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Medicare for all - are you for or against it?

I've never had a hospital bill in my life. And I've had asthma since birth, my mother and I had to spend two weeks in the hospital after I was born, I've had jaw surgery aswell as multiple injuries from playing sports. Total cost to me: $0.

Now, I know it's not "free". It's an insurance system, which is funded by the tax money of the Swedish people, but I can not IMAGINE having to deal with co-pays, deductables and the insurance company trying everything they legally can to avoid paying their share. My insurance company is the Swedish government.

Now, this doesn't mean it's a completely socialist system. It's a mix. There are both public and privately owned for profit institutions, but they're all publicly funded. You can also get supplementary private health insurance, but all that does is pay you for damages due to lost work hours etc.

How do you Americans on this site handle the notion of being on the edge of financial ruin at any given moment, based on nothing but the luck of the draw? The most common reason for declaring personal bankruptcy in the U.S. is medical bills. I can not fathom that stress.

I LOVE publicly funded, single payer health care. It's a lot cheaper too. The U.S. pays around double that which Sweden pays for its health care, per capita. So, in theory, conservatives would be for it too, right? They at least claim to want to minimize government spending.

If you are against a Single Payer Health Care system - please explain it to me. How can you justify paying more, for lesser outcomes? And you are NOT allowed to use "wait lines" as an argument. Waiting lines are for ELECTIVE procedures. Here, we ration care by need - not by the size of your wallet.

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  • 7 votes
BornAtheist 4 Jan 19
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28 comments

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0

Sounds similar to the UK, but the NHS (national health service) is struggling due to the fact that people are living longer and in old age have more health issues.

But the NHS is public institutions only, am I wrong? I think it could be securely funded through shifting more of the tax burden to the banks and financial firms in The City.

@BornAtheist it could, but with the conservatives in power (fully bought and paid for by the top 1%) that ain't ever gunna happen.

@Hebert54 Sure it is underfunded but it is constantly requiring a larger percentage of the taxation fund because of an aging population and peoples expectations.

7

I believe health care is a right. We have the right to an education and all American's must be provided that education. But we don't each have the right to physical and mental well-being? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

What are your feelings on higher education? Should at least public colleges and universities be tuition free? I mean - why call it public if it's not available to all who qualify?

@BornAtheist I do believe higher education, college or trade school, should be available to all tuition free.
It is in Sweden isn't it? I've been tempted to move to Sweden or Norway.

@Wildflower It Indeed is! You’re welcome here. You should at least come visit! Preferably in the summer ?

@BornAtheist Yes, summer. I have relatives there that I've never met. My grandfather is from Sweden, my grandmother from Norway.

7

I am absolutely for healthcare being available for all. My daughter, who is a physician, is also for a single payer system. We both feel that there is something indecent about making money from people's illness.

I think that if we are going to have nation states and governments at all - their FIRST priority should be to make sure its citizens can live their lives with dignity. Not that its corporations can make as much profit as possible.

Health care and education should be provided to all citizens to make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed in life. Now, conservatives would call me a commie, but I'm not talking about equality of outcome. The world would be more of a meritocracy if Mitt Romney's kids didn't start at the 80 yard line in a 100 yard dash while your kids start at the 0 yard line.

7

Publicly funded health care should be a universal right. We have had two major medical emergencies - we had great care and no worries about going broke either

6

As imperfect as the Canadian universal health care system is, I'm still glad to have it. I just had a minor surgical procedure done that takes not much more than 10-15 minutes. I heard from others who had the same procedure done in the States that the cost there is around $3400. My cost was nothing. I also had a major surgery on both my legs several years ago. My cost was also nothing. I think I would wait a bit longer for treatment if I have to and not go into debt because of a health issue.

6

With private insurance companies, the first one thrid to one half of money paid to premiums goes to administrative costs and profits. By comparison, Medicare and the VA both use only about 3% for administrative costs, meanign there is a lot more money lef tover for actually providing health care.

In some European countries they figured out how to pay doctors more if they keep patients healthy, instead of their only gettggn paid when they get sick. The result is peopel are much healthier and medical costs are much lower. Than in our system where doctors make more money if patients stay sick longer. The profit incentive in the U.S. is there tokeep people sick, but nto to make them well.

6

Removing profit from the equation is a good thing

Yes. It is in my view completely immoral to profit off of people suffering.

5

I used public healthcare when I lived in Japan. Everyone has it. So cheap and medical costs are low since there is not a for profit industry driving health insurance. Oh, and the system was designed by the US following WW2.

tonyp Level 5 Jan 19, 2019
5

There's very good reasons why no other developed nation on earth uses the American system of privatised health care.

5

I hate health insurance companies; and would like to see them all put out of business! So I'm all for a national healthcare program. Just so long as it excludes the health insurance pirates!

4

I support it and even the republicans who oppose it ran a survey that showed it to be the most cost effective and efficient form of medical care. They still oppose it and I do not understand why?

Because they get huge campaign contributions from the insurance industry. As do most democrats.

@BornAtheist I guess that's business and when the government makes you a person U just have to make yourself heard.

4

Sad truth is, even Medicare doesn't pay 100%.

Well, it should - and it should cover each and every American. Get onboard the Bernie-train in 2020! 😉

3

Of course. Our present health care system is corrupt and immoral.

3

1 port, 1 J peg (feeding tube) 1 MRI 1 PET scan 1 round of chemo= $30,000 out of pocket. So yeah, single payer sounds awesome.

3

Because of health care costs, I had to search for help when I was diagnosed with cancer. It was two years before I found help. I'm now in a program at a clinic which is run by a medical school, which is good because it is no direct cost to me but the thing I don't like is I have no idea where I stand with the cure because I get a different doctor every time I go. One of the major arguments people make against single payer is the ability to choose a doctor. That would be nice but I understand this system I'm in and it is mainly research. Still... I'm grateful for the medical attention.

Here in Sweden I can chose my own doctor. And, sure, at some point it might be too busy and I will have to see someone else. But they know everything about me, and I still get excellent care - all without seeing a bill.

Also - any drugs I might need are heavily subsidized and you can never spend more than about $150 dollars per year. If your drugs cost more than that - the government pays the rest.

@BornAtheist The clinic I go to has a dispensary pharmacy that charges very little if anything for pharmaceuticals. They just keep prescribing more all the time for me and I really don't think I need Prozac or anything like that. They have me seeing a psychiatrist because they think I'm a candidate for suicide. I've got too much to do to even think about. I refuse to take drugs I don't need.

3

We do have Medicare that we pay into that kicks in at age 65.

We have Medicaid that kicks in for the impoverished. My mom is happy with her Medcare and my friend is happy with her Medicaid. I do think we should expand Medicare to cover everyone. So, yes, I am for single payer health care.

Yes, that's the way Bernie Sanders has framed it - Medicare for all. Because he knows it's such a wildly popular program. I sincerely hope my brothers and sisters in the U.S. can soon start to enjoy life without the prospect of possible financial ruin if they become sick.

Medicaid, at least in Florida, does not cover all impoverished. You must have children or a disability to qualify. The poor have to go to the emergency room. And how much does that cost the taxpayer?

2

If we didn't spend as much as the next ten countries on the military there would be more than enough money for healthcare for everyone.

Mare Level 4 Jan 19, 2019
2

It's a no brainer for me - I'm in the UK and our system is almost as good as yours, we have to contribute to dental and eye care.

@Hebert54 No it isn't much - £26 for my annual dental check and clean and £10 for an eye test.
As an over 60 I get my medication for free these days too.

Free at point of entry, but like everyone else (almost) I pay a percentage of my income, deducted at source, in National Insurance contributions. No worry about pre-existing conditions or increases if I have an enduring health problem either.

The system isn't perfect and successive governments have done their best to reorganise and screw things up, but even so, it is still one of the most efficient and effective health services in the world.

Every civilised country should have one!

2

i probably would not be in as bad a shape as i am right now if i'd had health care for the few years after i returned to the states from japan, but i was unable to get health insurance of any kind. i was broke. being sick makes it hard to work. not working makes it hard to afford food and shelter, much less health care, much less health insurance, which typically doesn't even cover all of one's health care. it's no way to live. of course we should have single payer health care. that's a stupid name for it and i wish it was called something else, such as "health care for all" ("medicare for all" is scary because medicare, lifesaver though it may be, is also insufficient, and is, after all, health insurance too) or :fred: or "helen." but what is actually IS, as opposed to what it's called, yeah, we need it.

g

2

Most G20 countries have it and it works, why wouldn't you want it?

2

The hardest negotiating my union does, every time the contract comes around, is over 1) wages and 2) health insurance. Out of every $1000 I take home, I'm "paid" another $1000 that I never see because it goes into insurance premiums, between my portion and my employer's contribution. And yet I pay income tax on the employer's contribution.

Tell me that I could have full coverage instead for, let's say, $300 a check, and the employer won't have to contribute a thing? (These are some hypothetical figures I saw thrown around somewhere, I don't know by who, I don't know where, so don't get strenuous with me about them, OK?) That leaves me $200 up on the whole deal and my employers would have $500 they could theoretically pay me as a raise. They won't, but I could potentially see part of it, and they wouldn't have the cost of health insurance as an excuse for keeping our raises at 2% when the economy is booming and revenues are at an all-time high.

So, yes, I'm for replacing the profit-driven insurance companies with an at-cost insurance system. It would have to be implemented correctly, and the layers of bureaucracy would have to be set up carefully to guarantee people are given the proper care; but people are turned away right now when their benefits run out, for no better reason than money. That should never be a reason to sacrifice a person's health.

1

Affordable healthcare should be a basic human right. Instead it is a business in American simply to make money. If you disagree with me then explain why all our top elected officials have healthcare but do not want us all to have it. Countries that have socialized medicine do very well with it, and I've learned that Rand Paul is going to Canada to have a surgery.

1

I have lived in Sweden(illegally). You're health care coverage is phenomenal..I can say I wish it was the same here. Unfortunately our goverment is owned by corporations that influence private needs Over Public needs, it's horrifying...

1

The only people it will hurt are, insurance companies, government officials, wall street.
Medical groups who over charge to cover insurance discounts.

0

Healthcare should be a basic human right. I think America will eventually start to shift towards a single payer system, but only after it has no other choice.

People can be smart like that sometimes. It's not a trait unique to Americans.

0

I was born in the States, and became a Canadian, strictly by personal choice..Had I not lived here, I would have easily been dead 45 years ago, as like you I have respiratory issues, and would never have been able to afford insurance in the USA..I get crazy when I read stuff on FB about how 'terrible' universal medicare is from people who are either trolls or have never experienced it, but I can only hope that by the time American voters rid themselves of the scourge that is Trump, they will have a form of it in the years thereafter..It is the best thing have happened me..I am older now, and have no idea how long I will live, but it certainly will be decades longer than in a country with no soul or conscience for people not part of the wealthy elites...

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