brap

So the first mistake is to regard clinics and hospitals as "businesses".

As someone who was once put in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical receivables, I can tell you, yea, it is. And the money I recovered for them helped them remain staffed, equipped, and supplied. Supplies and equipment come from businesses.

So let us play on the word 'business', an enterprise that exists for the purpose of making a profit. On the one hand, we might say, it is the business of the state to do the best for its people - "in sickness and in health", as the marriage vows put it. A healthy people profits everybody. On the other hand, where is the morality in making profit out of people's sickness? A state's health service should be exactly that - a service, one to which everyone contributes through their taxes and one which virtually everyone will need at some stage in their lives.

Farmers make a profit on people's hunger. For those with the gift of growing food or practicing medicine, offering one's services is the most moral thing one can do.

People could grow their own food if they so wished. I have yet to meet the person who could remove so much as his own appendix.

You do realize you're arguing for a single payer system where EVERYONE pays through taxes on things everyone needs. Right?

Those who pay have to cover those who don't. That's been our system of healthcare for the last 50yrs.

Not, not single payer. I want Aetna, Cigna, Blue Cross , etc to be able to compete for my business. I refer mostly to uncollected monies from co-insurance/co-pays. Imagine a world where there is no shoplifting or employee theft. Could Macy's then offer you lower prices? Absolutely. If Bernie doesn't allow collection of co-insurance amounts, will not even allow credit reporting, then no one will pay voluntarily. Why should they? Ergo to recoup losses just like from shoplifting, medical providers would have to jack up the prices for everyone. It will get a LOT WORSE than the state over the last 50 yrs.