23 points
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For all its talk about free markets, the GOP vehemently defends this very not-free-market system. To be fair, the Democrats defend it to the death too, but they don’t pretend like they value free markets, so they’re just greedy and corrupt, not greedy and corrupt hypocrites.

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18 points

What prominent democrats defend our health care system?

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-7 points
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Hillary Clinton, a primary author of the affordable care act which builds upon the system where individuals receive insurance through their employers and Barack Obama who helped make that act law.

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9 points
*

I don’t think she’s been prominent in politics since 2016.

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9 points

It seriously saddens me how much 25 years of GOP propaganda against the Clintons has turned reasonable people among Democrats and those further to the left into parrots that try to pin everything on Hillary or Bill.

There are legitimate criticisms of The Clintons. But they are way less involved than people give them credit for.

To your comment, I have seen no mention of Hillary - then Secretary of State dealing with multiple conflicts - having any involvement in ACA. She had plenty other work. And there were other key advisors Obama picked that were the actually directly tasked with putting together ACA and making it pass.

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1 point

To be fair, fuck Hillary Clinton.

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-3 points

It isn’t the only country, though. Japan does too. Basic facts…

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12 points
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It isn’t the only country, though. Japan does too. Basic facts…

What are you on about? I live in Japan. You can walk to the city office and get health insurance. Every resident is legally REQUIRED to have health insurance and many do not work. I got health insurance as a student when I first moved here.

Edit: added quote

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2 points

He is right. In Japan there are 2 form of health insurance: from your company 社会保険 (shakai houken) or directly from the government 国民健康保険 (kokumin kenko houken). If you quit your job you loose your health insurance the very day you’re unemployed and must go to your prefecture to ask the national one (you’ll pay for it, around 200$-300$ a month).

Also in France your health insurance is also tied to your job. The french administration is a nightmare to me so I have no idea how to get anything if you’re unemployed.

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3 points
*

I took it to mean that there were no insurance options outside of employment, which isn’t the case given 国民健康保険 exists. IIRC, a lot of people doing バイト and パート in addition to students and unemployed are on the same (or a dependent, which relies on their spouse/parent/etc.)

EDIT: Also, I think employers or a certain size (or maybe just 個人事業) don’t have to provide health insurance, but I’m not 100% on everything around that off-hand.

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-3 points

Erm. So do most Western countries.

More than half of the coverage I receive through work insurance is not covered by universal healthcare.

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9 points

Oh wait where else? I genuinely don’t know this is a thing.

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1 point

Canada my guy. We can go to the doctor, but many people do not have a family doctor to go to. You can go to the hospital for free, but assuming the hospital is open (brain drain means closed hospitals) you’ll be triaged and if you aren’t actively dying, you’ll have to wait literally 24 hours to be looked at. That’s where “Universal Coverage” ends. My employer covers my dental, vision, pharmacare, mental health, and physio. If I lost my job, my girlfriend and I would be fucked. Not sure why I was downvoted. People mad at my reporting the facts for some reason.

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1 point

Oh wow, I guess I’m not too surprised that Canada follows some of the US’ policies. I thought it would be closer to the UK or Australia.

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1 point

I know Germany has a public / private system. Private insurers reimburse more, so they’re more desirable from the perspective of medical professionals. But there is a public baseline that Germans can fall back on. This is second hand info though so take it with a grain of salt.

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1 point

You are required to have health insurance in germany. If you choose private you often get better service (which technically is illegal) but you can save money when you are young and can only leave and move back to public until a certain age. Most people just have public health care since that is safer since you dont have to upfront costs. You are always insured, no matter your state of employment. (theoretically at least, some people fall through the net but that is a different topic)

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4 points

That’s not health insurance tied to a job.

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1 point

Yup in Canada there’s public options for drug coverage but it’s also part of employer’s benefits plans, dental and optical aren’t publicly covered either, although certain optical tests are.

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1 point

This is the best summary I could come up with:


“In an ideal world, that might not be the best way to organize the health care system,” Eric Toder, institute fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, told me.

Insuring people through their work offered two advantages that were obvious to employers, hospitals, and policymakers, Paul Starr, who wrote the seminal history The Social Transformation of American Medicine, told me.

During the Great Depression, FDR considered making national health insurance part of his signature New Deal legislation — which would have made the US a pioneer — but those provisions were nixed to prioritize the Social Security retirement and disability programs, among others.

After the war, Harry Truman made another attempt at national health insurance, but it was scuttled over opposition to new taxes and dogged by association with left-leaning economic ideas during the Red Scare.

When Vox conducted focus groups on single-payer in 2018, led by opinion researcher Michael Perry, one concern we heard was from people who mostly like the insurance they have and were worried about losing it under Medicare-for-all.

But the state legislature kept cutting taxes, and, in turn, copays for teachers kept going up — eventually costing Salfia and her family $100 just to show up at the emergency room or urgent care.


The original article contains 1,873 words, the summary contains 208 words. Saved 89%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

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27 points

TLDR It’s a deductible expense for the business, it’s taken out pre-tax for the worker, and businesses get way better rates than if a individual was to go get a quote for the same plan.

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18 points

That only makes sense because the system is so goddamn stupid.

The “most powerful nation in the world,” but when it comes to our health, we just let the capitalists bend us over…

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2 points

don’t bend too far, unless you have employment health insurance.

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6 points

The last part isn’t always true. When I stopped teaching, I was able to get a plan from the same insurance company with a lower premium and with a deductible that was about 20% of the deductible that teachers have.

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5 points

Agreed. My employers plan is easily worse than what I could get on the open market. The issue is that they contribute quite a bit towards the plan. I wish they would provide it as a stipend and let me spend it on my own plan.

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6 points

It’s possible that the schoo’s group plan had some very expensive people on it, so the cost you were paying then was subsidizing them. Now your individual plan is more appropriate for your health status.

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1 point

It wasn’t for the school, the plans were offered at the state level. Every teacher had 2 options, 3 if you were there long enough to get the plan with the lower $4K deductible. Otherwise, you could get a plan with a $6K deductible with a $500 premium.

When I left, I found a plan with a deductible below $1K with a ~$300 premium through the same insurance provider.

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