Can someone explain to me why we don't have national healthcare?

[lonestarnot]

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Because then you wouldn't need

insurance companies.

[Robbien]

6. Bingo. Also don't forget about the drug companies

who would not have the power they have today.

[leftchick]

2. it is not profitable

just a hunch.

[dorktv]

3. Harold and Louise were worried about choice for themselves.

but not for anyone else.

[KeepItReal]

4. There are no big $ National Healthcare Lobbyists to wine and dine Congress

There's just regular folks who want and need it.

[AlphaCentauri]

5. I can't explain it

[lpbk2713]

7. Because there is so much money being made the way it is.

The scores of lobbyists and PACs wouldn't have it any other way.

[PerceptionManagement]

8. Because it would make the Repugs look bad.

Because Repugs get rich off American suffering.
Because Democrats would benefit from it politically.
Because Repugs are selfish, racist, hateful, evil bastards.
Because Repugs LIKE being number 37 in the World Health Organization Ranking of
International Health Care Systems!! Number 37!

http://liberalslikechrist.org/about/healthcare.html

[FloridaPat]

9. Insurance companies - lots of money in. Little comes out.

As someone else pointed out - too many special interest groups making too much money. The gov't has also spent years scaring the population about the horrors of national health care: long lines, takes months to get to see a doctor, bad health care. Then there's the old "we have the best health care in the world - national health insurance will destroy it".

[valerief]

11. Yeah, insurance companies can be thought of as legal money launderers. n/t

[adriennui]

15. years ago, my dad

who was one of the most brilliant(and also successful insurance execs) began to write a book about the dangers o insurance companies controlling the wealth. he also was called before gov't hearings to warn about this runaway power.

he was one of the great ones, empathetic to his employess and a major liberal to boot.

i miss him desperately.

[valerief]

16. Sorry to hear that. Sounds like he was one of the good guys. n/t

[kevinmc]

10. Let me try and explain it in ......

Republican .....BLAH BLAH BLAH .....BLAH BLAH BLAH......BLAH BLAH BLAH .....BLAH BLAH BLAH......BLAH BLAH BLAH .....BLAH BLAH .....BLAH BLAH .....BLAH BLAH .....BLAH BLAH ........BLAH......BLAH BLAH BLAH .....BLAH BLAH BLAH.

[lonestarnot]

13. Yeah I think this would be the answer...hide that money!

[LisaL]

12. Very simple

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[lonestarnot]

14. Another good answer!

[area51]

17. "why we don't have national healthcare"

A couple of reasons.

— b/c we're a barbaric nation that doesn't care if people die due to lack of medical care.

— b/c insurance cos. hire lobbyists who bribe congresspeople to make sure we don't get nat'l. healthcare. Insurance cos. practice medicine w/o a license, determining whether patients get treatment or not. The way they make money is by denying healthcare. They're no better than the mafia.

[vickitulsa]

18. In part, because Americans have never HAD anything close

to resembling a national healthcare system, so they have no idea just how well such a system could work for our population -- and therefore they don't DEMAND it.

My brother has been a pharmacist in a major hospital here in Tulsa for over 25 years, and he has said repeatedly that "patient care went down when hospitals decided they cared about profit more."

Many younger Americans cannot even remember when hospitals were "nonprofit organizations." When indigent care was provided at virtually EVERY hospital without question. When our poor people had more options than to find the one hospital left in the city that still provides care to them and then use its emergency room for basic medical services.

America runs on PROFIT AND NOTHING ELSE nowadays, and that, IMO, has been the ruination of our once-great country. I swear, sometime in the last twenty years when I wasn't looking, Ferengis took over this planet!

[jwirr]

19. For various reasons; it looks too much like socialism so they

put capitalism ahead of the common good, we still think the boot strap propaganda is true, vested interests are lobbying against it for their own benefit, many think all you need to do is ask God and it will all go away, small business does not realize that the lack of health care is one of the main reasons the working poor are working for a living wage, big business is rapidly abandoning any idea of benefits for workers who are not the CEO, etc. Attitudes are what blocks the whole process.

By the way even if we have universal single payer health care through the government the insurance companies still have home, car and life insurance, etc. They will not be out of business.

[Kansas Wyatt]

20. Military Industrial Complex

Either we have national health care, like the rest of industrialized nations, or we can have the best military and weapons in the world.

Nobody is going to screw with us, unless we screw with someone and they use guerrilla tactics we cannot counter, so every citizen's welfare is protected. Meanwhile, citizens are rotting away and dying due to the lack of overpriced health care, but at least nobody will attack them. Civilian aircraft and unconventional means do not count.

[Speck Tater]

21. Because for those old enough to remember...

All through the 40's 50's and 60's the twin evils of "communism" and "Socialized Medicine" were often mentioned in the same breath. To even speak the words "socialized medicine" was to be in danger of being called a communist, and nobody wants to be associated with that most evil of all evil things, communism.

The generations that grew up in those three decades were indoctrinated with a dread fear of both communism and anything that could be called socialized medicine. The result of that indoctrination is that for many people in their 50's to 70's the mere mention of public health programs is like pissing in their bag or potato chips. It's both horrifying, and not done in polite company.

[sam sarrha]

22. to Fascists, poverty is a vice, so why help those who wont pull themselves

by their worn out shoe laces... 'Anybody' can go to college, get a job or buy a Lexis with their tax refund'.. acording to my freeper brother.. if you dont you are lazy.

my nephew joined the Marines, went to Iraq twice. to go to school.. but even with what he gets he cant afford to go to college.. and has to have a full time job with insurance for his family..

[Solo_in_MD]

23. How about because it is widely perceived as less than what we have now?

The MSM carries horror stories about how long you have to wait for treatment in the UK and tests like CAT scans and MRIs in Canada. To the average American that looks worse than what we have now.

The MSM does not mention that the poor actually can see a doctor in the UK and Canada for something other than life threatening emergencies.

I don't see national health care in the US in my lifetime...


Edited for grammer

[Mr_Spock]

24. Good question!

We really need to tackle this issue - what's wrong with this banana republic?