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What baffles me are these people who constantly show up to defend the US health care system, when there is clearly a plethora of real end user testimony showing

What baffles me are these people who constantly show up to defend the US health care system, when there is clearly a plethora of real end user testimony showing how detrimental it is to the health of most United States citizens. Maybe HN isn't the best site to discuss this on, I'm guessing most of you work for some large tech sector business that offers good insurance. But most of the world is not made up of tech workers.

grecy 3y ago
I think it's very common for Americans with decent insurance to not want universal healthcare, and be afraid they'll pay waaaaay more in tax. They think the system is fine as it is, because they've never put it to the test. Then they have some catastrophic incident (car crash, cancer, heart attack, etc. etc.) and they're bankrupt in a few years and become very, very strong proponents of universal healthcare. I think it's exceptionally hard for people to understand the system until it personally impacts their life in a very big way. I'm not sure what to do about it. Maybe as a start every health insurance provider should be forced to provide facts about customers with the same insurance who had catastrophic events and how that worked out for them over 3-5 years.
supertrope 3y ago
If you have a good job and don’t have any chronic medical conditions and have never been hospitalized and no one you care about has experienced those things the US medical-industrial complex is fine. Healthy Americans want the payroll deductions for health insurance employee contribution, Medicare, Social Security, income tax to be as small as possible. When we get sick or injured we want no wait highest quality maximum intervention medical care and low co-pays.
nitwit005 3y ago
There's a lot of willful denial of reality when it comes to health care, but even when that doesn't happen, a lot of discussions just end up being people explaining how things work to others. The Veterans Health Administration is a huge sprawling thing. A lot of people aren't aware it exists.
vkou 3y ago
It's easy to maintain an unfair political system, as long as your base of support is better off than some underclass. It makes them feel valued and special, all while your hand's in their pocket. Why should I care about Bob's healthcare problems, I am healthy and have a good job, I'm currently comfortable. (Observe the recent death of Joe the Plumber, and his family's immediate followup was starting a fundraiser to pay for his accrued medical bills. All for a man who spent his rather low-profile and sad political career campaigning, among other things, against healthcare reform.)
throw10920 3y ago
Where are these > people who constantly show up to defend the US health care system that you're claiming exist? I don't see any of them.
- CatWChainsaw 3y ago
  Check gaulish further down in comments.
  - throw10920 3y ago
    OK, that's one commentator in this thread. Not even "people", just n=1. It sure seems like GP is engaging in hyperbole to push an agenda.
    - CatWChainsaw 3y ago
      I could start keeping tabs of other healthcare threads and the comments defending to make your N robust enough for you to think that more than one person in the US is defending the healthcare system as-is, if you'd like.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]

grecy 3y ago

I think it's very common for Americans with decent insurance to not want universal healthcare, and be afraid they'll pay waaaaay more in tax. They think the system is fine as it is, because they've never put it to the test. Then they have some catastrophic incident (car crash, cancer, heart attack, etc. etc.) and they're bankrupt in a few years and become very, very strong proponents of universal healthcare. I think it's exceptionally hard for people to understand the system until it personally impacts their life in a very big way. I'm not sure what to do about it. Maybe as a start every health insurance provider should be forced to provide facts about customers with the same insurance who had catastrophic events and how that worked out for them over 3-5 years.

supertrope 3y ago

If you have a good job and don’t have any chronic medical conditions and have never been hospitalized and no one you care about has experienced those things the US medical-industrial complex is fine. Healthy Americans want the payroll deductions for health insurance employee contribution, Medicare, Social Security, income tax to be as small as possible. When we get sick or injured we want no wait highest quality maximum intervention medical care and low co-pays.

nitwit005 3y ago

There's a lot of willful denial of reality when it comes to health care, but even when that doesn't happen, a lot of discussions just end up being people explaining how things work to others. The Veterans Health Administration is a huge sprawling thing. A lot of people aren't aware it exists.

vkou 3y ago

It's easy to maintain an unfair political system, as long as your base of support is better off than some underclass. It makes them feel valued and special, all while your hand's in their pocket. Why should I care about Bob's healthcare problems, I am healthy and have a good job, I'm currently comfortable. (Observe the recent death of Joe the Plumber, and his family's immediate followup was starting a fundraiser to pay for his accrued medical bills. All for a man who spent his rather low-profile and sad political career campaigning, among other things, against healthcare reform.)

throw10920 3y ago

Where are these > people who constantly show up to defend the US health care system that you're claiming exist? I don't see any of them.

CatWChainsaw 3y ago
Check gaulish further down in comments.
- throw10920 3y ago
  OK, that's one commentator in this thread. Not even "people", just n=1. It sure seems like GP is engaging in hyperbole to push an agenda.
  - CatWChainsaw 3y ago
    I could start keeping tabs of other healthcare threads and the comments defending to make your N robust enough for you to think that more than one person in the US is defending the healthcare system as-is, if you'd like.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]