I think if we had free healthcare there would be so many that would take advantage of it. Ex. get a runny nose..run to the doctor.

There should be a safety net system for all people. You should not have to miss out on health care from not being able to afford it. I do think that a decent society should provide healthcare and education to all (even if only subsidised).

IT'll never be free. It's more a matter of who will pay for it, you or some other taxpayer/worker.

For emergencies such as stroke, heart attack, severe injuries like broken bones & stitches, aneurisms, etc -yes. For things like flu, runny nose, cough-no. We need to be able to do something for those that need healthcare in an emergency but don't qualify for medicaid or can't afford health insurance. But we don't need to pay for everyone who panicks because they get a cold and runs to the doctor either.

Yes. We all pay taxes, don't we? No one should face the 'death penalty' for being poor.

No - why should non-working citizens get things that people who pay money for get - for free?

Did you just see that episode of Chappelle's Show? Anyway, I think we should. It really help out people who need it, instead of just taking their money and sending them home. As the daughter of a self employed doctor, I know a thing or two about how Medicare works.

As soon as I get free healthcar I am retireing. The rest of you be damned. So it might be best if me and me alone doesn't get that.

Yes it works here in Australia In a sense we pay one way or the other ... but I'm sure our taxes would be just as high wether we paid medical or not ...

this is a hard one, because not only do i wish everyone had free healthcare, but i wished taxes were kept at a low - because we already pay so much. if we do receive free healthcare our taxes are going to go up a lot.

All people all over the world should have free healthcare. It's only humane. The best value for every country should be citizens. I know I am a dreamer.. :(

Of course they should, and of course it isn't strictly speaking free. I'll take the questioner as meaning "free at the point of use". Downsides: yes, some people will abuse it. Of course some people will abuse any system. Large state bureaucracies are inherently inefficient. It turns out though that doing it the American way is less efficient still. In ballpark figures, Americans pay twice as much per capita through their taxes and insurance payments as Europeans do in their taxes. This doubly expensive system still leaves about a third of people with no real medical cover at all, something that would shame a much poorer country than the U.S. into action. It's a no-brainer. Only strong ideological views could make someone think that paying twice as much for a poorer service was a good thing. As far as I know, no country in the world which has universal healthcare is trading down to the U.S. version. That should tell you something too.

I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE RIGHT ANSWER IS. I DO KNOW THAT THE REASON WE AS A COUNTRY SPEND THREE TIMES AS MUCH ON HEATH CARE IS BECAUSE OUR DOCTORS AND THE PHAR. COS CHARGE US THREE TIMES AS MUCH,WHILE THEY DOUBLE AND TRIPLE BOOK AND THEIR WATCH DOG IS A BUNCH OF OTHER BUSINESSMEN DOCTORS. HMMMM?

Yes. People who do not have health insurance have to pay more for health care than insurance compaines pay for people who have insurance. This is not fair, because if people could afford higher hospital bills they would be able to afford insurance to start with.

Yes.

You know, I think that I am beginning to see a pattern here. All of a sudden in the past few days, we have gotten a number of questions that are essentially the same thing. Should America switch to socialized medicine. I think that we have pretty well debated the topic already. To continue to ask the same question over and over again is not going to change where any of us stand on the issue.

As soon as I get free - healthcare I am retiring. Then I will be as good as a European.

You know, i'm going to be working in the medical field in a couple of years andASmuch as i want the americans to have free health care, the thing i worry about is getting paid in my occupation. I really want to help people but if i can't get paid for something i love?.......isn't that how the world works? YOU work for a "living" and besides NO hospital will turn you down on health problems...even if a dead person was rushed to the hospital..do you honestly believe they are going tosay "oh he doesn't have insurance...just throw him away??"..NO!!!

Not at all. Socialized medicine is not always a good thing. Being in the health field, I have talked to many doctors who will stop practicing because the health field will diminish and quality care will be gone. Think about it. If a good doctor is getting paid what a mediocre doctor is receiving, why should he stay around or try to make a difference?

I don't necessarily believe it should be free, but I think they should have access to some sort of affordable insurance or healthcare based upon what they can reasonably afford to pay. Additionally, having lived in a country with Socialized medicine, you can still get better health care by paying more. You can use the government funded health care, or you can pay for additional insurance and still go to your doctor of choice. I don't believe it has to be an all or nothing situation.

Yes. Canadians have enjoyed "socialized" medicine for the past 40 years. This means access to healthcare is not limited by ability to pay. Shouldn't Americans have this advantage offered to them as well? It is interesting to note that the business community finds this to be a competitive advantage for companies locating in Canada, so "socialized healthcare" can be good for business! Dr. Hassard

Yes. Canadians have enjoyed "socialized" medicine for the past 40 years. This means access to healthcare is not limited by ability to pay. Shouldn't Americans have this advantage offered to them as well? It is interesting to note that the business community finds this to be a competitive advantage for companies locating in Canada, so "socialized healthcare" can be good for business! Dr. Hassard

a big yes

There are benefits, but there are also problems with such a system. Two of the big ones are lack of expediency if you are having a REAL problem and need to be seen on a regular basis, and the second is homogeneity in the quality and type of care.

it would be nice. instead of all that money being put into the military industrial complex, into healthcare. that would make it so our taxes would stay about the same and we would all have health care. but in the states there is this unprecedented fear that the quality would diminish. where does it come from, i don't know. i am happy with the quality in socialized spain.

YES!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that would really help so much

There is no such thing as free health care.

It would be great for every society, but things just don't work that way.

Yes, America is one of the few countries with out free healthcare. Corporate healthcare providers are sucking the life literaly and financially from every single working and non-working person in the whole of the country. The only people to blame are ourselves for letting this happen and not doing something about it. Every other country on the planet has free heatlhcare only because the demanded it, either by protests or other more drastic means. We are the people and united we can get anything that we consider right. If you want to make a change then it must be done by all of us at once.

As an economist, there is actually an empirical reason for socializing health care. However, I need to employ my only rudimentary knowledge of patent law to explain it. Currently, medical advances are prohibitively expensive to research and develop and hence, like many things, need patent protection to encourage advancement. Unfortunately, this also means advances in medicine are expensive to consumers or made not available at all. Current insurance plans can't really afford to distribute these advances without incurring costs and employing hard-to-develop formulas for cost-effectiveness. Socializing health care results in two things. First and most importantly, advances in medicine are made available to everyone that needs them rather than those that can afford them. Secondly, because health care is controlled by government agencies, there can be impartial calculations measured to make up the differences between research and development and sales maintaining a constant incentive for medical research without the need for potentially counterproductive patent laws on devices used to provide life. As to the question of Americans specifically, America is the heart of expensive medical research and maintaining the high rate of development is crucial to its maintenance of world leadership in a peaceful future. That is, the world superpower can only remain viable as long as it either controls the world with an iron sword or healing touch. (humanist, not economist for that last part)

I'm Canadian and I love it...3 years ago in the hospital in intensive care for 5 weeks and not a cent...best of care/ everything...You will hear complaints about socialized medicine..but mostly they are waiting delays for non emergency procedures..like an MRI for a knee problem might take a week or two..I went into emergency with a broken toe and it took about 3 hours because higher priority cases (possible heart attacks,etc) kept coming in. I can always wait for a minor problem..but when it comes to emergency care..It is always there...and it is always paid for (ulimately in our higher taxes..but it's still a bargain)

Absolutely. The U.S. spends more on health care, both as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) and on a per-capita basis, than any other nation in the world yet our health as a nation is quite poor. In 2000 the World Health Organization ranked the U.S. health care system first in both responsiveness and expenditure, but 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations included in the study). We are one of the few industrialized nations without healthcare for every citizen. It's an embarassment. This, one of the richest countries on the planet, voted down publically funded healthcare for children because government-funded healthcare makes people crap their pants over fear of socialism. I hope all that changes soon. A child was shot recently near where I live. He was caught in the crossfire of a gang dispute. Do you think his parents were just glad he was alive? Nope. They were terrified about the medical bills and a fundraiser was promptly begun. I have sat through the arguments of well-meaning people who think that this is a perfectly fine solution. Well guess what. It isn't. That is the absolute last thing anyone should be thinking about when their child is injured. "How am I going to pay for it?" Disgraceful.

Wouldn't that be wonderful. The problem is that free health care is impossible. If it were free how would the hospitals stay open? How would they buy supplies and pay the electric bill? How would the doctors and nurses get paid? Should they work for free in the hospital with no supplies and no electricity or water? Since I know you are talking about socialized medicine I will say that it has proven to be the most expensive kind of health care there is. The government does nothing efficiently or cost effective. Do you really want the people who run Social Security and took a week to get bottle water to New Orleans after Katrina to run your health care system? The saying "if you want to make something really expensive just make it free" is on the mark. All things must be paid for in some manner. Yes, health care needs to be made available to more who want to have it, but it should be done by private enterprise, not by the federal government.

Yes! i think its a travesty that so many people are without insurance in this country.

Yes because I beleive at one time or another we all have worked (be in full time or part time) and paid taxes.

Only if you work for a living and don't get a free ride from the government. Yes, everyone should have the right to healthcare but only if they actually pay taxes ie they have a job.

Yes, definitely!

In general: I think the way the economy is set up, no. We, as Americans, don't make enough money to have a socialist health care system. There is WAY too much more to this issue than can be answered on answerbag.

If you were a victim of the health care system in this country, you would see where the problem lies. Hospitals and doctors charge rediculous amounts for doing almost nothing. Example: i got my clavicle broken in a motorcycle accident 4 years ago. I went to the emergency room. To make a long story short, i had 2 doctors look at me for a total time of 6 minutes, 2 xrays, 1 clavicle loop and sling. It came to $1500. The government needs to put caps on the amount that doctors and hospitals can charge, then we can all afford to pay for healthcare insurance.

All people everywhere should have access to basic hospital and free general practioner access. In australia this is called medicare and i know its not the best in the world but if i was an american i would be demanding some sort of health care system, it is remiss of any government to not consider its citizens at all when it comes to healthcare. to me that is worse than third world countries who simply may not have the facilities. but when you have facilities for basic healthcare and do not make them accessible to fellow human beings because of money, that is deplorable. Yes someone will have to pay and unfortunately there is too much of a deficit at the moment for it to be considered a top political issue for the government to 'pull their finger out' for want of a better expression.

yes it should be free to all. were one of the only countries in north america not to to not have free health care. if gov run health works do it, so what if ur taxes are a bit highter its still cheaper than paying the cost of healthcare now

Free healthcare may not be a solution. It is all about the quality as well. If free healthcare is given obviously quality will come down. It is a lot of money spent on researches to make this healthcare better. One area of cost is the legal aspect of healthcare. It cost a lot of money for doctors to save a court case and same for hospitals. I am not for free heatlthcare. It will reduce the quality.

Hell no, especially not for the unemployed.

yes

Everyone should. Not only Americans.

Those who cannot afford to get their own private health insurance already do get free medical coverage thru their state. Its called a medical card and it covers practically every type of medical need from prescription drugs to child birth to surgeries. There is no charge to the carrier of the card at all. It can be a bit challenging to find a Doctor who will accept your medical card but in the end, you do get to choose which Doctor (of those who accept the card) you would like to visit. Free health care is not free. It comes at a very steep cost. A cost that many dont realize. Taxes will jump thru the roof to have to pay for this and worse than that, you will lose your freedom over your right to choose your own doctor. You will see who the Gov tells you to see. You will only be as sick as the Gov tells you are (anything more than that is in your head and you will need to stop your complaining)The Gov will actually decide if you are 'worth it" to them to let you live. They could decide that you are to old and never allow you any treatment, simply letting you die. Whoever wants to DR me, whatever. I dont care but when you are finsihed with that, please get your head outta ya bum and do some research already. Get educated on this.

Health care will never be "free". Ask Canadians and Brits. They know it isn't "free". But, it needs to be a system that covers everyone. It must be affordable and accessable to all. There will be times when some cannot pay into it. But they will when they become employed again. There is a workable system that covers all, but does not mean "socialized medicine". We have enough heads in this country that can come up with the answer, but, it has to be bi-partisan and fully understood by all. And the medical heads, the AMA, etc., cannot be left out. Neither should they be allowed to dictate the rules. Heaven forbid! They have had their share in making the present system unworkable.

Not particularly. We all should have access to healthcare. -- Switzerland has a mandate requiring everyone to be covered by private insurance. -- Poor people are subsidized as necessary to meet the mandate. -- There is no employer-provided or government-managed coverage. -- Sick persons pay the same price for health insurance as healthy persons in the same demographic category. According to its proponents, the Swiss system results in health care which is comparable to that in the most affluent U.S. states, while its per capita health costs are 40 percent lower than in the U.S.

Not particularly. We all should have access to healthcare. -- Switzerland has a mandate requiring everyone to be covered by private insurance. -- Poor people are subsidized as necessary to meet the mandate. -- There is no employer-provided or government-managed coverage. -- Sick persons pay the same price for health insurance as healthy persons in the same demographic category. According to its proponents, the Swiss system results in health care which is comparable to that in the most affluent U.S. states, while its per capita health costs are 40 percent lower than in the U.S.

No. Nothing is free.

Yes. Health Care is a human right and no one should be denied this. To believe otherwise is to have no compassion for your fellow man.

Before we even go there, we have to have a structured platform that we know can work. There is some amazing proof it can work in South India. Surgeons come from all over the world and volunteer their services with pleasure in a gigantic Super Specialty Hospital in Puttaparti, India. There is also free education. This is a bit too simplistic at this point in time, but believe me, it will be a reality in the near future world wide. Young students are being groomed to take on the responsibility of spreading this amazing idea.

Health care is never free. Working Americans have been paying for Medicare taxes forever plus their own health care insurance. Some Americans have been lucky to have worked for businesses that paid their health insurance or part of their insurance. Some unemployed people may be on welfare, so they still get cared for. Newly unemployed people have already paid into the health care system through Medicare taxes.

If every individual paid for their own Health Care either with private funds or with their own Health Care Insurance Plan, you would soon see the cost of health care go down. As long as the Government is going to pay for it, the cost will continue to increase and the coverage will continue to decrease. I offered health care for all my employees and paid 50% of the cost as a Company expense and still had many that would not pay for coverage of their own family when it only cost them about $45.00 a month. I have had individuals tell me that if they or their family got sick they could get free care at the Hospital. Someone compared this to free education for every person. It is NOT. Every person who lives here pays for some part of the education cost either in the taxes they pay for a home they own or in the rent they pay which includes School Taxes for that housing rental. Except for those on Welfare. Even there though, because education has become free to Illegal Aliens we have an overloaded education system. Not only that it has also become so corrupt because it is free, we could have a strong argument for getting rid of the present system. Health care has also been compared here to Social Security. It is NOT. Social Security was supposed to be for those who paid into it. Every working person pays 15% of his earnings (7.5% of his money and 7.5% from his employer) into Social Security. That is an adequate amount to put away for retirement if it is managed reasonably well. Then ever person is supposed to draw from Social Security in relationship to what he has paid into it. That plan works. However, since LBJ put all the Social Security proceeds into the General Fund the plan has been going down hill. Now, with the SSI and other proceeds from the fund going to individuals who never paid in anything into the fund it is in trouble. The same applies to ALL OTHER PROGRAMS the Government operates. They end up being a fund that Politicians can use to buy votes from Socialistic Liberals and Illegal Aliens and Corrupt Organizations such as ACORN.

It would be nice but unfair to taxpayers and ppl who actually pay for their health insurance. Then our premiums go up alot, in that case I should not pay my insurance and free load off the people who do.

In the United States people have the right to jump out of airplanes, ride horses, and motor cycles without helmets, paraglide, abuse alcohol, participate in countless physical activities, irrespective of their fitness or ability, in most states they can drive cars that are not inspected they can use tobacco products, fireworks, dangerous chemicals, and whole litany of other dangerous behaviors. Those rights relieve me of any responsibility to pay for other peoples healthcare. More taxes, and more things controlled by the government would be a disaster in this country!

It's not 'free', it's 'universal' healthcare. Yes, American's should have it. I'm shocked you don't have it already. I'm Canadian, and we, among other countries, have universal care. It's not perfect, but we all get treatment.

That is up to Americans to decide for themselves. However, before they do, they should look at other countries, like Canada, the UK and Sweden, to find out what people think of their system of healthcare.

No

Only if we want to be considered a civilized nation.

No. Free healthcare in America would result in very poor healthcare for all.

IN MY OPINION ALL AMERICANS SHOULD BE ON MEDICARE AND MEDICAID AND ONLY THE WORKING PEOPLE AND COMPANIES SHOULD BE PAYING FOR IT. BUT ONLY THE SAME COMPANIES THAT ARE HANDLING IT NOW, NOT ANY ADMINISTRATION FROM WASHINGTON D.C.. ONLY ORIGINAL COMPANIES FROM WHATEVER COUNTRIES SHOULD BE HANDLEING IT WITHOUT INTERFERANCE.

Yes yes yes, maybe it's silly of me, but since you're such an economically developed nation I find it very difficult to understand why you don't already!

Yeeeeeees. It would be way better for many people.

Yes.

I believe that we should. I used to have health insurance at my other place of work, and i quit there and it would be too expensive for health care through my current work, it would cost most of my money a week then a co pay if i had to be seen. I got a letter the other day from a physician that I had seen a few times and he seemed really nice, so I didn't have money to pay the bill and haven't gotten around to it, so he had an attorney at law send me a letter saying that I owe him one hundred and thirty dollar and that it is needed to be taken care of immediately or i will be in court. Most people just write it off or let it go, I'm nineteen and I've never had someone come after me for a medical bill. It's ridiculous. I believe that whether you are working or not you should get healthcare for nothing. People have enough bills as it is, and especially if they are not working, how are they going to afford things and medical bills. They should stop helping the people that come to this country and give them WIC and food stamps and low priced housing, and then us americans want to get help and they look at us like we are crzy. They need to work on helping us before they help others. And if someone wants tp keep their health care plan then they should be able to, if they wanna pay for it then it should be up to them to decide. But it would deffinately help the people less fortunate than others so we wouldn't have to pull out of our asses hundreds of dollar to get looked at and medications.

No. The more the gov't gives away 'free' services, the greater its power over its citizens. The People are supposed to control the gov't, not the other way around. There are other, far better answers to the healthcare problem than throwing gov't bureaucracy at it.

All Americans should (at least) have a small, basic healthcare package (paid for by taxes). If we can have so many $4 Rx's now, then family doctor's should be required to see those who have no insurance, for a flat-rate office visit (say, maybe $40 or $50). That way, the less fortunate could, at the very least, get to see a Dr. and get antibiotics for most illnesses, for under $60-$70. I checked at my Dr.'s office the other day, and just to be seen for a mild case of the flu (if I had NO insurance), his office visit would have cost me $113 ... then, his choice of antibiotic would have cost me almost another $100 (but he could give me an Rx for one of the $4 Rx's) and I would have gotten out for close to $200 his way, or around $120 if I wanted the $4 antibiotic. He preferred the higher priced antibiotic (better broad coverage), but he also said that alot of the $4 Rx's would work, too.

hell no

How do we stop the junkies and other fools from draining the system?

The world should have free heathcare. :)

nothing is free. If I am getting free treatment at the hospital my neighbors are paying the costs. America is a wealthy nation thanks to capitalism. Yet we do have social programs to help the poor. 40 million Americans are currently enrolled in Medicaid because they are considered poor. Another 45 million Americans have MediCare. so far 85 million Americans get "free" health care. This is probably too many. Why do the Democrats feel we need a third Government Run health plan for able bodied Americans ?

Anything that is provided by the government for free is paid for by taypayers. There is no free government service. Even if you pay no tax and receive services at no charge, it was funded by people who pay taxes, therefore it was not free.

yes they should.if thhe big insurance co.and pharmecutial would stay out of it ,and the republicans would pull there head out of there asses it could get done there just woorried who is lining there pockets and it will stop if they vote yes .they forget we put them their we can take them out .we are suppose to be the greatest country in the world,but we act like we are in the stone age.every body should call email or write there congressman tell them to vote yes,what would they do if we told them they can not have insurane