Not really, no. Most people are healthy, and so are basically not using their healthcare. How can you tell how good it is until you’re using it?
You’re just tap-dancing around real polling on a real issue. People don’t have to believe in crazy stuff to know if their own healthcare is good or not. And the numbers I quoted on the very strong consensus on the real issue of our own healthcare is fact.
And single-payer is not necessary for sustainability of a healthcare system.
Part of that is because most people are mostly healthy for most of their lives. People who are truly sick usually end up on a public health care system like medicare or medicaid. So yes people may be happy with their private insurance, but that is because they are healthy enough to work and don’t really use it.
So yes people may be happy with their insurance when all that happens is they get a prescription filled here and there. But if they get so sick that they can’t work, and they have endless doctor visits then check again and see how happy they are.
Also people like medicare better than private insurance.
That is the same in other countries. They had private health insurance for a while. Lots of western nations didn’t have true UHC systems until the 1970s and 1980s. It isn’t like they all went from no health insurance to a public UHC system.
Single payer healthcare = medicare for all. We’ve had medicare for 53 years. It is one of the most popular things the US government does, and polls show a majority of hte public want medicare for all (or at least they say they do).
Switching to single payer just means switching to a popular medical program that covers 1/6 of Americans and that virtually everyone will eventually be on anyway if they live to age 65.
This is true sadly. The closest comparision is Switzerland, which had a system like ours up until the 1990s.
However in the US, we currently have about 130 million people on medicare and medicaid. We also have tens of millions more on subsidized private plans and other public health plans.
As a stepping stone to single payer, we could expand medicare and medicaid (put both on the exchanges, lower the medicare age to 50, etc). We could also push for single payer on the state level. That’ll increase the number of Americans on public plans to 200+ million and ease the transition into nationwide single payer.
Point being, the public sector already covers about half of Americans and pays about 60% of the health care bills (because people who are truly sick tend to end up on the public sector, their overall costs are a little higher despite the public sector being cheaper for healthcare).
A well run single payer plan will cut costs via a variety of methods, and it will reduce the cost curve going forward so medical costs do not grow as much.
But realistically we won’t get it anytime soon sadly. Even though people say they like it, on ballot initiatives it still doesn’t pass. And if a legislature passes it like Vermont, they back off.
I dunno. I hear complaints about our healthcare system all the time. Not just about the bureaucratic and financial nightmares that people find themselves in, but the long waiting times and general incompetency from overworked practitioners. At any rate, most people do not find themselves using their healthcare coverage more than once or twice a year, so they don’t see the weaknesses in the system. Nor do they have a reference to compare things to.
Also, in a few years all the Boomers will be elderly and in various stages of physical deterioration. Only a few will still be in the workforce (and those who are left won’t be there because they love their jobs necessarily). The typical 50-year-old may not know what’s it is like to have to choose between medication or food, but this is a common woe for a frail pensioner living on SS. A lot of people who think things are hunky-dory don’t know what’s waiting for them
…the numbers you cited (well you didn’t really cite them as much as “pluck them out of thin air”) indicate that (Are you including children and infants?) at least 80 million people do *not *like their own healthcare.
Consensus is of course important. But you ignore the opinion of millions of people at your own peril. The people that don’t like their healthcare are the ones who can’t afford it, who don’t have insurance, who have to crowdfund to pay their medical bills, who are under-insured, who are dying because they are receiving inferior care. Those people matter, no matter what the “consensus” is on the issue. There is no reason to “tread lightly.”
This.
Vast numbers of [del]morons[/del] Americans claim they don’t want universal coverage because they’re healthy now. Their attitude is, “Why should I pay for someone else’s medicine?” Apparently they are completely oblivious to the idea that they are just one car crash away from bankruptcy. Nor can they comprehend how preventive medicine can drive down everyone’s costs.
No, there are other threads where that specific stat was cited, including threads where you participated. To say I plucked them out of thin air is a bald-faced lie on your part.
…you’ve cited it now. But you didn’t cite it in this particular thread. I think “plucked from thin air” was a fair characterization. You can’t expect me to remember every post from every thread I’ve ever participated?
And its still an irrelevant figure for all the reasons you have chosen to ignore.
No it isn’t. It’s you being wrong, or lying, or both.
Do not accuse other posters of lying in this forum. Please familiarize yourself with the rules of the forum (rule #5) posted in the sticky at the top of the forum.
Your one and only pass.
[/moderating]
Pre ACA, there was some low cost “insurance” that was sold mostly to low income hourly employees through major employers. For around $100 a month you got doctor visits with a small copay,free eye exams and glasses and all sorts of routine healthcare.
And these were among the plans that were eliminated with the ACA. And most of the people that had those plans loved loved loved them. But the catch is that these plans had a ridiculously low yearly maximum benefit of around $2000. I believe that they may have originally been designed as a bridge plan to be used in conjunction with a real insurance plan to cover the deductible.
But people that had never really gotten sick and hadn’t read the fine print honestly thought they had awesome insurance that had been taken away from them. Even though these plans weren’t even technically allowed to be called insurance. Because they didn’t provide any.
I’m certainly happy with my insurance. And I have someone in my family with some very serious, chronic conditions, and who does not work. So, we use our private health insurance quite a bit, and it’s done very well for us.
There are some that meet the situation that you mention above. But many who don’t.
Well, let’s put it this way. People know much more about their own healthcare than they do about the overall healthcare system.
So, if we are discussing single-payer, which in America would amount to a very big change in health insurance & healthcare itself, it’s relevant to be informed about people’s view of their own healthcare. If we’re going to talk about all the things that are wrong with healthcare in America, it’s relevant to be informed about people’s view of their own healthcare. So, when I say that 3 out of 4 Americans think their own healthcare is good (or even excellent), that’s very important for policymakers to consider.
You rarely find an issue where 75% of the public agrees. That is an extremely strong consensus.
I’m glad you’re happy with your insurance. But if it were you who couldn’t work and had the serious health problems, you may not have a good job that offers you good insurance.
And you are happy with this?
We’re not talking quality of care here - someone who goes bankrupt to pay for medical care is likely getting good care. But you being forced to scrimp and save to pay for treatment for something not your fault doesn’t sound like a good system to me.
From your link:
This reminds me of a few years back when Congress got a worse approval rating than cancer, but most people liked their particular Congressperson.
Quality of healthcare is irrelevant to this discussion. Someone saved from a heart attack would probably be happy with the quality of his healthcare - even if he goes bankrupt paying the bill.
Not to mention that our pitiful standings in terms of results shows we shouldn’t be all that satisfied.
I agree with you that most Americans think like that, but it’s irrational.
Even if one were to think the US is the world’s bestest #1 country*, that doesn’t mean it’s perfect, and that new ideas cannot be brought in from elsewhere. It’s a sad fact that culturally, that’s exactly what it means: “We’re #1, therefore we don’t need to listen”.
Or of course the more modern version which is “If I can find some way the US is different to country X, that shows it can’t work here”.
- For the record, I don’t think this. Picking an objectively best country would be like picking an objectively best food, and if you were to ask my favorite country, it would not be a contender.
To which the short answer is “Because everyone else will pay for yours”.
also…why are you comfortable paying for someone else’s police and fire service?
No it’s not. Look, the USA isnt Denmark, a tiny Euro nation. What works for many other nations doesn’t work on the grand scale of the USA.
That doesnt mean we can’t watch and learns but honestly saying “well, 12 other nations that I have cherrypicked out of a list of 200 do it like that, so *that *must be the very best way.” Is just as bad.
I am in favor of single payer, but telling me Denmark has it ain’t gonna win me over. What works for a nation of 5 Million, isn’t necessarily a good plan for 300 million.