The Best Healthcare Insurance in the USA, Is Worthless to Those Who Do Not Have It

[JoeOtterbein]

I have had "insurance" most of my adult life from my employers, now I have it from my wife's job. For one year I was on an "Obamacare" plan, and my family had an O-plan for another year.

Please do not attack me because I've been a solid Dem vote for over 40 years and I feel I have spent enough time and paid enough taxes enough to complain that we still do not have Universal Healthcare in the USA.

And the emotional, physical and financial pain left by the lack of what I call "Healthcare Worth" for me, my friends, my community and my family, has left myself in tears many more times than I even dare to compute.

Just as it left this gentleman at a Bernie Rally in tears:

[link:https://www.mediaite.com/election-2020/cnns-mark-mckinnon-praises-bernie-sanders-humanity-for-empathic-response-to-veteran-who-threatened-suicide-at-town-hall/|

Now maybe you have the best insurance, and the best healthcare in the world. Maybe you fought for it along with your union, or even at the company you work for, and you love it and do not want to "lose" it.

But that does not help the child in Flint suffering from contaminated water. Or the old guy in West Virginia suffering from contaminated work places. Or anyone else who is not fortunate enough to have the same great healthcare.

I can't see how anyone can begrudge a child with cancer, or an old man on his deathbed the best of care regardless of their personal wealth. Most of us will not let that happen in plain sight.

But, it may seem easier to tell an adult who appears healthy that he does not deserve the same care, until you see him break down in public.

Every human intelligent enough to vote can support Medicare for All if we understand that we all need it. Everyday without it, we have failed those who cannot afford to stay healthy.

I know this because everyday I curse fate, our very own "healthcare system", and curse and shed tears for my own failure to help us all understand USA Universal Healthcare's urgent importance after all these years.

Thinking of my friends, family and others, many now gone over the years, and the problems they should not have had to suffer. And once again the damn tears flow...

[Hoyt]

1. Get it. Everyone should be covered as soon as possible. But, yeah, there is a "but"

But, Medicare-for-All will not get enacted anytime soon. Worse, running on that could well mean trump -- or whatever GOPer takes his place -- wins in 2020. That would be catastrophic for health coverage.

I believe the Public Option -- with adequate subsidies to ensure everyone can get affordable insurance without high deductibles, copays, etc. -- is the way to campaign. If a Dem is elected Prez, we keep House, and get close in Senate, MFA still might be possible. But, don't run on that "damn bill."

If the PO is anywhere near as good as we think, people, and businesses, will gravitate toward it quickly. In five to 10 years, 70% or more could be covered by the PO, making converting everyone to "Medicare-for-All" doable.

Everyone needs coverage, without question.

[dflprincess]

2. Everyone needs access to healthcare, not coverage. They are two very different things.

If we let the private insurers keep operating with a public option, I will guarantee you that the monoliths like UnitedHealth Group will do all they can to undercut the public option and make sure it fails. (Just as they are going after Medicare with their "Advantage" plans.)

Even if they lose money for a few years they will offer their product at a lower cost and they'll find a way to push the sickest and oldest on to the PO.

What will make a public option work is everybody being in the pool. It will only succeed if the healthy people are part of it in large numbers.

[Hoyt]

4. A Public Option will be like Medicare or Medicaid.

[dflprincess]

5. A public option needs to be better than Medicare or Medicaid if it is meant to succeed.

I've reached Medicare age & I'm not impressed at what I've learned about it. Granted, I'm in the very small percentage of people who are lucky enough to have insurance through my employer that is cheaper for me (both my share of the premiums & my out of pockets) than Medicare would be and has better coverage. I'd already planned to keep working to at least 70 so I can keep my employer's insurance for a few more years.

If the PO were to be modeled after anything I'd suggest something more like MSHO (Minnesota Senior Health Options). It's a program for low income seniors that combines Medicare & Medicaid. It has extremely low copays, covers presecriptions, vision, and hearing (including hearing aids). The only thing it lacks is dental which is odd given the link between dental health & cardio vascular problems. Open a program like that up to everyone & it would be popular.

[Hoyt]

8. That's a problem we're going to have difficulty overcoming, people who aren't happy

with any significant improvements.

For example, I think getting dental coverage anytime soon is all but impossible, especially the seemingly unlimited coverage Sanders and Warren seem to be promising. In the first year, most of us who have been putting it off would spend thousands of dollars. It would have to be limited coverage.

If we keep loading things on, we’ll get nothing, maybe worse when trump is re-elected.

[elocs]

22. "Medicare-for-All will not get enacted anytime soon."

But you won't get any of the big supporters of MFA to admit that because they hold out the false hope that it will happen soon which it won't if it ever does.

[JI7]

3. Sanders has been in office for years. why didn't he do anything ?

[dflprincess]

6. How does one senator get a bill passed

when it takes 60 to get anything done?

[JI7]

10. why hasn't he tried to get support for it. it's the same with any other bill

when Vermont tried to get it Sanders did nothing.

[Hoyt]

11. That's the reality of the situation that some candidates keep ignoring.

[Hortensis]

7. Yes, Otter, a lesson you should face instead of imagining

others need it more than you. A transition to another system, absurdly similar to the one trashed, would create a great opportunity for Republicans to hit and destroy weak points.

[House of Roberts]

9. Did you mean to refer to the ACA?

Because that's what you just described. A 'system, absurdly similar to the one just trashed'. The Republicans DID hit and destroy a LOT of weak points with their lawsuits, leaving us with the shell the ACA is now.

[Hortensis]

12. You have a distorted view of the ACA reality.

I suggest broadening your sources of information. I hope you do realize that the attacks on the ACA would continue even if it had transitioned to a second incremental stage name of MfA?

The people the Republicans serve intend to destroy all such programs.

[JoeOtterbein]

13. I don't have to imagine. I've been there.

Faint hearts never inspired, let alone help anyone. If we want the repubs to vote Dem then we need to give them what they think other already have with healthcare.

BTW, who cares what the repubs "hit and destroy". They are fools who follow Trump like puppies. We need to treat them as such. We should never give them the respect of our fear.

[Hortensis]

15. No, you have not been there. We speak of the future.

And only someone who doesn't fear losing his own healthcare could say "who cares." But even many of those could care.

As for denying "respect of our fear," stepping carefully away from a cliff instead "denying it" fear is basic competence. Please consider more thoughtfully where the lives of many millions of others are involved. My opinion is that we owe it to them and ourselves.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. I often say I have the Republican health care plan.

I don't get sick.

As it happens, I'm extremely healthy, for which I'm extremely grateful. Everyone should be as healthy as I am. And anyone who is not, should get full and free coverage for whatever goes wrong.

Perhaps what's most mind-boggling about those who oppose any kind of universal coverage, is that most of them aren't all that healthy themselves. I know, I'm projecting a bit here but I look around me and see the reality. I'm 71. Most people my age have some sort of chronic condition. As do lots of younger folks. So okay, I could rant about smoking and poor eating habits and not exercising, but in the end, people with health care issues should be taken care of. Period.

Don't get me wrong. I'm the original anti-smoking Nazi. And I'm capable of being very judgemental about obese people. But still, I believe that health care is a fundamental human right.

Oh, and we need to expand our medical schools while we're at it. Not enough doctors. That needs to be fixed.

[Hortensis]

16. +1000.

Our party's official and moral position is universal healthcare. All our candidates advocate universal healthcare. That's our reality.

[AlexSFCA]

17. Medicare has the worst possible pool

I think the best we can do right now is to offer medicare on the exchanges, just like it was supposed to be from the beginning but public option provision got killed in the senate. However, I don’t know if Medicare option will be cheaper than private and what impact it will have on Medicare as is for seniors currently receiving care.

[MurrayDelph]

18. We have the best insurance available in our county in Oregon

My wife's insurance (I'm on Medicare) costs us nearly $1500/month. My wife needed surgery to fix a complication from a surgery we'd both had 4.5 years ago, before Marco "Rubles" Rubio destroyed the non-profit insurers portion of Obamacare.

If I had needed the surgery, Medicare would have covered me without blinking. But since my wife just turned 63, her insurance wouldn't cover it, so we had to remortgage the house to pay for her surgery.

So I don't care if we call it Medicare For All, or Single Payer, or Universal Healthcare, or Fuck You Joe Lieberman, we need to fix the system so people can get the treatments they need when they need them.

(I just read the above to my wife. She thinks we should call it the "Fuck You, Joe Lieberman and the Marco Rubio You Rode in On Bill of 2020" )

[JoeOtterbein]

19. I love your wife's name suggestion best!

[Gothmog]

20. Warren and Sanders say Americans don't like their health insurance. Polls don't back that up

Link to tweet

[Claritie Pixie]

21. Totally agree! It's about health CARE, not health insurance.

This country has the means to provide comprehensive health care to every man, woman, and child whether they're employed or not.

Our current for-profit system only benefits those lucky enough to have a job or the money to access it. Everyone else is suffering, and yes, dying.

It's wrong. Health care is a human right.

[elocs]

23. "Please do not attack me because I've been a solid Dem vote for over 40 years ..."

Me too but that would stop you from being branded a "DINO" or "Republican Lite" if you are not sufficiently liberal enough for some and don't pass their purity tests.

[NYMinute]

24. This is of no significance

This is like saying "The best restaurant in the US is worthless to those who can't afford it"

or

"The best car in the US is worthless to those who can't afford it."

or

many more analogies

[Blue_true]

25. Exactly. And we must solve that problem. The debate in our primary is how to best do it. nt