Health Care And Immigration

There is a discussion going on at Talk Polywell about what the changes in Turkey mean to Europe. The question of health care came up in the context of immigration. I had a few words to say. (edited)

Well yes. Health insurance is a problem. But health care is not. You walk into a hospital with a complaint and you must be served. Pregnant women especially. The hospital has classes. Expensive? Yes. The deal is we can afford it. And our wait times are shorter. We like that. As in any queuing system - if you over provision sufficiently the service is good. If you are efficient the wait times extend. And if you are perfectly efficient the system ceases to function (eventually).

Here at Talk Polywell we often discuss why the US spends so much of its income on health care. My reasoning is as follows: The way income is spent (allocations) varies as you move up in income. The poor spend all their money on food (and shelter if they can afford it). You do not expect the same allocation in a $30K per capita economy as a $45K per capita economy.

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Now should we be providing every one in the country with health care? It is probably a good idea from a public health standpoint.

But maybe we need to do something about those coming across.

Coyotes charge from $500 to $2,000 to get people across the Mexican border. We could set up way stations. Make them watch a video (choice of Spanish or English) about the US Constitution - (focus on the right to bear arms HEH.) give them a copy of the US Constitution (Spanish or English) and issue them a work visa and SS # (foreign nationals cannot collect). And charge them for the privilege.

Right away you make money on the deal. Spread your ideals. And to some extent you can track the individuals (SS#).

This makes more sense than our current approach (doing nothing) but we can't get there because the positions of all sides has hardened.

You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else. - Winston Churchill. Let us hope the try everything period is almost over.