> I no longer care much about the "they're a business, they're allowed to make a profit" line - of course it's still true, and of course they are,
I disagree here. Pure laissez faire capitalism works no better than pure communism or socialism. You need a mix of both to have a functioning economy and IMO it should be pretty clear at this point that health care works best (cheapest and most effective) on the socialism side. American has the most expensive health care in the world, but not the best service.
So if the businesses make no more money how will the invest in R&D for new medication? Im not advocating pure capitalism but businesses have to make some profit.
I agree that the more socialsist systems work better atm but this does not include development of new medication and equipment. Would you want that in gov hands too?
>Im not advocating pure capitalism but businesses have to make some profit.
Agreed. Which is why health care shouldn't be a business. It leads to perverse profit incentives and it's an inelastic market in any case (you can't "opt out" of care for a heart attack).
>Would you want that in gov hands too?
Not in US government hands, no. But more competent governments could certainly handle this via grants (in fact, I think even the US does this to some degree), etc.
See also the unethical marketing of anti-cancer medication to cancer patients; skirting strict laws in the UK by funding "patient groups" who campaign to have those meds made available on the National Health Service when the meds have been shown to be ineffective.
You're not going to like this [1] source, but it's very well cited. To my knowledge, Chile is the only time true free market capitalism was ever tried anywhere in the world.
I disagree here. Pure laissez faire capitalism works no better than pure communism or socialism. You need a mix of both to have a functioning economy and IMO it should be pretty clear at this point that health care works best (cheapest and most effective) on the socialism side. American has the most expensive health care in the world, but not the best service.