• Zink@programming.dev
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    1 day ago

    Pointing out that “free” healthcare is actually paid for by somebody is seen as a killer gotcha in the conservative world. They assume that as soon as somebody learns that they are paying money into taxes that benefit other people, they will also flip out and fight tooth and nail to stop it.

    Keep pushing and they might hit you with another zinger, like how the US is not a democracy, it’s a republic! 🤯

    • SaraTonin@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Here’s a fun fact, though…people in the US pay more in taxes towards healthcare than we do here in the UK. And then they have to pay on top of that.

      It’s almost as if having an entire for-profit industry acting as middle-men doesn’t lead to the best value for money.

      https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcompareinternationally/2016-11-01

      Despite less than half of the USA’s total healthcare expenditure coming from government expenditure or compulsory insurance schemes, it still spends more per person on these financing schemes than the UK- £3,111 in the USA in 2014, compared with £2,210 in the UK.

      • TheJesusaurus@sh.itjust.works
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        12 hours ago

        Fun fact, not just the UK but in fact every single nation on planet earth.

        That is correct, as a portion of GDP Americans pay a higher portion of tax into healthcare than any nation on planet earth by a significant margin, before anyone ever pays a cent privately.

        America is also the only industrialised nation on earth, the only member of the G20 who does not provide some form of cradle to grave medical coverage for all citizens

      • Zink@programming.dev
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        1 day ago

        Yep, like many things with this country, when you keep digging instead of finding the inevitable reasonable explanation you find that it just gets stupider.