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I didn't say that the US was larger than the EU...

I said the US is significantly larger than any one country in the EU, and each country in the EU has its own health care system. What is being discussed in this thread is a US-wide health care system, which is definitely not equivalent to what is currently happening in the EU.




Each country in the EU has its own health care system, but in most senses they are regulated EU wide, and reciprocate with each other - if a French person needs urgent care in Italy, he will get it, and the distinct single payer systems will do the accounting. Said French person can also legally move to Italy, and will be covered by Italian single payer system from day one.

The EU has only one medical "FDA"-like authority, which is - in fact - a huge problem for the UK post Brexit because they have to set one up for themselves now.

The EU has, effectively, a EU-wide health care system. It is more federated than the US, by virtue of only recently become a union. It is also less uniform because of different history, tradition, and languages. These are things that make it harder to build than a US-wide, and yet, it works and is significantly more efficient than the US, while catering to more people.

Of course the existing US-wide health care system is not equivalent; it is dysfunctional. You claim, but fail to demonstrate, that a functional one cannot be built, despite example in the EU that faces harder objective conditions.


If a French person needs urgent care in America they'll get it too. I think you're giving too much credit to "EU reciprocity agreements".

Nowhere did I claim that a functional health care system cannot be built in the US. Good straw man though.


Good straw man yourself! You did claim that whatever works in the EU has no reason to work in the US, and I only Asked why not.

Also, the French man will get treated because of EMTALA but might be bankrupt by the event. It’s just that they buy/get insurance before they come (usually through their credit card issuer).




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