How come Americans don't want universal health care?

• I am asking as someone who has grown up with an NHS system, I pay a small amount extra tax, and I get free health care, yet from what I read a lot of Americans do not like this idea, even when the health care system in the US is terrible compared to the rest of the industrialised world that has free health care, and Americans can go bankrupt because of medical bills, I have to be honest I didn't believe the person who told me that when I first heard it. But if so many people are against free health care there must be a reason right? No rhetoric please, I don't care for Obama, and no it won't turn you into a Communist. Just some simple facts will do, Thanks.

• Answer:

  Hmmm, tough one to answer. I think it depends on what sort of care we are talking about. I live in England and I grew up in South Africa and I have American friends, so I can compare all three systems to some extent. The problem with care in England is the poor quality of service you get from most doctors and also from the hospitals. also because people pay up front for the service (in taxes) and many people are not paying anything because they are on benefits, the system is abused in the sense that many people don't take responsibility for their health or their lives because going to the doctor is "free". thus we have a system which is overloaded particularly with all these damn immigrants coming over and flooding the system. The problem with America is the fact that Insurance is wickedly expensive, but also Insurance covers only Government approved treatment which automatically bumps up the price - in addition to that, doctors are forced to take out expensive insurance to protect themselves from sue happy Americans wanting to get a lot of cash by making false claims. In South Africa, we have what I think is the best of both worlds, in that even when my family didn't earn a lot of money we could still afford to go to the doctor and the dentist etc. That we paid for out of our own pocket and in the main we got a good service. However, for things like Heart surgery etc, there is/was a government system called medical aid which is like a government insurance which enabled people to afford expensive operations that we could not afford otherwise. What we have in South Africa where the care system really works is private doctors, private dentists and private hospitals and the service is usually very good. Either you pay, the govt pays or the insurance pays. What we need in england and America is a system where really expensive stuff like Heart surgery is a universal care ie govt funded or the insurance companies charge a sensible rate and where people pay out of their own pockets to go to the dentist, doctors etc. This would reduce a major cost of health care. We need to get rid of these public doctors and public dentists etc because a lot of them provide very poor service in my opinion. I have been to doctors here and doctors in South Africa and I on the whole find the standards far higher in South Africa. a prepaid service ie already paid through the tax system inevitably leads to overuse as people want to get as much out of the system that they have paid into. Whereas if you have to pay out of your own pocket for the majority of your medical needs, then you don't overuse the system. Also you misunderstand freedom of choice. If I want this treatment say acupuncture, why must I pay for that if I pay into the NHS, but the govt has decided that acupuncture does not constitute a suitable treatment. No, I would rather have the private model in SA, where I can choose what treatment I want instead of being forced to pay into the NHS and then again have to pay for the type of treatment that I prefer!