The nobility / motivation for this act aside, I can't believe this is still even a thing.
Honestly, I find it incredible that there's even debate about this. Nobody thinks twice about things like transportation infrastructure or monetary policy being publicly administered, but the second health care is involved, all sense seems to go out the window. How someone can think that health is less of an inalienable right than access to roads or free markets is beyond me.
Imagine if everyone were required to sign up for a food/water plan to make sure they and their children would be covered for all of their food related needs. Employers would be required to pay a percentage of food plans premiums for all full-time employees. And if you don't buy a food plan you will be fined $700 annually by the Federal government.
The benefit is that you could never be denied basic access to food/water for the rest of your life. Of course, the government would decide what sort of food each food plan offers and how much grocers can charge for food.
I mean, food is just as much an inalienable right as health, right? So all sense would go out the window if you don't agree with this?
Many countries, including the USA, do have such programs. The American version is food stamps, paid for out of general taxation and distributed to millions of people in low-income households. It's not as all-encompassing as your suggestion, but then neither is government involvement in healthcare.
Well, a modern wealthy nation should never let it's citizens starve / go without clean driking water. So yes, the government should provide a safety net for those who can't afford food / water.
The same should be done for healthcare. The problem with healthcare is that you can spend a near infinite amount on treatments. It is hard to spend an infinite amount on food.
Imagine if everyone were required to sign up for a food/water plan to make sure they and their children would be covered for all of their food related needs. Employers would be required to pay a percentage of food plans premiums for all full-time employees.
Ha. In Australia, 9% of our annual wage is contributed to superannuation. It makes a lot of sense. We also have a Medicare levy of 1.5%. It's not a bad thing.
I'm not against vaccinations, I agree. A vaccinated public is something everyone benefits from. I was responding to healthcare in general, sorry for the confusion.
You can grow your own food, whereas you can't grow your own health (although you can certainly choose to live healthier, and indeed the disincentive to do this is one of the weaknesses I see in a universal health care model).
Something like clean water is probably a closer analog to health care than food is, since clean water is something that can't be created purely by labor alone.
Honestly, I find it incredible that there's even debate about this. Nobody thinks twice about things like transportation infrastructure or monetary policy being publicly administered, but the second health care is involved, all sense seems to go out the window. How someone can think that health is less of an inalienable right than access to roads or free markets is beyond me.