Deliberate class warfare by super-rich against poor

And now the class warfare is against the rich ... I’m not sure if I want to live in that world either.

Literally the only difference between us and the rich is that they have accumulated vast wealth and use it against us. Other than that, they are people just like us.

Yet, somehow, the people who accumulate the most wealth in history regularly screw the poor so bad, violent revolution occurs.

Maybe, just maybe, we should have always been against anyone who hoards wealth.

and more surprise baseball games, right lads?

Most ppl are against war

Its it's just that they know that no matter who they vote for. What they promised. Who it is. There will always be war

nah just look at other countries which are not in a perpetual state of war. It's far from inevitable, just get your shit together

Its absolutely a conspiracy but good luck getting political commentators / leftists / economists to talk about it like that. Or even other conspiracy theorists!

I think we should be looking more closely at what private corporations are doing because that is clearly where the action is, conspiracy wise. What happens in washington is basically stage management at this point, theater. (Unless we are talking about what the intelligence agencies are doing or what is going on inside the pentagon.)

If you want Medicare for all, vote for Democrats.

The democrats are working overtime to shut down medicare for all,fyi

Then they would vote for the tax bill.

Actually more and more Democrats are getting on board. Good chance single-payer will be part of the party platform in 2020.

Yes, that is probably what they will do to mesmerize the growing number of people who support Sanders and are joining the DSA. That does not mean they will actually do it in office -- they can always point at the Republicans and say, "they wouldn't let us do it!"

The democrats routinely kill healthcare legislation like a public option during obama's first time, and legislation that even far right republicans support, such as the bill which would make it legal for americans to buy their perscription drugs from Canada. Even now most of them won't make even a symbolic show of support for Sanders' medicare for all bill.

The democrats will not do anything to help anyone. Their job is to neutralize leftist political movements and shut down popular political policies that are left of the desires of the ruling class. If single payer or a public option ever comes to america, it will be in spite of the democrats, and anyone who is serious about fixing the american health care system should abandon the democratic party and their internal politics.

Almost all Democrats were in favor of a public option...

It was only reluctantly added to the platform in 2016 because of Sander's campaign -- it would not have been on there otherwise. This is the party which openly and unapologetically cheated in their own primary elections to elevate a woman who said that single payer was impossible and would never happen in the United States. Then when she suddenly starts supporting a public option in the middle of a political campaign against a leftist insurgent, we are supposed to believe the party is serious about fighting for a public option? The party that cheated to sabotage a real reformer in favor of a woman who literally told her wall street masters that she has a public position and another, different, private position? You need to stop playing their game imo. They work for the health insurance companies.

Except their leaders. How convenient.

The speaker and majority leader both wanted it. Who are you referring to?

Gee, who else could be involved? Maybe the President??

He also wanted a public option. A strong one. Are you new to politics?

Except he caved like a wuss and gave insurance companies a golden ticket.

He also bailed out banks and wall street.

Are you new to conspiracy?

Please, please look up right-wing articles that point out local lefts who rejected healthcare options on state levels. Both sides are bought and paid for, at every level.

Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money. Follow the money.

Actually? cool. Democrats also have a habit of taking brilliant 3rd party solutions to take away any momentum of having parties that represent workers or the people and instead this two party shit show we've had for ages.

No thanks. I'll vote Green/Workers/99% parties til I die.

Why even waste your time voting in that case?

1 hour of my time every 2 years is a small expense of my time.

Similar to last time Democrats were voted for?

Wealth and power has so completely transferred into the private sector that basically the government is wholly illusory. The finance people control the entire countries wealth (and much of the WORLD's wealth) and have massive, completely unaccountable power. Until ecological collapse destroys the present mode of civilization, the government's main job is to dismantle itself and misdirect people's energies. Besides that, all it will be allowed to do is steal money from poor people and put it to use for society's masters, such as to fund the police state or military action against states which don't fall in line with neoliberal economic doctrine.

Banks make money.. or should

Big Government healthcare wastes money..

Medicare is much more efficient than private health care and happens to be the most popular coverage plan by large amount. Private healthcare companies provide no real benefit and siphon off prophets as a rapacious middleman. This is why America has the most expensive Health Care in the world and it's not even close. Stop parroting the propagandized talking points of the right wing. They're not on your side.

leftists

Dude, what? That is literally all leftists talk about. This is why socialists advocate for socialism, because ownership of capital in our society is equivalent to ownership of power, and that power has been and always will be leveraged against the working class.

Even forgetting socialism, if you want "pro capitalism, but anti-corporate/"big capital", that's pretty much descriptive of other leftie ideologies like Left-Wing Market Anarchism, which opposes corporations on the grounds that they give undeserved and unfair state privileges to specific businesses.

Liberals are shitty treacherous dogs who'd all us all out for a good speech and a song, but leftists are absolutely the staunchest opponents of oligarchy in existence.

He’s trolling. Don’t engage.

You misunderstand me, I agree with much of your post and definitely leftists are interested in and talk about the stuff the OP is talking about. What I meant to say before, is that leftists DONT talk about power in terms of a conspiracy theory. They talk about it in a number of different ways, none of which are satisfactory and none of which offer any solutions in my view (you may or may not agree, but that isn't even the point I'm arguing for now, I just mention it to explain where I'm coming from).

The reason why I called out leftists in my post is because I think a 'conspiracy' way-of-thinking (if you can kind of understand what I'm talking about?) is missing from their critique of power. Like I'd like to see them start mapping out power relationships on a bulletin board with notecards connected by string, talking about specific people and specific institutions, concrete problems, instead of german idealism and 'capital', in the case of the marxists. Leftists seem to be really averse to conspiracy-minded thinking, for some reason. Chomsky is a good example.

Anyway we can discuss this more at length if you want but I just wanted to clarify what I was saying.

From an outside perspective your lack of a nationalised health system does seem crazy. I think it's in part due to your two party system. Without a workers Labour party you missed out on healthcare sick leave, maternity/ paternity pay and decent amount of payed holidays that other countries enjoy. More parties representing the poor would help.

The left, the democrats USED to be the party of the people that same way. They became corporate whores and many still haven't noticed.

They didn't become shit: they've always been corporate mouthpieces. This isn't to say that the Republicans aren't worse, but the Dems have never been a party for the common man.

Fair enough. They used to at least pretend though.

Haymarket affair.
Operation May Day.
holidays swept under the rug here for worker's right to 8 hour work days.

Ehhh you're not wrong of late but the policy passed by FDR was very pro-common man

That's because the alternative was socialist and popular revolts over the failures of the market. FDR is credited by many for saving capitalism in America, whether that's a good thing or not.

Fair point

The biggest problem is the apathy. People have NOT noticed the shift. The people have yet to realize the Democrats are corporate whores and continue to vote for them instead of making a new labor/workers party.

Green party is pretty solid on that front.

The US is a colony/slave state designed to profit the UK and EU 1%ers.

By poor, do you mean young people under 25 years old who make up 30% of the population? Should older people who make more money from experience and sustained work histories be punished because young people dont make a lot of money because they're young?

There are plenty of people your age who are suffering that same status. Low 'skill and experience' jobs NEED WORKERS.

By poor I meant the lowest third of earners regardless of age.

I recently took an economics class. The professor explained that economists have been using super computers for years to determine how to set prices on a regional scale. This formula takes into account rent and property costs and salary then the products are all assigned a category and percentage. So if you live in a low property cost area your food might be more expensive or cars might be more expensive.if you live in a high cost of living area then your food might be cheaper or maybe daycares are cheaper but your rent is very expensive. This is why no matter if you are college educated or a tradesmen everyone is trapped. When the professor talked about this I thought how is this capitalism? It's price fixing and gouging and it is done on a massive scale by these global conglomerates.

There was something 5/7 years back where a team of economists developed a global commodities price software program (can't remember the exact name). It sounded like the same thing you are talking about. Then it was bought and kept secret before release. I wish I had the link or could remember where to find it (ZeroHedge covered it).

Anyone remember this?

I heard about it in July. No one in the class was creeped out by it. In fact it seems this is common knowledge. Every price we pay is quantified by a complex system that measures our ability to pay for it. All that data mining is being put to good use.

This sounds like bs. If you're in a low property value area, in other words a low income area, there's a lower limit to how high you can set your prices before people stop buying products. In a high property value area, you can set prices much higher while keeping customers. The assumption made is that the people in the low property value and high property value regions have the same income when they most likely don't. This is why people complain about gentrification; when property values start to go up in a low income neighborhood, higher priced businesses open up because they now have the opportunity of reaching a higher income clientele. Also if there are regional differences in prices on certain goods, it opens up arbitrage opportunities which tightens the spread between the low price where the product is bought and the high price where it is sold. Price gouging isn't unethical and the only entity that fixes prices is the Government.

I did not say it was price gouging. I said super computers are utiliz d by conglomerates to set prices to gain max profits. If prices are too low the business loses money. Too high and no one buys. Except this is done on a massive regional scale taking wages and housing into account. Needs verses wants.

You need to think bigger. The computer models take wages into account, they know where people shop and who their target customer is. People on government assistance shop in the dollar store people who earn more shop in upscale stores. Price gouging is unethical if you charge one price to people in one income bracket and a different price to those in a different bracket. Price fixing is done by corporations all the time just look at pharma and health care. The government enables this. In fact I will go a step further in medical industry the correct term is predatory pricing.

I think you're agreeing with me to an extent. What you said before was they charge lower prices for certain goods in high property value areas, and higher prices for the same goods in low property value areas. What you're saying now seems to be that they charge higher prices in high income areas, and lower prices in low income areas. I don't think this is unethical primarily because every transaction is voluntary, but people can also travel to different neighborhoods if the prices are that much better and competition will undercut artificially inflated prices.

As for price gouging, it is necessary when there are supply shortages. For instance, during the recent hurricanes there were shortages of food and water. Higher prices for those goods will entice producers to bring food and water to the area, because it is profitable to do so. Same thing with Uber's "surge" pricing -- it entices drivers to give rides during emergencies, like the Sydney terrorist attack, which the drivers deserve because they are putting themselves in danger. When it comes to medications, say for rare diseases, it is necessary for pharma corps to charge high prices in order to recoup the R&D costs to produce the drugs in the first place, and when very few people have the disease the cost is spread over less people. There is more research I need to do into healthcare, insurance and the government's involvement with it though so I don't have much else to say about that issue.

And no I don't work for a corporation haha, I'm just interested in economics. I follow the Austrian school, we get maligned quite often but if you're interested you can learn more at mises.org.

Setting prices on a regional scale is not a neighborhood price a region of a country is vast. Not based on a neighborhood. Again we are not talking about a mom and pop shop selling milk. This is a complex system in which one area will charge a range for automobiles and a different range for insurance. Both are needs and it is not feasible to drive to another region however many dealers do just that. They purchase cars in a lower priced region and resell them in higher priced region. That is simple business and profits. This is common knowledge. What is not common knowledge is that these prices are set based on ability to pay as assessed by a super computer in conjunction with other goods so that everyone gets a slice of the pie. It is done with disclosure to the consumer. There are no consumer groups that can negotiate prices or rates and there is no way for the consumer to not buy necessities. I am not questioning that a company can set their price, I have a problem with them using income data mined on a broad scale and sharing data among other conglomerates while the consumer has no recourse to influence those prices. Necessities are not wants and must be bought....we are not talking about tv's.

car insurance falls prey to your argument. I live in a higher income area, and my insurance is absurdly high compared to peers 50 miles away, despite having a flawless record. It's 'our algorithm though, can't explain it.'

How is this price fixing? It's not competitors agreeing to raise prices and leave consumers with no choice. It's just a business finding out how much people will pay for something and charging that amount. It's a computer attempting to remove trial and error from a calculation of supply and demand. Basic capitalism that hurts no one.

They are not making an educated guess though. Data mining eliminates the guess work. If you need food whether you like it or not you are going to pay 24% of your income in food. There is no choice when it comes to basic needs. So the price is not set based on cost but rather solid data of how much you have in your wallet. That might not creep you out but most people would be very disturbed that conglomerates are basing price on ability to pay and not costs. In addition this is how hospitals set their prices, if an insurance pays out 1000 for a test then that test is priced at 1000, another persons insurance pays only 500 for that same test. The actual term for setting prices based on insurances pay scales is called predatory pricing. It is considered very unethical. To do that to a consumer without disclosing it is predatory and not transparent.

I live in Australia if I'm buying anything online i switch my vpn to UK and use my Uk bank and send it to Australia as a present to save money. Multinationals up the price because they know Aussies will pay more for things it's scandalous.

Interesting way to get around that.

My problem with single payer is that I don't trust our government to do it right. Single payer only saves money when the payer negotiates prices aggressively. Medicare already doesn't negotiate any prescription drug prices. I don't see any reason why a more universal single payer system wouldn't fall prey to the same lobbyists and obstruction.

It would require a paradigm shift and reevaluation of the system. Will the lobbying structure and power of big pharma/insurance companies go quietly, or shift? Will the obstructors within the major parties allow it to pass? The system is absolutely ingrained as it stands.

OP is very right about mass, involuntary subsidizing of those industries, not to mention how much the common person has had to pay to maintain the shitty wars on drugs and terror.

Because that's the function of the State under Capitalism: Benefit the rich as possible while keeping the peasantry from rising up.

It's taken me a long time to come to this conclusion and really believe it, but I believe we have the government we deserve right now. People need to stop "asking", and start demanding answers from their corrupt congressmen and women. But it won't happen.

How? On the phones or computers where they compete with billionaire and millionaire bots/PACs that confuse and flood the lines?

When? On those, MAYBE 2 DAYS off they get a week, if that, and if consistently? The most needful people who feel the policies are the ones with less free time for it.

What worked for South Korea in Dec 2016 was rallying 2% of the country to the biggest city and congesting all work traffic to a grinding halt. We tried something similar with the women's march. Nearly 2% of the US marched around the country. It wasn't enough business-halt-grind to make capitalism even wince.

Single payer doesn't work for the military, either, bucko.

People constantly vote in politicians who openly state that they support these things. There is no conspiracy, only a stupid public.

Sad but true.

Are they stupid though? When a guy like Sanders had so much support & yet it was literally snatched from him by the opposition.

We are a country that elected Trump. So, yes, it is very clear the voting public is pretty dumb.

Obviously he convinced many of the people that are being fucked over by the government that he would help them. Nobody could actually predict whether he would have help or not before his presidency started. Can you blame someone for being hopeful?

Nobody could actually predict whether he would have help or not before his presidency started.

Most people who pay attention and are objectively rational realized that he would be ineffectual if not a disaster. There were tons of people, from both sides of the isle, talking about how bad he would be.

The guy consistently verifiably lied. The guy consistently made remarks that made it clear that he didn't understand. They guy consistently revealed that he didn't have the temperament for the job. We are in a period of anti-establishment, which is understandable, but that doesn't mean it isn't dumb to vote for any damn fool who walks in off the street simply because they are anti-establishment.

I don't blame them for not being hopeful, I was hoping I was wrong about it, but I do blame them for not paying attention or not thinking about it rationally.

What other choice was there for people? Sanders?

Oh let's just give it to Clinton this one time and we'll vote for the next anti-establishment politician. Whether Trump is shit or not, you can't blame people for voting for him based on what he ran on.

While I had little interest in Clinton, she was clearly better suited to the role than Trump.

And I can blame them, he proved himself a clueless liar over and over again throughout the race. Pretty much everything bad about Clinton, Trump was worse about, except for being "establishment." Hell, even then it is hard to call him anti-establishment, because he was wealthy and well connected, even in the political scene.

I've got no problem calling people who voted for him stupid. He duped them. And it was obvious what was happening if you weren't so focused on voting anti-establishment.

There's been a rising minority, among the libertarians and greens. Both have nearly tripled in vote number over the last 3 elections.
libbys: .3% > 1% > .9%
greens: .1% > .3% > .3%
The two establishments won't win forever.

He didn't win the popular vote so, yaaaa

The amount of effort they put into convincing the public that universal healthcare is bad is a conspiracy.

Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor

Fuck that— Plain old Imperial Court for the rich.

These people make Caligula look like a boy-scout.

So let’s make socialism.. for... everyone??

There was. The United States decided they didn't want anyone to have that conversation and destabilized governments to prevent socialist revolution and did things like punishing Cuba just for being socialist for sixty years. Our news equates social programs in South American countries with "socialism" and always presents it as the "failure of socialism." Maybe just maybe those news organizations all being capitalist organizations owned by Trusts has something to do with that.

The internet is the only reason we have been able to discuss socialism at all in decades.

Our news equates social programs in South American countries with "socialism" and always presents it as the "failure of socialism."

Don't forget that they ignore countries where socialist policies work. Or they point to certain times where the systems failed people and present them as reasons to why (for example) Canada's health system is a hellhole where people are dying on the streets.

We are slaves for the profit of the 1%. Wake up to it!

we're all awake. what do whisperingPenis?

Well, we could do AmRev2, but a lot of people would die, and a lot of tanks would be destroyed along with people's houses and buildings etc.

We could start a 3rd political party, like the Greens or the Tea Party or something. But, considering that the system is designed to prevent a 3rd party from becoming a major force, we can see that it may not work.

We could drown our sorrows in alcohol or drugs. But, you know how that story ends.

So, I guess the answer is a parallel economy like Bitcoin or the Black Panthers in the 60s with a parallel society. But, it would be way hard to do...

Your ideas?

What enlightening suggestions from a whisperingPenis. I'm leaning toward a combination of 1 and 2. The US has grown soft in terms of protest, at least since Vietnam was the last major revolutionary/violent protesting. A departure from the twoparty system with some heavy/extreme protesting overshadowing the recent women's march would be a good step. "Guide to Civil Disobedience" is my recommended read for everyone.

Bitcoin will likely continue to rise on its own with the "Ubering" Peer-to-peer markets of remaining industries throughout the next few decades. With luck, the financial/economic repercussions of parallel currencies can shatter governments and industries. We would just need to embrace it.

We are slaves for the profit of the 1%. Wake up to it!

The system clearly needs to reformed, on nearly every aspect. Government has differing roles to play in offering some level of coverage at state and national levels, but the system does not need to be nationalized.

The reason for that is because they would then be on the hook to pay the lion's share of the costs to treat the people that get sick from the poisons they inflict on them. Unprofitable!

It's a goddamned declaration of war. No one likes the truth but there it is.

Conflating health insurance with the whole of the issue of access to healthcare is a bit nonsensical. Insurance companies are only part of the issue. It's just not that simple. Calling for single payer healthcare as a response to rising healthcare costs is like putting out a campfire with a fire hose. To investigate the issue completely, you have to look at the whole of the west. International pharmaceutical corporations sell to an array of markets, some with more price regulations than others. To make up for lost profits from regulated markets, they over charge unregulated markets. Your $25 pain medicine in the UK is part of why the same medicine costs me $75 in America, when the price needs to be about $50. Price regulations on international companies have to take into consideration international markets. 100 years ago if you tried to put a price ceilings on domestic drugs that made the production of drugs unprofitable, you couldn't do it. You'd kill the industry. Nowadays you can get away with it no problem, they'll just subsidize the lost profits by charging more in another market in another country.

Healthcare facility costs are excessive, overly grandiose and decadent. There is a greater emphasis on amenities and luxury than healthcare. Go to a Baylor facility, you'll get what I'm saying right away-you'd think these were Ivy League university campuses or something. The only way around this is to go to more humble facilities and hope you are still getting great care.

Medical supply manufacturers overcharge healthcare companies, to the extent that something like $20 forceps end up being $700 forceps on a medical bill. This needs to stop, there need to be maximum prices for the sale of these products.

Health insurance companies should be subject to federal mandates to provide care for people with pre-existing conditions. Period. The taking on of such patients should provide a tax credit to compensate.

Thanks for this. Nice to read someone who has a clue about the complexities of health care.

What, do you sell insurance or something?

Am Canadian. We don't have health insurance to see doctors. We have insurance for stuff like Dental and Optical which makes those industries very much like the US. As a result, dentistry is insanely expensive here.

Ditch the Insurance companies altogether. They're nothing more than parasites and enablers for the other industries that jack up the costs.

They're nothing more than parasites and enablers for the other industries that jack up the costs.

I can't speak to your situation specifically in Canada, but in America, healthcare costs were rising dramatically fast long before health insurance was in wide use. In fact, the HMO was the solution presented by the state via subsidies to combat these rising costs.

The US has a single layout healthcare already. It’s called the VA and it is absolute garbage.

Competition drives down costs, improves quality, and incentivizes innovation.

Yeah, except it hasn't really worked out like that in practice now has it.

The VA is a terrible example of single pay. Am Canadian but I have relatives in the US military who need the VA. It's absolutely nothing like our system.

Competition drives down costs, improves quality, and incentivizes innovation.

It's your health, not a sports car.

If the US were to implement single pay health care, it'd just make each State it's own independent care provider. You guys have 50 states and they'd all be doing the same thing which is buying in bulk and shopping around for the best bang for the buck products. That means there's no shortage of competition.

Innovation happens in both the private sector but also the public sector, and in the academic sector as well. The private sector has no lock on ingenuity. They may spend more on R&D, but they also charge the most so they're not really in it to be altruistic.

Despite a lack of altruism the private sector does it for less because of competition. Businesses compete for sales by lowering prices and/or increasing quality. Canadian system is garbage.

Canadian system is garbage.

You need a better argument than that. I can give you a ton of examples in how our system has helped save people's lives.

Businesses compete for sales by lowering prices and/or increasing quality.

True. You're just confused about providers.

Making a State government a health care provider instead of the myriad of insurance companies makes it way easier to eliminate a lot of the red tape which is a huge waste of money.

Anyways, you still need companies to sell products. They still compete against other companies. It's just that the Government pays them rather than the insurance companies.

Single payer health care is fucking shit dude.

That is why america has the lowest life span, yet highest health care costs compared to other nations who have single payer?

The way Americans eat and take drugs is the cause of their short lifespans

Britain has a massive obesity problem as well, many problems with drug addictions, and consume more alcohol per capita.

But they have longer life expectancy and spend about half as much per capita on healthcare than the states.

They don't have the fat mother fuckers that the us have. You guys are more pozzed and cucked. We're more fat and xannyed out

The rates are very close. Yet they live longer and spend half as much healthcare as america. And they are the single, largest, most comprehensive single payer health system in the world.

So please try to explain your reasoning behind competition driving down costs, and increasing quality in the health care market? Because the facts would hold that is not true.

As for innovation, I'd call that a wash. Free market brings innovation, but not the kind that benefits people. Free market health care favours innovation in search of better profits. Single payer health care favours innovation in search of increased efficiency and better patient outcome as it reduces demand on the system.

*BTW I am neither American nor British.

There isn't a free market for health care in the us. Costs are only higher much later after Medicaid went into action. Check out the book "Capitalism and Freedom" by Milton Friedman. He predicted the destruction of the us market back in the 60s. He was arguing we already had socialized health care back then

Milton Friedman.

So he thought that, not many others would say the same.

So your stance is more deregulation would improve things for the patients? When in other countries the opposite is proven true?

You americans really love to hate on things that are in your best interest. Always in favour of deregulation and hate socialized programs. Well your love of deregulation just lost you guys net neutrality. When will you guys learn, deregulation only works in an altruistic universe. In reality it gives corporations extra power to fuck you in the ass. Whether it is telecoms or big pharma or insurance companies. The only thing keeping them from fucking you is regulations and socialization.

Single payer health care is fucking shit dude.

Am Canadian. I love our health care. You have no idea how nice it is to not worry about if you can afford treatment or not.

The fact that you guys in the US don't have sane healthcare yet makes me sad but also pisses me off because your healthcare system affects our system. There's a lot of wealthy entities wanting to weasel in on Canada's health care and shift it to a pay for play system like the US. Fuck everything about that.

What makes you think it's bad?

You're well indoctrinated.

we need single one world socialist revolution

all 1%ers guillotined

Lol A-wha??

All payment comes from taxes, and the rich and their corporations don't pay much. The struggle is over whether we get to spend our taxes on ourselves or let the rich siphon them away.

Friendly reminder: /r/NoCorporations exists! A sub dedicated to raising awareness of corporate malfeasance, and exploring the systemic impacts corporations have on human health, the environment, our culture, and more. A chronicle of what results from putting profits ahead of people.

Well it's what happens when you let corporations have government enabled monopoly. Monopolies kill competition. Competition generally increases quality and lowers prices to stay competitive.

Yes.

It is seriously pathetic that we don't have proper universal healthcare yet. We are supposed to be the top nation in the world yet we can't even pay for peoples hospital bills. They need to seriously rework the whole healthcare system from top to bottom.... you know a regular routine blood test costs like $200? An ambulance ride is like $800. These prices are ridiculous.

We as a country should unite and push this issue to the extreme. I want my taxes to pay for local stuff, health and education of community, not wars in foreign countries. Make it happen. Universal healthcare is possible, the Medicaid/medical assistance program that gives you several choices to pick from works very well while still incorporating most of the existing health insurance companies (under gov't supervision).

Other focus should be education. Free breakfast/lunch for poor kids, free daycare, improved studies, more in depth "health" class that goes over wider variety of subjects like career choices, planning your money, how to do basic taxes, with more emphasis on safe sex since way too many people having kids who shouldn't. Scholarship incentives for poor kids. Lower tuition across the board for colleges.

We spend billions on military and americans get dicked. Why the fuck do people keep letting this happen? Instead we argue with each other about stupid, useless shit like race or gender.... which are non-issues since both can succeed and have no barrier to success anymore.

People need to vote every 2 years too, congress is just as important if not more then the president. I wish they would just clean house and replace them ALL with new candidates. Greed has made me sick of these damn politicians.... they must be seriously in debt or have done some fucked up shit and being blackmailed to be this arrogant.

The corrupt republicans will have corporations ruining the government, and the corrupt democrats will just end up with the same thing but corrupt government officials with corporate backing screwing shit up... either way americans get fucked. I keep hearing that we need a third party, and I'm all for libertarians getting in the mix, but they don't seem to support stuff like healthcare or programs/aide for low income people.... democrat seems like the best way to lean but they need to clean house.

Ha stupid librool. Ur the real racists. Healthcare is for the rich idiot not poor people who take money from rich people.

you know a regular routine blood test costs like $200? An ambulance ride is like $800.

Really? Damn.

Every blood test I've had through several illnesses over the decades, I've not paid for a single one. My last suicide attempt? Ambulance showed up, took me to hospital, I thanked them and they went on their way to help someone else. Never had to pay for it. Tests and treatment for a cancer scare, depression, even minor surgery?

Never paid a penny. Not directly, as a bill for service, at least. More as part of my taxes, if anything.

I love the NHS. Still pretty shocking that basic affordable healthcare isn't a thing in the US.

Yes, well that is how much those services usually are charged for, but insurance will pay some or all of it.... like the blood test will be $20-30 out of pocket. Doctors and hospitals tend to overcharge for stuff because insurance companies don't pay the full amount, say only 65% of it, and depending on your plan you may or may not have to pay the rest.

Its all just too expensive, doctors should charge less, insurance should pay more, pharm meds should cost less, and patients should pay less out of pocket. There will be pushback but its gotta be done.

Because USA is backwards.

Signed, The Rest of The West.

Yeah, it genuinely confused me when Americans were on TV and posting online about how they wanted Obamacare to be killed, while I'm sat here thinking, "You idiots! Don't you want affordable healthcare for all?".

I just don't get why they'd be against it.

The way Americans eat and take drugs is the cause of their short lifespans

There are plenty of people your age who are suffering that same status. Low 'skill and experience' jobs NEED WORKERS.

Yeah, it genuinely confused me when Americans were on TV and posting online about how they wanted Obamacare to be killed, while I'm sat here thinking, "You idiots! Don't you want affordable healthcare for all?".

I just don't get why they'd be against it.

There isn't a free market for health care in the us. Costs are only higher much later after Medicaid went into action. Check out the book "Capitalism and Freedom" by Milton Friedman. He predicted the destruction of the us market back in the 60s. He was arguing we already had socialized health care back then

By poor I meant the lowest third of earners regardless of age.

Interesting way to get around that.