1) The individual mandate is originally a Conservative idea. The individual mandate, seemingly the biggest sticking point for conservatives, was the brainchild of Stuart Butler of the conservative Heritage Foundation in 1989. The idea was that an individual mandate would force everyone to take “personal responsibility” where healthcare was concerned. Nobody would get a “free ride” by simply going to the emergency room with no insurance and then skipping out on the bill leaving the insured to pick up the tab through rate increases.
2) Healthcare costs are rapidly spiraling out of control. The U.S. spends about twice what the next highest country, Switzerland, spends for its healthcare. In America, healthcare is currently at about 18% of GDP at a cost of around $2.5 trillion and is projected to be 25% of the economy by 2020. If $1 in every 5 and soon to be $1 in 4 is going to healthcare, there isn’t much left for the …show more content…
In most areas, your choices in medical care are fairly limited. If you require immediate medical care, it isn’t reasonable to ask for a list of prices and drive from town to town searching for the best deal. This means that the supply and demand under capitalism does not work in the case of healthcare. If you need medical intervention, there is no substitute for that product. The option of choosing no medical care is also often not an option. That’s part of the reason an aspirin in a hospital is $10. It is priced that way because, in the end, you will pay that amount since you have no other real choice in the matter (like buying food in the airport). This inflation of prices also helps offset those with no insurance who use the emergency rooms across the country as their primary care facilities, often with no ability to pay for the services they receive. Those added expenses are then passed on to those people who do have
2) Healthcare costs are rapidly spiraling out of control. The U.S. spends about twice what the next highest country, Switzerland, spends for its healthcare. In America, healthcare is currently at about 18% of GDP at a cost of around $2.5 trillion and is projected to be 25% of the economy by 2020. If $1 in every 5 and soon to be $1 in 4 is going to healthcare, there isn’t much left for the …show more content…
In most areas, your choices in medical care are fairly limited. If you require immediate medical care, it isn’t reasonable to ask for a list of prices and drive from town to town searching for the best deal. This means that the supply and demand under capitalism does not work in the case of healthcare. If you need medical intervention, there is no substitute for that product. The option of choosing no medical care is also often not an option. That’s part of the reason an aspirin in a hospital is $10. It is priced that way because, in the end, you will pay that amount since you have no other real choice in the matter (like buying food in the airport). This inflation of prices also helps offset those with no insurance who use the emergency rooms across the country as their primary care facilities, often with no ability to pay for the services they receive. Those added expenses are then passed on to those people who do have