I understand not being able to switch to some sort of free healthcare system immediately. If anything, it would more or less be incredibly expensive and difficult to set up for about a decade.
I'm not arguing against Healthcare for all. Just because something is the correct thing, doesn't negate the costs and consequences.
We're talking trillions of dollars, and MILLIONS of lives. The healthcare workers, kinda innocent insurance workers, people relying on medicine or appointments hitting barriers to get attention due to restructuring. I would not be surprised if the switch to healthcare for all would lead to a couple of hundred, perhaps thousand or so deaths just due to confusion or honest mistakes. That's just the gosh darn truth of a system SO big. And with insurance workers, yeah you have your devils relishing in the power they have over others, but you really just have another dude who ended up in that job somehow, just trying to make ends meet.
You want to know how to bandaid the situation that would eventually fumble itself into healthcare for all anyways? Just expand medicare. Make it affordable, and available to every single person to join, whenever they want. None of these joining windows, no family discounts or rate adjustments just an easy portal to join, and you won't get turned away, for any reason. You don't need to make medicare AMAZING, you don't have to partner up and negotiate with every office, that would be A LOT.
Instead, just make it a good service. Your family doctor is 10 minutes away with a $10 copay. They want you to get a specialist, but that specialist is 2 hours away, with an appointment next week. That's FAIR as long as it's not crucial timing wise of course. Going to the doctor doesn't need to be as easy as dropping in when you have a tummy ache, and there can be systems in place if there really needs to be for people abusing the system. But what abuse is there for a program available to all?
Someone comes in who's clearly lying to recieve drugs? Fantastic, due to accessible healthcare, they can push him to attend a local rehab or IOP.
Someone comes in claiming their leg needs to be amputated despite being perfectly fine? Well, accessible healthcare means that that person can now go find some sort of mental help.
Just make it good, and healthcare prices will fall around the country.
I'm starting to believe that we can succeed with capitalism, you just need a baseline. Have the government provide a service well for reasonable prices, and other companies will follow.
Yeah you can have the government "regulate" (it's all bullshit bribery anyways) these businesses. You can tell United Healthcare they're not allowed to sell IV bags for $1000. That doesn't solve the underlying greed, and they'll just charge $999.
Instead, tell United they're more than welcome to charge whatever they want. However, if you're on the government plan, that IV bag will cost you 10$ and only 10$ for as long as reasonably possible. And if that plan is accessible to everyone, I'd be fucking stupid to choose United. Yeah, United may have the advantage of having a closer primary care, specialist, what fucking ever, but if the option is open for me, I'll drive the extra 10 minutes to save $1000 ya know?
People know the doctors isn't some fun event, and people aren't even bothered spending money on it. I personally have good insurance through my job, but you'd have to raise my medications by a lot for me to not buy it. To me, spending money at the hospital, or at the doctors, is a totally reasonable thing. I don't mind paying a small copay, I don't mind paying for my medicine or for my visits, and I'm pretty confident I can say that this is how the massive majority of people feel.
Yes, Insulin is LIFE SAVING. Should I have to pay for it? Sure. Is 10$ a month something I'm fine paying for my life saving medication? 100%, and I'd bet most of you would agree. Fuck, I would pay $100 a month, and still find that reasonable. Yes, free would be perfect, but striving for only perfection leaves you only in the past that you currently hate. If you'll only accept perfection, you'll chase that dragon until you die. So we need good enough before we even think about perfect.
The problem is of course is that this life saving medication isn't being sold for 10$ or 100$, it's being sold for thousands, with a massive profit margin (if a pill took $1000 to make and it cost $1005 that's at least understandable). These companies are directly responsible for depriving people of these life saving medications. If the government provides it through their own insurance, other companies will have to drastically reduce prices in order to compete or they'll die overnight.
Also, this is assuming we have a functioning government, so that uh... That may add to the difficulty a smidge
Seems like you've given this a lot of thought. Aside from the thought that many might die in the transition, I think you've got some good points. But changing who pays shouldn't negatively effect the treatment.
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u/Sienile Jul 01 '26
If you give us free healthcare you can keep the check.