Healthcare in the US really that bad?

[Hablion]

Healthcare itself is decent. If I've needed an operation or a check up I can get one and have no complications. The price is up.

I'd say the main problem is ppl wait until their shit is real bad and then expect a magic pill to be all better. A lot of ppl dont get preventative care. Eating right, exercising, limit alcohol, manage stress. If people could do these things then over half the patients wouldnt need care

Alot of companies here do not let you manage stress. They will literally work you til you have a heart attack. A guy at my mothers work litterally fell over dead on the floor and they forced people to walk OVER him and keep working as if he did not exist

[Deletedaccount1]

The ones who have the money for a good plan*

Yes which constitutes "most". Gallup polls frequently show around three quarters of Americans like their own plan.

[Shadowferal]

The ones who have the money for a good plan*

Many love Medicare...but you have to wonder how bright they are:

[korijenkins]

We spent 3.5 trillion on healthcare in 2017.

Medicare for all is estimated to cost between 1.2 and 3.2 trillion.

It's cheaper to just give everyone healthcare than our current for-profit system.

Also I did a report a few years back about a specific drug used for treating a type of leukemia. One drug had the potential to remove cancer from the patient, and the other could only halt it's progress. Take a guess which was cheaper, and take a guess which one was and wasn't covered by patients' insurance?

Not to mention many insurance companies refuse claims, only relenting after length battles with the customer (who is often too late to help by then)

There is simply no need for a for-profit healthcare industry that benefits more from the patient dying than actually treating them when the time comes. 1 in 3 people will get cancer in their lives. If possibly getting sick and having people in suits refuse your claim and deny you coverage for treatment you NEED sounds good to you, then vote Republican.

[Weeps]

What many Americans dont' realize is that...

If Universal Healthcare were to exist, private insurance will still be around if you so desire to use their plans.

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We spent 3.5 trillion on healthcare in 2017.

Medicare for all is estimated to cost between 1.2 and 3.2 trillion.

It's cheaper to just give everyone healthcare than our current for-profit system.

Also I did a report a few years back about a specific drug used for treating a type of leukemia. One drug had the potential to remove cancer from the patient, and the other could only halt it's progress. Take a guess which was cheaper, and take a guess which one was and wasn't covered by patients' insurance?

Not to mention many insurance companies refuse claims, only relenting after length battles with the customer (who is often too late to help by then)

There is simply no need for a for-profit healthcare industry that benefits more from the patient dying than actually treating them when the time comes. 1 in 3 people will get cancer in their lives. If possibly getting sick and having people in suits refuse your claim and deny you coverage for treatment you NEED sounds good to you, then vote Republican.

You are correct. It is absolutely cheaper and saves money by way of negotiating drug price too.

[zenzaliv]

The main issue I have is the cost. I work a full time retail management job and am basically living check to check. I have severe chronic asthma, if i don't have daily control medication i will end up in the hospital. The daily medication costs $600 per month. I can't afford the insurance my company offers cause it's too much out of my monthly paycheck. I have been lucky that i get the medication for free from the manufacture because i am below their threshold in terms of monthly income, but there will come a point where i make too much for that, but still not enough to afford insurance.

[thilicen]

Most Americans like their healthcare plan. I know I do.

Most american thing I've read in some time. Talking about a nation wide situation: "Mine works, it's good".

[Deletedaccount1]

Most american thing I've read in some time. Talking about a nation wide situation: "Mine works, it's good".

I didn't say that the entire system is flawless but many people like myself have good healthcare plans that we would not like to see taken away for the sake of universal coverage.

[Nellise]

You’re half right. Private insurance companies and healthcare institutions both know how much your device should be, there’s no smoke and mirrors there. The reason the EOB shows a cost of $135 is because of Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. Medicare and Medicaid probably only pay $15 for the same device.

I know it’s convoluted, but the real reason you see these inflated prices that no one actually pays in an EOB is because of the government, not private enterprise. In fact because they usually lose money when dealing with Medicaid and Medicare patients, your cost is inflated to make up for that. If that weren’t the case you’d probably be paying $20-25 for your device.

I’ll refer you to my above post, but suffice it to say, the pricing structure in the US is all out of whack because of government healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

Given that my insurance is Medicare, you'd be wrong about all of this.

[sarahtasher]

No my parents paid the bill before they left the hospital just like any other business. my premium went from $300.00 a month before Obama care came out then 6 months after it was released it went to $1800.00 then 3 months later it went up $2475.00. Then I told the Insurance company to get fucked and just paid the $900.00 what was called a fine I call it theft for 3 years which totaled $2700.00 I want that money back that was stolen from me. We closed my wife's salon so she could go get a job for insurance and now that is taken care of. I am self employed so Insurance is stupid for me to buy alone. I feel that the government's job is to protect the citizens rights to Life, Liberty, and The pursuit of happiness, Thus providing a Military takes care of the defense of all these things and I see no reason for them to over regulate anything else or get involved with anything else.

Odd that edgelords support a function of the US government that proved repeatedly wasteful and extremely incompetent at doing what its supposed to do, WIN wars. Oh wait, they won against Granada and Panama.

[Rhaide]

Average service for the highest price.
No care.

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That is by no means unique to the US.

Agreed - that's my point! People are acting like the US is the only county without this!

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As other people said, the concept of begging on gofundme for chemotherapy might sounds FREEDOM for edgelord and dystopian for everyone else on Earth.

"gofundme"? No. I had close to a $10k USD hospital bill a few years ago, I wasn't making much money then and when I applied for their low income subsidy, they wrote off about 90% of my bill.

I had to fill out roughly an hour of paperwork.

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Which are far from enough, but I suppose its normal for people to die because they can't afford insulin.

Yeah, you're wrong. Plenty of easily accessible government programs and special interest groups that ensure that this doesn't happen. If someone is too mentally ill or uneducated enough to seek these out, that IS A PROBLEM, I agree. But it is a different problem.

Education needs more reform than medicine. Not to say they don't both need it.

[Barnabas]

No it's great actually. The problem is nobody wants risk so they depend on the taxpayer to fund everything from research for cures to the guy that is about to die because he didn't go to doctor but once in his life. There simply isn't enough money to go around. There is a lot of misinformation out there also.

[RaoBurning]

No it's great actually. The problem is nobody wants risk so they depend on the taxpayer to fund everything from research for cures to the guy that is about to die because he didn't go to doctor but once in his life. There simply isn't enough money to go around. There is a lot of misinformation out there also.

Maybe the guy would have gone more than once in his life if the costs at point of access weren't prohibitive. I mean I have good insurance through work, but my Endoscopy still ran close to a month's pay after what the insurance covered. And that was a simple look-and-see with some biopsies for posterity. Also granted, my monthly pay is shit, but still.

[ohwell]

I once had to pay 60 bucks in the USA for the same medicine that costs 4 euros in the EU. This was in 2017.

My government refunded it though.

That isn't about healthcare being bad. Did the pills do what they were supposed to do? If so that doesn't answer the OP. You're saying pricing and insurance are bad which is not what this thread is about.

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On topic, honestly I sure hope to hell that other countries are NOT what the US is like in terms of patients who use government health insurance here. "How long have you had this cough?" "Oh I started coughing a little this morning so I decided to come" Bullshit like that needs to stop. A cough that has only been going on a day or two is not worth wasting everyone's time and money and it's those same people who will try to demand antibiotics when all tests come up negative. If Europe is anything like that and claiming they're better, that's a lie considering those countries claiming to be better are probably the ones contributing the most to antibiotic resistances.

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Odd that edgelords support a function of the US government that proved repeatedly wasteful and extremely incompetent at doing what its supposed to do, WIN wars. Oh wait, they won against Granada and Panama.

Oh there you go again speaking about things you know nothing about and calling people edgelords. How are you not permabanned yet with the number of times you namecall and change what people said in quotes? Much less the way you type about people in a pejorative manner yet dindu nuffin is insta infraction. Really, the US only won 2 fronts ever? Ok keep dreaming since everything else you say is from a dreamworld.

[sarahtasher]

That isn't about healthcare being bad. Did the pills do what they were supposed to do? If so that doesn't answer the OP. You're saying pricing and insurance are bad which is not what this thread is about.

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On topic, honestly I sure hope to hell that other countries are NOT what the US is like in terms of patients who use government health insurance here. "How long have you had this cough?" "Oh I started coughing a little this morning so I decided to come" Bullshit like that needs to stop. A cough that has only been going on a day or two is not worth wasting everyone's time and money and it's those same people who will try to demand antibiotics when all tests come up negative. If Europe is anything like that and claiming they're better, that's a lie considering those countries claiming to be better are probably the ones contributing the most to antibiotic resistances.

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Oh there you go again speaking about things you know nothing about and calling people edgelords. How are you not permabanned yet with the number of times you namecall and change what people said in quotes? Much less the way you type about people in a pejorative manner yet dindu nuffin is insta infraction. Really, the US only won 2 fronts ever? Ok keep dreaming since everything else you say is from a dreamworld.

I dunno, the US Postal service is slow as hell but deliver mail, the National Park service struggles to prevent smarter than average thieves to steal with impunity pique-nique baskets (1) but manage the parks, Medicare does provide health assistance even at inflated prices, NASA still manages to send probes when they stick to the metric system (2)

All the US governmental services are hated by the usual suspects, but still manage to work despite vicious cuts. The only service that is untouchable is the one that keep failing. Imagine the outrage if the food stamp program failed to deliver better results than the program of a third world country that spend less than 1/100 of you while bragging about how they are so much larger and cost more. (3)



(1)This is sarcastic
(2)This is sadly not sarcastic
(3)This is positively not sarcastic.

[Draco-Onis]

That's what the numerous charities and funds are for.

But please, continue to rant about things you have no knowledge about.

Thank you for admitting you were wrong, if you have a terminal disease the emergency room is just to patch you up. Your only recourse by your own admission is to beg for charity that's how you know the system is broken.

[Wermys]

That’s exactly why. Everyone is not on public health. The risk pool does not include younger healthy people who are disincentivized to carry health insurance. Because even for all the doom and gloom you’ll hear about it, there are enough programs, charities, and the like for the uninsured that if you randomly get sick and need an antibiotic or something its a lot cheaper to just pay out of pocket than to carry health insurance. In fact even if you are taking several maintenance medications and go see a doctor every year, chances are it’s still cheaper to pay out of pocket. There are some really expensive drugs sure, but the rest are dirt cheap and cover the vast majority of conditions. You only get screwed if something catastrophic happens. Younger people are not famous for being worried of catastrophic events.

Honestly I think the future of healthcare in this country relies more on companies like GoodRX partnering directly with pharmacies to offer lower cost medications combined with some sort of government subsidy for higher cost procedures. The American public at large doesn’t like the word ‘socialized’. You may recall we famously split from England over taxes.

Ok, first, Goodrx is a discount card. It provides no tangible benefits other then drug companies provided codes to retail pharmacies so they can transmit to whichever pbm is administering it and provides the mbr with access to get the drug at a contracted rate instead of the pharmacy billed rate. Someone who needs insulin is not going to be able to afford GOODRX pricing on it. And those Patient Assistance Cards only pay AFTER insurance coverage not before.

Second part of the reason for any cost increase on insurance is because the risk pool is not including younger people. Your assertion that it would be cheaper is not correct. Or to put it another way, the cheapest way to buy stuff is in bulk volume. One way to drive costs down is to have the largest buying power possible and being able to force down costs because of this Individuals CAN'T effectively do this themselves. But insurances or better yet a single payer system could easily do so. I am looking at this from a macro perspective not a micro one like you are. Goodrx is decent I personally prefer www.needymeds.org because it provides easier access to Patient Assistance Programs on a website for all manufacturers.

Now as for the more younger people that fall out of the risk pool because it is cheaper for them. I won't dispute it could very well be cheaper. The problem is the higher costs for everyone else in the risk pool because not only do they need to cover the cost for there own services and medication, but also pay for the idiot without insurance because nothing exists in a vacuum. Those amazing negotiated rates you can get from doctors? Those are paid for by insurance dollars or public tax dollars literally. It is part of the cost they are factoring in. At least those costs can be mitigating by a single payer system and the whole risk pool together paying towards coverage. Then it is a matter of deciding what types of minimum coverage you want everyone to have and also deciding how much you want private insurance to be involved in which still has a place in a single payer system.

For all of its flaws medicare is amazingly efficient with its flaws on the medical side with tax dollars in comparison to private insurance. Medicare D is different, When it was put into place it was desperately needed. I got sick and tired of having to tell seniors that No I am sorry but there is no way you can afford this medication. Now at least it helps provide some type of backstop with coverage and also helps retiree pensions and healthplans be able to afford to keep providing seniors with benefits they earned with there companies through wraps on the insurance. Even if it was designed to be the most convoluted government policy I have ever seen. Next to NYC own fucked up policy that is. Fuck that city. But that is another story for another time. Otherwise don't let Teamsters design your insurance policies.

[Wermys]

I didn't say that the entire system is flawless but many people like myself have good healthcare plans that we would not like to see taken away for the sake of universal coverage.

Depends on the design. A single payer would not necessarily take it away. It just shifts the cost burden to one insurance pool, with all the insurance companies in that same pool but they provide the services and billing and possibly negotiated rates. There would likely be some changes to baseline benefit coverage however. Similar to how medicare currently works.

[Spiel]

The biggest issue in America is that it all me, me me.

Except when there is a need for soldiers because of X new war, then its all about "us, us, us" and the usual military worship doctrine. But do they take care of their veterans when the war ends? Absolutely not.

This is something I fail to understand too

[Malkiah]

I have a job, that job covers most of my plan. This is normal.

and this basically sums up the entirety of nearly every social problem in the US... the staggering number of dipshits who think this way.
"a thing is a certain way for me specifically because i stumbled into it by sheer blind luck, therefor it's this way for everyone" is about the most fundamentally pants-on-head fucking retarded idea that ever seeped its way into the collective consciousness of a group of creatures supposedly capable of thought.

firstly, it's not "normal" - the numbers are staggering for how many jobs use hiring loopholes and positional tricks to fill positions without providing benefits.
from cutting back hours to under legal limits, to having entire departments or even whole campuses be staffed entirely by "contract" positions that are paid through staffing agencies, to a hundred other things, companies go out of their way to ensure that as few people as possible are eligible for any sort of benefits.

secondly, even when it IS available, it's not always good - piss poor coverage with insane premiums and absurdly low coverage caps are very common, and combined with the failure in the US to properly regulate wages, just getting insurance can financially cripple a family even when it's made available through an employer.

i'm not saying it's impossible to be lucky enough to trip and fall into a job with good pay and good benefits at a reasonable price, it's certainly possible, but acting like that is a baseline norm and thus anyone failing to have obtained it is somehow at fault is absolutely delusional.

You just need to be a contributing member of society with a job to get good healthcare. Somehow that, to me, isn't an unreasonable ask at all.

"a contributing member of society" and "with a good job" (whatever you mean by "good" in this instance) aren't synonymous.

also i'd be interested in hearing precisely what your thoughts are on what should be done with those you deem as "not contributing" because i'm willing to bet that you'll be reticent to openly declare "fuck you, i got mine" - your kind often are.