Also fed up with skyrocketing rent and food greedflation...
CommenterPerson · 1h ago
I have employer provided health insurance. I'm an immigrant from India and routinely postpone non urgent care to my annual trips there. One does need pointers to good clinics. I get great care at low cost. With none of the bureaucracy and arrogance I see in my adopted country unfortunately. When I get my additional blood tests, I never have the blue bruise that I usually get here at Quest or LabCorp. This year I'm going to get a wisdom tooth extracted. My amazing family doctor answers questions on Whatsapp for a very nominal fee.
Healthcare in the United States is broken. Avaricious profit mentality from all the players broke it. We need to vote for leaders who are not on the payroll of these players, to fix this very serious problem. I don't have much hope. Even educated people as on HN keep quoting the same tired capitalist propaganda.
oulu2006 · 1h ago
The rest of the world just shakes its head at the US healthcare system.
Powerful forces keep it as it is -- and people seem to buy the stupid communism/socialist crap that they pedal and soak it up hook line and sinker.
Gave up trying to understand why.
billy99k · 30m ago
"The rest of the world just shakes its head at the US healthcare system."
Perhaps on the cost, but the US has the best doctors in the world. If I need major surgery, I know I can get it in a reasonable amount of time. In many other countries in Europe or even Canada, the government gets to decide if I need to get it or not and the wait time could be in years.
Everyone says the elderly in the US will go broke after a single major surgery. My dad is on Medicare with a low-cost supplemental insurance. He's been in multiple hospitals for the last 6 months and short-term care for the last 6 weeks.
He was treated for sepsis twice and got a pacemaker installed (this doesn't include drugs, meals, everything else that comes with his stay). His cost out of pocket? $0.
My elderly relatives have to wait many months to get surgery in Canada. The UK also has a failing healthcare system. The issue is that in times of economic downturns, socialized medicine gets cut.
I don't think I've seen a single example of socialized medicine that doesn't end up with long wait times for major surgeries or the government making health decisions for you.
A better system would be to have no insurance on procedures that are extremely common (where the free market can reduce the costs, like Lasik eye surgery) and only have insurance on ones that aren't so common and won't benefit from the competition.
mindslight · 4m ago
[delayed]
idontwantthis · 25m ago
> Everyone says the elderly in the US will go broke after a single major surgery. My dad is on Medicare with a low-cost supplemental insurance. He's been in multiple hospitals for the last 6 months and short-term care for the last 6 weeks.
> I don't think I've seen a single example of socialized medicine that doesn't end up with long wait times for major surgeries or the government making health decisions for you.
Do you love socialized medicine or not? I can't tell.
lisbbb · 41m ago
This is a facile approach to making an argument against US Healthcare--far too simplistic, imho. There are plenty of nations with socialism/communism where healthcare is either non-existent or impossible to get because of rationing. So it's not like that's some terribly invalid argument. Further, even with the more "civilized" Western nations, the cracks in those socialized systems are showing--the UK, Canada, and others. Finally, the countries with the allegedly great healthcare are pretty small compared to the USA. I can't speak for India, of course, but I kind of think that a nation that lacks flush toilets for a large percentage of its population would also be suspect in terms of broad applicability around what was stated. In simpler terms: If you're wealthy, you can get great healthcare almost anywhere. The US has its lumps, but there is no waiting for necessary treatments and while insurance is expensive, so is healthcare.
I guess I'm also happy that our government doesn't run it because just regulating it as much as has been done has led to what we experience today. Is greedy profiteering built in to the system? Undoubtably. But there are serious risks to reforming such a complex system.
Healthcare in the United States is broken. Avaricious profit mentality from all the players broke it. We need to vote for leaders who are not on the payroll of these players, to fix this very serious problem. I don't have much hope. Even educated people as on HN keep quoting the same tired capitalist propaganda.
Powerful forces keep it as it is -- and people seem to buy the stupid communism/socialist crap that they pedal and soak it up hook line and sinker.
Gave up trying to understand why.
Perhaps on the cost, but the US has the best doctors in the world. If I need major surgery, I know I can get it in a reasonable amount of time. In many other countries in Europe or even Canada, the government gets to decide if I need to get it or not and the wait time could be in years.
Everyone says the elderly in the US will go broke after a single major surgery. My dad is on Medicare with a low-cost supplemental insurance. He's been in multiple hospitals for the last 6 months and short-term care for the last 6 weeks.
He was treated for sepsis twice and got a pacemaker installed (this doesn't include drugs, meals, everything else that comes with his stay). His cost out of pocket? $0.
My elderly relatives have to wait many months to get surgery in Canada. The UK also has a failing healthcare system. The issue is that in times of economic downturns, socialized medicine gets cut.
I don't think I've seen a single example of socialized medicine that doesn't end up with long wait times for major surgeries or the government making health decisions for you.
A better system would be to have no insurance on procedures that are extremely common (where the free market can reduce the costs, like Lasik eye surgery) and only have insurance on ones that aren't so common and won't benefit from the competition.
> I don't think I've seen a single example of socialized medicine that doesn't end up with long wait times for major surgeries or the government making health decisions for you.
Do you love socialized medicine or not? I can't tell.
I guess I'm also happy that our government doesn't run it because just regulating it as much as has been done has led to what we experience today. Is greedy profiteering built in to the system? Undoubtably. But there are serious risks to reforming such a complex system.