I know the Canadian system works. You agree that it works for Canada, but you say there are differences between the countries. I agree with that too.
I explain it to myself the same way I explain people living in Winnipeg. People aren't perfectly rational utility-seekers. They won't get up and move away from Winnipeg to avoid a flood. Likewise, they won't flood across the border into Canada to get our health care. You can say there aren't enough jobs or something, but the fact is we take as many immigrants as we possibly can these days, we'd love to have lots of Americans.
But they don't come to Canada. So one explanation is that people aren't perfectly rational in the sense that would drive them to seek out better health care or to move away from Winnipeg. Once you accept that, you can accept that people might not like the idea of spreading the cost of health care across a population through taxation. Never mind if I think it's rational, I also think it's rational to move off a flood plain.
Or any of a dozen other explanations for why it might not work in the US. It might not! I honestly don't think private insurance works very well, but I can readily accept the argument that public insurance might be worse in the US.
Once you accept that we sweat and love and sing patriotic songs and write mean things about each other on the Internet and all these other human things, you have to accept that the best we can hope from a blog post is to provoke questions rather than provide answers.
I know the Canadian system works. You agree that it works for Canada, but you say there are differences between the countries. I agree with that too.
I explain it to myself the same way I explain people living in Winnipeg. People aren't perfectly rational utility-seekers. They won't get up and move away from Winnipeg to avoid a flood. Likewise, they won't flood across the border into Canada to get our health care. You can say there aren't enough jobs or something, but the fact is we take as many immigrants as we possibly can these days, we'd love to have lots of Americans.
But they don't come to Canada. So one explanation is that people aren't perfectly rational in the sense that would drive them to seek out better health care or to move away from Winnipeg. Once you accept that, you can accept that people might not like the idea of spreading the cost of health care across a population through taxation. Never mind if I think it's rational, I also think it's rational to move off a flood plain.
Or any of a dozen other explanations for why it might not work in the US. It might not! I honestly don't think private insurance works very well, but I can readily accept the argument that public insurance might be worse in the US.
Once you accept that we sweat and love and sing patriotic songs and write mean things about each other on the Internet and all these other human things, you have to accept that the best we can hope from a blog post is to provoke questions rather than provide answers.