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> why the US accepts Because we don't have another option. Your job dictates your insurance, not you, and most jobs explicitly search for insurance companies t

> why the US accepts Because we don't have another option. Your job dictates your insurance, not you, and most jobs explicitly search for insurance companies that don't end up costing them much (but cover enough that people still think they have coverage, maybe). There's stories going around right now about how BlueCrossBlueShield is going to be dictating the amount of time during a surgery that anesthesia will be covered. https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=blue+cross+blue+shield+anesthesia+coverage https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=blue+cross+blue+shield+anes... Of course, these stories are happening after individuals have made their elections for insurance AND after the companies that would be choosing the various insurance companies to pick from would have already selected their projected insurance provider.

delecti 2y ago
> Your job dictates your insurance, not you, and most jobs [...] This is answering the question with a very narrow focus on what any one person can do. Sure, when I filled out my job's open enrollment last month, there was no checkbox labeled "Evil Corporation Insurer (y/n)", but there's no inviolable law of nature that requires the US to be this way.
- xnx 2y ago
  Exactly. There's a lot of talk about trade and other countries "ripping off he US", but almost no mention that the US pay significantly more for the same drugs sold in other countries.
  - MaskedMan 2y ago
    The narrative that we're getting 'ripped off on trade' is a myth. In the real world, when someone says "I got ripped off" it means they were overcharged for something. In politics, getting 'ripped off on trade' means we're being undercharged by foreign countries, which is apparently less desirable than being overcharged by Americans. Seems like the only trade here is a fake rip-off for a real one. I wonder how people would respond to a survey that asked: "Would you support policies that aim to increase foreign drug imports to bring down pharmaceutical prices?" and a follow-up: "If yes, what about lumber, steel, etc?" My guess is that many would say yes to question 1, but not apply the same logic to other goods.
    - pas 2y ago
      Propaganda is very effective when there's some kernel of truth behind it. For this trade deficit question the important context is that some trade partners artificially devalue their currency (relative to the USD) to maintain strong export advantage (which therefore directly disadvantages their own people, since their wages are worth less on the global market, ie. when they are importing they have to pay more, when they are going on a vacation abroad they have to pay more, and this is a large chunk of the "missing trade" (the trade deficit), which translates to missing demand for US exporting sectors. The other important piece of the puzzle is that US residents are also negatively affected by one distinct factor, which is the resource curse of the dollar's reserve currency status. Because due to the exorbitant privilege[1] (of the USD being the de facto global reserve currency) the financial sector is at an advantage compared to other sectors, and it slowly crowds out other economic activity.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege [2] https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-class-politics-of-the-dollar-system/ https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-class-politics-...
- t-writescode 2y ago
  I agree! There's no inviolable law. What there _is_, is too much pain and too many spoons that each and every person needs to manage every day, and most (nearly all) people are unable/unwilling to let even more important things drop. We also have crab mentality in the US, where if one person hopes for, or even gets, something better, they're pulled back down. And we have an efficient, powerful propaganda machine that tricks people into voting against specific areas of their interests - see "I love ACA, but I hate Obamacare" commentary. The work to fix this is terrifyingly hard and *huge* and the people that will choose to fight and improve the situation will be making absolutely enormous sacrifices to do it.
  - Clubber 2y ago
    >I love ACA, but I hate Obamacare To be fair, ACA passed, and here we are. Healthcare companies are making more than they ever did. Have you considered that powerful propaganda machine works both ways? https://www.axios.com/2024/08/08/insurer-profits-health-care-delivery-pharmacy https://www.axios.com/2024/08/08/insurer-profits-health-care...
    - Teever 2y ago
      Maybe that's because profit obsessed entities who are run by evil people are like the Borg in that they adapt and find ways around obstacles.
      - sbalough 2y ago
        Think this is a failure of govt to use capitalism as an effective tool. More competition in the insurer space means non-evil players can afford to manage risk
        t-writescode 2y ago
        When the company you work for is the one that decides on and buys your insurance, not you, how does a particular insurance company's "non-evil-ness" factor in?
anigbrowl 2y ago
Changing the laws is an option. But it's not happening because many of our politicians are corrupt.

delecti 2y ago

> Your job dictates your insurance, not you, and most jobs [...] This is answering the question with a very narrow focus on what any one person can do. Sure, when I filled out my job's open enrollment last month, there was no checkbox labeled "Evil Corporation Insurer (y/n)", but there's no inviolable law of nature that requires the US to be this way.

xnx 2y ago
Exactly. There's a lot of talk about trade and other countries "ripping off he US", but almost no mention that the US pay significantly more for the same drugs sold in other countries.
- MaskedMan 2y ago
  The narrative that we're getting 'ripped off on trade' is a myth. In the real world, when someone says "I got ripped off" it means they were overcharged for something. In politics, getting 'ripped off on trade' means we're being undercharged by foreign countries, which is apparently less desirable than being overcharged by Americans. Seems like the only trade here is a fake rip-off for a real one. I wonder how people would respond to a survey that asked: "Would you support policies that aim to increase foreign drug imports to bring down pharmaceutical prices?" and a follow-up: "If yes, what about lumber, steel, etc?" My guess is that many would say yes to question 1, but not apply the same logic to other goods.
  - pas 2y ago
    Propaganda is very effective when there's some kernel of truth behind it. For this trade deficit question the important context is that some trade partners artificially devalue their currency (relative to the USD) to maintain strong export advantage (which therefore directly disadvantages their own people, since their wages are worth less on the global market, ie. when they are importing they have to pay more, when they are going on a vacation abroad they have to pay more, and this is a large chunk of the "missing trade" (the trade deficit), which translates to missing demand for US exporting sectors. The other important piece of the puzzle is that US residents are also negatively affected by one distinct factor, which is the resource curse of the dollar's reserve currency status. Because due to the exorbitant privilege[1] (of the USD being the de facto global reserve currency) the financial sector is at an advantage compared to other sectors, and it slowly crowds out other economic activity.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exorbitant_privilege [2] https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-class-politics-of-the-dollar-system/ https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/the-class-politics-...
t-writescode 2y ago
I agree! There's no inviolable law. What there _is_, is too much pain and too many spoons that each and every person needs to manage every day, and most (nearly all) people are unable/unwilling to let even more important things drop. We also have crab mentality in the US, where if one person hopes for, or even gets, something better, they're pulled back down. And we have an efficient, powerful propaganda machine that tricks people into voting against specific areas of their interests - see "I love ACA, but I hate Obamacare" commentary. The work to fix this is terrifyingly hard and *huge* and the people that will choose to fight and improve the situation will be making absolutely enormous sacrifices to do it.
- Clubber 2y ago
  >I love ACA, but I hate Obamacare To be fair, ACA passed, and here we are. Healthcare companies are making more than they ever did. Have you considered that powerful propaganda machine works both ways? https://www.axios.com/2024/08/08/insurer-profits-health-care-delivery-pharmacy https://www.axios.com/2024/08/08/insurer-profits-health-care...
  - Teever 2y ago
    Maybe that's because profit obsessed entities who are run by evil people are like the Borg in that they adapt and find ways around obstacles.
    - sbalough 2y ago
      Think this is a failure of govt to use capitalism as an effective tool. More competition in the insurer space means non-evil players can afford to manage risk
      - t-writescode 2y ago
        When the company you work for is the one that decides on and buys your insurance, not you, how does a particular insurance company's "non-evil-ness" factor in?

anigbrowl 2y ago

Changing the laws is an option. But it's not happening because many of our politicians are corrupt.