RE: Helath Care or is it Health THIEVERY?
A lot of this I agree with, but I disagree with single payer. I am certain that is a trap. Let's discuss.
Right now, with crappy insurance plans, folks are aware of the pricing problems. We used to get statements that showed both what the retail price for "care" was (1.1 million in your example) and what the insurance company's negotiated rate was (closer to $50,000 for the supposedly 1.1 million charge). Lately we do not get hat info. The frightful thing is, imo, that an uninsured person is charged that exorbitant fee instead of the far more affordable negotiated price. This shows that insurance "premiums" are nothing more than protection fees. The insurance industry is a massive mob.
We see with covid that the medical industry is also a massive mob.
Single payer would give legitimacy to an industry that is, as you say above, actually harming us and making us sicker. Since single payer would only pay for western medical treatments, it would mean more people receiving western medical treatments. The only saving grace of folks not being able to afford "treatment" is that those folks are not as regularly POISONED and made sicker, because they can't afford the "care".
The only single payer I will support is one that also pays for homeopathy, naturopaths, chiropractic, acupuncture, massage therapy and, my favorite (everyone should do this), rolfing. Among others. MFA would be the end of all other modes of healing, and our taxpayer dollars would be paying for the poisoning of everyone. Eugenicists would love that.
My solution is that we:
stop going to medical doctors except for conditions that require emergency surgery
stop going to dentists too
charge uninsured persons the medicare negotiated rate for all services
make ALL medical expenses, including rolfing, tax deductible, no threshold.
Most of us would then be well instead of ill, and would be able to afford paying out of pocket for the services we do end up needing. Far far fewer of us would need to pay the protection fees in the first place. End of the farce, end of the eugenicists telling us we need their poisons to live, a return to bodies that can better heal themselves.
@owasco, While I kind of agree with what you wrote, I just can't get my head around "Why is the United States of America" the only developed Country without nationalized healthcare? Even with the prices being what Medicare sets as a good level, how in the heck can a 40 year old homeless person with 3 kids pay for a tonsillectomy? I also don't understand why people are so against "Single Payer" systems. Even with "Obama Care" if you can't afford the minimum $900.00 a month charge, how in the heck do you pay the $3600.00 penalty for not having insurance? Oh, I got these numbers when my wife retired while we were in Alabama and the ONLY health insurance available in the State was BCBS of Alabama. I myself was in the hospital for a collapsed lung and fluid in my chest, they couldn't find anything wrong, they didn't re-inflate my lung, all they did was put a tube in my chest (wrong way) and added a second to drain the fluid. After all was said and done, I still owed over $3,000.00 out of pocket for the (Lack of) Care I received. Fortunately, I have Medicare, without which I would have been charged over $250,000.00 for mis-managed healthcare.
Personally, I am all for single payer as it stops the insurance Companies from collecting thousands each month from individuals who aren't old enough for Medicare, and this isn't talking about deductibles. And the extra shots they say you need. Honestly, how are you supposed to trust someone with your health who only benefits when you are ill?
Your story is so very typical - most of us have a story like that to tell, and that is not right. I'll bet you even had to pay for both tubes. Why did your lung collapse? That sounds pretty drastic, and that they couldn't find anything wrong worries me.
The premiums are very high, and the return for them is very low. The only benefit of Obamacare plann is that we can't walk away with bills over the out of pocket limit which, if you have to pay that much every year, would impoverish almost anyone on one of those plans.
There is no doubt that something drastic has to happen, but MFA will only get the poisoning paid for by you and by me. I suggest looking into Trump care plans which, as I understand them, are more like the catastrophic plans we used to be able to buy before obamacare. Obamacare was the second biggest con of the American people. The Covid Con is number one.
If we institute MFA, we validate the industry's treatment, and validate it as THE ONLY ONE WORTH USING. However, it is the last one you should ever resort to. They are poisoning us from the moment we leave the womb.
The insurance companies, I promise you, are all positioned to profit from MFA. They are only toying with us, by watching us beg, so that when we are "given" MFA we will feel like we have won a battle, when in fact we will have walked further into their trap.
The mandate has been rescinded or whatever it's called. You are no longer fined for not having insurance.
Start with M.A.G.A. and go from there. when it comes to drumpf and Insurance companies, obamacare or not, they are only there to make a profit. Last year, with drumpf, the health insurance Profits sared to over $20 BILLION giving their CEOs some of the highest annual bonuses ever recorded. Let us think, for a minute about the $20 Billion, which could have, for one year, put every Vet who needs hospital, housing, food and shelter into the care/housing they need. If our Government won't take care of it's Veterans, WTF good is it? These men/Women risked their lives so that we could sit here debating this crap. So, how about "Donald, take the $1.2 TRILLION that you gave to the wealthiest among us, and solve the houseless issue, feed the Children who are hungry,provide the daycare so that both parents can work, all at once"? I think that sounds like a GREAT idea. WE pay the $1.2 Trillion anyway, why not use it FOR ALL OF US? Same with MFA, we already pay the taxes for it, why not use it.