Calling me hysterical doesn’t help yours. We have a difference of opinion. That doesn’t make either of us crazy.
Leaving 50 million people without access to first world health care is an outrage. Millions more are inadequate insured. That is also an outrage. It is not acceptable.
Under our system my husband can’t even get onto a waiting list. You simply do not grasp that. He will not die on a waiting list, he will never even get to that list under our system. He is not allowed to stand in the line. Never mind getting to the front of the line, he’s not even allowed on the end.
$3500 is about 1/3 the cost of a normal pregnancy and delivery.
It is 1/10 the cost of my hospitalization for an episode of norovirus.
About 1/30 of my husband’s last hospitilization.
It is about 1/100 of the cost of my mother’s first heart attack, hospitalization, and bypass… in 1978. I have a feeling that the same treatment today would be more.
$3500 isn’t even adequate for maintenance for my husband, which runs around $6000/year. Except that, since we’re uninsured and I was laid off last November, he has not been able to get. He’s not actively dying you see, nor is he having an obvious complication. $6k is normal maintenance for when he’s healthy and nothing is going wrong. Such insurance is worse than useless, which is why we’re better off paying out of pocket and begging for charity than dealing with such a bullshit policy. How bullshit? Premiums were $300 a month - or $3600 a year. Fuck that - keep the money and if you something happens pony up $400 more. That’s bullshit. That’s health insurance only in name.
Even worse, if you have NO insurance whatsoever many providers will give you a discount, typically between 25% and 50% but if you have ANY insurance at all you do not have that option. You are also completely cut off from many other programs intended to help the uninsured… In other words, you’re doubly fucked. That’s what I mean by inadequate health insurance. If I had an accident and required $10k in treatment I might be able to argue it down to $5k, but with that horseshit insurance I’m on the hook for $6500 - and it’s a fucking perversion that there are people worse off with their horseshit insurance than those of us completely without.
Because you don’t like that I’m not agreeing with you and I’m telling you in no uncertain terms I think you are ignorant and full of shit. I will not desist. Fuck you, asshole.
You are wrong. My husband is actually doing extremely well - most people born in the 1950’s with his birth defect did not live to grow up. He’s the oldest person with his level of defect in either Illinois or Indiana by about a decade. The damage the diabetes caused was halted. But he won’t continue to do well without access to health care THAT’s why I’m pissed as hell - he’s doing well NOW but because we do not have the money in hand he will NOT continue to do well in the future. He will deteriorate. He will go blind. He may require amputations. His kidneys may fail. And it’s all preventable in his case. But hey - I’m laid off, he’s unemployed, we’re poor, and thus we don’t deserve to live, to keep his eyesight, whatever. You consider us human trash. So fuck you, you selfish bastard. Why should I have any respect for someone who essentially says my husband and I don’t deserve to live, don’t deserve to save his eyesight or feet, don’t deserve relief for the constant and chronic pain he is in due to his birth defect. Why should I be polite to someone who says we don’t deserve to have our medical needs tended to, who essentially says we should crawl off and just die because our lives are too fucking expensive for his taste?
Let’s assume 100,000,000 households - we have single people, joint filers, heads of households, so assume 100,000,000 “contributions” by tax paying citizen entities. The 6k annual cost of the care to keep him healthy comes to $0.00006 per household. That is 6/1000’s of a penny. You aren’t willing to give less than a fucking penny out of your pocket, yet you have the gall to say you “hate” how he’s in a bad spot. Fuck you, you selfish bastard.
ONE PENNY of your tax money could be your contribution to help 166 people just like my husband. How fucking selfish do you have to be to say that’s “too expensive”?
Insurance only works if you spread the risk, and the larger the group spreading the risk the less it costs each individual. So… which is better, spreading the risk over 250,000,000 or 300,000,000? In fact, the risk is NOT spread over 250,000,000 in any case and that pool is divvied up among a multitude of companies. A 300 million strong risk pool would only be to the benefit of those in the pool.
Yes, the healthy subsidize the sick and injured - but you could join the sick and injured at any time no matter how careful you are. Accidents happen. You could get hit by lightning. Some drunk could hit you as you drive down the road. The person cooking your food at a restaurant may have diarrhea and not wash his or her hands well enough after going to the toilet. A sick person could cough or sneeze on you at the store and give you a flu that lands you in the hospital – at which point you WILL need more than $3,500 for your health needs. That’s the whole point of insurance - you pay in while you’re healthy so it will be there if you’re not.
