Originally posted by: BenSkywalker
You really have no idea how research works in America.
Most research is funded fully or partially by the NIH and NSF, both government entities.
The NSF is explicitly for non medical research. The NIH accounts for roughly 28% of all medical research funded in the US, the other 72% being funded by private industry(based on 2003 numbers- most recent I could find).
US's GDP was $10.9Trillion in 2003, of that we spent just under 16% on health care, roughly $1.74Trillion. Of that money, industry spent $72Billion or just over 4% on research. By way of comparison, the US Government took in $3.67 Trillion and spent a whopping 0.7% of their take on medical research. Private industry spend a lot more on R&D looking at absolute numbers, and the rift is even larger if we take into consideration the percentages when comparing it to the government.
And finally, zero insurance dollars go towards research
This is straight idiocy when talking about a capitalist system. The insurance companies pay either the drug makers or the hospitals who in turn buy their equiptment and supplies from the companies who are spending the money. No, the insurance companies do no have their own R&D in place, but they absolutely fund research by their basic continued operation.
frankly i like what i've heard about the german and french systems
When the wealthy Germans or French get really sick, they come here. Much as those people that buy i7s today save us money tomorrow, the exact same situation plays itself out in the medical field.
when Americans get government run health care they really seem to like it, the VA, the Native American Health server, and Medicare are the three most popular health care systems all run by government
Hehe, a close friend of mine is a Marine(I'd like to say former, but he damn near rips my head off when I do, once a Marine, always a Marine) and he has full coverage at the VA. He gladly pays his $100 a week to get private insurance as the VA is a travesty and certainly is directly comparable to third world care. This is something I seriously think we need to address. While I have issues with a big push to insure those who have opted out of coverage through choices in their life, we should take care of our veterans and fulfill the deal we made with them when they volunteered to put their lives on the line in service of their country.
Health is not a choice, people will need Care no matter what they do in Life.
This simply is not true since you stated it as an absolute. My Grandfather lived into his 90s, never spent a day in a hospital in his life and went to the doctors twice during my life time(the last close to 30 years of his life). Conversely, his brother was in desperate need of constant medical attention and died due to lack of proper care, sadly there wasn't anything we could do as he lived in Canada(take a number, your life isn't as important as the number). Many people don't need medical care, or don't want medical care in their life. That isn't me, but since I want it I made sure to be in a position to have it. I could do contracting work as an independent doing the same thing I do now and probably make quite a bit more money, but instead I opted to work for a major corporation in large part because I wanted the benefit of a giant insurance company in case at some point a family member does need serious coverage.
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