Will the USA every have free healthcare?

[Independent voter]

Between my employer and I, we pay $21k/yr. My employer covers 90% of that, so I only pay $2.1k/yr. Granted this is a pretty expensive family plan as I have no deductibles or co-pays, but still. I've never heard of any employer covering 100% of insurance. Most of my experience has been 70-80%.

Oh, I see. Yeah, that's how everyone's is.

[Zan15]

Why would we need to pay more taxes? we spend more now than anyone else in the world, all we would need is to do some tax reforms and put price controls on drugs and hospitals. I mean it's no shock we pay more when hospitals charge you 500% mark up for advil and drug companies raise prices 4-7,000% overnight because they can.

You wouldn't.
the attempts in California proved that you could take the current amount spent on health insurance and medical care and roll out universal healthcare to the entire state.

this includes everything paid for by employees, employers, medicaid, medicare, etc
plus
negotiating, price setting, limits on profits, taxes on healthcare, etc etc

you can come out to a 0 net spend increase.

of course this would require the govt to do a lot of shit to the entire healthcare/insurance industry that the industry will not allow to happen. you can basically guarantee a political attack on a level you have never seen before.

[Nihilist74]

First link isn't working

I re-posted. I think its working now.

[Wyrt]

Not as long as politicians are taking bribes from the healthcare industry. Prices need to be regulated first before any attempt at universal healthcare is made.

Republicans, and a good amount of Democrats, just aren't on board with making it happen. They'll claim a lot of bullshit about how it won't work even though it's worked in many other countries. The real reason is because they're paid to say that.

[bladeXcrasher]

I mean that all insurance currently has to have a minimum amount of care as outlined in Obamacare. Remove that, and insurance can start offering even less for cheaper (or the same as current). Which could mean needing to pay more to keep the same coverage

Which of course acts as a punishment for pre-existing conditions. feh.

Egh anecdote, but insurance at my company has gotten worse over the past 8 years. My premiums have increased as well as deductibles, while quality has gone down as well. This may be entirety coincidental to the ACA, since when the company got a price hike theyit put on, and only on, people with family plans. I'd love the day the US has a single payer or UHC system.

[truckboattruck]

Google NHS please

google theft please

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How are they enslaved? They still get paid. Just by the government instead of private insurance companies. Where you get the idea that doctors are "enslaved" is beyond me.
.

because if a service is FREE then they arent being paid.
and if they ARE being paid then it isnt free....someone else is fucking paying.

there is no free shit in this equation...just passing the bill to someone else.

[kail]

maybe they do, being forced to do anything for free is not the same as volunteering .

The doctors get paid.

[Deleted]

google theft please

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because if a service is FREE then they arent being paid.
and if they ARE being paid then it isnt free....someone else is fucking paying.

there is no free shit in this equation...just passing the bill to someone else.

Are you ok?

[UnkLegacy]

google theft please

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because if a service is FREE then they arent being paid.
and if they ARE being paid then it isnt free....someone else is fucking paying.

there is no free shit in this equation...just passing the bill to someone else.

The service isn't free. It's paid by the government via your taxes. It's no different than you paying a private insurance company. If anything, it's cheaper since the government has 321 million "customers" which it can use to negotiate prices down.

[kail]

huh? the current administration likes the idea of single payer more than the republican party. they are the ones that will fight tooth and nail so their insurance companies can continue to make money, not trump. its odd how people believe so much negative fake news about trump.

Trump only made one mention of wanting universal healthcare, and it was at best insinuated. Paul Ryan, McConnel, and other GOP heads picture healthcare as only a business. By administration, I'm going all inclusive; Executive and Legislative members.

[Zan15]

The service isn't free. It's paid by the government via your taxes. It's no different than you paying a private insurance company. If anything, it's cheaper since the government has 321 million "customers" which it can use to negotiate prices down.

or you can have a president/congress who lets drug companies sell to medicare without being allowed to negotiate.....

[Spiffums]

I really doubt that the USA will ever have totally free healthcare. Healthcare is a big business and the federal government would either have to raises taxes A LOT or cut a bunch of other social programs to pay for it. Both of which would probably set 1 side or the other to rioting because at that point what would anyone really have to lose.

[truckboattruck]

The service isn't free. It's paid by the government via your taxes. It's no different than you paying a private insurance company. If anything, it's cheaper since the government has 321 million "customers" which it can use to negotiate prices down.

alright, so it isnt free...lets stop calling it free

and yes its absolutely different....if i want health care i pay for it.
I dont ask others to pay for my problems....neither do i wish to pay for theirs.

[Crissi]

alright, so it isnt free...lets stop calling it free

and yes its absolutely different....if i want health care i pay for it.
I dont ask others to pay for my problems....neither do i wish to pay for theirs.

If you don't pay entirely out of pocket, other people are paying for you. That's how it works. It's no different than if the govt did it through taxes.

Also not having the healthy in pools is why premiums sky rocket

[Ghostpanther]

Nope. Requires stepping on too many powerful toes here in the US. Even having affordable health care is hard enough to get for the same reasons.

[Independent voter]

If you don't pay entirely out of pocket, other people are paying for you. That's how it works. It's no different than if the govt did it through taxes.

In the US we don't trust government to handle something as big and complex as healthcare. The government does the VA and Native American reservations and many aren't happy with those medical systems.

[Taso]

We have Medicare, Medicaid and charity care. If you can't buy healthcare or pay for a hospital bill we have those programs. We also have st Jude's where anybody and child as far as I'm aware can go their recive treatment and not pay for it. So I don't know why you none Americans over look that. Their also plenty of hospitals run by religious organizations that get funded based off of charity and the people don't pay for it.
I can also point out that plenty of drunk people go to the E.R and walk out later with no paying on the bill and that is coming from family friends who have been doctors for over thirty years. So this idea that no matter what you pay is not necessarily true. How much I can't say but for my area state wise and experience it seems pretty big that few people who are down trodden pay.
Finally for my last comment it's on the the people who generally can't afford it. I'm curious how many of them are tatted and pierced. Probably not that many but my view are if you have a tattoo or piercing and it costed between $50-500 per tat and piercing surely you had the money to buy healthcare or anything else that is more valuable then those things. I can also apply to those who purchase alcohol and smoke. Again if you pay for those products surely you could get the cash to buy a healthcare plan of the lowest cost.

[Crissi]

In the US we don't trust government to handle something as big and complex as healthcare. The government does the VA and Native American reservations and many aren't happy with those medical systems.

Private insurance is just as bad, I assure you.

[Zan15]

alright, so it isnt free...lets stop calling it free

and yes its absolutely different....if i want health care i pay for it.
I dont ask others to pay for my problems....neither do i wish to pay for theirs.

if you want roads do you pay for it yourself?
if you want a military to protect you do you pay for it yourself?
if you want.....etc etc etc

but hey whats 1.2 trillion a year on the military protecting people whom will just die because they can't afford healthcare.

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In the US we don't trust government to handle something as big and complex as healthcare. The government does the VA and Native American reservations and many aren't happy with those medical systems.

Ya i mean they totally screwed up Medicare...oh...wait...what was the question.
Medicare is one of the most efficient, productive and highly rated programs around. seems if we can get this right why not expand it to the rest of us.




VA is fucked up because the people whom they serve won't let them change the system, pols are afraid to overhaul the system because these old vets vote and vote a lot, and no one wants to just roll it into the Medicare system because the VA wants to be special and separate because that's how it's always been done.

Native Americans are not part of the govt, they are an independent nation and it limits what the govt can do for them

[truckboattruck]

If you don't pay entirely out of pocket, other people are paying for you. That's how it works. It's no different than if the govt did it through taxes.

Also not having the healthy in pools is why premiums sky rocket

insurance is a business not a human right.
premiums skyrocket when you have to cover unhealthy people who are otherwise uninsurable.

if you wish you pay for other people then by all means....follow your bliss.
but leave me out of it