I have a cousin who I wouldn't say is a 1%er, but maybe a 5%er. Very well off. You know why she's against universal health care?
Because "they" (poor people) would be able to see "her" doctor. And "she pays for a doctor that is good enough where he doesn't have to work for 'those' people". And she shouldn't have to wait extra time for an appointment, dammit! Do you know who she is?!?!?!?!?
Yeah, she's one of them. Needless to say, we don't talk much. I just wanted to say that there are plenty of people who are against universal healthcare because they think that somehow a kid going to see a doctor for the first time will somehow inconvenience them.
Some people don't pull the ladder up behind them. They kick it down, then wave bye-bye to you while watching you fall.
I hate to break it to everyone but she does not currently support single payer nor will her presidency push for it. (At least, that's the message they're putting out right now.)
Never forget that everything Trump says is a lie, even if it's one you want to believe.
That said, I think it would be easier to drag her into it than Biden.
It's great when a quote is taken out of context, and then you look at the context, and it's even worse.
"She cosponsored legislation to abolish very popular private health insurance, which 150 [million] Americans rely on, dumping everyone onto inferior socialist government run health care systems with rationing and deadly wait times, while massively raising your taxes. She wants to take away your private health care."
As if 150M Americans have a real choice in private insurance, or that the bureaucracy of the system doesn't already result in rationing and deadly wait times.
As a side note, Project 2025 does something similar with cars. Something to the effect of "Americans overwhelmingly prefer cars" to justify ignoring bikes or public transit projects, again as if there was a real choice being offered.
I just don't think grandma should be in front of an Obama Death Panel.
The Death Panel should be guys trying to sacrifice her to the line, someone with zero knowledge of her care typing "no" in a spreadsheet, or, fuck it, let's get an AI with a 90% error rate (always errs towards denial). Those are the right arbiters to decide the value of someone's life.
"You could have this appendectomy and live 30 more years perfectly healthy, but we see that you are retired and not generating revenue for your betters. Denied. "
I hated that attack line so much. It was about an optional benefit that my representative wanted to add for Medicare recipients, a voluntary consultation on living wills. This had been requested by the AARP. Sarah Palin latched onto it, lied that it would press people into ending their lives, lied that it would be mandatory, lied, lied, lied, and lied some more. It really demonstrates how much Sarah Palin was a large part of the Republican Party's descent into Trumpism, though you could also trace that back to Reagan's lies about "welfare queens".
Says the guy who never came up with an alternative to Obama Care and said "who knew health insurance was so complicated?"
Get rid of private insurance! We pay a ton in premiums and they still get to decide what they want to cover. Private insurance is bullshit. I'll just laterally move that premium to socialized health care so everyone has it.
Not only do we pay a ton in premiums, when you do actually get sick, you still have to pay enough that most can't afford it. My wife was diagnosed with cancer in December 2022. I spent more than $15,000 the last two years on her treatment. I am fortunate that I could afford that (it was definitely a strain). Most cannot. I have pretty good insurance because I work for a huge company with over 100k employees. The amount of money the insurance paid would financially destroy all but the most extremely wealthy.
There's a polling paradox. The majority of insured Americans rate their insurance as good or excellent, according to Kaiser Family Foundation polling. But if the cost, especially if they are paying full cost, polls much lower.
I think that he's trying to rile up wealthy workers and small business owners who view their (better, but more expensive) private insurance as a luxury good and fear it might be made worse or more expensive if a national Healthcare scheme were implemented. I think it's pretty clear he's also flailing and making mistakes because of it, but we shouldn't overlook that Trump does have a handle on what some slice of Americans interests are, and his stament there isn't totally insane. Shit, it might just be a reflection of his own personal fears, but there's absolutely a real constituency for it.
How messed up is the US that universal health care is fear-mongering?
But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I used to have an American boss who felt like she needed to convince me to leave the hell-hole country I was living in. I live in Europe in one of the World's safest, most democratic, wealthiest countries. And this was during the W. Bush era. I bet she became a full MAGA trumpist.
During a rambling press conference at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said of Harris, “She cosponsored legislation to abolish very popular private health insurance, which 150 [million] Americans rely on, dumping everyone onto inferior socialist government run health care systems with rationing and deadly wait times, while massively raising your taxes. She wants to take away your private health care.
“It’s the best health care in the world,” he continued, adding, “You’re all going to be thrown into a communist system … You’re going to be thrown into a system where everybody gets health care.”
She's going to give you the bad health care. The kind that the foreigners and the blah people get. You're not going to receive the special elite luxury care. You're going to get the same care as everyone else.
It was always a war cry for the elites. “You won’t be able to buy superior healthcare anymore. You’ll have to wait like the rest of the plebs”.
We already have ridiculous wait times. I got told by my doctor that I couldn’t reschedule my appointment because it was booked out 2 months. I had to reschedule because the office was closed for a week due to a fucking Hurricane.
The stress of not knowing if you have enough change to pay for the hospital's parking is unbearable. Worse, can you imagine the danger of living a life without the financial stress of breaking a leg?
Not having to wait 45 business days to get your out-of-network claims reimbursed just for your insurance to tell you they never got the claim and please resubmit. Which I've done. At the end of September it will be another 45 business days. This is for a weekly therapy that I expect to be covered 80% because it's out of network but maybe it isn't because fuck me and I won't know until I've been going for at least 15 weeks.
Someone in my family has medicare and it is absolutely fantastic insurance. You automatically get the very best prices on everything, because all the profiteering charges are automatically removed. I live in a large city and every doctor I've ever dealt with takes it because there are no insurance hassles, either for the doctor or for you. I'm talking about real medicare and not medicare disadvantage.
Wendell Potter spent decades scaring Americans. About Canada. He worked for the health insurance industry, and he knew that if Americans understood Canadian-style health care, they might.... like it. So he helped deploy an industry playbook for protecting the health insurance agency.
As a Canadian, I'll be the first to say that our system isn't perfect. If you've got a chronic but not life-threatening condition, like a need for knee or hip surgery, you could spend a long time on a waiting list. There are certainly lots of affluent Canadians who opt to step out of that line to get treatment at private for-profit clinics, both domestically and abroad. There's always a shortage of something. Qualified doctors, nurses, family practitioners, CT or MRI machines, etc.
That being said, if you do have a life-threatening condition, the Canadian healthcare system can work pretty well. My step father had pneumonia Nov./Dec. last year, chest xray revealed something concerning beyond the pneumonia, by early January biopsies has been done, by February he'd started radiation, six or so weeks of that, then monitoring for a while and now he's in remission. Everything moved fast, because he had a time-critical condition. Total cost to my family: zero dollars (setting aside costs for gas, parking, snacks for stress-eating, etc.). I couldn't imagine a family going through the same situation in the US.
you've got a chronic but not life-threatening condition, like a need for knee or hip surgery, you could spend a long time on a waiting list.
This is going to sound crazy, but that's also the case in the US. Months to see a specialist. Referred to another specialist. Wait months for an opening. It took me over a year of sporadic appointments just to get an epidural for back pain. It was ridiculous. All using "efficient" for-profit organizations where you pay out the ass for premiums and then they extract the rest through your dickhole if you dare to seek care.
My aunt in Canada has had 2 hip replacements. And while she did have to wait, which is worse: waiting and not being in crushing medical debt? Or waiting a bit and having almost no costs?
If you compared wait times in Canada versus wait times in the U.S., Canada would probably be shorter overall.
The U.S. system creates artificial shortages in many different areas. They seek optimal profitablity by staffing slightly below what the need requires. This shortage justifies charging higher prices.
You can also probably blame some of the long wait times in Canada for things on the U.S. Specialist in the U.S. make a lot more money.
You get told it's just pneumonia, but it keeps coming back for years.
Eventually someone figures it out and says you have mesothelioma. You travel the country for a few years, looking for treatment wherever you can. It costs everything you have.
Somewhere along the way, you have to put down $120,000 in cash for a surgery that gives you a few more years. But your last years are still mostly pain and exhaustion.
His point is just to find a way to scare his voters by calling her a communist. It's the most pathetic attack ever.
Trump said of Harris: “She cosponsored legislation to abolish very popular private health insurance, which 150 [million] Americans rely on, dumping everyone onto inferior socialist government run health care systems with rationing and deadly wait times, while massively raising your taxes. She wants to take away your private health care.”
“It’s the best health care in the world,” he continued, adding: “You’re all going to be thrown into a communist system … You’re going to be thrown into a system where everybody gets health care.”
This bullshit about rationing and deadly wait times can only work on the most ignorant people who don't realize healthcare is better and more affordable in many other countries.
There may be a bit of "she won't hurt the right people" in there too.
And yet people will fall for it. I swear they are beyond help. I listened to some of the boring travesty that is his latest press conference and - besides his notably low energy - it seems the lies are just getting bigger and more absurd. It boggles the mind that a huge chunk of the American people will listen to that drivel and nod and mutter "yeah sounds right".
I pay my portion of my health coverage at a little under 20% of my paycheck for a family plan. That is technically half since my employer pays a portion as well. If taxes would be raised to that point or even less than what I am paying now I would not care in the slightest. Hell I would welcome it. If it is more I would be a little more upset but if I do t have to pay co pays or the other crap a medical bill generates like the portion my health coverage doesn't pay than in my eyes it again balances out.
Insurance companies are a leech on the economy with predatory practices to reject claims. Single payer healthcare would fix so much wrong with us healthcare its actually ridiculous we haven't done it yet. ACA slowed the bleeding but didn't address the problem thoroughly enough. I really don't care if my taxes go up by twice what I put into healthcare (there is no way they could, but still) I'd still endorse it knowing Americans could get regular and reliable healthcare again.
It's a pretty simple job though right? Just identify a shooter that's like a 100 meters away and patiently wait for them to finish shooting before you jump on the President.
But seriously, the president that actually delivers on the next new deal might get term limits removed. It was popular the first time for a reason.
Nothing so clearly states that they want to withhold human decency from people. They want people to suffer financially and physically if they don’t conform to the Republican hierarchy. Even then, there are those that must suffer, because suffering is good, to reinforce the conservative mock-piety to their Supply Side Jesus.
How absolutely terrifying. I can't imagine getting my basic human rights without some rich asshole denying them while taking my money to buy another yacht.
The rationing healthcare we have in Canada is so terrible!
I'd totally rather have a healthcare system based on extorting the weak and sick as much as possible. Our healthcare right now is way too ineffective at making public corporations and private equity money. Our government should make it a super priority to group up with the oligarchs like grocery empire Loblaws, the big 6 banks, Irving Oil, and all our American billionaire friends to intentionally short-change our healthcare system then buy it on the cheap!
Shhh, the Ontario PC doesn't want you to outright come out and say it.
As an aside, still think it's kinda fucked that the two largest lab services companies here are now both owned by American interests (Lifelabs = Quest, Dynacare = LabCorp).
Problem with that is, he HAS to win. If he doesn't, he's fucked. He'll be going to jail and that half a billion in Russia backed loans isn't going to pay itself.
She does, she has discussed a number of methods of doing so, from expanding medicaid to all Americans, to doing a few other methods of basically using the government as payee, and negotiator, for insurance coverage that will be applied to every tax payer.
Remember too that the President doesn't write the laws, and pretty much every solution for a single payer healthcare solution involves legislation.
Blaming or crediting a President for something that only Congress can do is a long American tradition, and an exceptionally stupid one we need to get over.
If I already have health care can I get two health cares? Jkjk what I'd really like it's affordable healthcare. I'm spending a good chunk of money on something I've very rarely used so far.