User:Autumnsault/Affordable health care
Affordable health care (AHC) is an umbrella term used by politicians, and describes several completely different systems. There are several major realizations of AHC, but the important ones are as follows:
- Single-payer health care, or socialized health care: The government typically directly funds all hospitals and doctors. The system is limited by the amount of money it gets in the state's budget, and the exact details of its implementation.
- Socialized health insurance: This may be the same as the first, but typically such insurance is only mandated for those who are not covered by other companies. Such a system is not funded by taxes, to encourage competition from independent health insurance providers; the money comes from those who it insures. This tends to be the system promoted by Democrats.
Why socialize health insurance? The primary reason is that health insurance which is not mandatory costs a lot of money. You know this if you've ever had a job that didn't have mandatory health insurance. The problem is that healthy people drop out of the system, leaving those who need the insurance the most unable to afford it. Providing a government-administered alternative (and requiring Americans to purchase some sort of health insurance) lowers the cost of health care for everyone.
Why not just let the sick people die? Consider an analogy. You crash your car, but you have car insurance. Was your car damaged before you crashed it? Maybe, but probably not quite so badly. Did you need the car insurance before you crashed your car? Well, no, but it sure helps now!
The truth is that none of us know when we're going to get sick. Maybe we were adopted and don't know our family history, or maybe we'll be attacked or shot or have a tragic accident. Maybe we'll be in a car accident. Or maybe we'll develop cancer despite no family history of it.
Only around one percent of Americans can afford cancer treatment, which is very, very expensive. Should the rest die?