6 ms·

The US also spends a lot of money on healthcare, but it doesn't really work, because the model is flawed.

keiferski 8y ago
Yes well that means that the system is broken, not that Americans have some sort of “too bad, the weak should die” mentality (as the OP suggested.)
- ben_w 8y ago
  The “too bad, the weak should die” mentality is, unfortunately, very much the impression I get whenever discussing healthcare with Americans. It’s easy (availability heuristic) to forget this says more about the sort of Americans who are likely to engage in discussion about healthcare than about Americans as a whole.
  - war1025 8y ago
    The main thing I've noticed, as someone who works at a company too small to have cheap insurance and is too well off to get subsidized insurance, is that people who work for big companies genuinely don't think health insurance is a problem in America because their employer is able to get bulk plans where they are paying something like $100 a month out of pocket for absolutely amazing coverage. Then you have the people who used to have great coverage, but it's slowly gotten less good and more expensive over time. They are mainly worried about doing something that will make the problem even worse. Then you have people like me, who are paying ridiculous money for what is basically "catastrophic" insurance, and like to complain loudly any chance we get, mostly on deaf ears because people hope the problem won't come their way if they just ignore it and carry on.
    - ben_w 8y ago
      Interesting perspective, thank you.
- sjy 8y ago
  So why hasn't the broken system been fixed (or at least brought up to the standard of the rest of the developed world) yet?
  - webmaven 8y ago
    Political donations from for-profit insurance companies. A political ideology centered on market fundamentalism and individual responsibility (eg. "The free market is always more efficient than government provided services", "Why should I pay for your poor choices in life?").

Yes well that means that the system is broken, not that Americans have some sort of “too bad, the weak should die” mentality (as the OP suggested.)

ben_w 8y ago
The “too bad, the weak should die” mentality is, unfortunately, very much the impression I get whenever discussing healthcare with Americans. It’s easy (availability heuristic) to forget this says more about the sort of Americans who are likely to engage in discussion about healthcare than about Americans as a whole.
- war1025 8y ago
  The main thing I've noticed, as someone who works at a company too small to have cheap insurance and is too well off to get subsidized insurance, is that people who work for big companies genuinely don't think health insurance is a problem in America because their employer is able to get bulk plans where they are paying something like $100 a month out of pocket for absolutely amazing coverage. Then you have the people who used to have great coverage, but it's slowly gotten less good and more expensive over time. They are mainly worried about doing something that will make the problem even worse. Then you have people like me, who are paying ridiculous money for what is basically "catastrophic" insurance, and like to complain loudly any chance we get, mostly on deaf ears because people hope the problem won't come their way if they just ignore it and carry on.
  - ben_w 8y ago
    Interesting perspective, thank you.
sjy 8y ago
So why hasn't the broken system been fixed (or at least brought up to the standard of the rest of the developed world) yet?
- webmaven 8y ago
  Political donations from for-profit insurance companies. A political ideology centered on market fundamentalism and individual responsibility (eg. "The free market is always more efficient than government provided services", "Why should I pay for your poor choices in life?").