• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Would this help solve Health Care and Unemployment issues?

M

Moozhe

When thinking of the health care and unemployment issues and the current state of the US economy, a particular connection seemed to stand out.

Right now, health care is extremely expensive. And the goal of subsidizing universal health care with taxpayer money is extremely daunting. Part of the problem is that even if it were affordable and could fit in the budget without skyrocketing taxes, it would raise problems like hospital overcrowding, unrealistic donor list wait times, wait times to see specialists, etc.

On the other side of the spectrum right now, there is a shortage of jobs. Technology is finding ways to cut out the middle men. I read today that companies are going to start offering theatrical movie releases for home viewing (for a premium price) to completely cut out the movie theatres. Sure, a lot of people don't want to pay their ridiculous prices on fountain soda and popcorn, but that's an entire sector of jobs at risk.

Obviously theatres will still exist, but that was just an example of one of the many things that cause unemployment to rise. Outsourcing and things like imported cars are other examples. So it makes you wonder, where are we going to see job growth? Our population is increasing every day while jobs are being replaced by robots and computers. And there's nothing wrong with that. Why should we do a job if a computer can just as well? The problem is we can't just go sit on the beach while the computer does it for us, the few men who own the business do, the rest of us end up unemployed. And that's the problem with capitalism as technology progresses.

With all that said, the point of this post is--why don't we focus job growth on the health care sector?

I think part of the reason it is expensive is because it is so heavily privatized. There is a whole working class of people, millions, who cannot realistically expect to afford going to medical school or a related field. The tuition costs and the time invested is just out of reach to most people, which is why MOST doctors are rich upper/middle class brats whose parents paid their tuition. Sure, that's a stereotype, and I'm sure many of them are hardworking middle class people struggling to accomplish their goals. But compared to other fields, the stereotype is well-earned.

Health care education programs--shouldn't this be something the government focuses on to stimulate the economy? You nail two birds with one stone. You increase the size of the health care work force, which would lower the cost of providing universal health care and improve the quality of it. You invest in our young people's education, and they pay the loan back down the road. And then they're in an income bracket where they're paying a lot more taxes and the stimulation pays off. And universal health care becomes a much more realistic goal.

In addition to subsidizing medical education, there should be more government funding in the health care sector to lower the costs of equipment and technology. To build more hospitals. To create more jobs for security, nurses, janitors, accountants, everything that goes with it. If you think about it, if the government is paying for millions of people's health care expenses, wouldn't it become cost effective in the long run to invest in any technology that can lower the costs?
 
Last edited:
the answer to your question is already evident; the US has a half-privatized system, as opposed to other nations which have less privatized systems. yet it is the US that produces the wide majority of medical innovation.

if you want growth, employment, innovation, and improvement; then you want a market. if you want stagnation, costs, and increased unemployment; then you want government.
 
Weird.... Japan and China and Korea do great with a government deeply involved in their economy.

That and healthcare is generally preferrable in other countries for the non-millionares among us.
 
Last edited:
the answer to your question is already evident; the US has a half-privatized system, as opposed to other nations which have less privatized systems. yet it is the US that produces the wide majority of medical innovation.

if you want growth, employment, innovation, and improvement; then you want a market. if you want stagnation, costs, and increased unemployment; then you want government.

You know thats so odd that you say that.

You have less regulation, less government overall and higher unemployment then Canada that has stricter regulation and higher taxes... how can this be?

Because its about a balance CPWill. Its not as simple to say "No government is the answer"

**** that train of thought. Government is accountable to me. Private business is not, and its precisely because private insurers have a stranglehold on health care, that things are so ****ed up. They can make the rules, and charge whatever they want. They make billions in profit. Health care should not be a for profit industry. It should be about helping people.

A mixed economy is preferable to your system. I could never live in the states. Government isn't accountable and neither is the private sector. They get away with murder and nothing ever gets done... too much politics.
 
You know thats so odd that you say that.

You have less regulation, less government overall and higher unemployment then Canada that has stricter regulation and higher taxes... how can this be?

:) actually, Canada ranks higher on the economic freedom index than the United States.

for example:
1. Canada's "stimulus" plan was significantly smaller than America's. we are suffering more as a result
2. Canada's corporate tax rate is lower (by 15 points!), encouraging businesses to grow there.
3. Canada has a lower Debt-to-GDP ratio

there's alot of other slight edges. starting a business takes an average of 5 days in the Canada, 6 in the United States (as a measurement of relative difficulty). Canada's top personal income tax rate is 29%, in the United States the top rate is 35%. Between 2006 and 2008, inflation in Canada was 2.3%, in the United States it was 3.5%. Canada has also been on a move towards streamlining and reducing its' regulatory burden (for example, the revisions in the Bank Act in 2007); while the US has been moving towards increasing that regulatory burden. Canada scores higher on protecting property rights than the United States, and they rank a full 9 places ahead of the US on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

and so on and so forth.

Government is accountable to me. Private business is not

quite the contrary, in a private transaction, you are every bit the boss as the person you are buying from is. if you do not like what the private business is doing, you can simply go elsewhere. when dealing with government, the opposite is true; if you do not like what it is doing, you have to first take it, then wait for an election cycle, then hope that enough of your countrymen agree with you and if they don't then you are simply screwed.

A mixed economy is preferable to your system.

50 cents of every healthcare dollar spent in the United States is spent by the Government. what we have is a mixed system, and it provides great healthcare. which is why, for example, we have higher cancer survival rates, and our poor are in better health than yours. it just provides these benefits at an extremely high cost, which can be lowered by reducing the amount of government in the system.
 
Back
Top Bottom