I am Turkish and have been wondering about this for a while as a political science and international relations masters degree student. Obama served for 8 years and still many Americans are complaining about how bad their healthcare system is and insurance prices are so high etc etc. Then why doesn’t any of them fix it. Here in Turkey, our leading party the AKP fixed the healthcare system so nicely that a lot of people from other countries are coming here for plastic surgeries and other healthcare services and the AKP party, as much as I hate to say it, fixed the healthcare system and now they are serving for their 4th term in a row.
Our divisiveness right now is based on spite, desperation and propaganda. The current administration ran on removing the healthcare progress made by Obama (and yes, Clinton) despite the lack of any plan to replace it, and too many people voted for that.
I don’t understand it either. Especially where people vote so far against their best interests.
- How did we elect an administration promising to cut benefits, destroy healthcare, cut government services get so many votes from the people most in need?
- How did an administration promising to get aggressive with undocumented immigrants (and then go further with violating civil rights and due process) get so many votes from immigrants?
- How did we elect an administration so blatantly racist and get more than zero votes from marginalized demographics?
- How did an administration running on cutting taxes for the most wealthy get so many votes from the 99% of us who are not?
- How did an administration running on taking away women’s rights get any votes from women?
It just boggles the mind. I can only assume we’re collectively having some sort of mental health crisis
That president would be hated by big business, they could and would sink them. Also, half of the US is so far down the propaganda rabbithole that they either wouldn’t believe that it’s fixed or they would be convinced that it’s bad that it was fixed (e.g. anti-vaccine people).
And finally, a US president is only legally allowed to have 2 terms (though Trump is definitely going for “dictator for life”), and it’s not really possible to completely overhaul a healthcare system in a way that people will notice positively in their daily lives in just 4 years; so by the time when even the people who were always voting for the other side would notice that healthcare is good now, there’s already a different person on the ballot.
Additionally, generally younger and healthier people are less impacted by healthcare prices. Since I moved to Japan, people will go to the doc to get diagnosis and treatment for a cold. In the US, I would avoid the doctor unless I thought it was serious, especially since over-the-counter meds were so cheap in the US. In Japan, the clinic route is often cheaper than self-diagnosing and going to the drugstore, but I still don’t go to the doc if I think I just have a cold that’s lasting a couple of days.
But aren’t healthier people also paying for insurance currently? I mean you don’t get insured once you get sick but before you get sick am I wrong. So, wouldn’t healthier people also be happy about paying less for insurance? Don’t younger people also have insurance?
Most people get insurance through their employer and most employers at least partially subsidize the cost. This doesn’t show up on your paystub like a tax would so the only way you’d ever be aware of the true cost of your plan is if you got laid off and paid for continuation of benefits (COBRA).
It doesn’t occur to most Americans that their paycheck might be higher if they had universal healthcare.
My paycheck stub now shows the subsidized amount - I can easily see how high the total is if I care to look. Is that not true for everyone now? I thought this also was part of ACA to improve transparency
In the US, healthcare costs are double-dipping - you pay a lot when you’re healthy, and you also pay extra when you get treatment. But considering how absurdly expensive US healthcare is when you’re not sick, even the regular costs would probably be cheaper if the system was properly fixed.
The US has a ton of different plans with different disadvantages. All, with the exception of maybe some for government and military (but correct me if I’m wrong here), have deductibles that must be met and out-of-pocket expenses (“co-pays”) for various things. This means that people pay their insurance premiums on top of out-of-pocket expense for everything. The overall cost of things in the US is much higher than many other countries as well. Which plans are offered also depend a lot on many factors. I’ve been out of the US for too long to go much into depth on that.
Really much better put then i could, this.
Communism
By that logic, Germany is more communistic than North Korea. Haven’t Americans heard of something called “positive liberty”?
Nobody is mentioning that if they fix healthcare once and for all, the rest of the party cannot run on the promise of minor incremental concessions that keep the wealthy in power. See the ACA or “Obamacare” for reference
Americans distrust government. We are indoctrinated with the idea that “Universal Healthcare” means that the government will be rationing healthcare. We are told that hard-working Americans will be expected to wait in line for care behind lazy, unemployed people. Propaganda tells us that the private sector can provide better healthcare to hard workers, and that only lazy undesirable people who can’t hold down a job are the ones who want universal healthcare.
Employers use health insurance coverage as a means of extorting workers to tolerate inhospitable working conditions. If you decide you want to quit your job, you are going to lose employer-sponsored coverage immediately, and won’t be eligible for replacement coverage from your next employer for at least 90 days. Employers are motivated to keep that “benefit” as leverage against workers.
Basically, when our political representatives try to address it, a whole bunch of misinformation and corruption combines to fuck us all over.
Trump is going to declare martial law and take over the country. There won’t be another US president for quite some time.
He probably won’t live long enough for a 4th term. Doesn’t mean there’s going to be a regime change, though.
He’s going to live into his 90s like his father. He has the world’s best medical care available to him 24/7. They will KEEP him alive haha
The best healthcare in the world can only do so much, especially when the patient isn’t following doctors orders. He’s already likely had multiple TIAs and a stroke, and has openly admitted to taking more aspirin than prescribed because he wants to keep his blood nice and thin.
He might live into his 90s, but I think he’s more likely to not make it to 2028 at this rate.
I wouldn’t bet the farm.
Do US presidents get free healthcare from the state?
I don’t know the price but he has billions of dollars in government money he can spend on all kinds of treatments. He’s not going anywhere (sadly)
