re: Single payer healthcare in Japan with population of 127 million

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poor people in Japan = 0

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No. I love reading about Japanese culture. The fact is they don't have a nationally defined poverty line.

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Japan · Population below poverty line

16.1% (2013)

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Unlike several other modern countries, Japan has no official poverty line, making it difficult to get accurate figures on those suffering impoverished conditions. Instead Japan measures poverty based on a "minimum standard of living" calculated using median income, the OECD index and other factors differing from prefecture, to prefecture. Still, it is estimated that in 2006, when measuring on an individual basis using the Employment Status Survey, that 8.2% of regular employees made little enough to be considered working poor. Several factors have been found to be correlated with the working poor including single-parent households, shortcomings of the Public Assistance System, unstable employment and minimum wage insufficient to cover a minimum standard of living. Irregular workers tend to be members of the working poor and are often the result of Japanese companies restructuring. These workers also tend to be homeless, and reside in areas generally away from the public eye with well known homeless "villages" existing such as Hakenmura, a homeless village compared by scholar Toru Shinoda to the United States' Hooverville. Members of these communities tend to become day laborers, who by their nature are irregular workers

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Working poor in Japan

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Our politicians would frick that up so bad it would completely collapse the economy.

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Yeah, that's probably the biggest part of the equation. Never underestimate the corruption of a US politician.

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Number of fat, poor people in Japan: 0

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3.5 million children in Japan face poverty

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So why don't we invest time and effort in what typically leads to wealth, education and opportunity.

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Because those entities don't have great lobbyists.

Yeah, I used that system for two years.The average clinic is very rudimentary but the doctors/ nurses are great. You walk in, take your shoes off and sit in a plastic chair. They call your name (Pimpu Sensei !) and lead you to a room with individual curtains . I had a severe flu and they gave me a cortisone shot an hour long IV and swear to god - a 15 minute butt rub. They told me to go home, drink sake and go to bed. The IV and butt rub were brilliant.

It works because doctors deny expensive coverage and the Japanese accept that as they are culturally prone to do. It also works because on average, they are extremely healthy . Physicians are also rarely second- guessed ( it would be impolite) and people have low expectations. The system would fail on the third day here because we demand better care and have much much higher expectations. Not to mention we are a profoundly ill culture.

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So why don't we invest time and effort in what typically leads to wealth, education and opportunity.

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Because calling out culture and the home as being the number one cause for #1 and #2 despite the deck being stacked to help everyone with #3 is seen as racist or privileged. There is a sort of privilege to be born into a middle class nuclear family that puts an emphasis on education. It's a privilege that was orchestrated by the mom/dad and grandparents, not government. The problem isn't that the 46% of Americans that pay taxes aren't doing enough, it's that the true system that makes education and wealth hard to come by is the prevalent culture that exists below the poverty line. The culture at the middle class level is to see in a linear line where the future and goals are set and methods are made to ascertain them. The culture at or below the poverty line is in a here and now where gratification now is put over consequence in the long-term. It's a viscous cycle that has to be combated within the community and in the home. American taxpayers already provide many with housing, help with bills, education, food, healthcare, and a stimulus check. The time and effort currently being issued is most notably towards pointing out the "system" or "privilege" that is perceived instead of pushing for betterment within and seizing the opportunities that are out there. A victim or vengeance mentality won't help more seize their opportunity, so it needs to be quelled. The opportunity is there to get an education and obtain wealth, but no one can force anyone to get it, it has to be a goal at home and in the community.

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Average health insurance premium of $140 per month for a family of four ($35 per person)

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How much do they pay in taxes?

When liberals call you out on stupidity of a stat that supports their position, you know you've started a quality thread.

don't many/most Japanese hospitals close on the weekends?

Good for Japan. Only way the US could do that is if it was 100% white.