208 points

Weird how we have to pay more money every single year, and insurance somehow provides us less and less for our greater and greater spend

permalink
report
reply
95 points

Or, with car insurance, you get punished for actually using the service you pay for.

permalink
report
parent
reply
56 points

A service you are legally required to pay for, no less.

permalink
report
parent
reply
23 points

Isn’t the required car insurance the part that covers the OTHER cars, property and people you might harm with your car?

I don’t think it’s required that you carry enough insurance to be able to replace your own car. Might depend on your state, though?

permalink
report
parent
reply
23 points

Oh, but if you’re rich, we have the best healthcare system in the world! Rich people from all over the globe come to America for medical care!

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points

And ironically, rich Americans travel the globe for the best healthcare.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

As a non-rich American who got fucked over by The Mayo Clinic last year who were not only no help, but the patient advocate got me a full refund including for the AirBnB, I don’t blame them.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

It is actually kinda incredible. I remember seeing a comic in Mad Magazine back in the 90s that satirized insurance companies by cutting ‘expensive’ healthcare and the cartoon showed an emaciated patient on IV and the insurance guy about to cut the tube with scissors.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

They’re the ones practicing medicine now

permalink
report
parent
reply
108 points

I have a friend who has a prosthetic. Sure they could live their life in a wheelchair. But this guy goes hiking, and acts like a fully capable walking person. The quality of life is huge. It really gives back their life.

permalink
report
reply
77 points

Yep. It’s absolutely insane they wouldn’t cover it.

It’s honestly unethical as shit.

permalink
report
parent
reply
77 points
*

Unethical and counterproductive. Having a prosthetic limb would almost invariably lead to a less sedentary lifestyle, which is strongly correlated with better health. Paying for a prosthetic today has to be cheaper than paying for a heart attack or diabeties later.

permalink
report
parent
reply
31 points

Yes, but who cares about later if there are quarterly and yearly profits to get.

permalink
report
parent
reply
20 points

You’re making the assumption that they’ll pay out for a heart attack or diabetes later. You just said that they were caused by the pre-existing condition of not having a prosthetic limb.

permalink
report
parent
reply
12 points

What makes you think they will pay for heart surgery or diabetes later.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Depends on how you measure productivity. The hope is that by the time long term care is required for things like diabetes or heart disease, the patient would be eligible for Medicare.

That or the sedimentary lifestyle will so negatively affect the more than likely diabetic patient, that they go into renal failure and qualify for disability through social security. Effectively removing their cost onto a socialized network.

Paying for a prosthetic is much cheaper in the long run, but not for private insurance. The vast majority of the cost of not providing a prosthetic will be absorbed by Medicare.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

But being unwell is profitable

permalink
report
parent
reply
11 points

Won’t somebody thinking about the profiteers?

Those guys can go to hell

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

It’s absolutely insane that people should be expected to either buy insurance or pay for medical care out of their own pocket. And the insurance is never enough.

permalink
report
parent
reply
0 points

I mean it’s not really. They don’t cover hearing aids or even implant surgery. “Not necessary” is what my sister gets told. Yeah, trying living deaf you asshats!

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

They are saying it’s not “medically necessary” to have any quality of life. As long as you’re breathing, you’re A-okay in their book.

This is what insurance in the US has come to mean.

permalink
report
parent
reply
15 points

Like how they still consider dental care to be “cosmetic.” They’ll rip them out of your head free of charge, but putting new ones in? No sir… You can eat mush!

But God forbid anyone mentions a solution that includes socialized healthcare…

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

From a purely “medical necessity” viewpoint even, having a properly-functioning prosthetic helps him keep the rest of his body healthy! (Although I suppose they’d figure on denying claims for hospital treatment when his unhealthy heart caved in!)

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

(Although I suppose they’d figure on denying claims for hospital treatment when his unhealthy heart caved in!)

The long term goal of this type of policy is to not only reduce immediate cost, but to offload the cost of long term care onto a socialized network like social security.

The majority of amputees are already diabetics, if you remove their ability to remain active and mobile, you substantially increase the chance of renal failure. Patients who require dialysis because of renal failure get enrolled for disability through social security.

permalink
report
parent
reply
81 points

Noooo heckin’ killing CEOs is violent and bad

Then this fucking headline pops up.

They’re basically crippling people, who could have at least some kind of limb use, by denying them limbs that THEY ALREADY PAID FOR AS PART OF INSURANCE PAYMENTS.

permalink
report
reply
53 points

This is exactly the type of shit that radicalizes people into violent action.

permalink
report
parent
reply
17 points

It’s almost like they’re trying to force people to be violent. I don’t get it.

permalink
report
parent
reply
9 points

I’ve been in corporations being driven unto the ground to extract as much money as humanly possible in the shortest amount of time. They are sociopaths, they are physically incapable of stopping. They want ALL the money and they want it NOW. They can not help themselves, and they won’t stop unless they are forced to stop by regulations, you know, in a well regulated capitalist society that puts limits on greed that costs people’s lives or happiness on an undue scale. If you don’t have those regulations… we’ll that’s how you get a forced reset of the country by people who can’t manage to swallow that much bullshit

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

Violence is NEVER the answer! Can you imagine how horrible it would be if some degenerate insurance needer walked into a board meeting and pewpew’d all the poor shareholders? Who would make the hard decisions and demands that costs be dramatically cut and value dramatically increased? What if some horrible psychopath threw a maltov into an executive office? Or some villainous cloak and dagger type of scum rigged car bombs in some poor wealthy persons gated drive way? What would we do then! We’d live in terror of extracting value out of a system that is ment to provide service instead of just freely taking that value without consequences! Can’t you even image how bad that would be! Think of the CEOs people!

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

This comment was reported.

I get the anger, and there’s no direct threat of violence, so I’m leaving it up.

permalink
report
parent
reply
25 points

Maybe you’re being a little unreasonable. Have you stopped to think about what the money might want? Maybe your money wants to be with the CEO without partaking in some nasty exchange of goods or services.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

The money wants to be with the CEOs and thus have the chance to be spent on private jet rentals and lavish vacations in exotic places with influential people. It wants the chance to be spent on expensive tuition at old-money, name-brand universities and third and fourth homes in the country and on post-apocalypse survival compounds in expensive, English-speaking island nations. If you were a dollar, wouldn’t you want this too? Or would you want to spend your days going in and out of tills at Walmart and Dollar General or forked over to some prole delivery driver as a tip, a driver who’ll just spend you on fuel or fries at some greasy drive-up. Money wants to be free, free to live the good life, and to live it with the people who care about it more than anything else under the sun.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Or would you want to spend your days going in and out of tills at Walmart and Dollar General or forked over to some prole delivery driver as a tip, a driver who’ll just spend you on fuel or fries at some greasy drive-up.

Holy shit, this part reminds me of constantly being taught to not give cash to homeless people because they’ll only spend it on alcohol or drugs.

My mom recently saw me give $2 to a man at an intersection. It was a relatively cool day for this part of Texas at that time of year: mid-90s. She admonished me going on about how that guy was going to spend it on booze or drugs. I told her that very few people are homeless by choice and that he was just a guy trying to survive one more hot day. If my $2 bought him a bottle of water or a drug-assisted escape from reality, then it’s still making his day $2 better. Then I asked her how much drugs she thought $2 could purchase.

permalink
report
parent
reply
57 points

This just feeds into my disillusionment with science and technology. What is the point of having developed these incredible things to then not go and use them. I just have to spell it out now. What. The. Fuck. You know I was born into a modern age but looks like im going to die in the dark ages.

permalink
report
reply
29 points

In capitalism, EVERYTHING only exists for profit. If there isn’t money to be drained, it’s tossed to the landfill

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Including science.

We research profitable fields and defund unprofitable ones.

permalink
report
parent
reply
19 points

It’s not a Sci/Tech issue.

It’s a dystopian capitalism issue. When products that don’t have adequate profit margin and volume to make notable contributions to the bottom line, or worse yet, negativley affect the bottom line in a high per-unit cost, they are a liability. Profits direct research, too, unfortunately.

Humanity, quality of life, and all that medical shit is secondary or even further down the priority list for the corporations thinking about their profits first and the “service” last.

permalink
report
parent
reply
-2 points

Capitalism is not the issue in this case. I’m certain that prostetics have adequate profit margins. It’s a lucrative business.

The issue here is that the insurance company just doesn’t want to pay for it.

It’s the insurance company that doesn’t have an adequate profit margin without screwing their customers over.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

Capitalism is not the issue? Yet everything you just said the reason is for adequate profit margin is indeed capitalism.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Capitalism drives the health insurance company too. Greedy investors fund the health insurance decisions. All insurance companies, actually, with the possible exception of mutuals.

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

The issue here is that the insurance company just doesn’t want to pay for it.

That’s part of capitalism, too.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

Profit margin for who…? They already have your premium payments so actually covering your care gives them nothing, as far as they’re concerned you can do one. That’s why claim denial is the primary role of an insurance provider and all of its metrics, not coverage, the goal is to keep as much of your money as possible.

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

I’m not clear on the issue, in this case, with science and technology. Seems to me to be a problem with societies not caring for all their people.

permalink
report
parent
reply
10 points

It has to do with the motivation of folks to expand the limits of science and technology. Many folks who do that stuff genuinely are looking to improve life for all mankind.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

Science and technology become magic, accessible only by the Fair Folk while we toil away in the dirt.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

That’s capitalism

permalink
report
parent
reply
55 points

permalink
report
reply

News

!news@lemmy.world

Create post

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil

Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. 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. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.

Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.

Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.

Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.

Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.

No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.

If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.

Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.

The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body

For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

Community stats

  • 12K

    Monthly active users

  • 22K

    Posts

  • 562K

    Comments