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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 8373195" data-attributes="member: 19675">Well…there’s lots of ideas, some of which have gotten tested in the real world.  But a lot of them- even when proven to be effective or at least better than the current situations- run afoul of powerful people’s self-interests, widely held beliefs about poverty and people work ethics, misconceptions about who actually needs what, actual costs, and so forth.To illustrate just one aspect: I've mentioned Dad is an MD.  He’s done well, financially.  Contrary to what many would expect, he actually wishes we had a single payer system because a lot of the current regime in the USA involves insurance companies paying him less than his services cost him.  Sometimes not at all.  And because of the tax laws, he cannot write off “bad debt” on his taxes like other businesses can.  This means that there are certain patients he could be helping that he can’t afford to.  And it’s not just his specialty, either- the MDs who performed life saving procedures on his mother a few years ago were literally compensated 10¢ on the dollar, with no recourse for any other compensation from other sources.  How many of us could stay in business if you were only paid at a 90% discount?</blockquote>