Giantaxe

It's actually under 20% and seems to be pretty much the same percentage of revenues as it was 10 years ago:

UK Central Government and Local Authority Public Spending 2017 - Pie Charts Tables

UK Central Government and Local Authority Public Spending 2007 - Pie Charts Tables

scrubbedexpat099

We used to have a County Hospital, now we do not have a Doctor. There was a lady I knew, maybe dead now, who was the County Nurse, travelled around to all the small towns, I do not think the County Town has a nurse now. We do have a few Vets.

Giantaxe

It was (perhaps still is) the leading cause of personal bankruptcy because the costs of a serious illness can be so astronomical and insurance then can become unobtainable. I think before Medicare, for example, 50% of over 65's went bankrupt after their first serious illness. If you want a productive society, it's not hard to see why it's become a government issue: the free market simply failed to address citizens' needs.

dc koop

There has been talk for decades of an impending NHS crisis just as there has been the same gloom and doom forecasts of US Social Security going broke in the next 20 years. I don't happen to believe either. Whatever it takes in both cases the NHS and US S.S are here to stay.

I don't see the GOP creating anything better than the ACA. They're not good at implementing programs to benefit the ordinary American working stiff. Social Security and Medicare were both creations of the Democrats .
I can well imagine that the GOP is fervently wishing that the whole issue of a national health system would just go away but they're stuck with it and I just have to laugh at all the infighting and chaos on Capitol Hill at present.

In the end they'll come up with some mickey mouse band aid solution, shove it under a rug, forget about it and leave more people than ever without coverage.

Why didn't the GOP work with Obama to make the ACA really work? They had 6 years to do it. Well why would they? He was black, a suspect secret Muslim and oooooooh horrors... a liberal.

Rete

None of that is true. Obama is biracial, actually. He had an black father and a white mother. He was far from liberal just ran under the democratic party line which is liberal because this is the only party that would endorse him as a complete unknown. As for religion, who cares. What mattered was where his sympathies laid and they were not as strong as HC's in the Muslim camp.

The GOP would not work with the former president because it was not in their best financial and political interests. It had nothing to do with being conservative or liberal, democrat or republican, blue or red. It also comes down to the lobbyists and who will fatten their bank accounts and feather their nests the best.

Anian

If the Republicans do manage to squeeze something through and mess up healthcare enough then at least people will be a bit more likely to demand a better solution that is closer to single-payer. They have given people a taste of what they are missing out on, and 24 million will be wanting it back.

mrken30

It would be interesting to know how many of those 24 million are Trump supporters

Rete

I don't understand why that makes a difference. I'm a Trump supporter not because of party line but because of who he was running against. I favor a healthcare system that is superior to ACA for everyone.

mrken30

If those 24 million were not Trump supporters, they already voted against this and the outcome would have been the same. Many don't give a flying fik about non-Trump supporters.

S Folinsky

David Lazarus of the L.A. Times recently published a column by David Lazurus comparing the single payer healthcare systems.

Talking to my very "conservative" neighbor the other day [he likes Donald Trump] and both of us having quite elderly parents were fairly happy with Medicare. He agrees that "Medicare For All" may not be bad, but how to pay for it would be the problem.

mrken30

Plant a few more Franklin trees

dc koop

[QUOTE=Rete;12205435] It had nothing to do with being conservative or liberal, democrat or republican, blue or red. QUOTE]

Deleted post

lansbury

No system stands a chance of being affordable if people are given a choice to be insured or not, and hospitals are required to treat people if they can pay or not. The two are incompatible.

Giantaxe

It wasn't affordable before that "well known socialist" Ronald Reagan signed the law to require hospitals to medically stabilize people regardless of ability to pay. But I do agree that absent an effective mandate of some sort (be it through taxation or a requirement to buy insurance), things aren't going to improve. The ACA has a mandate, but it's simply too ineffective. And instead of strengthening the mandate, the Republican plan significantly weakens (some would say eliminates) it.

Rete

Sure strengthen the mandate, i.e. increase financial penalty, and everyone will buy healthcare insurance.

My daughter's family of 5 does not have insurance. ACA increased the Humana premiums so high they could no longer afford to pay them. There are so few healthcare insurers in MS and all their premiums so high they could not find a substitute. They are self-employed and opted to not pay out over $4,000 a month for insurance with an outrageously high deductible when they could pay the penalty at tax time and still be able to afford well visits for the children and the occasional urgent care visit if needed out of pocket. Don't even go the way of tax credits. Even with that small handout, they still could not afford the monthly premium. So increase the mandate and then remove the roof from over their heads and the food for the kids' mouths all because every American should be buying their own healthcare. Which, ironically, they did before ACA.