I can apply that to areas of life you benefit from too. For examples only
You have kids? Why should I pay for their schooling as I’m single.
You drive or ride on the roads. I walk why should I pay.
I live on a Septic system and a well… I don’t want to pay for your water and sanitation.
I live up north. I don’t want to pay for clean air regulations as it doesnt affect me.
I never had any crime done to me. Why should I pay for police to respond to your break in or put out the fire at your house. That doesn’t affect me, you should shoulder all the fees.
You enjoy reading books at the library. I read ebooks why should I cover that.
Public health is worth more than any of those other things, yet pretty much only America and other third world countries don’t cover it. At least with the third world, they can’t afford to pay. What’s Americas (governments) excuse. They have enough for weapons though
You shouldn’t pay for other people’s kids school.
Many countries pay for roads with fuel taxes and vehicle registration tax. So you may not be paying if you walk.
… etc
There was a lot of tongue in cheek there, I forgot the /s
I personally don’t like paying taxes for things I don’t use but that said I accept it as it would create an undue hardship on others that can least afford it.
We all chip in so that when we need that same social net, it’s there for us too.
Take that net away and we all walk the fine line between wealth and bankruptcy.
Sometimes NHI feels like a tax on unemployment because they charge you the 700 something a month regardless of whether you have a job or not. Or if your job pays cash or automatically deducts NHI contributions. But as of 2016 they stopped denying coverage for not paying as some people who can’t afford the payments (it can get quite large over time) couldn’t see a doctor and so they end up dying.
I think it needs to be more progressive. Like not charging the 700 something premium for unemployed and having higher contributions for earning really high. But I don’t know how this would work here in Taiwan.
Because 700 a month doesn’t sound like much when you are making over 50k a month, but for someone making 20k or less it’s a lot.
$700 is 3.5% of $20,000. Given that access to healthcare is literally one of the most important things in life, is it really “a lot” for someone making $20,000/month to pay $700?
Are you saying if the majority agree to something then it’s the right thing to do?
If I steal from you is it right? What if there’s 3 in my team, and we all steal from you? At what point does it stop being wrong and start being right?
steal from someone is wrong, because human society thinks so and most f people accept it. It being right when society thinks so. And in most countries, taxation is thought to be necessary to maintain society’s functions, and paying it is thought to be right.
Unless majority of people think taxation is wrong, the system won’t be changed.
To the extent that’s because you’re healthy, that’s great. Really. But everything can change in an instant and having access to healthcare when it does is very important.
I had a seemingly healthy middle-aged friend years ago who went to the doctor because he had started experiencing headaches and fatigue. They did some tests and it turns out he had a terminal illness. He was given 6-12 months to live without treatment. His insurance paid for over $1 million in life-saving treatment.
As Chris Rock said, “They shouldn’t even call it insurance, they should just call it, IN CASE SHIT.”
So you never go to the doctor’s, that’s fine, you think you’re healthy.
But your blood sugar could be creeping up and you could be diabetic or prediabetic and not know it. Your blood pressure or LDL level could be creeping up. None of them have any symptom that are obvious, but the damage is real.
But the way America works is you never see a doctor because a visit costs 300 dollars minimum. That’s more money than most Americans can pay with any regularity. So they avoid seeing the doctor. Until they have some real discomfort and then they find out they have serious problems that costs hundreds of thousands to fix, or they die.
Low cost healthcare is to get people seeing doctors regularly so any problem is detected early and treated so it doesn’t become expensive to fix. Or at least you will see you’re close to diabetic and can take treatment or diet changes to control it so you don’t end up needing expensive treatments to live.
That’s another reason why Americans spend so much on healthcare and getting little in return. Because they let a health problem become serious before they do anything about it.
My partner has type 2 diabetes. They control it completely with a strict diet.
I’ve tested my blood sugar levels. Every time it’s perfect.
But back to the point. Supposing I can pay for 100% my own healthcare, why should I be forced into socialist healthcare where I pay for others.
The majority of chronic diseases are directly attributed to poor lifestyle choices. e.g. lack of exercise, alcohol, sugar, overeating, smoking. Paying into a socialist healthcare system means for the most part I’m paying for poor lifestyle choices others make.
Assuming NHI was voluntary, and I had chosen not to participate, then I would have my own insurance. That may mean self-insure or that I pay for private insurance.
There probably should be some safety-net that strictly covers acute medical conditions/emergencies. Of course it should be priced accordingly.
I don’t agree that any healthcare system should be disproportionally burdened by people who willfully put themselves at risk of chronic conditions. For example in 2016, 47% of the US health-care spending was for obesity related conditions. 8.7 % was attributable to smoking related conditions.
