5 ms·

Reading this in Europe.I'm sure if I'd go with article alone to my American colleague on Monday, he'd defent the system even if he'd have to die for it. Knowing

Reading this in Europe.I'm sure if I'd go with article alone to my American colleague on Monday, he'd defent the system even if he'd have to die for it. Knowing he's a healthy 20something man with affluent parents that could potentially bankroll even a year's stay in a private hospital- I could understand it to certain degree, however I fail to understand why nobody really is up for changing this system,where millions upon millions left woth no choice but to struggle anything but basic medical care.

danans 7y ago
> however I fail to understand why nobody really is up for changing this system,where millions upon millions left woth no choice but to struggle anything but basic medical care. Plenty of people are up for changing it. It is quite literally the center of a huge debate at the moment in the Democratic primary, and there is a broad spectrum of changes being proposed, from Medicare for all with price controls to a slightly modified Obamacare. Only one candidate among those more or less supports the status-quo. And the Republican party is currently avoiding discussing the way they'd like to change the health system (repealing Obamacare, fee for service care) because it isn't particularly popular at the moment. Meanwhile, stories like the ones you see piling up in this thread happen every day.
- cpursley 7y ago
  > And the Republican party is currently avoiding discussing Are you so sure about that? A republican president recently signed an executive order for more transparent pricing: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/24/735578519/trumps-plan-to-lower-your-hospital-costs-heres-what-you-need-to-know https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/24/7355785...
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - danans 7y ago
    The centerpiece of their plan is removing the protections provided by Obamacare, like pre-existing conditions coverage, the state insurance exchanges, and getting rid of the Medicaid expansion. They don't want to talk about any of that right now, even though it was the central refrain of what they ran on 4 years ago. But that's smart actually. They correctly realize that it is political suicide to run on taking health protections away from people at this time.
  - foobarbecue 7y ago
    I couldn't believe when I first heard about this -- Trump doing something potentially beneficial. Sounds like it will have no actual impact, but I hope it does.
    - crankylinuxuser 7y ago
      And early on prior to the election, Trump was also talking about repealing Obamacare and putting in single payer. As much as I despise Trump, this idea wasn't terrible. Obamacare/ACA was only a stepping stone. But the republicans had a 'talking' with him. https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709175203/trump-backs-off-obamacare-replacement-after-top-gop-leader-nixes-the-idea https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709175203/trump-backs-off-oba...
mikeash 7y ago
Essentially everyone wants to change the system. The problem is that half of the voters want to fix it by having the government provide universal coverage, and half want to fix it by getting government out of the picture as much as possible and letting the market solve everything.
- crooked-v 7y ago
  Of course, when it comes to health care, 'letting the market solve everything' actually means 'letting poor people die'. Sometimes it even means 'letting poor people die because poor people deserve to die' (look up prosperity gospel).
- stjohnswarts 7y ago
  That's not true, there is about 70% support for a public option.
stjohnswarts 7y ago
It BS to say "nobody is really up for changing this system", the whole dem party is for it. I don't like blanket statements like you're making. Some of us have been fighting this for years. There are 340 million Americans, we aren't all the same.

danans 7y ago

> however I fail to understand why nobody really is up for changing this system,where millions upon millions left woth no choice but to struggle anything but basic medical care. Plenty of people are up for changing it. It is quite literally the center of a huge debate at the moment in the Democratic primary, and there is a broad spectrum of changes being proposed, from Medicare for all with price controls to a slightly modified Obamacare. Only one candidate among those more or less supports the status-quo. And the Republican party is currently avoiding discussing the way they'd like to change the health system (repealing Obamacare, fee for service care) because it isn't particularly popular at the moment. Meanwhile, stories like the ones you see piling up in this thread happen every day.

cpursley 7y ago
> And the Republican party is currently avoiding discussing Are you so sure about that? A republican president recently signed an executive order for more transparent pricing: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/24/735578519/trumps-plan-to-lower-your-hospital-costs-heres-what-you-need-to-know https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/06/24/7355785...
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- danans 7y ago
  The centerpiece of their plan is removing the protections provided by Obamacare, like pre-existing conditions coverage, the state insurance exchanges, and getting rid of the Medicaid expansion. They don't want to talk about any of that right now, even though it was the central refrain of what they ran on 4 years ago. But that's smart actually. They correctly realize that it is political suicide to run on taking health protections away from people at this time.
- foobarbecue 7y ago
  I couldn't believe when I first heard about this -- Trump doing something potentially beneficial. Sounds like it will have no actual impact, but I hope it does.
  - crankylinuxuser 7y ago
    And early on prior to the election, Trump was also talking about repealing Obamacare and putting in single payer. As much as I despise Trump, this idea wasn't terrible. Obamacare/ACA was only a stepping stone. But the republicans had a 'talking' with him. https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709175203/trump-backs-off-obamacare-replacement-after-top-gop-leader-nixes-the-idea https://www.npr.org/2019/04/02/709175203/trump-backs-off-oba...

mikeash 7y ago

Essentially everyone wants to change the system. The problem is that half of the voters want to fix it by having the government provide universal coverage, and half want to fix it by getting government out of the picture as much as possible and letting the market solve everything.

crooked-v 7y ago
Of course, when it comes to health care, 'letting the market solve everything' actually means 'letting poor people die'. Sometimes it even means 'letting poor people die because poor people deserve to die' (look up prosperity gospel).
stjohnswarts 7y ago
That's not true, there is about 70% support for a public option.

stjohnswarts 7y ago

It BS to say "nobody is really up for changing this system", the whole dem party is for it. I don't like blanket statements like you're making. Some of us have been fighting this for years. There are 340 million Americans, we aren't all the same.