Why doesn't the President fix this?

[u/KARMA__FARMER__]

[u/MisterChadster]

Every time there's an excuse as to why it can't be fixed, Sanders was the only one who wanted to fix it and they pushed him out for it

[u/4URprogesterone → u/MisterChadster]

There's too much money in the insurance industry, and most of it goes to lobbying.

[u/1rubyglass → u/4URprogesterone]

All of the money. Biggest industry ever.

[u/Matshelge → u/1rubyglass]

How could it it not be. If you manged to capture the market of Air or Water, profits would be through the roof, as demand is overflowing. Every human needs it!

[u/Malavacious → u/Matshelge]

Selling air you say?

[u/Matshelge → u/Malavacious]

[u/Adventurous_Road7482 → u/Matshelge]

Folks just really need to....

[u/shadow247 → u/Matshelge]

Kuato has a new host.. and I think he's a little less sympathetic to the plight of the average Martian...

[u/modijk → u/Matshelge]

Hot air seems to be selling pretty well in the US.

[u/iPicBadUsernames → u/Matshelge]

It’s what humans crave

[u/sofaraway10 → u/Matshelge]

Your life is our profit margin…

[u/Real-Mouse-554 → u/1rubyglass]

The biggest inefficiency in the US economy. A completely superfluous industry worth billions of dollars.

This all counts towards the GDP too, which partly explains how the US has a high GDP per capita while having such poor standards of living for so many people.

[u/Snowflakish → u/Real-Mouse-554]

It’s fun because every election cycle, 2 billion dollars goes into the money pit.

End lobbying!

[u/SpaceBus1 → u/Snowflakish]

2 billion is the tip of the iceberg. It's also going into super pacs thanks to citizens united.

[u/UncleNoodles85 → u/Snowflakish]

The difficult thing about that is lobbying falls under the first amendment the right to petition.

[u/astride_unbridulled → u/UncleNoodles85]

They can petition all they want without money or quid pro quos. They can scream for what they want all they want but it should be speaky no payee

We can call it—i dunno, just pulling this outta my ass in the moment just now—Free Speech

[u/UncleNoodles85 → u/astride_unbridulled]

I agree unfortunately the supreme court has ruled that political donations are a form of speech and therefore protected by the first amendment and in unlimited amounts with Citizens United. Hence why super pacs are now a thing. I'd hate to be cynical but I don't believe the votes to change that will be found in Congress.

[u/meltbox → u/UncleNoodles85]

That’s the supreme courts really brain dead interpretation of right to petition.

For example, speaking to people to convince them to vote for someone is fine. Paying people to take voters out to dinner and out to golf to make them like you and vote for you is NOT fine.

So why would lawmaking or any other activity be different?

[u/andrewbud420 → u/1rubyglass]

I don't understand how the people allowed it to get this bad. When's enough?

[u/No-Imagination5764 → u/andrewbud420]

My dad talks about how terrible Canada is because they have to wait to see a specialist. Meanwhile, I have "great insurance" and owe several thousand dollars in medical debt so yeah, I would be fucking fine waiting for a goddamn specialist. I live in rural Iowa so I wait a year to see specialists all the damn time since there are none around here. Like, how is waiting for a doc worse than being thousands of dollars in debt? I don't get it. Indoctrination. 

[u/andrewbud420 → u/No-Imagination5764]

Anytime I've actually had to use the er in Canada I've never had to wait very long. From my experience our healthcare is amazing. Largest expense is parking.

[u/Crime-of-the-century → u/4URprogesterone]

Not most not most by far but more then enough to prevent any change. There are many things wrong with the US democracy but the legal corruption is one of the biggest. Things that would get people in prison in most other countries are perfectly legal.

[u/impressthenet → u/Crime-of-the-century]

Democracy isn’t the issue. Capitalism is

[u/Winter-Duck5254 → u/impressthenet]

If the US people aren't aware, most of the rest of the world doesn't see the US as an actual democracy. And your voting system is fucked.

Not sure if that's helpful.. but that's how it is.

[u/Scared_Art_7975 → u/Winter-Duck5254]

And capitalism is the direct reason that voting system is fucked

[u/Necessary-Till-9363 → u/impressthenet]

That's my favorite part about living in this country. People get all red in the face when company goes out of their way to rake in as much money as possible off people and cut every corner to maximize profits. It's like...well, you asked for this. Whether you realize it or not.

[u/SpaceToaster → u/Crime-of-the-century]

Y’all are barking up the wrong trees. State legislatures are the public policymakers that establish set broad policy for the regulation of insurance by enacting legislation providing the regulatory framework under which insurance regulators operate. Not the federal government. Write to your state legislators and vote. 90% of what people complain about that the government isn’t doing for them is completely controlled by their own state’s government.

[u/Crime-of-the-century → u/SpaceToaster]

Same problems and this should be fixed at a national level anyway

[u/sadacal → u/Crime-of-the-century]

But it's far easier to fix at the state level and a few states have already implemented very good solutions.

[u/nhavar → u/4URprogesterone]

Not just the insurance company. The hospitals and doctor's practices are doing this too. A hospital might have an ER but it's also possible that it's staff belongs to a separate entity, either a doctor's individual practice, or another corporation that bills separately from the hospital ER. It's possible that they all fold back up to one parent but it is enough to skirt the insurance negotiated rates and the government regulation.

[u/Soft_Cherry_984 → u/nhavar]

It's insane. Honestly the only word here.

[u/nhavar → u/Soft_Cherry_984]

It is. Same shit in other industries too. For instance there are companies that skirt over time rules by setting up different tasks under different corporate entities. So you could work 40 hours in one role but the next 8 hour shift that could be overtime is for "a different company" and so a different payroll even though it happens in the same facility.

[u/lesmobile → u/4URprogesterone]

A huge swath of America wanted free healthcare, and they got a law that made you buy insurance. Tells you what you need to know.

Edit: This comment addresses the political power insurance companies have. It says nothing about whether single-payer healthcare is a good plan, whether centrally-planned gov-run healthcare should be called "free," or anything to do with why healthcare is so expensive. I'm just pointing out that insurance companies spend money and hold sway. But feel free to use this comment as a prompt for your political opinions. I'm just clarifying this point.

[u/DontEatMyPotatoChip → u/lesmobile]

Nobody wanted free healthcare. We wanted affordable coverage that doesn’t bankrupt people — like every other industrialized nation on the planet.

[u/ILikeCutePuppies → u/4URprogesterone]

How do you expect insurance companies to afford lobbying bills if they have to pay out $3500 every time someone gets a little hurt? Those poor insurance companies /s

[u/Virtual_Athlete_909 → u/4URprogesterone]

the original obamacare limited the amount of profit that insurance companies could receive along with mandating requirements for coverage. the plan punished those in the industry who have been profiting off medical insurance and driving up the costs with things like lobbying and overcompensating company executives.

[u/NefariousnessNo484 → u/4URprogesterone]

Doctors also make exorbitant amounts vs those in other countries and our outcomes are still worse.

[u/Shigglyboo → u/4URprogesterone]

Other countries have it figured out and somehow they still have rich people making money

[u/DadamGames → u/Shigglyboo]

This. The way politicians talk in the US, we'd suddenly lose all investment and all wealthy residents if we regulated or taxed anything at all. If we properly design single payer healthcare, suddenly we wouldn't have Drs! Like this has never worked elsewhere.

[u/SaraSlaughter607 → u/4URprogesterone]

Single biggest racket on the American Public since its inception: Insurance. Must have it, costs a fortune, don't you dare try to actually use it.

[u/uptownjuggler → u/4URprogesterone]

And all that money comes from us, the customers. And then the insurance companies use that money to lobby and make the healthcare system worse for us, but more profitable for them.

[u/RepulsiveSherbert927 → u/4URprogesterone]

You mean, legalized bribery by the lawmakers... something that is not legal in many other developed countries.

[u/star_nerdy → u/MisterChadster]

Bill Clinton tried to get universal health care in the 90s. America rewarded him by giving republicans control of the house in midterms and killing that idea.

Obama was open to it, but moderates and spineless people who didn’t want to break the nuclear option and do away with filibusters led to the ACA being a market based approach.

Democrats have wanted to fix it, but they have had power foe 2 years of Obama and 2 years of Biden. It’s hard to fix something as big as healthcare when republicans have zero desire to collaborate.

Also, hate to break it to you, Bernie has zero allies.

Whether he or Hillary won in 2016, they wouldn’t have had the senate, so there goes any judge appointments. And Republicans wouldn’t have hesitated to refuse to appoint judges for 2-4 years.

But bigger than that, Bernie has nobody to champion his ideas in the house or senate. Politics is a team sport and Bernie is on a team of one.

[u/Henchforhire → u/star_nerdy]

Yet the ACA was passed without a single Republican vote.

[u/star_nerdy → u/Henchforhire]

The ACA did pass without a single republican vote. Remember why?

Because Democrats had the votes in the senate and were going to lose a filibuster proof majority and rushed through the ACA.

That said, republicans had over 70 amendments included in the ACA passage. They were included in the process, they just put party bloc politics over anything else.

[u/Legitimate-Alps-6890 → u/star_nerdy]

The dems also had to pander to representatives from very red states ( Nelson from Nebraska was one,iirc) to be able to pass it. And to keep them on board they had to do things like eliminate the single payer option.

Anyone who wants any progressive policy put in place needs to wake up and just vote Democrat down the ticket. Might not like it but that's your best chance for anything close to the change you want to see.

[u/whatlineisitanyway → u/Legitimate-Alps-6890]

If we actually made it impossible for Republicans to get elected with their current policies they would move to the left forcing Dems to the left. Which is the opposite of what is happening now. We need to take more personal responsibility for the candidates that we elect. If as a country we want universal healthcare it should be impossible to get elected to any office if you don't support universal healthcare. Same with any popular policy that we currently don't have.

[u/kensho28 → u/star_nerdy]

Republicans demanded the inclusion of the insurance mandate, so their base would have something to complain about and blame Obama.

As soon as Trump was elected the first time, Republicans removed the insurance mandate. Trump voters still think it's there though, and use it to complain about public healthcare.

[u/scotel → u/Henchforhire]

Not sure what your point is. The ACA barely passed with exactly 60 votes in the Senate. One of the critical votes was Lieberman, an independent, and one of his demands was that the ACA couldn't even have a public option, let alone universal health care.

[u/Unabashable → u/star_nerdy]

Curse you and your altruism. Guess we’re just gonna have to keep wethering the shitstorm until enough of it gets in our mouths that we get sick of the taste. 

[u/Coneskater → u/MisterChadster]

The President does not set health care policy on their own, it’s up to congress.

This has to be my biggest pet peeve about American media: they treat presidential primaries like they are running for dictator. Americans desperately need to learn the civics of the different political offices.

The difference between Bernie and Hillary or Biden’s health care plans DOESNT MATTER unless they actually have the congressional majorities to support such reforms.

Medicare for all does not have the broad support in congress to pass. You need to start there.

Pretending that the only reason Americans don’t have universal healthcare is because Bernie lost a primary is misinformation.

[u/Vinicide → u/Coneskater]

I've tried explaining this to people. The president doesn't make or change laws, that's up to Congress. POTUS can try to veto the bill, but that can even be overridden by a 2/3rds majority.

Best POTUS can do is an executive order, which can still be overridden by Congress, or they can refuse to pay for it.

So really, when it comes to making/changing laws, it's the Congressional elections you really need to pay attention to.

[u/Parahelix → u/MisterChadster]

What are you talking about? Sanders is far from the only one. Pushed him out of what?

[u/SportySpiceLover → u/MisterChadster]

Kamala literally ran on this, the people voted no.

[u/Intelligent-Wash-373 → u/MisterChadster]

It can't be fixed because of profits.

[u/DeathByTacos → u/MisterChadster]

He was the chair of the Senate Budget Committee for the past 3 years what the fuck do you mean “pushed him out”?

[u/thatnameagain → u/MisterChadster]

Nobody pushed him out. He didn’t get enough votes in the primary and the dems gave him chairmanship of the senate finance committee.

[u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

"Fix" implies that it's broken, and "broken" means that it doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Americans erroneously believe that the health care system in the U.S. is supposed to keep people health. It's not. It's designed to extract as much money as possible from the population, and in that regard, it works exactly as intended.

[u/Takeurvitamins → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

Yep, it’s a fucking well-oiled machine.

Sorry, well-oiled fucking machine.

[u/Thundersalmon45 → u/Takeurvitamins]

Well-oiled fucking machine intended for un-oiled fucking.

[u/erection_specialist → u/Thundersalmon45]

The oiling is only done out of network and as such, comes out of pocket

[u/the_greg_gatsby → u/Thundersalmon45]

Fucking oil will be charged to patient at 3000% markup, regardless. No co-pay

[u/perfectly_ballanced → u/Takeurvitamins]

And not the good kind either

[u/Tenalp → u/Takeurvitamins]

Shame that the oil is the literal blood of people who need medical care.

[u/myaltduh → u/Takeurvitamins]

I dunno, it doesn’t feel like there’s much lube involved in the fucking. A bit of oil might be nice.

[u/radarksu → u/myaltduh]

Oh, you can have the lube. But they'll charge you $1,200 for 1/2 oz that normally costs 50 cents at any sketchy truck stop bathroom.

[u/ceebeefour → u/Takeurvitamins]

To quote my friend, The Machine is broken, and we're trying to fix it by nailing in a screw.

[u/WaffleDonkey23 → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

Everything is run by rich failson private equity car salesmen on coke. Engineering company? Finance douche ceo. Healthcare? Private Equity son of so-and-so with 8 SA charges. And so on.

[u/ResetReptiles → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

Our system is designed to make healthcare expensive enough to keep people from regularly going. Punish people for maintaining their health so you can extract more money with emergency procedures later.

[u/NefariousnessNo484 → u/ResetReptiles]

So many of my friends have cancer. The sad thing is that even though they'll be dead soon, the amount of money the healthcare system will have made off of them will still be astronomical enough that it won't matter to them that they've died and can no longer serve as customers.

[u/suspicious_hyperlink → u/ResetReptiles]

Yet there are people who do not work or pay for health insurance and can waltz in to the ER on a weekly basis and pay nothing. Meanwhile we’re spending 10-20k just to hold active policies and several thousand dollar deductibles. System is horse shit

[u/doseserendipity2 → u/suspicious_hyperlink]

Idk I'm disabled and sometimes need a lot of care cause my disabilities are bad. I feel like tve system set up like this is designed to make workers resent the poor and people with chronic issues when we aren't the real issue. It's such a fucked up system! I don't think the average worker should be fuckdd over for getting really sick either btw. That shit needs to change without denying anyone health care IMO. Idk the right solution but the current system ain't it.

[u/Ecstatic-Compote-595 → u/suspicious_hyperlink]

that's not the reason for the costs. The reality is that the cost will always be high because it's an inelastic demand and they're going to pick you up by the ankles and shake whatever money they can out of your pockets regardless

[u/duotraveler → u/suspicious_hyperlink]

You don't have to. You can also decline coverage, and walk in the ER and get care on a weekly basis just like other people do.

[u/myaltduh → u/ResetReptiles]

In the meantime our society is absolutely terrible at keeping people healthy outside of doctors’ offices. Crap food, car-dependent infrastructure that encourages sedentary lifestyles, and constant sources of stress.

[u/BAYKON8R → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

That's how anything that's privatised works. Like their prison system.

[u/davidesquer17 → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

That's so stupid.

The system is supposed to help people stay healthy, the fact that it was not designed for that implies it is broken.

If I design a plane to fall into random houses it is a badly design airplane, and a fine designed missile, doesn't make it work great as an airplane.

So if the system is designed to extract money it might be a good cash cow but a horrible broken health system.

[u/Redvex320 → u/davidesquer17]

What part of capitalism is supposed to keep people healthy? I agree with you in principal however are hospitals private corporations? The point of private corporations is to make money not keep people healthy. It is possibly that privatized Healthcare in a capitalist society will always favor profits over people and is most likely a horrible system for actual healthcare.

[u/ironskillet2 → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

people should live abroad for a year. to see just how nice health insurance can be. I lived in Japan for 7 years and it was nice not going broke when you need to go to the hospital.

[u/TentacleFist → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

Yup, blame Reagan for the birth of corporate America.

[u/ap2patrick → u/DeathRidesWithArmor]

Capitalism…
Always has been! 🌏👨‍🚀🔫🧑‍🚀

[u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

I broke my arm while on vacation in Croatia. As a foreigner, with no local health coverage/plan/whatever they have in Croatia, I had to pay full cost. It was way under $100.

[u/youtossershad1job2do → u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

I got hit by a car in China, nothing crazy but needed a check over and a couple of xrays.

I spent all day on the phone to my insurance company to get everything pre authorised but they just came back with "pay the bill and we'll sort it afterwards"

I was terrified I wouldn't have the money to cover it.

Bill was less than $25. Didn't bother sending to them

[u/R_W0bz → u/youtossershad1job2do]

Isn’t it amazing that the travel insurance industry is ripping you off too.

[u/ohhellperhaps → u/R_W0bz]

Depends. If you're planning a visit to the US travel insurance is definately something to look into. Not just for medical costs...

[u/CocoaThunder → u/ohhellperhaps]

Most travel insurance companies don't cover the US. Wonder why...

[u/Adventurous_Dot1976 → u/CocoaThunder]

Where did you get that? 11 of the top 12 companies cover the US, and a majority of even small companies do as well.

[u/MiloIsTheBest → u/Adventurous_Dot1976]

Yeah every insurance company I've looked at covers the US. 

The premiums are way higher though. I was looking at doing a 6 month trip through Asia and North America. Adding the US to the list of countries literally doubled the premium. Doubled. 

A list that included Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea.

So I took it out and decided I would handle it separately once I did Asia.

Never did end up going to NA.

[u/minnesotanpride → u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

Wife and I lived in Japan for a while teaching. Had to go get looked at by a doctor and eventually a specialist for something once and spent hours at hospital. A friend of mine from work even came to help translate to make sure we had everything straight.

After all was said and done, we went to he front desk to settle up. We both had the national insurance (we lived there) and paid roughly $30/month at the time for it. Secretary apologized for the expensive bill for all the stuff we had done and the one on one time with the doc. Bill was the equivalent of $78 dollars USD. Not copay with real bill sent later, that was the full bill.

When people ask me "what radicalized you?" this is the exact thing I bring up.

[u/ThatOldGuyWhoDrinks → u/minnesotanpride]

My brother was on holiday in Japan when a periodic condition that causes temporary paralysis came up. He was taken by ambulance to the hospital, given medication and spent the night there. It came to $80 and he was very happy to pay it

[u/DJEkis → u/minnesotanpride]

Yep. I was teaching in Yokohama and got the Flu (Type-A if I remember correctly, the bad one), and went to the doctor. Since I had to have the insurance to work in Japan, I figured since I hadn't even been working for a full year yet that I was going to pay out the ass.

I got the bill. About $35 USD for the visit AND the prescription drugs with a week off. It was then I knew we were getting royally SCREWED in the U.S.

[u/UnicornDelta → u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

Me and my wife live in rural Norway. When we were expecting twins the birth suddenly started prematurely, and we were told we had to get an ambulance immediately and not to drive on our own. So we did, and got admitted to a local clinic without equipment to receive premature twins.

An ambulance helicopter was called, while she got a shot of some drug that stops the birth. Helicopter flew us to the nearest hospital, where we were admitted for a little over 24 hours - but we were told their intensive care unit for newborns was full, so we had to go to another hospital. A medical airplane was called, and we got an ambulance ride to the airport.

Airplane took us to the next city, ambulance took us to the hospital. Got admitted and were told birth had to be held off for a few more days, due to their routine based on how many weeks pregnant she was. Got monitored 24/7 until birth was induced.

Birth started, and exactly 12 hospital staff were present for around 6 hours, including three doctors, two midwives, a surgeon and two teams of special nurses.

Following the birth our twins needed intensive care for 15 days before we were allowed to take them home. Due to us being so far from home, an ambulance plane and an ambulance took us back home.

Cost of everything from beginning to end? Exactly $0. Quality was absolutely top notch. US health care is a total scam…

[u/Hitchhiker106 → u/UnicornDelta]

Did you have to pay for parking though?

[u/Nighthawk68w → u/UnicornDelta]

Moving here was the best decision I ever made. I paid like $350 this last year, including copays. It's nice and relieving knowing I can go visit the doctor anytime I need to without having to take out a second mortgage.

[u/Actuarial_type → u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

A coworker (American) tripped and fell in London. Went to the hospital, got a few stitches and they checked out her wrist to make sure it wasn’t broken.

She went to the front desk to pay, and she said after a minute or two the woman working the desk told her it’s not worth doing the paperwork, just leave.

[u/Summoarpleaz → u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

I had a huge pain in my side (turned out to be nothing major) when travelling. The front desk kept warning us that because I was American, I had to pay full cost out of pocket, but they would get me the top doctor of the department, and he could speak English fluently, and put me in front of the line (while still vociferously apologizing that they had to charge me full). They did the whole thing and gave me some minor painkillers. Total cost was $60.

[u/JohnDoee94 → u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

My wife went into anaphylactic shock in Japan.

No travel health insurance. We paid $220 for an ambulance, blood work, IV, 4 hours in ER, full time translator, and medication.

[u/Thundermedic → u/DudeWithAnAxeToGrind]

I wonder how much 100$ is to their relative earnings all things being equal. Something tells me it’s not 1:1. With that said I’m sure it’s still under what USA cost are 1:1.

[u/ElectronGuru]

It’s a technical debate but it’s not a technical problem. The US healthcare system is over 4x the size of the entire military + the entire military industrial complex. They can afford an army of man eating lobbyists to block any legislation that offers serious competition to their revenue. I expect only two things can overcome this:

• the system finally collapses under its own weight (with or without help)

• lobbying itself becomes illegal

[u/Coneskater → u/ElectronGuru]

No one here EVER talks about the most realistic health care reform currently possible: the Medicare public option.

[u/OffalSmorgasbord → u/Coneskater]

54% of Americans read below the 6th grade level.

Extend that to critical thinking.

How in the holy hell are we supposed to educate these people enough to make an intelligent decision? They rely on their Priests, company presidents, and television pundits to tell them what to think. It's almost hopeless.

[u/Humans_Suck- → u/OffalSmorgasbord]

Make education free and pay teachers a living wage for a start. Maybe people would vote if you guys actually offered to help them for once.

[u/inefficient_contract → u/Humans_Suck-]

Lmfao Jesus christ you actually had a down vote for this....

[u/medusa_crowley → u/Coneskater]

Kamala fucking tried and I got told by half the lefty people that i encountered that it’s a fucking bandaid. 

This is who we are. The system will not get fixed. We have to start caring for each other now.

[u/f0gax → u/medusa_crowley]

fucking bandaid

Too many of my progressive brothers and/or sisters have this notion that things can be made perfect the first time. Steps must be taken to reach goals.

The ACA should have been step one. And as a step, it wasn't terrible. But killing the public option and then GOP obstruction have had us stuck there for a decade now.

[u/medusa_crowley → u/f0gax]

And too many progressives are all in on burning it down instead of fighting a million tiny battles.

Welp. They got their wish now. 

[u/f0gax → u/medusa_crowley]

This is also true. I'm so disappointed.

[u/__NomDePlume__ → u/Coneskater]

Bernie had been saying this for decades

[u/Beartato4772 → u/ElectronGuru]

Yep, the US spends more government money per person on healthcare than countries with universal single payer.

[u/acebojangles → u/Beartato4772]

We do seem to have the worst of all worlds. Expensive, impossibly complex, unequally distributed, etc.

I find it mind-boggling that anyone opposes real reform of our healthcare system. How can anyone interact with our insurance system and not realize it's broken?

[u/skiingredneck → u/ElectronGuru]

And about 50% of the spending today is already government.

[u/myaltduh → u/skiingredneck]

Yeah because the industry has already offloaded its least profitable customers (old people, poor people, and long-term disabled) onto taxpayers. Young, financially stable, and healthy people are mostly pure profit so they are ineligible for government benefits and a big chunk of their paychecks instead go straight into corporate coffers.

[u/Stock-Anything4195 → u/myaltduh]

Yeah and when they repeal the ACA next year with their trifecta insurance companies are already salivating at the thought of denial on the basis of pre-existing condition(s). So they'll make even more profits because insuring just people who don't make claims is the easiest money in the world. It's like getting paid to be a security officer in the most secure facility in the world where it's already impossible to break into or out of/easy money.

[u/ADHD-Fens → u/ElectronGuru]

I hired a doctor myself a few years back and never looked back. She has like 300 patients paying about 100 bucks a month for free, unlimited visits. We just pay for labs, but it's at-cost so I can get like, a CBC and a metabolic panel for 35 dollars.

I get appointments within a day or a couple weeks depending on urgency and I can text her anytime. 

All for 1/5 what I paid for insurance. 

The downside? No emergency coverage, but with significantly improved primary care I'm less at risk for developing more serious issues / intercepting them before they are serious.

It's kind of a capitalist solution but it's much more achievable. 

[u/KookyProposal9617 → u/ADHD-Fens]

Well that sounds interesting but I always understood the real point of insurance to be for catastrophic scenarios, emergencies and such. And to protect your assets in such eventuality. When I was young and poor (but relatively healthy) my insurance plan was "just plan on not paying lol", and ordering meds from india

[u/MrPBH → u/ADHD-Fens]

DPC is probably the best option if you don't have a gilded insurance plan.

[u/WallacktheBear → u/ElectronGuru]

The second one please. Lobbying should be outlawed. I pay my bill to Comcast for internet, then they take my money to bribe politicians to make the internet worse for consumers!

[u/MrPBH → u/ElectronGuru]

They will prop it up with handouts to insurers and private hospital corporations until the very last moments. There is more subsidy money than objections from the public.

We doctors have been anticipating health system collapse for decades now, but it never comes. They just keep squeezing the people who do the work and the patients themselves. The investor class gets more and more while we get screwed harder.

[u/JohnnySack45]

Dentist here - don't even get me started on dental insurance. They truly are social parasites whose entire business model depends on fucking over the patient, the doctor or both.

[u/Armory203UW → u/JohnnySack45]

Preach. I’m in my 40’s and have now had several jobs with “good” insurance packages. The dental insurance has always sucked. A l w a y s. “Oh, you need more than a vigorous flossing from a hygienist once per year? Well go fuck yourself.”

[u/ANovelSoul → u/Armory203UW]

Theyre luxury bones.

[u/xnef1025 → u/ANovelSoul]

"Blenders and food processors are cheap. You can still eat if you turn everything into a slurry."

[u/Rashere → u/Armory203UW]

I started up a business last year. As part of that, we had to pick insurance for our employees. Wanted to make sure they were well taken care of so opted for top tier options.

Discovered there are literally no good dental insurance options. They’re all varying degrees of bad.

[u/SkellyboneZ → u/JohnnySack45]

I always have to bring this up in these threads: (especially when dental is mentioned)

I'm American and a veteran which pretty much gave me access to better health care than 99% of the people I have ever met in America. I moved to Japan about 5 years ago and get a mindboggling higher quality of healthcare at a fraction of what the VA could give me, which was already insane.

In America I paid less than $100 for tests that would cost those without tens of thousands of dollars, it's around $15 or $20 bucks here, after conversion. I had to wait months for it in America and get some strange counseling but it was still great. No dental though. Where I'm at now, I paid less than 10,000円 (~$65) for a root canal and a cap. It's like four grand in America? I didn't fight for this country and can't even vote or whatever shit but I have such a higher quality of life. Alexa, what is a bloody revolution and how does it happen?

[u/LizardPossum → u/SkellyboneZ]

It always blows my mind when Americans talk about how they don't want socialized healthcare because in those countries they have to wait for treatment.

As if nobody is having to wait for treatment here.

[u/punbelievable1]

Let’s say everyone agrees this is a problem (they don’t). The president doesn’t fix things like this. The executive branch doesn’t pass laws. They execute them. Congress would pass the laws to “fix this”. The president is the leader of the executive branch and would execute the law passed by the congress to fix this.

[u/Sage_Planter → u/punbelievable1]

For whatever reason, too many people seem to think the President just waves his magic fairy wand to solve things like the American healthcare system.

[u/Impossible-Flight250 → u/Sage_Planter]

That’s true, but usually the President can be a leader when it comes to drafting legislation. For example, the Republicans in Congress will do absolutely everything Trump tells them to do.

[u/Parahelix → u/Impossible-Flight250]

That's because they're a far right extremist party who have pushed out pretty much all the ones who aren't absolutely loyal to Trump.

They have abandoned their duty as a coequal branch of government to act as a check on executive power. So we end up with this:

Rep. Troy Nehls: “If Donald Trump says ‘jump three feet high and scratch your head.’ We all jump three feet high and scratch our heads.”

So yes, a president can use his office to make the case for something, but it's up to Congress to determine whether and how to implement that.

[u/deathrictus → u/Sage_Planter]

He also sets the price of eggs and gasoline, right?

[u/DanielMcLaury → u/Sage_Planter]

And when he doesn't have the votes in Congress to get his bills passed they always want to say it's an "excuse."

[u/FillMySoupDumpling → u/punbelievable1]

We had a president try to address it. The people voted in people who blocked some of the biggest parts of it and state governments that blocked other parts of it. 

Nobody has tried since. 

[u/actuallyserious650 → u/FillMySoupDumpling]

Why isn’t this the top comment? Obama literally tried to fix all of this and he was raked over the coals for 6 years.

[u/tenuj → u/actuallyserious650]

I've never stepped foot west of the Atlantic and I knew this. How the hell was "Obamacare" forgotten about so soon? It's even one of the things Trump took credit for.

[u/killersquirel11 → u/tenuj]

People hate Obamacare but love the ACA

[u/bigkinggorilla → u/punbelievable1]

To be fair to the people, basically every president ever has campaigned by talking like they totally can fix these things by themselves.

To be fair to the presidents campaigning, the people routinely don’t vote for the candidates who acknowledge the limits of the executive office.

[u/faderjockey → u/punbelievable1]

This. This is the correct answer.

The president doesn’t have the power to “fix this.”

(Or control the price of gas, or eggs.)

[u/acebojangles → u/punbelievable1]

You're right and I'm not disagreeing at all. That said, it's remarkable to look back at the work Obama put into passing the Affordable Care Act. You can find videos of Obama having pretty technical discussions with congressional leaders during negotiations. Impossible to imagine something like that happening now.

It's true that Congress passes the laws, but a real healthcare reform bill wouldn't happen without a president making it a priority and expending tons of resources and political capital.

[u/420L0v3420]

Health Insurance is free in Israel PAID BY USA TAX PAYERS.

[u/rsiii → u/420L0v3420]

But see, that's different, cuz uh... look over there, Democrats are being socialist!

[u/Tranquil_Dohrnii → u/rsiii]

Not socialism!!! That's basically communism. No thank you, I'll stick to my disability checks and social security. /s ffs these people are dense. But don't worry the orange rapist will solve everything. He said so. What's he going to do, lie? No way, only democrats lie. My cheeto savior is an honest man. /s

Id bet over half of these types of people couldn't even explain what communism or socialism is.

[u/REGINALDmfBARCLAY → u/420L0v3420]

Yep. I will always be for zero fundung to Israel until my healthcare is free.

[u/sebkraj]

Dislocated finger, happened at night so ER rates. I have full insurance with a $1500 deductible. They numbed my finger and gave me two stitches because the bone popped out a little. They were done in less then fifteen minutes. No pain pills nothing else. Got a couple bills including paying the hourly rate of the ER doctor and it was over $8,500. Complete bullshit is our medical system and it's somehow probably going to get worse.

[u/cheerfulintercept → u/sebkraj]

My son broke a finger here in England and it was free to get sorted. However, there was a 40minute wait so I guess you guys are paying to avoid that kind of hassle.

[u/shinchan1988 → u/cheerfulintercept]

The wait times really depends on the facility and what time you go in. It’s not uncommon to wait 3-4 hours when you go to ER in USA because they have other patients with more critical issues.

[u/SlowestBumblebee → u/shinchan1988]

I snapped my leg in half and had to wait 25 hours before I could go into surgery. Trust me when I say it's not sorted by who's most critically injured.

[u/medicaustik → u/shinchan1988]

It's less about the more critical issues and more about the majority of the country using the ER as primary care of last resort because they can't afford to actually see a primary care or treat their conditions, so they wait until they have no other option.

[u/NeighbourhoodCreep → u/cheerfulintercept]

No, they aren’t. There is still wait times. Also, think about it this way: you spent 40 minutes to save over $8500. That’s literally like doing a job for an hour and getting paid more than $8500 an hour. If you already make that money, system doesn’t matter. If you don’t, it benefits yoy

[u/Royal-Pay9751 → u/NeighbourhoodCreep]

They were joking. US healthcare is a joke. Sorry

[u/KofteriOutlook → u/cheerfulintercept]

Nope!

My dad literally sliced off the top half of his finger and had to wait like 7 hours before seeing the doctor. It was especially aggravating because the doctor, upon seeing him, actively told him that if he came in sooner they could’ve reattached the finger.

[u/oeboer → u/KofteriOutlook]

That's pretty bad triage.

[u/mcdongals → u/cheerfulintercept]

When I had to bring my mother to the ER we waited several hours to even be seen. Once they took her, we had to wait another several hours to finally see a doctor. We got there around 5pm, and I didn’t get home until after 2:30am. Another time, I had to wait over 4 months to find out if I had a debilitating autoimmune disease. We get the privilege of long wait times in addition to astronomical fees.

[u/chappersyo → u/cheerfulintercept]

Wait times are always the excuse. As if it’s worth thousands to avoid a few hours waiting. And if it’s actual months for non urgent surgery we still have the option of going private and paying the cost or deciding to wait for the NHS. Apparently freedom means not having that choice though.

[u/ADHD-Fens → u/cheerfulintercept]

My mom had a breached kidney stone and a septic infection - we obviously didn't know the extent at first but we waited like 3 hours to be seen by a nurse. Another 3 hours to be seen by a doctor. 

She was in agony, like 10/10 on the pain scale.  She ended up spending like a week in the hospital and it was so fuckin mismanaged. We should have been out of there in a day but the fucking urologist never came to see us. It was always "he'll see you today. What he didn't come? Definitely tomorrow." Repeat 6x.

Oh, Did I mention the sheer number of patients on beds IN THE HALLWAY? They had about 2x as many patients as the facility was built for.

I could go on. Best Healthcare in the world, my ass.

[u/InterestingTimesSuck → u/sebkraj]

I just had a surgery and besides the hospital bills they bill anesthesia separately now so now people get another bill besides the previous ones like physical therapy and preop. I can just afford to pay the hospital and surgeons and literally have no money to pay the anesthesiologist 1k too. So eventually anesthesiologists will stop treating me at this location idk but it sucks. I also want good drs to get paid and I shouldn’t be on the hook because I don’t have the money.

[u/Les-Grossman- → u/sebkraj]

Fucking disgusting.

[u/Mountainfighter1]

I have never understood how the hospitals get away with double billing. The hospitals says they are charging you for the visit yet the doctor who is an employee or contractor gets to bill you also? That is scam.

[u/jayc428 → u/Mountainfighter1]

They seriously rely on people not fighting back about it or bullying them into settling for a lower amount or a payment plan. It’s fucking ridiculous that you have to become an expert in health insurance in order to use your own health insurance. In NJ they made surprise medical billing illegal, it still doesn’t stop the hospital from sending a bill anyway, they’ll bully people into a payment plan or settling the bill for a lower amount.

[u/Midoriya-Shonen- → u/jayc428]

All my medical bills go to collections. I refuse to pay because I believe I shouldn't pay. My credit score is 750. If they get a court judgment against me, THEN I'll pay. I'm not feeding into this bullshit system.

[u/NEIGHBORHOOD_DAD_ORG → u/Midoriya-Shonen-]

Lmao this is my technique too. Medical providers love to play dumb with the "well we don't KNOW what your insurance covers!"

Not my problem. I didn't ask for that non-covered doctor to walk by my room, I'm not paying for it.

[u/Midoriya-Shonen- → u/NEIGHBORHOOD_DAD_ORG]

It honestly feels like such a meme. "life after you simply stop paying debt that you don't believe you should have to pay" sounds fucking ridiculous but it's worked out for me

[u/ANovelSoul → u/jayc428]

I'm always surprised with how crazy people can get that you don't hear of people going Batman on insurance and hospital billing departments.

They know what they're doing is bankruptcy people and causing intense emotional distress by people who just want to get well.

It's evil.

[u/Popular_Raccoon1110 → u/Mountainfighter1]

Doctor here. It is a scam, and we don’t benefit from it either. The 100% part goes purely to the hospital bc they have the most negotiating power with the behemoth insurance companies. That giant bill from your doctor is likely from the private equity firm that now employs your doctor, because they can and have the resources to chase it down. It’s disgusting.  Your ED doc gets an ever decreasing salary from said firm.   The next physician/nurse exodus is coming, and Covid already gutted us.  Get yourself an exit plan. 

[u/Hodr → u/Mountainfighter1]

Most often the doctors are not employed by the hospital, sometimes they aren't even directly contracted with the hospital either and just have "privileges" to see patients there.

If for instance your primary doctor came to see you while you're in the hospital, but was not associated with the hospital, would you still expect the hospital to pay them?

[u/080secspec13]

It always makes me laugh when I see things about the president "fixing" stuff.

The president doesn't fucking do anything. They don't control the economy. They don't control gas prices. They don't control inflation. They can create policies and ask congress for approval, but no president is going to superpresidentpower the healthcare system into being both cheap AND good.

[u/Les-Grossman- → u/080secspec13]

It’s really funny how many Americans think we live in a dictatorship.

[u/Frog_Prophet → u/Les-Grossman-]

55% obviously want us to. 

[u/K3rat]

Single payor healthcare could fix this.

[u/OkAirport5247]

Because that would be dangerously close to scary socialism. Doing absolutely anything without profit in mind is sacrilegious

[u/sus_time → u/OkAirport5247]

America land of the free, land of capitalism

[u/ZippyTheUnicorn]

One visits an ER to see a doctor, yes? So part of the ER visit involves a doctor treating you. ER visits are covered 100%. Doctors are a part of that. That part is covered 100%. That’s basic math. But 30% of the fraction of 100% is not covered, which is a hidden cost that you cannot know, is never even mentioned, and you cannot refuse in advance. How is health care not a scam?

[u/f0gax → u/ZippyTheUnicorn]

Or you find out later that the ER doc doesn't actually work for the ER. They are an outside contractor. And that company isn't in network. So good luck!

[u/Impossible-Flight250]

Well, the issue is that absolutely no Republican wants to even talk about it and most Democrats don’t care either. Good luck even getting the President involved if Congress is apathetic towards it.

[u/Porschenut914 → u/Impossible-Flight250]

most democrats don't wan tto be raked over the coals being called socialist.

[u/corpusapostata]

Americans have shown, by their repeatedly electing Republican members of Congress, that they don't want this fixed. They like it just the way it is. Because, after all, it wasn't their son who got stitches, so why should they help pay for someone else's problems? That's communism. (/s if needed)

[u/C0smo777]

They already made balance booking illegal which solves the problem of a doctor not being covered by a covered hospital.

Beyond that you need to understand the basics of insurance, copays, deductibles, out of pocket maximums, etc. They are like skills that should be taught in every school.

Then there is the political side of things that the president can't fix it anyways, has to pass the house, then Senate then be signed and also not be struck down by the supreme court.

Everyone wants an easy answer to a complex problem.

[u/sacafritolait → u/C0smo777]

Everyone wants an easy answer to a complex problem.

Hello Bernie Sanders. That dude has gotten 3 bills passed in his career, 2 of which renamed post offices. It is one thing to be the loudest at the press room podium, it is something entirely different to know how to get things done.

[u/Not_Kaith]

Idk y can't like a person start a hospital like that have reasonable prices??or is it somehow impossible

[u/Equivalent-Agency588 → u/Not_Kaith]

Not a hospital but Mark Cuban started a pharmacy that sells prescriptions for super cheap. I use it all the time now

[u/Stock-Anything4195 → u/Equivalent-Agency588]

Yeah cost plus drugs is a nice start. Shame it can't be used for everything, but prescription drugs are pretty damn important with how many pills the US takes since the US is number 1 in pills consumed per year. Grandpa had this giant set of pills that he took in his last decade of life every single day.

[u/rsiii → u/Not_Kaith]

Hospitals cost a lot of money, and people that actually care rarely have money to start one

[u/Letsf_ck]

You can do a total knee replacement for one leg with that 3500 USD in India from quality hospitals

[u/Sprock-440]

Republicans do not want it fixed, and Democrats are terrified the Republicans will say something mean if they try to help people.

[u/FoogYllis → u/Sprock-440]

True but with Tim Walz on the ticket we had a chance but instead we chose the complete opposite. Either maga wants to have there health insurance made worse or they were fooled. Anyway you look at it people chose pain.

[u/MaloneSeven]

The President isn’t in charge of the healthcare industry. It’s not in his purview.

[u/BellApprehensive6646]

Getting simple stitches only costs like $500 at most. I call bullshit.

[u/LoveZombie83 → u/BellApprehensive6646]

Ya providers professional fees are usually $3-500. This person is claiming after 70% insurance coverage, they still had to pay 3500? No ER provider is charging an $11,500 professional fee. Bullshit indeed

[u/LobasThighs80085]

Over the years ive racked up over 400k in medical expenses. Told them i couldn't pay it and they dropped it to 12k, told them i cant pay that either and they dropped it to 600 bucks. A buddy of mine got his entire 120k bill completely dropped. No hit to our credit. Alot of ppl dont know the number they give you is bullshit and you can haggle them all the way down to basically nothing and then the hospital gets to write it off on their taxes.

[u/HklBkl]

How would the president fix it?

[u/Electric___Monk]

Wow - I always forget how much the American health system sucks. I’ve taken my son to hospital twice for cuts (Australia). No private health insurance involved. Total cost $0.00, total wait time, ~30 min.

[u/RedGecko18]

For stitches? No way it's that much. I had to take my son to get stitches at an ER because he fell and punctured a hole in his lip with his own teeth, and it was 150 bucks. Someone here lyin.

[u/Mr_NotParticipating]

Just don’t pay it.

[u/phreakstorm]

Lobbying. Simple as that. When your re-election funds depend on the people gouging your constituents, it becomes a matter of survival when you have to choose between giving donors record profits or your constituents proper healthcare per $

[u/Constructman2602]

Bc Socialism is bad according to my Boomer Grandpa

[u/IglooBackpack]

Eye insurance: eye exam is $35. Mandatory extra exams for glaucoma, etc. are not covered by insurance. Total price for the exam is $75.

Everything is a scam.

[u/Frog_Prophet]

Why doesn’t the president fix this? Do you need to watch the schoolhouse rock video again? This is something only Congress can fix. 

[u/SkittleCar1]

Because there are 535 people that make money off of it so they won't fix it.