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Mutual aid fraternal societies used to be widespread and provided things like cheap healthcare services. Then various government policies led to their demise:

by pitaj 4y ago

Mutual aid fraternal societies used to be widespread and provided things like cheap healthcare services. Then various government policies led to their demise: - social security / medicare - AMA licensure monopoly - minimum lodge rates http://www.freenation.org/a/f12l3.html http://www.freenation.org/a/f12l3.html

ceejayoz 4y ago
There might have been a few more aspects to the decision to implement those policies.
jasmer 4y ago
Capitalism lead to the demise. Capitalism is 'mutual' aid, we just exchange with 'aid credits' aka 'money' and it's vastly more efficient because people can choose their form of 'aid': books, food, video games, and chose their form of 'contribution' via division of labour aka one guy fixes cars the other makes coats. The healthcare one is complicated. Blank panthers are better off just giving money to people if they need breakfast. Now, of course we get into the ugly problem that said people may not be spending those 'aid credits' appropriately in which case you end up down an ugly dark hole of social realpolitik that people don't want to go down ...
blep_ 4y ago
This sounds... not actually that much better, just bad in different ways? Healthcare should be a thing everyone just has by default, not a thing you have to (in practice) get by joining a group that comes with tradeoffs for other parts of your life[0]. I should be able to replace a bad doctor immediately without switching insurance companies or waiting for the rest of my insurance company to vote on it. [0] Which, yes, is approximately the employer-provided system we have today. This is absolutely not intended as a defense of that disaster.
dennis_jeeves1 4y ago
A solution to this government interference appears to be to clandestinely form these fraternal societies, similar to what certain persecuted religious groups did.

by pitaj 4y ago

ceejayoz 4y ago

There might have been a few more aspects to the decision to implement those policies.

jasmer 4y ago

Capitalism lead to the demise. Capitalism is 'mutual' aid, we just exchange with 'aid credits' aka 'money' and it's vastly more efficient because people can choose their form of 'aid': books, food, video games, and chose their form of 'contribution' via division of labour aka one guy fixes cars the other makes coats. The healthcare one is complicated. Blank panthers are better off just giving money to people if they need breakfast. Now, of course we get into the ugly problem that said people may not be spending those 'aid credits' appropriately in which case you end up down an ugly dark hole of social realpolitik that people don't want to go down ...

blep_ 4y ago

This sounds... not actually that much better, just bad in different ways? Healthcare should be a thing everyone just has by default, not a thing you have to (in practice) get by joining a group that comes with tradeoffs for other parts of your life[0]. I should be able to replace a bad doctor immediately without switching insurance companies or waiting for the rest of my insurance company to vote on it. [0] Which, yes, is approximately the employer-provided system we have today. This is absolutely not intended as a defense of that disaster.

dennis_jeeves1 4y ago

A solution to this government interference appears to be to clandestinely form these fraternal societies, similar to what certain persecuted religious groups did.