this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2026
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[–] mirshafie@europe.pub 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

That should not be the message. Socialized health care is cheaper by far than the premium-on-health model that you're using in the United States.

It's the same argument that Republicans have been using to extract concessions from Canada and Europe: "look at these freeloaders, they won't pay their fair share for defense (read: they don't buy enough American weapons) and they use the money for socialized health care, we ought to teach them a lesson."

The truth is that defense or foreign aid isn't in the same league as health care. You're giving Israel about 7 billion a year, and don't get me wrong - that's a lot and you should stop it. But you're spending 5.3 trillion on health care. Meanwhile, the record-setting defense budget for 2026 is 718 billion - and interestingly the vast majority of that budget is actually socialized health care! It's 441 billion going to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

With socialized health care, you could pay a lot less. And I hope you'd use the money for literally anything other than war.