The biggest advantage of universal free medical care is that many western countries are implementing the policy of universal free medical insurance, and such benefits are really enviable. Free medical care for all can prevent and treat many people who don't go to see a doctor because they have no money, and can directly reduce the burden on the people, especially the psychological burden of "returning to poverty after a serious illness", so that the people can rest assured of spending and greatly improve their happiness.
It can also reduce the financial pressure of hospital operation and the pressure of doctors' income assessment, greatly reduce the situation that hospitals require doctors to prescribe more drugs in order to increase their income, and also greatly ease the relationship between doctors and patients and put more energy into the cause of saving lives.
Free is often the most expensive, especially free medical care. Having said so much about the benefits of free medical care, let's talk about the disadvantages of free medical care. From the perspective of economy and humanity, the more free things are, the more expensive they are. Free things can't be created out of thin air. There are always people who have to pay the bill behind them, and it is impossible for free things not to produce huge waste. Many people want to be free, in fact, they want to harvest the wool of the rich, but the wool of the real rich can't be harvested.
Because free medical care eliminates the competition mechanism and price signal, it will inevitably lead to the decline of industry efficiency and service quality. At the same time, because seeing a doctor is free of charge, it will also induce many ineffective and unreasonable medical needs, resulting in a continuous shortage of medical services. Therefore, in countries and regions that implement free medical care, the most common problem is the long waiting time for medical treatment.
I still remember the year when the National Day holiday was just implemented, the whole high-speed system was paralyzed and turned into a big parking lot. During the Asian Games, Guangzhou Metro is free. As a result, on the first day, the whole subway system was paralyzed and had to resume charging to operate normally. Because the lower the cost, the more people need.
Someone has to pay for free medical care. If all patients are treated with the best and latest drugs and equipment for free, there is no cost, and the resources in the world are far from enough. Countries that are completely free of charge either lack qualified doctors and enough medicines. Although it is free, it can't actually get effective treatment, or queue up, and it is very likely that it has healed itself or finished.
Free medical care is bound to cause serious waste. In fact, there is a precedent. When China's medical system was first established, it was still in the exploratory stage. At that time, the medical expenses were borne by the state and enterprises. Due to the lack of restraint mechanism, medical resources are seriously wasted, and funds are even more difficult to make ends meet, making the medical system unsustainable.
Under the current social and economic development conditions, it is still impossible to implement free universal medical care, and medical security still needs to adhere to the basic principles of insurance, and individuals need to bear certain medical and health expenditure responsibilities.