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I hate the US healthcare system

RB56

Active member
Veteran
Blame government for requiring that there be profit in providing health care. That's where the evil lies. We now have families receiving thousands of dollars a month in subsidies for policies with high deductibles. Many of these people still can't access care because they can't meet the deductible. The result: thousands of dollars of taxpayer money per month, per family being transferred to insurance companies with no cost to them at all.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
One of the reasons I wanted Trump to win was his promise to overturn Obama-care, specifically the 'mandate'/ penalty.

American health care is responsible for the death of thousands and the disability of hundreds of thousands.

Forcing people to consume a product that has hurt so many people ... why don't they just force American citizens to vape lead ?

Not sure it will get cheaper. Not even sure Trump will keep his promise.


One of the best ways to get perspective on the American health care system is to visit doctors in other countries.


The US is spending about 17% of GNP on health care this year.

Rising to 20% in 2020.

If you had to give 20% of your income to an auto mechanic ... either you're Jay Leno and you're spiffing up your HUGE car collection ... or you have a problem.


PS the American health care system is TERRIFIED of competition.


Let Americans outsource their health care = instant reduction in health care costs.
 

wildgrow

, The Ghost of
Veteran
In 2015 they wanted $65/month (subsidized) don't remember the deductible. 2016 they wanted $385/month (non-subsidized) with a $6000 deductible = not affordable. And, get this, I earned the same income both years!

I couldn't even look at this year.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
No healthcare platform is perfect. True, Affordable Care Act was meant to be affordable if everyone in it's parameters held up their bargain to what was supposed to occur. That didn't happen. And, considering the healthcare system has been broken for decades, it's a step in the right direction, but still needs to be reigned in. For many....it's been a strain.

Supposedly, the more insured, the less premiums it would cost. Again, failure because profit was the motive to most entities participating. The pharmaceutical industry & insurers has a titan lobby group. Until they are flattened, (or fined for excessive Rx costs, hefty premium increases) nothing will change.

Rather than scrapping it, starting over, hoping Trump's panel will re-evaluate and close up loop holes. Not holding my breath, however.

I have seen it benefit numerous that could not afford insurance prior. A few of our customers stricken with MS and cancer- because of the ACA, they can get the needed medications to manage at little or no cost. Before, when they didn't have a GP/PCP, they were SOL.
 

armedoldhippy

Well-known member
Veteran
Better? I wouldn't say that. I liked when It wasn't against the law to not have healthcare.

folks with no health care go to the emergency room, then (frequently) do not pay the bill, making the rest of us pay for them. the USA is the sole remaining industrialized country without single payer (read-govt supplied) health care in the entire world. i'm sure that EVERYONE that does not pay their bills prefer that others do it for them... who wouldn't ??? if everyone paid their own damn way, Obamacare would not exist.
 

aridbud

automeister
ICMag Donor
Veteran
folks with no health care go to the emergency room, then (frequently) do not pay the bill, making the rest of us pay for them. the USA is the sole remaining industrialized country without single payer (read-govt supplied) health care in the entire world. i'm sure that EVERYONE that does not pay their bills prefer that others do it for them... who wouldn't ??? if everyone paid their own damn way, Obamacare would not exist.
Exactly. Billions of $$ paid for ER visits and written off due to inability to pay or indigent care. Emergency Rooms were supposed to be for that....emergencies, NOT house thousands for minor complaints and no follow up.
 

JRace

Member
Is that just for yourself?

I haven't had to use it either but I may need to soon.

Covered my dads chemo and surgery!

Canadians have it free but have to wait months just to see their family practitioner and their dental is even worse than ours. I wish things were better set up here in the states.

Nope, its not free.
We pay for it dearly with out taxes...which in many instances can be much higher than our US neighbors.

Also in some provinces (like BC where I live) we have to pay a monthly fee. $137 for me and my wife.

Need an ambulance? $150 bill shows up 6 wks later.
And our health care comes with NO dental. Zero...zip....nothing.

Also we do not have to wait months to see our family doctor, some times it can be weeks, I am almost always able to see my GP same week. Many communities have "walk in clinics" when you can see a Dr within a couple minutes to a couple of hours.

However many of our small communities also have no doctors at all.

Where our health system is better that the US is with hospital stays.
No one in Canada will go bankrupt due to hospital bills, and no one wil have to make a choice between eating and having treatment.

It may not be perfect....but which system is?
 

vta

Active member
Veteran
premiums would be higher today without the affordable care act. i know you're saying thanks obama condescendingly but it's actually true. obamacare isn't perfect by any means but it is better than what was in place previously. the numbers back this up.

OMG...It's true !!

[YOUTUBEIF]MS2aEfbEi7s[/YOUTUBEIF]
 

Cannavore

Well-known member
Veteran
OMG...It's true !!

[YOUTUBEIF]MS2aEfbEi7s[/YOUTUBEIF]

i know these charts aren't from alex jones or brietbart but here you go;


averagePremiums.jpg


individual-market-premiums-dropped.jpg
 

oct

Member
It's not necessarily the premiums that blow my mind...

First and foremost, like I already stated, its the fact that I am strong-armed into paying. I never had healthcare before obamacare. I still pretty much don't have it except now I pay $226 a month. Unless I get hit by a truck while checking my mail, this plan does me zero good. Not a single cent of anything is covered until I reach $7150 in expenses...that is what blows my mind.

In my state they just started allowing people with free healthcare to go to the chiropractor, massage therapist. It costs me $60-75 an hour if I wanted to see those folks...The same gym I'm a member to offers members with obamacare a 75% discount...it just doesn't make sense at all. Because I work hard every day and pay my motherfucking taxes I get punished???

I have a former employee who has diabetes, yet drinks more soda than anybody I've ever seen, is overweight, is addicted to drugs so he gets pain pills and free drug addiction counseling. He's had over a million dollars in surgeries and never paid a cent. He even once bragged about how much money he's never had to pay.

I have another employee who has Obamacare and got a dui. Obamacare fucking covered his $1000 drug and alcohol classes. And he gets a discount on his breathalyzer...its just insanity.
 

oct

Member
Its the same as a motherfucker that gets $197 in food-stamps a month, but smokes a pack a day.

That is comparable to what I see with so much of the free healthcare bullshit going on.
 

vta

Active member
Veteran
i know these charts aren't from alex jones or brietbart but here you go;

I don't pay attention to Alex Jones. Although Breitbart is great ! I know the moonbats hate it...but you still have Huff !

Premiums will go up sharply next year under President Barack Obama’s health care law, and many consumers will be down to just one insurer, the administration confirmed Monday. …

Before taxpayer-provided subsidies, premiums for a midlevel benchmark plan will increase an average of 25 percent across the 39 states served by the federally run online market, according to a report from the Department of Health and Human Services. …

“Consumers will be faced this year with not only big premium increases but also with a declining number of insurers participating, and that will lead to a tumultuous open enrollment period,” said Larry Levitt, who tracks the health care law for the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. …

In some states, the premium increases are striking. In Arizona, unsubsidized premiums for a hypothetical 27-year-old buying a benchmark “second-lowest cost silver plan” will jump by 116 percent, from $196 to $422, according to the administration report.

I love the lefts' talking point that somehow insurance would be even more expensive now if OC had not passed.


I take care of my very ill father. He had a great plan before and was being treated at UCLA, receiving the best possible care for his condition...after OC passed, his policy ceased to exist and had to go through the Exchange...lost all his Doctors and now is stuck with shitty ones compared to what he had.

Cost is not the only bad trait of OC...a liberal Doctor friend of mine left where he practiced for 20 years. He left because of was getting paid far less with OC...now he works for a private concierge group and is killing it.
 

Cannavore

Well-known member
Veteran
I love the lefts' talking point that somehow insurance would be even more expensive now if OC had not passed.

it's not a talking point. it's an extrapolation based on prior data performed by economists, think tanks, and critics of the health care system. health care prices are rising all over the place including our northern neighbors in canada land. and they'd be even higher than what they are now if we continued on the pre-obamacare path.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
$20 to have a wisdom tooth removed at the UCSF teaching hospital in the mid-90's.


One of my primary obsessions is staying healthy so I don't need to rely on American health care.

E.g. tooth health ... losing teeth makes you feel OLD.

I'm fanatical about flossing etc. ... Knock on Wood ... don't want the Gods of Tooth Decay to think I'm dis-respecting them :)


It's pretty amazing what medical conditions you can survive without a trip to the ER.


For people who are serious about providing for their own medical care, I think it's very wise to stock up on within-date-code antibiotics.

You can treat a lot of conditions with duct tape and rest, but you can't always beat an infection that way.
 

redlaser

Active member
Veteran
Unless I get hit by a truck while checking my mail, this plan does me zero good.

Unfortunately it takes a serious accident or illness like Tess's dad's case to get any use of the insurance because of the high premiums.

Hard to get used to paying 6-12k in deductibles/insurance every year and getting nearly nothing out of it.

If you got hit by that truck getting the mail oct, that would probably be one of the better times to be covered obviously. In some states it only takes about 8k worth of liability insurance to be legally insured as a driver. We actually did get hit by a truck a few years back, not getting the mail, but waiting to make a left turn.Hard to get out from under that b.s., but it was the one time I was happy to be insured.

Before I had 300,000 worth of coverage for uninsured/underinsured drivers. Now we have one million dollars coverage for underinsured/uninsured motorists. With the 300,000 per it was 600 every six months per car, with 1,000,000 coverage it's 800 every six months.
 

ronbo51

Member
Veteran
Cannavore, those charts were conjured up by someone who didn't have to sign up for O'care and that's just a fact. But guess what? This year the "Cadillac Plan" Tax kicks in and anyone who has better insurance gets their plan taxed as income, as well as all the .gov and .edu and union hacks who were exempted getting their exemptions taken away. So the last few hiding places will get removed. Boy will all the .gov hacks scream and whine when THEY have to enroll and then see their premiums, and co pays, and deductibles, and limits on hospitals, doctor groups, approved therapies and drugs.

My wife was a nurse for 35 years. We had great insurance. It was taken from us and replaced with shit. I have a lot of friends who are nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, radiologists. The tales coming from the trenches are not good. The hospitals are going broke. The insurance companies are going broke.Doctor's groups are teetering. The whole structure has been wrecked for no good reason. Nothing has been gained. 20 million still uninsured. Medicare and Medicaid at exponential death spiral.

Get rid of insurance. At least the part of insurance that covers every little thing. That is so stupid and cannot be realistically payed for. Give folks a tax free Health Savings Account. Let them use it for regular medical costs. Force doctors to compete for cash. Let catastrophic Insurance carry the big load. Cat insurance was cheap as shit before O'care made it illegal
 

brown_thumb

Active member
I didn't have health insurance until I was 30 years old. My wife and I were healthy and had a 4 year old son (in 1991). I worked for the US Air Force and bought insurance because my share was only $120 per month. When My son was 7 he needed major surgery. Even with the insurance, our costs were very difficult to pay. Later, my wife needed the insurance for surgery.

If we're not independently wealthy enough to pay cash for whatever we need then it's our responsibility to have insurance so we don't pass medical expenses to everyone else. It's selfish and irresponsible not to.

I'm not stating that the ACA is the best solution but it's better than what we had. I was lucky enough as a Federal Employee to have a large percentage paid for me plus the requirements were/are largely similar to ACA. For example, all Insurance Agencies were required to sell coverage to all at the same price, without discrimination regarding age, sex, existing health conditions, etc.

I see lots of people complaining that they don't need the insurance so shouldn't be required to pay for it. Yet, as soon as they or a family member need life-saving medical help they'll be the first to complain they can't afford it.

We can't have it both ways. Mommy and daddy won't always be there to bail us out.

The problems with the US Healthcare System are caused by greedy corporations and corrupt politicians. Until we resolve those problems we'll continue to be screwed.
 

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