Americans surely must understand by now that they're only seen as consumers, statistics, a unit from which money can be extracted. They're not seen and treated as humans.
Americans who lived abroad, what do you think about this?
I haven’t lived abroad but I’m a disabled vet and thus get social healthcare..
And it’s fucking horrifying what my countrymen/women don’t get. I get the European experience (less than, let’s be real.. I was gunna say more or less but it’s less…) and my comrades in arms (and just my comrades?) don’t because of technicalities? My brethren who choose not to support business get screwed? Fuck that we should all benefit.
To be clear, health should be a human right, housing should be a human right, food should be under health as a human right but let’s be serious it should be a separate human right so everyone has to acknowledge it. (thanks America for needing that to be spelled out…)
Somewhere between just 18-25% of veterans get the benefits they're entitled to, and the VA wants to keep it that way.
It's fucking disgusting
Technically I’m not even getting what I’m entitled to, I just recognize I get more than most of my comrades and until they get it I’m not pushing for myself.
Because you are right. It’s horrifying to go to a Va hospital, because the majority of people there are bitching up a storm because they aren’t getting care they should be entitled to. Wildly uncomfortable experience. And I don’t blame them and they deserve it way more than I do.. but technicalities..
Please go after what you're entitled to. I spent nearly a decade getting shortchanged by the system and never once did I begrudge someone else getting their ratings. It's just like back in the service, the only people who want you to not use your benefits are the bean counters.
To be clear, health should be a human right, housing should be a human right, food should be under health as a human right but let’s be serious it should be a separate human right so everyone has to acknowledge it.
You've just summed up article 25 of the universal declaration of human rights. The US is a signatory to it - but it's not legally binding.
That’s why they signed it. It’s not binding so what does it matter?
I mean the US has taught me that being an ancom is the right path. I wish they had any support for what they actually preach being a good thing but I’m not into it. And I once signed my life away thinking it was right.. mistakes were made man.
(In fairness, I come from a conservative area, so I’m not against people, I just want what’s best for everyone, even if they don’t recognize it as a good thing yet.)
I'll never return if America doesn't get healthcare. I don't even like visiting because that's so obvious. I usually don't go out when I go back and just hang out at my parents. Everything is depressing and I can pretend to not see it in their bubble.
We're not lacking in "system", that's part of what we're overpaying so much for. It's the "care" part that's lacking.
Oh we have really good care, if you can pay for it.
And none of us can afford the really good care, we go broke trying to afford the over worked, beaten down healthcare staff doing the best they can with what little they have.
Sparing loved ones of financial hardship is one of the noblest reasons to die. What a fucked up sentence.
The horror is in the fact that the system forces these kinds of choices on people. Any system that forces people to consider suicide to avoid bankrupting their loved ones due to medical cost is barbaric.
Friend of mine became extremely sick. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong, but his life became pain and insomnia. After many torturous years, he was tired of being bedridden and miserable. He couldn't end it; his wife would lose her health insurance through his employer. So he walked off into the woods.
He's been legally missing for a few years now. He made sure to bring his ID with him, in case he is found one day.
That's the American healthcare system.
Why do we still live here: if we could leave, we would. We've been trying.
I have no idea how this keeps her insured. In most of America, after 1 year of medical leave your job can be terminated.
I truly believe the parent comment is straight up lying lmao, no job is going to keep you employed for more than a few days without an explanation, and insurance benefits end the month the employer terminates you.
Ma'am, we looked at the bones and he passed away within a month. We're afraid you'll have to pay for that hip replacement in full, and, here, we kept your cancer boob, well need repayment for chopping it off...and the wisdom tooth.
Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be the guy who figures out when people died to cancel their families insurance postumably!
The US healthcare system is a hostage situation.
Why would anyone live there? Let alone believe it's the best country in the world
No one else will have us. Immigration laws are very difficult to navigate for almost every country. We've looked.
As others have said, I just want to +1 that too, immigration laws suck globally.
America may be the capitol of greed, but just about every other country worth moving to has monetary and educational requirements that most of us don't meet. We're locked into this shit hole.
Why would anyone live there?
Migrating to a better place is actually not that easy, unless you have a great education.
What I don't understand is why my neighbors here in the US stress over medical debt when you can simply not pay it. It won't even impact your credit score anymore. Just ignore the debt and move on with your life. I've been doing this for decades.
Most people don't know this is an option. Most people who do know and exercise this as an option will be targeted for harassment by bill collectors for the rest of their life.
That doesn't sound right. The US is constructed to maximize profits for its oligarchy, there's no 7th yacht in allowing the serfs not to pay off their medical debts?
You’d be surprised how much of this system relies on people being actual suckers.
Even Go Fund Me came out and said, uh, wait, funding health care isn't what we really intended for the platform.
I recall one of the coaches of a major league baseball team had some major illness and had set up a GoFundMe for it...the team decided to cover it, fortunately, but...come on.
I don't know how anyone can seriously claim there's nothing wrong with our system, but they do.
One guy said, in earnest, that it's a good thing that our medical system is so expensive - because that means it's a good system. (This was in response to me saying that I think our technology and care are pretty good; it's how we pay for it that's the main issue.)
How do you even respond to that? I just ignored him. Does he think Europe has cut-rate health care? Canada?
Does he think Europe has cut-rate health care? Canada?
Assuming we’re talking about one of my fellow Americans? Yes. He’s been conditioned to think that.
There's a certain irony between people having insurance who also need a gofundme... It begs the question, what exactly is the purpose of the insurance?
To take your money then say no when you need healthcare.
Basically, everything is priced arbitrarily high to a comical degree because of insurance so you "need" insurance companies to "negotiate" prices (which are already set for them, there's no actual negotiations - just the goofy "retail" price and the still exploitative "insurance" price) and then if its covered the insurance pays a fraction of THAT (closer to a "normal" price) and its considered settled.
So, even if your insurance won't cover it, you need them so you get the exploitative price instead of the comical price from the provider. There's no way to pay the "normal" price unless you're an insurance company.
to drain you of your money so you need a gofundme
Off the top of my head, these are the kinds of things my conservative family members or distant acquaintances would say and agree with:
What if somebody else gets more than me?
What if somebody who doesn’t “deserve” benefits gets them?
Why should I give a shit or have to pay for other people? (Unaware of how insurance itself works)
The economyyyyy!
US healthcare is extortion.
You are worth keeping alive as long as you generate enough value for the machine.
Not even that though. Like if my chronic medical condition is adequately treated, I'm able to work, be productive, pay taxes, contribute to the economy, hopefully contribute to my community.
But that would eat into an insurance company's profits, therefore they'd rather opt to let me die and replace me with a new unit that can pay premiums longer without needing any actual medical care.
The only entity that has a positive financial incentive to pay for the medical care that keeps me healthy is the government.
Medicare for All, now.
I've already had this talk with my daughter. I'm not presently ill or anything, but I see this as the new American version of estate planning.
Somehow, I've managed to build up a few meager assets to leave to my daughter and I'll be damned if I let American healthcare take it all.
(And please refrain from bringing up misinformed statements on estate tax. I'm a tax accountant. I'm more astute on that stuff than most of the population, and my little pile of shiny trinkets is well below any threshold for any of that to kick in)
I was just telling my wife last week that I would go end it in the woods before wasting or life savings on treatments that probably won’t cure me.
This was just a hypothetical convo I’m not sick.
Yep, that tracks.
Speaking of "non-system," wouldn’t Go Fund Me be mad about that? I’ve heard they’re really anal about using funds in any way that deviates from the stated purpose.
Fucking hell, this is brutal
My father told me he would retire himself if he ever had to go to a nursing home
Everybody in this country needs to lift themselves up by the bootstraps and do what I did: have a chronic disease that is so ridiculously expensive to treat that the pharma company pays your deductible and out of pocket max for you so that you’ll stay on it. Then you get actual coverage for the rest of the year!
I’m a software engineer and my health insurance pays out significantly more than my gross pay every year. U-S-A!
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