I would add to your list the freedom for individual doctors to set whatever standards of car they want should be taken away. If an electrician comes to put a new circuit in my house, he has to follow a building code which has been created by (horrors!) a government body. He does not get to just wire the house however he feels like. I also hope there is some oversight for the surgeon taking my gall bladder out.
Thanks for the kind thoughts, Muffin.
Yes and you may feel more ‘free’ to live in a crime free neighborhood because there’s a police force, but it sucks to be a thief. That’s a bogus argument and not really relevant to what was being asked. Your other statements are more interesting:
Well they are somewhat limited in what rates they can charge in the US if they want to be paid by insurance, so that’s status quo.
OK I can see a possible objection to this on principle, but what is the practical downside? And on the other hand, what’s the rationale behind the policy? I do think that in a UHC system there should be some kind of public institution that can’t refuse patients, but I don’t see a reason to extend this to private doctors.
Between the AMA and insurance, seems like the current US situation.
I agree those are not good things. But they are adherent to particular implementations and not in any way inherent to UHC. There’s no reason we couldn’t have UHC and not implement those policies.
I think anarchism is a nice idea, but in practice ends up being less cost effective than some set of government services.
To Americans - is this a typical scenario?
Not to say that the systems I have seen before are good (I have seen New Zealand and Singapore first hand*,) BUT from my experience…
In New Zealand I would have paid maybe $80 to $100 for a 24 hour GP (high rate for after hours ya know) - if he couldn’t solve problem onsite it would have been off to the ER for free treatment.
In Singapore I would pay maybe $50 or so for late doctor (they stay up late here) - if an ER visit / hospital stay was required I may have been up for an out of pocket expense of a few hundred dollars - unless I was having a full lung transplant.
Note: New Zealand is a full UHC, Singapore is a hybrid UHC, user pays, you must save for your health costs system.
In neither country does the health care system have any direct impact on my “freedom”.
In both countries I am free at ANY TIME to pay the fee and go to a fully private doc.
Both countries have got good reputations and well trained docs.
ETA - In neither country would I be in any way concerned about costs incurred beyond having cash for the GP visit, the rest would not have been a major financial hurdle
This isn’t strictly true the way you’ve presented it Sam.
As an example: my father received an unfavourable diagnosis and prognosis in Manitoba, headed to the Mayo clinic in the US. Paid the $16,000 to be reassessed by their team of doctors and took the results of that reassessment back to Manitoba where he received the surgery he had originally be denied, by a surgeon in Winnipeg fully paid for by the Manitoba govt.
He was then able to claim the $16,000 as a tax deduction on his income taxes because the US assessment resulted in a substantially different outcome than the Canadian one.
Now, that’s not a super streamlined process, and there was a lot of paperwork and hoop jumping, but the end result is that my dad was able to receive a procedure that was originally denied.
FWIW, I don’t consider my parents to be ‘very rich’ - ‘comfortable’ perhaps, but not very rich in the Paris Hilton sense of the phrase.
Yes, that’s fairly typical.
Welcome to America, where you can have all the health care you want, so long as you don’t intend to actually use it.
Living in France I am so unfree. When I moved here I had to file a document I got in my home country from a Health Office. Within 5 minutes I had a Social Insurance number. Within a few days this was followed up by a card. All my medical history is on computer and the chip on the card means it can be accessed wherever I am in France.
I visit my doctor 4 times a year for whatever checks he reckons are apporpriate. I am on blood pressure medication. I pay the doctor Euro 22 per visit, and my 3 month supply of medication costs about Euro 33 to me. The state picks up the tab for the greater part of the cost… Of the 22, I get a refund of 14 Euro into my bank account from the state. The remainder is refunded by my personal insurance. I get a refund of the 33 Euro also. Personal Insurance is seen as a ‘top up’, and it costs me about Euro 1,000 a year.
Should I need to see a specialist, I can do so normally within a matter of two days. Eye specialists take a bit longer.
I need a blood test? Call without appointment to the laboratory. The results are ready in the afternoon or next morning. I read the results myself as the parameters are shown, and anything that is outside the acceptable range is highlighted. Call the doc and tell him is there is a problem. Simple.
No waiting, inexpensive, insurance cannot be refused, regardless of pre-existing conditions…
I feel so deprived of freedom that it’s painful to think about it.
You’re in France. France does not have freedom fries, and is populated by cheese eating surrender monkeys. Therefore your are not free.
True, Muffin. But we do have French fries, delicieux! Mmmm! 
And no point in being vinegary because France refused to involve herself in a ruinously expensive war that was based on a GWB lie. Although I do agree that we are all ultimately descended from great apes. (Isn’t evolution wonderful!)
Sincerely, I do hope the slide of the dollar can be stopped. And the troops are got out of Iraq and Afghanistan asap. And also that certain people can be asked to justify the reduction of their proud country from surfeit to deficit in 8 short years.
BTW, some smallish adjustments to foreign policy might save the US lot of dosh that at present is being spent in an unwinnable situation.
When I said ‘sincerely’, I meant it. France is the US’s oldest ally. It would be a mistake to forget that without her help the US might be just another British possession.
It would be a bigger mistake to fail to realise that France is equally as proud as the US, and her friendship with your country does not require her to take idiotic action against the wishes of her people.
Now back to my cheese and French fries.
Vive l’America libre! McDonalds has been installed at the Louvre.
Very well said. America has a memory like a goldfish.
And health care fit for a goldfish.