[ExI] Single Payer Healthcare

John Clark johnkclark at gmail.com
Tue Mar 28 14:48:00 UTC 2017


On Tue, Mar 28, 2017 at 8:54 AM, Dylan Distasio <interzone at gmail.com> wrote:

As I'm sure you're aware, correlation does not imply causation.  This issue
> is extremely complex and difficult to wade through,
>

​But some things are not complex, some things are simple and clear. For
example:​


​1) On a list of the 31 countries with the longest lived citizens the USA
is #31.

2) On a list of countries that spend the most on healthcare the USA is #1.

3) Of the 31 countries all have some form of single payer healthcare except
for the USA.

If it were just one country you could argue it was just a correlation not a
causation, but 30 is stretching credulity to the breaking point.


> ​> ​
> and your implication that we should be on a single payer system (I'm not
> sure what I think on that, but my political leaning immediately recoils at
> the thought) is not very libertarian.
>

​I agree that's not very libertarian and I'm emotionally attached to
libertarianism so
single payer healthcare
​ sort of ​rubs me the wrong way too, but I'm even more emotionally
attached to the scientific method so if a theory doesn't fit the facts it
MUST be abandoned. No exceptions. And the theory that a
single payer healthcare
​ system can't work simply doesn't fit the facts.​


> ​> ​
> I have seen few problems that get better with a centralized bureaucratic
> entity making the call.
>

​I've seen ​30 countries that do.

​I'm not in love with ​
centralized bureaucracy
​ anymore than ​you are, but facts are facts and can not be ignored.

​> ​
> You're also discounting genetics, homogenous populations, and other
> socioeconomic factors including diet that may be influencing longevity
> numbers.
>

​So those 30 countries are all the same so a single payer healthcare
​ system works great for them, but somehow
the USA is radically different from every single one of them? I don't
believe anyone looking at the facts dispassionately could reach that
conclusion.

 John K Clark ​







>
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20170328/e68a2bab/attachment.html>


More information about the extropy-chat mailing list