Free Universal Healthcare

[Taraz]

Another factor that seems to have gone unmentioned in this thread is the malpractice lawsuits. Malpractice insurance for doctors is insanely expensive because people like suing when they get sick/injured. It doesn't matter if the doctor informs the patients of the risks of treatment, if it fails he will often get sued.

Obviously doctors pass this expense on to their patients and the cost of health care rises. Some kind of litigation reform is necessary along with a bunch of other reforms.

[Double Ice]

In my opinion, the issue isn't so much about the moral aspects of whether poor people that can't afford health care should receive it for free.

The issue is that insurance companies are a huge scam. They make money in two ways: they lay hugely hugely +EV bets against your health, and then they welch/delay paying up (legally) when they lose their bets. Let's not forget the near criminal amount of lobbying that goes on to ensure that stuff that should be illegal stays legal. (Like retroactive contracts, where insurance companies don't have to pay up if you had a "preexisting condition", which runs the gamut of every possible small tiny thing you could have, etc. etc. - bottom line is insurance companies use all sorts of underhanded tricks to dodge paying you your money when you win the hugely hugely hugely -EV bet you made.)