It's time we headed towards a Universal Healthcare system. We are the only first world western nation without one. Your Money or Your Life: The Extortion of American Lives by Our For-Profit Healthcare System Universal healthcare is not that complicated. But the people who promote its perceived complexity are the same ones who are creating that complexity—for their own benefit. https://factkeepers.com/your-money-or-your-life-the-extortion-of-americas-healthcare-system/ In 2020, the United States collectively spent $4.1 trillion on healthcare. In 2021, the number went to $4.3 trillion. We don’t have numbers yet for 2022, but judging by the continued price-gouging in the pharma and insurance sectors and the continued incursion of profit-hungry private equity, that number will be higher. Let’s give this a bit more reality because numbers with that many zeros tend to get invisible. Our healthcare system sucked up around $136 billion every day in 2021. In short, we collectively spent more than the annual Pentagon budget in about five days. There was a very astute meme a few years ago that said, “Universal health care is such a complex beast that only 32 of the world’s 33 developed nations have been able to make it work.” One can get the idea that we are just a nation of suckers. Indeed that might be the case. Every argument against the idea of universal healthcare or Medicare for All is attacked with vengeance as a Communist plot or worse—ever since the AMA made those allegations against the idea when Truman proposed it in 1947. The fact is that all of the arguments against some sort of universal healthcare system come exclusively from companies and entities that profit from holding the health and very lives of Americans hostage. Our healthcare system practices a legalized form of extortion. And it should come as no surprise that those who seek to siphon all available funds—and more—from our wallets scream foul and shout about Communist plots if these income rivers are threatened. With the signing of the $1.7 trillion spending bill last year, we saw the first brakes being applied to some of the rampant abuse from this sector with the $35 monthly cap on insulin for seniors. That was a good thing. But what was largely ignored is that drug giants are still price gouging everyone not on Medicare for insulin—a fact that California and other states are suing them over. A study in 2020 cited by Public Citizen stated that universal healthcare would save trillions and eliminate another pernicious element in our society: medical debt. Healthcare costs has gotten so enormous that an entire financial industry has grown to prey upon people who cannot afford their treatments. Drug companies are of course the first target when one thinks of the price gouging of medications needed to keep people alive. But they are by no means alone. Hospitals, Pharma Benefits Managers, and private equity firms all have their hands in our pockets. Medical over billing is a huge problem, with people being trapped in debt and hounded by collectors. Hospitals have become notorious for massively inflated charges. Kaiser Health News has a whole section dedicated to these billing practices. Pharma Benefit Managers (PBMs)—the murky middleman organizations like CVS Caremark who have inserted themselves between patients, insurance plans and pharma companies—further inflate costs to pay for their “services.” The bottom line for Americans is if you become ill and want to stay alive you have to pay a LOT of pipers for that privilege. The truth of the matter is that universal healthcare is not that complicated. But the people who benefit from its perceived complexity are the same people who created that complexity—for their own benefit. So when anyone tells you that universal healthcare is a bad thing, a Communist plot, a conspiracy theory to take away some right, ask them, “Are you being paid to say that?” When it comes to Members of Congress, of either party, the answer to that question is probably a resounding yes—even though they might choke saying it. Getting out of this decades-long mess will take resolve, understanding, enormous political will and integrity. It will require a collective recognition that there is nothing right about this situation, well expressed by Chris Rock’s character in the film Head of State: (Article has video at this point) This is the attitude we all need to take, all the time, unrelenting until we as American citizens get the one right back that has been kept off the table: the right to not have our lives and health held for ransom. How did it get this crazy? We believed liars. Solution? Don’t do it anymore. Call them out. Vote them down. End of story. It is actually not that hard to fix and we all get the benefit of health without being held for ransom.
Has anyone heard of Dean Phillips? Apparently he is running as a Democrat for President against Biden. He has signed on to support "Medicare For All". ‘Medicare for All’ bill becomes part of Dean Phillips’ presidential pitch The member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus comes around to a progressive health care bill — even if he disagrees with key parts of it. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/...ips-signs-onto-medicare-for-all-bill-00132612 Dean Phillips, the Democratic congressmember challenging Joe Biden, is endorsing “Medicare for All” legislation, aligning himself with the progressive movement in one of its longstanding gripes with the White House. The Minnesota representative, for the first time, is signing onto a bill that would create a single-payer health care system in America. Phillips, who shared the news first with POLITICO,insisted he is not making the shift for campaign reasons — and continues to have key disagreements with the plan. For instance, he said he doesn’t support outlawing nearly all private insurance, which is precisely what “Medicare for All” would do. But his decision represents a symbolic step towards progressive politics for a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus who has long been associated with the centrist wing of the Democratic Party. It’s also the latest sign that Phillips is looking to win over progressive voters who may be disillusioned with Biden as he runs a long-shot primary campaign against the president. Biden declined to support “Medicare for All” legislation during the 2020 primary, even as some traditional Democrats like Kamala Harris joined Bernie Sanders and other liberals in endorsing the idea. In an interview, Phillips acknowledged that the “journey” he has taken to “Medicare for All” has been “a long one.” An heir to a liquor fortune, Phillips said he took access to health care for granted most of his life. But that changed almost a decade ago, he said, when his then-teenage daughter was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and he watched as other children in her hospital battled disease without health insurance. He said that he continued to rethink the issue when he opened coffee shops in 2016 and couldn’t afford to give his part-time employees health insurance, which he called “profoundly disappointing.” Then, when he won a congressional seat in 2018, he said his evolution continued as he found himself representing a district where UnitedHealth Group was headquartered. “I started to recognize this massive disconnect between the behemoths in the health insurance business and then the people that I represented, who were telling me the most horrifying stories about having their coverage denied or having to take on medical debt or going bankrupt,” he said. Still, Phillips did not endorse “Medicare for All” legislation until now, and he grants that he continues to take issue with key provisions of the bill. But he linked his movement toward the proposal as tied to other ideas he has supported in the past, such as a state-based public option and legislation aimed at making it easier for states to implement universal health care. “I have a progressive heart, a pragmatic head, and want to work with people on both sides of the aisle to achieve better outcomes for the country that both improve care and lower costs,” he said. “Those are the best combinations of progressive and conservative principles I could possibly imagine, and that makes this proposition remarkably centrist.” Phillips said he still has “some differences of opinion on some of the transitional plans and some of the parameters” of the “Medicare for All” bill he plans to put his name on, which was introduced by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). In a white paper, he states that he thinks most Americans will eventually choose the “Medicare for All” plan voluntarily, and his team estimates that within a decade there may only be a few private plans left on the fringes. He likened his proposal to the public education system, where everyone has access to public school but also has the option to attend private school or be homeschooled. Phillips declined to provide the exact means by which “Medicare for All,” which analysts have said would cost trillions, should be funded. In the white paper, he laid out ideas that he said have been suggested by others, such as income-based premiums, business premiums and closing tax loopholes. But he said it would ultimately be up to Congress to decide. During his presidential campaign that he launched in October, Phillips has made other attempts to win over progressives , bashing Biden over his opposition to marijuana legalization and criticizing Israel in its war against Hamas. But some on the left think his moves have been ham-fisted and ingenuine. At the same time, Phillips has taken moderate positions on other issues, knocking Biden over the border and saying that U.S. special forces should potentially play a role rescuing American hostages in Gaza. Phillips’ team said he will formally co-sign the “Medicare for All” bill on Wednesday.
Private equity ownership is bad for a hospital's health Patient care in hospitals owned by private equity was found to be of worse quality than non-PE ones https://qz.com/private-equity-ownership-is-bad-for-a-hospitals-health-1851125656
I thought only stupid people believed this OP and Canada and the UK were hellholes not to be imitated? Will you have selective amnesia once more as the realization of being a dumbass kicks in?
You can read my past threads -- I have regularly advocated for Universal Health Care in the U.S. We are the only leading western nation without it. However I have focused on a system more like Germany's where people can choose between the public plan and paying a little extra for private plans. The key problem with public health care are the long wait times (i.e. effectively rationing). This leads to situations like Canadians paying out of pocket to come to the U.S. to get fast healthcare for MRI's, surgeries, dental care, etc. It needs to be recognized that public plans will have these wait time issues -- and the only way to address these issues is to have a private plan overlay and private physicians to offload some of the burden. Of course this also tends to create a have & have not situation where some people get slow care and others get faster care. At least people will not be going bankrupt over medical debt. It should also be mentioned that not having companies needing to pay large amounts for employer medical insurance each month -- and having the government cover most of the cost for medical coverage -- is also an economic competitive advantage.