Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to there will be no need to try and figure out if an expense is legitimate or not?

Of course there will. That was the point.
TB — (archived)

I was telling Art that even the fantasy universal health care system people are envisioning will still require large numbers of people to do the same gatekeeping and endless paperwork they do for private insurance providers.

It might even be worse--government agencies are not often known for efficiency or up-to-date computer tech.

What will also happen with government health care is that politics will be thrown into the mix. You don't think Botox will be covered? If there's enough political pressure to cover it, the Congress will force it to be covered. It's not like it's the Congressmen who have to pay for it. It'll be a free-for-all to see who can grab credit for delivering the maximum benefits to voters--same as happens with any other entitlement--and away we will go.

It's important to realize that other countries don't have one model of socialized health care. Almost every nation is wildly different, and often a mix of public and private like we have here, only more leaning to public.

My wife was treated at an Italian hospital in the Tuscany region during a trip to Europe about three years back, and we were treated well. I don't think the treatment would have been free, but our supplemental travel insurance (always buy this!) paid for everything anyway. The hospital workers were kind, and during a long night they were endlessly patient with an American who spoke about twelve words of Italian.

I was never treated with anything but courtesy in Europe, even in France.

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