[ExI] wealth and health (was: Re: Transhumanism and Politics)

[Emlyn]

On 25/01/2008, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
> > Damien Broderick
> > Subject: [ExI] wealth and health (was: Re: Transhumanism and Politics)
> >
> > At 07:01 PM 1/24/2008 -0800, Spike wrote:
> >
> > >...If the US
> > >government ever offers universal free health care, there
> > will be a wave
> > >of retirements that will crush the system.
> >
> > What is it in particular about the US that would provoke this
> > terrible crushing from work-shyness, when nations like
> > Australia, Canada and the UK already have universal health
> > care paid from taxes, and have had for generations, without
> > their societies going belly up?... Damien Broderick
>
> I think it has to do with the transition between providing one's own health
> insurance and having it provided at taxpayer expense.  If the rules suddenly
> changed, there would be a resulting cataclysmic shift.
>
> Currently the cost of health insurance is the one thing that is a wildcard.
> It gets more expensive all the time.  Many of us middle aged wage slaves can
> see how it would break us, when nothing else on the needs list threatens to
> do so.
>
> spike

Free health care seems fine to me. We had both our kids via the
(admittedly under-resourced) free public system. We have to pay for
visits to general practitioners, sometimes as much as $20/visit, but
that's not much.

There's a private health system here too, btw, allows people to pay
for a bit of privelege if they so desire. So far I've chosen not to,
can't see the point.

The lack of a free health care system in the US would scare the
bejesus out of me, it's stopped me from seriously considering living
there (although I do toy with the idea of Canada). Damien, doesn't it
freak you out nowadays?

(oh, and speaking of Canada: http://xkcd.com/180/ )

-- 
Emlyn

http://emlynoregan.com