Is the US HC system finally toast?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I find fascinating is that Republicans literally cannot come up with an alternative. Concepts of a plan is all we've had for years.

2 weeks . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having battled with Aetna, our insurance system is broken. They profit off people’s illness and withholding care. The fact that the majority of people who declare bankruptcy due to medical bills have insurance, tells you everything you need to know about the U.S. HC system.

I have been railing against the US system for years, and even I didn't know this. I just verified it -- -- and it said the "majority" was around 75-80%.

That's shocking and so so wrong.

IIRC, learning this is what turned Elizabeth Warren into a Democrat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having battled with Aetna, our insurance system is broken. They profit off people’s illness and withholding care. The fact that the majority of people who declare bankruptcy due to medical bills have insurance, tells you everything you need to know about the U.S. HC system.

I have been railing against the US system for years, and even I didn't know this. I just verified it -- -- and it said the "majority" was around 75-80%.

That's shocking and so so wrong.

Yes it is absolutely wrong. This is why I don’t subscribe to Luigi as a politically motivated shooting. Insurance companies f**k over Republicans just as much as Democrats. I truly feel that shooting transcends politics and speaks more about our healthcare system.

I also know of a special ed teacher who has stage 4 breast cancer and is having to work during treatment (both radiation and chemo) to pay her bills and keep her insurance. She was just fired for calling in sick because the chemo is so strong. This country is brutal.

Yep I know a few people who had to work through cancer treatments just for the insurance.

I also know people who died of cancer pre ACA because they either hit the lifetime max, which is easy to do with cancer treatments, or didn't have insurance.

I know several people in the UK who had cancer and beat it. They didn't pay anything for the treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having battled with Aetna, our insurance system is broken. They profit off people’s illness and withholding care. The fact that the majority of people who declare bankruptcy due to medical bills have insurance, tells you everything you need to know about the U.S. HC system.

I have been railing against the US system for years, and even I didn't know this. I just verified it -- -- and it said the "majority" was around 75-80%.

That's shocking and so so wrong.

This is also why Healthcare Savings Accounts won’t work and aren’t a solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I find fascinating is that Republicans literally cannot come up with an alternative. Concepts of a plan is all we've had for years.

THIS.

I had a boss tell me once that if I am bringing her a problem, I should have a solution to offer. Didn't have to be perfect, but at least try.

They don't even try, but they are desperate to kill what we have.

Republicans view the non-rich as irresponsible and disposable. They can all fk off and die, and Republican lawmakers would be fine with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a public plan for catastrophic health care. Stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc.

Everything else you pay out of pocket.

But these catastrophic health events happen more frequently and with greater severity when people skip their preventative care visits. It’s generally cheaper to publicly fund preventative care so that less catastrophic care is necessary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a public plan for catastrophic health care. Stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc.

Everything else you pay out of pocket.

But these catastrophic health events happen more frequently and with greater severity when people skip their preventative care visits. It’s generally cheaper to publicly fund preventative care so that less catastrophic care is necessary.

This. I had a catastrophic plan when I was young and between jobs. I wouldn't recommend it for somebody older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a public plan for catastrophic health care. Stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc.

Everything else you pay out of pocket.

Good luck to the middle class. Dr's charge $120 for an office visit; mammos $200+. Broken bones trip to ER $1000+.

My DH took my kid to three ER for a suspected broken bone and he accidentally gave them an old inactive insurance card. They were there for less than two hours—there was no broken bone after all—and the bill was over $4,000. I almost passed out when I saw that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I find fascinating is that Republicans literally cannot come up with an alternative. Concepts of a plan is all we've had for years.

This. To me, that means “we don’t have a plan for lowering healthcare costs because we really don’t care if you or your family or your friends or your community lives or dies.”

Like Joni Ernst said, with a roll of her eyes, “we are all going to die.”

They all need to be voted out. They're not interested in solutions and would rather ignore the problem as long as it has no impact on them personally. Clean house 2026.

while I do love senators warren & sanders and some house members. I agree with this. we need alllnew membership b/c the pp;l we have had are completely ineffective and should find some other thing to do b/c their tenure in office has been completely ineffective. no matter how much you like any given office holder- vote them out and start from scratch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I find fascinating is that Republicans literally cannot come up with an alternative. Concepts of a plan is all we've had for years.

This. To me, that means “we don’t have a plan for lowering healthcare costs because we really don’t care if you or your family or your friends or your community lives or dies.”

Like Joni Ernst said, with a roll of her eyes, “we are all going to die.”

They all need to be voted out. They're not interested in solutions and would rather ignore the problem as long as it has no impact on them personally. Clean house 2026.

while I do love senators warren & sanders and some house members. I agree with this. we need alllnew membership b/c the pp;l we have had are completely ineffective and should find some other thing to do b/c their tenure in office has been completely ineffective. no matter how much you like any given office holder- vote them out and start from scratch.

The new ones will do the same. Sanders supposedly was all about health care and achieved nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a public plan for catastrophic health care. Stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc.

Everything else you pay out of pocket.

Good luck to the middle class. Dr's charge $120 for an office visit; mammos $200+. Broken bones trip to ER $1000+.

My DH took my kid to three ER for a suspected broken bone and he accidentally gave them an old inactive insurance card. They were there for less than two hours—there was no broken bone after all—and the bill was over $4,000. I almost passed out when I saw that.

They charge this because most people use insurance which negotiates to get the actual price reduced. If everyone had to pay out of pocket the charges would have to come down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The solution is easy. Just let every American have the same plan members of Congress have.

problem solved.

They have to use the ACA Marketplace. Not sure I want that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Been reading a lot of stories recently on various social media platforms on the horror stories so many Americans are currently facing with respect to HC. Besides the loss of subsidies for Obamacare, so many people are now saying their HC insurance during this new round of open season is at the breaking point where it is completely unaffordable. Many people saying they now have to shell out $2000-3000 per month for coverage for their family with their *employer* plans. And that's for garbage HC plans that still require $6, 7, 10k deductibles before their insurance will pay anything. So many people are now basically saying they plan to go uninsured because HC plans are a massive ripoff and they can't afford it. They plan to pay out of pocket for what they can, but if they hit an emergency, many have said in these stories they have zero intention of paying now because it isn't affordable. They don't care if they get hits to their credit, because it isnt like they can afford $500-600k homes and $50k cars anyway.

So is HC in America finally toast? What happens when the vast majority of Americans simply decide to stop paying the outrageous costs and risk can no longer be pooled for insurance plans because huge numbers of people can't afford it anymore? The entire system for insurance will collapse. Costs keep going up, which makes fewer amd fewer people able to afford it, which causes even more people to drop causing prices to escalate even more. It is a circular problem out of control.

HC in the US may finally be over as we know it, and it feels a lot different this time.

This was predicted at the time Obamacare passed. Then Republicans shut down the government to try to get it repealed. Now Democrats shut down the government to try to get Republicans to spend more money on their failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a public plan for catastrophic health care. Stroke, heart attack, cancer, etc.

Everything else you pay out of pocket.

But these catastrophic health events happen more frequently and with greater severity when people skip their preventative care visits. It’s generally cheaper to publicly fund preventative care so that less catastrophic care is necessary.

Catastrophic care plans frequently fund preventive care so as to avoid larger payouts.
However, most of these plans were outlawed when Obamacare passed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The solution is easy. Just let every American have the same plan members of Congress have.

problem solved.

Or just do what other countries have been doing. I suppose it might mean higher taxes for the wealthy though...

And higher taxes for the middle class.