Medical debt exists because we have failed as a society.
this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2023
632 points (99.1% liked)
politics
19188 readers
2242 users here now
Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!
Rules:
- Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.
Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.
Example:
- Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
- Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
- No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
- Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
- No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning
We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.
All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.
That's all the rules!
Civic Links
• Congressional Awards Program
• Library of Congress Legislative Resources
• U.S. House of Representatives
Partnered Communities:
• News
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Medical debt is terrifying. You can do everything right: get an education, get a good job in a high paying field, live in a low COL area, save money, etc, yet a single accident or medical emergency can wipe it all out and then some. One fucking incident can take you from being comfortable middle class to destitute. It's insane that we allow that to happen.
because America lets to many middlemen get in the way of your healthcare, each one of them eager to profit off your misfortune.
Which is why we need universal healthcare.
Remove the middle men. Remove the profiteering and massively reduce the costs.
And Medicare won't pick up the tab until after youve liquidated your estate.
Your entire life's work, even assuming modest stock gains, modest living, no vices, doesn't matter. Gone. You can have medical insurance. Doesn't matter. Gone. You're fighting for a few good years left so you can put a bow on yourself and insurance is gonna drag it out, squeeze anything you got left, and make sure the case will last longer than you, guaranteeing them the win. That's Capitalism baby!
Cuz you lost the genetic lottery.
I'm just playing.
It happens to us ALL, everyone of us thats lucky enough to live long enough. It's GUARANTEED.
Losing the summation of your lifes efforts, so you can have medicine. The decks is so stacked against us, so rigged motherfucking Hitler would be in awe at our cruelty.
If you think you're gonna beat the odds, things are gonna go your way. Gamestops going to the moon baby! Diamond hands! Have you looked around? Did you not notice inflation stealing an entire generations worth of retirement? Oh the Boomers have earned their fair share of hate, but maybe some of them will wake up now that they'll have to sell their overly inflated house or go back to work. No twilight years for you Trish, so sorry. And don't give me the "market forces" bullshit. Take that and that meritocracy bullshit, this insidious pair of myths, and shove them up a liberals ass, so they can die a cowards death from inaction. The largest stimulus of the pandemic went to the business class. Zero inflation. None. It didn't even REGISTER against the dollar. I think the dollars value rose that entire month actually. But the people get some money, and ooOooOo no. One trip to the country club, a couple conversations and let Greedflation commence!
Millennials. Take note. Gen Z already gets it. There is no future that's anything better than now. They'll be no retirement. You're guaranteed bankruptcy. Get hurt and your family loses everything, or you get put down like a sow. Thems the breaks. It's not IF, it's WHEN. Thats Capitalism, baby!
You know, of all the things we did during the pandemic, why didn't we put a moratorium on all debt payments? All of them, world over. Why does everyone have to sacrifice but the bankers?
WHY THE FUCK DID WE HAVE TO GO WORK AND DIE SO THEY CAN EXPLOIT MONEY AT THE RATE THEYRE ACCUSTOMED TOO, WHEN THEY ALREADY OWN ALMOST ALL OF IT.
Lessons learned from poverty accountanting; morality aside, if we could just push the button and look away for 5 minutes, prudence tells me itd be cheaper to simply wait for the World Economic Forum to commence then drop a Rod from God on them, wiping Davos off the map.
Just like the Templar's. When King Louie dropped a Rod from God on them. Yep. That's totally what happened
Moving on however.
Ready to clean the gene pool of Affluenza yet? I sure as fuck am. Let's do it now, while there's still some vitality in us.
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(8 replies)
The world didn't fail.
Only America.
Most of the world has figured this impossible problem out.
I didn't say the world.
I agree and think this is a great step forward. I'm hoping it leaves to shit loads of unpaid medical debt, so maybe hospitals and doctors start pushing for a single payer system.
Yeah because we keep electing garbage heaps known as Republicans.
That and there's always enough Democrats voting with them when we do elect a majority.
As great as this sounds it is still incredibly sad that we have to create bandaids to allow it to continue instead of actually fixing the problem... it will only get worse.
Another way to look at it is that this starts to isolate medical finance from the rest of the system to lessen the economic shock of nationalizing healthcare.
Bingo. . This seems like a deft move by old Joe.
Got to get rid of insurance companies.
The ACA served to entrench them further.
This is how you fix problems. Make things better, where you can, where you can get the political backing to do it.
Don't be one of those people that says "Its not perfect, so its not worth doing it"
Cause the only people that say that are the ones that want to actively sabotage the system, like how was done with the ACA.
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.
What else are you supposed to do when you cut yourself crawling across shards of broken glass on the way to the refrigerator? Besides, even if you wanted to clean it up, your state is run by anti-sweeping politicians because your neighbors don't want their tax dollars going to Big Broom and helping you clean when you should really be spending your time working at the Fragile Dinnerware factory. Maybe you should consider living in a house that's not filled with broken glass. But your neighbors really would like to let you use this bandaid — who doesn't love a feel-good story???
load more comments
(1 replies)
That would be nice.
I have cancer, and you really get fucked hard for that.
I wish you a speedy and effective treatment with a quick recovery to follow. May your medical bills go unnoticed, unpaid, and unpunished.
Thank you. I'm doing okay. I've been very lucky
But some of the billing is insane.
Back around 2000 an 11 year old niece had a brain aneurysm at school and air transport was required.
The parents were shocked to get an $8000 bill for the helicopter.
This Feb the tab for me was 143,000. But I had bought REACH air transport insurance.
The funny thing was, the pilots had to meet another copter at my destination anyway. So it really wasn't costing them anything.
load more comments
(6 replies)
That sucks. I hope and pray you have the best possible outcome. Fuck cancer.
load more comments
(1 replies)
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, reported last year that roughly 20% of Americans have medical debt
I'm honestly shocked it's only 20%.
assume the statistics would be slightly different if they added people that died with medical debt in the past year. People incurring medical debt tend to expire from those medical issues.
And the rest of us just don't go to the doctor.
It's a start. But could we start punishing the companies for the part where it's "plagued by inaccuracies and mistakes"? How about if every wrong, misrepresented or inaccurate item on a bill must be refunded 200% to the patient? If insurance has already paid it, half the refund could go to them and the rest to the patient. That would incentivize the insurance company (who has knowledgeable staff and isn't sick) to find those errors and frauds.
But could we start punishing the companies for
We don't and never will.
Americans: "Can we change to a system like the rest of the world where medical issues don't put you into debt?"
Politicians: "The impact on the medical industry would (checks notes) be devastating...tell you what, we won't report your massive debts to credit reports. Good enough?"
Americans: "..."
load more comments
(1 replies)
Republicans: NOOOOO!!!!!! Except mine.
Europeans cannot imagine the subconscious dread that we Americans have at all times knowing that at any moment some easily treatable medical emergency could happen and completely destroy our lives financially.
God Bless Joe Biden
I lean right, far right if you ask a leftist, but universal healthcare is something this country needs. it's fucking outrageous. health insurance is a scam and a license to steal.
view more: next ›