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Comment by MattLaroche | Hacker News Reader

What are the chances that if the Affordable Health Care act is found unconstitutional that America gets universal health care in the next decade?

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Zero, seeing has AHCA doesn't provide universal health care either (but it's a baby step in the right direction).

According to what I understand, the U.S. has had three chances at something approaching universal healthcare—in the late 60s/early 70s around the same time that Canada was dancing around the same question; in the 90s under Clinton; and under Obama. Given that it took about fifty years after Canada[1] to even get this passed…it will likely be a long time before anything rational gets passed.

[1] Per Wikipedia, the Federal framework for jointly-funded universal healthcare in Canada was passed in 1966 under Pearson, and it was strengthened in 1984. OHIP was first created (as OMSIP) in 1966, reinvented in 1969 (as OHSIP), and finally renamed in 1972 to OHIP.

You could always go for the European-style universal healthcare, where the Government pays for everything. You'll need to have higher taxes, though, or cut some of that military/war budget.

A rarely talked about fact is that the US government already spends more per-capita on health care than European governments do. (No, really!)

So actually, it's perfectly possible for the US to enact universal healthcare and cut overall healthcare spending at the same time.

(Also, minor quibble, but when you say "Government pays for everything" you're really talking about "free at the point of use" healthcare. That's one system of universal healthcare used in Europe - and elsewhere - but not the most common one.)

I realize that universal health care is not on the table today, but I do hope we can change that over time.

Honestly, I hope America gets universal healthcare as well. I just don't get "if this is struck down, it'll pave the way for true universal healthcare." I think, logically, that universal healthcare would be more likely without the individual mandate in place. At the same time, politically, this will come as a major blow and be seen as many voters as a court rejection of socialized medicine in the US (even though that's not the conclusion will even draw).

It's not paving the way, it's removing an obstacle - this act while weakening insurance companies on one level, makes them much stronger with more guaranteed revenues, thus making their lobby stronger. A stronger insurance lobby would oppose universal health care with more determination.

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