Iowa Caucus Predictions... SEASON Thread

Are you currently one of the 1% richest Americans? If yes, maybe. If no, yes it will be better.

Marksman just posted this in the healthcare thread but anyone seeing stories like this and thinking this is the system we should be protecting may not be as progressive as they think.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/utah-sends-employees-mexico-lower-prescription-prices-68861516

This, and it also does nothing to control costs. We pay much more per capita than any other developed country for rather worse outcomes. A public option will not change that. The public has to be the dominant buyer in order to effectively negotiate prices and have the will to set prices if negotiations fail.
A public option without the real ability to lower prices might be worse long term than the status quo. It will amount to even more redistribution of wealth to the richest 10% from the rest of us in an effective direct subsidy of this industry.

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This is exactly the kind of hyperbolic bullshit Iā€™m talking about and objectively makes this forum a worse place.

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This sounds a lot like something an Enemy of the People might say, comrade. Off to the re-education camps for you!

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Itā€™s not hyperbolic. Feel free to point out what is incorrect in my statement. People are dying and suffering every day in this country because of our for profit healthcare system. People are being forced to fly to Mexico to be able to afford the prescriptions they need. Sorry, not gonna worry about offending someoneā€™s privileged sensibilities to wake them up to the reality of the system they are fighting to protect.

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Right but is it better to brand jman an Enemy of the People or is it better to say well what about supplemental insurance, seems like we can work something out to still let you have more or less the same insurance you have currently. I understand the former is more fun.

Although, again, I donā€™t know the details of Bernieā€™s plan but if he somehow outlaws supplemental insurance or something, then someone please correct me.

Heā€™s never mentioned outlawing supplemental insurance to the best of my knowledge.

Spot the lie in Mebs post. Heā€™s right on.

Itā€™s a false argument. Jmanā€™s insurance is worse than universal single payer coverage. He will have a better plan than he currently has while saving he country $1 trillion per year.

Iā€™ve never mentioned outlawing it because itā€™s pointless. Im arguing supplemental insurance will be unnecessary so itā€™s stupid to get bogged down in it.

You donā€™t know anything about jmanā€™s insurance or how it compares to Medicare.

Yeah I donā€™t disagree. But as weā€™ve seen itt there will always be a market for it

I do know enough to know how it compares to the Universal Single Payer coverage in Bernieā€™s plan which is not our current Medicare system. M4A does not equal taking our current Medicare system unchanged and giving it to all Americans.

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Jmakin and jman let me tell you guys a real story that I have hesitated to share so hopefully you see this isnā€™t all ā€œhyperbolicā€ or designed to be mean.

After I graduated law school I decided not to go the soul sucking work for some asshole route and I opened my own practice with an attorney from a law firm I had interned with in law school. I did not make a lot of money to start and so my wife did contract nursing which had no benefits. So we used healthcare.gov to buy a bronze plan. From 2013-2018 our premiums went from 200/month to 800/month and the deductible was $13,000 and we donā€™t have kids. When we got the $800 premium surprise in 2018 we decided it didnā€™t make sense to buy the insurance anymore because if we really did have to spend $22,000 or whatever out of pocket we would be broke. So for 2018 and 2019 we had no insurance even though at that point we had upper middle class income (although we both have very large student loan payments much larger combined than our mortgage so it sure doesnā€™t feel like it).

Letā€™s talk about the consequences of that. We have not used birth control in 10 years but never got pregnant. We did not have the money to find out why. We got in a severe car accident(that was my fault) about 4 years ago where my wife had went to the hospital with a severe head laceration and a broken arm. I refused treatment because of the cost even though I likely had several broken fingers and broken ribs that hurt like hell for months. My wife elected not to have the physical therapy she needed for her arm because of the cost. A few hours for her in the hospital alone cost over $5,000. But lets get to the worst part.

My wife about 5 years ago started to have severe abdominal pain and extremely heavy periods for large parts of the month. I basically begged her to go to the ER or hospital. She did not want to financially ruin us so she did not go. In 2020 she took a pay cut to get a job status that allowed her to get semi-decent insurance. They have just in the last few days found several masses in her abdomen that we are now waiting to find out how bad it is and she has surgery scheduled soon. One is over 2 inches in diameter.

It sounds like neither jmakin or jman know anyone personally affected by the horrible healthcare industry and the insurance nightmare most people face. Now you do.

If your worldview is that you want others to suffer so you can have it marginally better you are a bad person. And the laughable part is that your insurance isnā€™t better than what Bernie is proposing anyways.

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Gross man. That story should never happen. Makes me feel physically sick to read it, so annoyed how the NHS is taken for granted in this country. If condolences are any comfort you have mine.

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False, the concerns of blue collar workers competing for their livelihood w/ foreign labor are much more legitimate, rational and pressing than Jmanā€™s.

Anyway, as a non-public worker I support Trump now. Lower taxes and slash the benefits of the corrupt, overpaid do nothing Jmans who strike corrupt deals w/ the Dirty D establishment for billions in benefits that would outrage the ordinary Joe if paid in salary.

Fuck you, what about me!?!?!? Thatā€™s the American way.

Lol at the indignant FFS when so many people donā€™t have health care. Youā€™re a stain

Damn man, stories like this are tough to read. Wishing the best to you and wife.

Another aspect of universal healthcare that jman is missing is the fact that the current system tethers him to his employer and ultimately reduces freedom rather than provide it. What if you, or someone in a similar position, decides they want to change jobs? Move to a different city? Become a stay-at-home dad? Life circumstances change, and the fact that so many Americans are forced to remain at their existing job just because leaving would mean healthcare uncertainty is downright dystopian.

You may like your current coverage, but you are still a victim of the existing system whether you want to face it or not.

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The point i got too upset to finish making is that I am not convinced ā€œbuying into Medicareā€ would look much different from what I have been living through. There will be nothing to curb costs. Subsidies will be heavily means tested and millions will likely still not have access.

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My wife and I have a similar story but weā€™ve been lucky instead of unlucky. Iā€™m really sorry man.

What a lot of people donā€™t realize is that the current system is just evil. I first got exposed to it working retention for a 3rd party call center that was contracted by a health insurance company. I still have mild PTSD from that (a lot of my nightmares are about one caller telling me that I was bankrupting her by raising her premium to 6,000 a monthā€¦ Iā€™ve written about this plenty on this board so I wonā€™t hit it again here).

In the decade since Iā€™ve had insurance less than Iā€™ve had it and itā€™s been a really informative experience. The problem in this country isnā€™t access (and I say this as someone who frequently hasnā€™t had access) itā€™s cost. Full stop.

Saying Iā€™ve got my costs covered so fuck you guysā€¦ is really fucked up. Itā€™s not an accident that the system takes really good care of 15-20% of the population and leaves the rest of exposed to bankruptcy/death every second of our lives. You guys are a weapon they are using against the rest of us.

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