No Fabio I do appreciate the figures. I was speaking of an either/or situation.
You either raise taxes to pay for universal health care under the existing private system, (too expensive to be viable) or you restructure the health system along the lines you mention. A measure which would be very unpopular due to the impact on the share prices of various health industries including Insurance and the equivalent of our hospital trusts.
The fact that Health is the one 'industry' in the US which is more or less recession proof makes it a favourite stock to hold, especially at the moment. It will be a brave politician who will risk the wrath of the small shareholder and those who are members of share-based pension plans.
This is made more serious by the fact that the people who miss out on health care are also those least likely to vote, while small shareholders seem to be very politically aware.
I'm not putting this forward to disagree with your comments on the american health situation, simply to offer an explanation as to why politicians are fearful to do anything about it.
no subject
You either raise taxes to pay for universal health care under the existing private system, (too expensive to be viable) or you restructure the health system along the lines you mention. A measure which would be very unpopular due to the impact on the share prices of various health industries including Insurance and the equivalent of our hospital trusts.
The fact that Health is the one 'industry' in the US which is more or less recession proof makes it a favourite stock to hold, especially at the moment. It will be a brave politician who will risk the wrath of the small shareholder and those who are members of share-based pension plans.
This is made more serious by the fact that the people who miss out on health care are also those least likely to vote, while small shareholders seem to be very politically aware.
I'm not putting this forward to disagree with your comments on the american health situation, simply to offer an explanation as to why politicians are fearful to do anything about it.