also extensive charity care and financial aid programs. Some of the top specialist hospitals don't actually take ANY money from the patients because they are exclusively funded by charities. True, there is more waiting and filling out forms then if you had insurance. (But that pretty much means the forms are filled out by the doctor instead of the patient)
The main disadvantage of our system is that its unevenly located, and finding the local free health care takes research. Most people don't want to bother unless they get REALLY sick. So lots of people don't do "preventive health care" unless their insurance specifically covers it. (They are paying for it - might as well use it!) The advantage is that rare and unusual illnesses get WAY better care and attention than other countries because Doctors are incentivized to look for the weird stuff in charity cases.
And oh yeah - most cities in America have homeless shelters that are underutilized. New York and LA keep making the news for overcrowded homeless shelters because of city policy of... well.... not having homeless shelters (because of zoning laws). Part of the reason for the news stories is to publicize the problem so it gets fixed. (or closer to fixed anyway)
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@arntfu And we are still having word issues. Because in America - health care IS "freely available". Every hospital is required by law to treat anyone that walks in. Pharmacies sell quite a lot of basic stuff over the counter that is prescription-only in other countries. There is also extensive charity care and financial aid programs. Some of the top specialist hospitals don't actually take ANY money from the patients because they are exclusively funded by charities. True, there is more waiting and filling out forms then if you had insurance. (But that pretty much means the forms are filled out by the doctor instead of the patient)
The main disadvantage of our system is that its unevenly located, and finding the local free health care takes research. Most people don't want to bother unless they get REALLY sick. So lots of people don't do "preventive health care" unless their insurance specifically covers it. (They are paying for it - might as well use it!) The advantage is that rare and unusual illnesses get WAY better care and attention than other countries because Doctors are incentivized to look for the weird stuff in charity cases.
And oh yeah - most cities in America have homeless shelters that are underutilized. New York and LA keep making the news for overcrowded homeless shelters because of city policy of... well.... not having homeless shelters (because of zoning laws). Part of the reason for the news stories is to publicize the problem so it gets fixed. (or closer to fixed anyway)