The US Healthcare Mass Debate

[Hermit]

That is not real news. Is it a spoof?

Check the bottom line of the page RB linked to:

"World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle."

[Brian Peacock]

Your neighbours' health is important to you, whether you realise it or not.

[Scot Dutchy]

Americans never see the point of that. It was always the argument put up by Seth. He never had any insurance. He just paid his way.

[Tero]

42, ”Obamacare caused rates to go up” is, once again, bullcrap:

Except that it doesn’t seem to be true. Health insurance premiums have been rising for decades, almost (though not quite) as stubbornly reliable as an eastern sunrise. And it turns out that these increases actually slowed after the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010. That’s according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which tracks a range of topics around spending on health care in its Medical Expenditure Panel Survey. The survey tracks the health insurance offered by private firms big and small, and in all cases, the average rate of premium growth from the time the law passed in 2010 through 2015 was actually lower than from 2004 to 2010. And premium growth was lowest for firms with fewer than 50 employees.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robbmandel ... 6577e43a01

They go up because they never go down. Only state run healhcare and stopping frivolous suing would bring it down.

You signed the document that said ”this could kill you”, so no lawsuites should be filed after that.

[JimC]

Tero wrote:

...You signed the document that said ”this could kill you”, so no lawsuites should be filed after that...

Old blokes going to houses of ill-repute should sign something like that...

[Brian Peacock]

Yes, always ask the ladies to check your heart before they tighten the straps.

[Brian Peacock]

”Obamacare caused rates to go up”

This part of the argument from the top was obviously intended to convince the gullible middle that they were paying extra for the healthcare of those at the bottom.

[Joe]

Americans never see the point of that. It was always the argument put up by Seth. He never had any insurance. He just paid his way.

Please don't form your opinions of Americans based on Seth's extreme views. This is a much better representation of American views.

Heck, even Trump is reported to have asked, "Why can't Medicare simply cover everybody?"

[pErvinalia]

Because socialism...

[Seabass]

Where's Seth been anyway? I haven't seen him on since I've returned. I hope he didn't accidentally shoot himself or something...

[Tero]

Americans never see the point of that. It was always the argument put up by Seth. He never had any insurance. He just paid his way.

Please don't form your opinions of Americans based on Seth's extreme views. This is a much better representation of American views.

Heck, even Trump is reported to have asked, "Why can't Medicare simply cover everybody?"

It kind of drags along because employers at first found it a good idea to offer ”benefits” through jobs. Linking jobs and insurance has prevented a move toward single payer.

It still works, sort of, as workers tend to be healthy and younger than the average health consumer. Little do they know that they will be fired after 6 months on disability, should health problems appear.

[pErvinalia]

Where's Seth been anyway? I haven't seen him on since I've returned. I hope he didn't accidentally shoot himself or something...

Maybe he's finally realised no one is buying the bullshit he's been trying to sell here for years and has fucked off to annoy some other unfortunate folks?

[Hermit]

Where's Seth been anyway? I haven't seen him on since I've returned. I hope he didn't accidentally shoot himself or something...

He hasn't. Someone who joined this forum very recently has quite inadvertently divulged his official name, whereupon I did a bit of googling to see if it checks out. It does, and Seth is still very much alive.

[Scot Dutchy]

Americans never see the point of that. It was always the argument put up by Seth. He never had any insurance. He just paid his way.

Please don't form your opinions of Americans based on Seth's extreme views. This is a much better representation of American views.

Heck, even Trump is reported to have asked, "Why can't Medicare simply cover everybody?"

But Seth's opinions do exist in America although it is a minority. Here for instance nobody would state those views. Certain things here are declared holy and above politics. Health and education being two. Like Britain after the war a UHC system was quickly realised to be a necessity as was a public education system. Both were quickly put in place. Both were government departments but by the end of the century health was turning into the mess Britain is now in. Too much creeping privatisation plus a dual system of private and public running through each other. So in 2004 the drastic step was taken and we have never looked back. Here is a CNN report:

[Joe]

Americans never see the point of that. It was always the argument put up by Seth. He never had any insurance. He just paid his way.

Please don't form your opinions of Americans based on Seth's extreme views. This is a much better representation of American views.

Heck, even Trump is reported to have asked, "Why can't Medicare simply cover everybody?"

It kind of drags along because employers at first found it a good idea to offer ”benefits” through jobs. Linking jobs and insurance has prevented a move toward single payer.

It still works, sort of, as workers tend to be healthy and younger than the average health consumer. Little do they know that they will be fired after 6 months on disability, should health problems appear.

It's a trap we stumbled into with the best of intentions, and because it's subsidized by tax policy, we can't muster the political will to eliminate it. In fact, it's one point our debates mostly overlook. It more than keeps us from a single payer system, which our conservatives distrust, a system of private insurance with government subsidized premiums would threaten a very nice arrangement for the insurance companies.

Employer-based insurance is usually administered by a single insurance company, so a contract with a large corporation gets it tens or hundreds of thousands of captive customers for much less effort than competing for individuals or families.