Wait, you’re telling me the American people have an unfavorable view of a healthcare system that costs significantly more than that of any other OECD nation, while having some of the worst healthcare outcomes? Bizarre.
The slaves are unhappy with their rations.
Beatings will continue until morale improves
That’s because the American health care system is by and large run as a for-profit enterprise, and that kind of thing as we well know always eventually devolves into a race to the bottom to maximize profits at the expense of everything else until it collapses.
But in this case, “at the expense of everything else” is not churning out lousy hamburgers or making gaming keyboards that break 2 days out of warranty. Rather, people don’t receive competent health care, don’t receive care soon enough, or just don’t receive care at all and in some cases die. All for a buck.
I know that’s not necessarily the correlation the article is trying to make with its survey, but I’ll bet you a nickel it’s the majority of the root cause of the outcome in any case.
I just had employee share in our slack how her kid is turning 18 and wasn’t sure if the child was still covered. The kid has some disorder and work insurance pays for the meds. HR shared that fortunately, insurance covers kids until 26.
But all my brain did was go “Until she gets fired or laid off or something.”
Democrats passed Affordable Care Act/Obamacare which changed the dependent coverage to 26.
Most democratic controlled states also opened state healthcare exchanges so you can get healthcare if your employer doesn’t offer it.
Democrats also expanded Medicaid and made it available in all states, the Republican ones spurned the chance to offer healthcare to their poor.ost democratic controlled states offer free healthcare to those in economic need, including if you’re laid off.
While we still need single payer healthcare for everyone, not just Medicare, the ACA made a big difference for many.
Sir, this is America, a nickel is far out of my gambling budget.
I get to pay 4k a year, just to be able to be charged only 6k out of pocket. After that 10k, I still would owe 10% of every charge after that.
Or I can pay 2k a year for the privilage of being charged a little over 8k out of pocket. After that, I’d owe 20% of everything after.
So every year, I get to gamble my prospective income on how much healthcare I think I’ll need. I want to save on monthly costs? Hopefully nothing emergent happens. Expecting a procedure? Now I’m out a few extra hundred a month just so I don’t have to pay more than 10% after already paying 6k.
All this is assuming I don’t get denied coverage and have to foot the whole bill anyway. I need to see a specialist, though, and the only one nearby isn’t in my network. I gotta drive an hour and a half or pay 100%.
I’m paying more than the savings I’m able to put away to assholes who own yachts bigger than the house I rent.
Who would view this system as favorable?
I just had an argument with a Canadian guy I work with. He said the us system is better than Canada. He said you have to wait in Canada. I was like in the US you usually have to wait and also pay !
The US system you just wait… to die. Oof.
Also, the only reason we have to wait is because our healthcare systems have been continually eroded by politicians, rubbing their greedy little hands, who just can’t wait to privatize it out to their friends, and get a cush, do nothing job on the board of directors as payment.
I appreciate you educating our idiots.
I’m on state insurance right now. Trying to find a dentist in my area that accepts it to deal with a broken tooth has been a nightmare. So I get to live in pain until I find someone. Yay.
On the other hand, before I lost my private insurance, all the dentists accepted what we had. However, my husband needed wisdom teeth extracted and it cost us a couple thousand out of pocket…
It’s like you’re fucked no matter what. I’m actually pretty afraid I might get an infection and die or something if I can’t get this taken care of. It’s been cracked for a year now and the keeps getting worse.
I honestly feel like they want non-wealthy people to die with the way things work. If you don’t have deep pockets, you don’t get medical care.
I think we’re all fucked, because the monsters who run all of this value money over other’s lives, and it helps with military retention. I’m sure there are people who wanted to get out of the service, but were worried about healthcare costs.
The private sector doesn’t care, as long as the lines keep going up. And the government doesn’t want to lose one of their sticks to keep people on their bases and ships.
So they’ll buy mansions, and yachts, and travel the world. While I have to sit at home, just waiting for the day to be able to afford a vacation. And I’ll sit and watch as our tax money is used by private businesses for stadiums, or mine-resistant vehicles for suburban cops, or to turn brown children into skeletons.
All the while, you’re sitting there with constant pain and all the world cares about is the amount of testosterone in athletes at the Olympics. That’s what’s driving conversations these days. More circuses to distract us from the real problems.
It’s genuinely fucked up. One of my coworkers is 19 and already has medical debt. Fucking 19! She’s still in school ffs.
There’s so many people in worse positions than me, and it’s so wrong in so many ways. Like… gofundme campaigns for folks with cancer shouldn’t need to be a thing.
No one should have to forgo medical care due to expense, or lose their home because they got hurt in way that can’t be ignored.
And it’s even worse because you’re right about the stupid bullshit controversies that keep us distracted from being mad about the real, everyday issues you pointed out. Its… really demoralizing sometimes.
I don’t know if this will help but depending on where you live there maybe a local-ish dental school where you can get discounted dental work. You just have to be willing to let students do the work. It takes longer because they are still learning but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper.
Thank you for the advice! I did find one dental school that’s through a pretty large college, but can’t seem to find a way to make an appointment or anything like that. Just application stuff.
I’ll have to look some more and maybe call a few phone numbers and see if anyone can help point me in the right direction.
I really appreciate the info!! I have a little hope now, thank you so much!
Glad I could help. Another avenue maybe through dental hygienist schools. They won’t be able to fix your tooth but they may have contact information that can point you in the right direction.
I hope the best for you.
Can confirm, and even lower view of insurance.
Fifty-three percent of respondents hold a “very or somewhat” unfavorable view of the system, while 40 percent hold a “very or somewhat” favorable view.
I swear to God, you could ask “Do you enjoy being hit in the face with a hammer?” in a poll and 30% - 50% of my countrymen would answer “yes”. At least one third of this country lives in a completely different reality.
Me and my thousands of dollars of medical debt find this highly shocking!
In other obvious news: Most Americans hold an unfavorable view of child murderers and rapists
À lot of Americans hold a favorable views of rapist though, they even want one president
The only people who like it are people who don’t have to use it.
That’s not really true though. My family has excellent insurance, and the whole process of having a kid and all the pediatric visits since have been great (both in terms of care and cost).
That said, our healthcare system sucks at a population level, and I certainly recognize that. But I think recognition that our system works very well for a small part of the population is an important thing to acknowledge.
I certainly “hold an unfavorable view” of the US healthcare system…but that’s not because it doesn’t work for me personally.
And a portion of those happily vote to keep it that way.
Well yes that don’t want “Government Death Panels!!” /s
It’s not just the Americans, lol!
And not just from afar. I have non-American friends who live in the US, and it’s quite frightening for someone who grew up with easy and affordable access to healthcare.
And yet they keep voting for people who support the status quo
Well, I can tell you that the ultra-neoliberal parties funded by rich americans in other countries just loooove the American Healthcare Model and detest National Healthcare Systems.
