state ownership of pharmaceutical production

[Pendragon]

I agree your ideas could very well be an improvement/evolution of my basic idea - i appreciate your constructive contribution, pity there cannot be more like it rather than frequent arguements that seem to be the prevalent response when anyone tries to make a reformative suggestion.

My suggestions were based on responses I have heard from doctor friends when I asked them why medical care is so expensive in the U.S. They all say the same thing: It is the administrators for the medical centers and healthcare plans, who get paid enormous sums. The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) in the U.S. not only failed to fix this fault, but institutionalized it. It took a bad situation and made it far worse, as it also required insurers to cover pre-existing conditions. This includes obesity, which is at epidemic levels in many areas and greatly increases healthcare costs.

The insurers would then have to increase premiums to levels most companies would be unwilling to pay (health insurance in the States is usually provided by employers, at least for working age people). The insurers then came out with "high deductible" plans, in which the patient paid a large deductible before insurance coverage kicked in. For me, it is $3500 per year, with a maximum of $6500. For in-plan medical centers and doctors, the insurer covers 100% after that. Lower income people get subsidies. There are working class people who do not qualify for the subsidies, but who also cannot afford the deductible. It is much higher for families than single people, and kids get sick and injured all the time. One coworker of mine could not afford medical care, but could barely walk and needed surgery. I think he eventually went out on disability. It is things like that and much more that make many Americans so against government healthcare. Of course, there are many other Americans that say "free government healthcare for all!" thinking that waving such a magic wand will make things OK. Which brings us to the other bit of nastiness you saw.

America is incredibly divided now, some would say on the brink of a civil war. I think that might be a little overstated, but people of opposing points of view are utterly intolerant of any dissent. That extends to election results, and applies to both the liberal and conservative camps. Any failure to conform to a given viewpoint is dealt with by shouting, anger, threats, sometimes violence, with a good dollop of totalitarian righteousness on the side. It all involves a profoundly childish lack of boundaries and self-control, in which democracy becomes largely irrelevant. To be fair, there are still very many who act like bona fide homo sapiens. There are enough baboons to cause plenty of trouble, however.

When you present a political point of view here, there will be those who support your view, but also those who disagree. A mud-slinging shouting match will almost certainly develop. Sometimes it is fun to wind the nutjobs up, step aside, and watch them try to verbally kill each other, but don't expect much in the way of reasoned discourse.