Insurance Companies Just Accidentally Made The Case For Medicare For All

[moonshaz]

America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade group for commercial health insurance companies, published an infographic this month breaking down how the industry spends every dollar it receives in premiums

Comments

[pairatime]

Yet at the end of the day it's not the federal government's roll to be running heath care for everyone. Personal choice trumps the government spending less money than a private company in an industry that it shouldn't even be in.

[prehnite]

Nah.

[moonshaz]

That is your opinion, and one that I and I'm sure a lot of other people here don't share. A WHOLE lot of people in many other countries don't agree with you, either.

The only way that whar you state as a foregone conclusion makes sense is if one sees health care as just another commodity that should be bought and sold like other goods and services, on the assumption that what one can't afford, one must simply do without, even if doing without means suffering, even dying. That school of thought is repugnant to me. I see health care as a human right, not a commercial enterprise. So do the governments of EVERY OTHER DEVELOPED NATION IN THE WORLD EXCEPT THE U.S.

The problem with leaving these matters up to the whims of the marketplace in the name of "personal choice" is that it leaves far too many people with NO choices at all. That is completely unacceptable to me, and afaic, it should be unacceptable to any caring, feeling human being.

[lightframes]

*applause*

[butterthetoast]

Watch Drumpf tweet about the corrupt health insurance companies bugging his phone in the next 24 hrs.

[soleiltropiques]

"If only Americans could get it through their thick heads that health care is a freaking HUMAN RIGHT...and Republicans cared about something besides making the rich richer. *SIGH*"

Yeah, as a Canadian I don't understand this mentality at all. I mean, there are problems with our health care system but at least we all have access to some kind of health care (i.e. without going bankrupt!).

I'll never forget the time I broke my ankle two years ago and needed surgery. I went to the local ER and got a cast and was referred to a specialist AND had surgery, all within a week and a half.

What did I pay? Nothing. I didn't have to worry about any of that -all I had to worry about was getting better (my physiotherapy was also free because it was in hospital).

Health care is a basic human right. Period.

[nervhq7]

Well, I guess it sort of depends on what you define as healthcare, as emergency care will be provided in the US (even if you are latter billed through the nose for it). On the flip side, as you mentioned you are Canadian, I have a Canadian friend that has been waiting over a year for a surgery to correct a fistula (and while waiting, it has gotten progressively worse to the point he is now worrying about a bone infection).

But, a lot of it comes down to cost, which is the nuance in healthcare debates. I have no idea if those that say "health care is a basic human right" mean that simple preventive care should be no or low cost; if they mean emergency care; or if they mean the best and most advanced care (which has a limited number of providers/suppliers); or if people get the medicines/drugs that they want for no or low cost (not necessarily what they need, which is a baseline, such as meds to treat blood pressure or the like, but the meds that they saw on tv, which are under patient).

[moonshaz]

I have no idea if those that say "health care is a basic human right" mean that simple preventive care should be no or low cost; if they mean emergency care; or if they mean the best and most advanced care (which has a limited number of providers/suppliers); or if people get the medicines/drugs that they want for no or low cost (not necessarily what they need, which is a baseline, such as meds to treat blood pressure or the like, but the meds that they saw on tv, which are under patient).You do know that the U.S. is the only developed nation on the planet that still treats health care like a privilege rather than a right? This means that there are plenty of examples to look at to help us answer these questions. For that reason, it seems highly disingenuous to me to base an objection to single payer health care in the US on "issues" such as the ones you raise

[nervhq7]

I will acknowledge that the US does do health care differently than every other developed nation (that I'm aware of). And I would much prefer that we moved to some sort of single payer model or hybrid basic public & more comprehensive private model.

That being said, I'm not trying to wave away the need for a different system (or even arguing for or against a different system). Instead, I was trying to get an honest answer as to what level of coverage someone else was talking about when they say "health care is a basic human right." In addition, I would like someone to literally define what they mean by "privilege" and "right" in such discussions.