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==Navigation==
 
==Navigation==
{{USA}}: [[US health care|health care]]: [[US health care costs|costs]]
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{{USA}}: [[US health|health issues]]: [[US health care costs|health care costs]]
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==Overview==
 
==Overview==
 
[[Category:United States issues]]Health care costs are a major problem in the {{USA}}. Many possible solutions have been advanced, but very little progress has been made towards settling on any given solution, and the problem continues to get worse.{{seed}}
 
[[Category:United States issues]]Health care costs are a major problem in the {{USA}}. Many possible solutions have been advanced, but very little progress has been made towards settling on any given solution, and the problem continues to get worse.{{seed}}

Revision as of 21:05, 22 August 2007

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United States: health issues: health care costs

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Health care costs are a major problem in the United States. Many possible solutions have been advanced, but very little progress has been made towards settling on any given solution, and the problem continues to get worse.

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The Rockridge Institute said:

The next instance of a conservative frame in a question was by co-host Scott Spradling:

SPRADLING: Thanks, Wolf. Senator Edwards, question for you, sir. I was struck by your conversation that you had a moment ago about dishonesty in politics, and wanting to make things clear. This is a health care question for you, and really focusing on price tags here. Governor Richardson, for example, says that you can fund health care meaningfully without raising taxes. Senator Clinton has said that she's not prepared to say she will raises taxes to reform health care. Your plan does raise some taxes to fund your universal health care program. So I am wondering: From your perspective, are they being honest about the true costs of universal health care in America?

This question was framed as if the "true costs" of health care mean only taxes! As Spradling hinted, the implementation of universal health care will require taxes to be raised. Operating within the conservative worldview, Spradling implied that taxes are always bad. Rockridge has previously discussed the conservative view of taxes. In the conservative worldview, taxes are interpreted as a burden that the government must lighten (as opposed to the progressive view that taxes contribute to infrastructure, protection, and citizen empowerment). In any direct "answer" to the question, the conservative framing is accepted.

The question also suggested that taxes are the only "costs" of a national health care system, effectively ignoring the progressive notion that there are similar costs to society for not implementing universal health care. There are costs to the labor market, costs to doctors and nurses, costs to rural communities, and human costs. The U.S. has the highest infant mortality rate in the developed world due to our lack of pre and post-natal care. We rank 33rd in life expectancy for males and 32nd in life expectancy for females. These statistics should have been presented as the "costs" of not implementing a wide-reaching health care policy for U.S. citizens.

And none of this even gets to the fact that federal taxes don't pay for government operations but are all used to service the national debt...