Eh, I think it’s just semantics. People hear universal healthcare and recoil but Medicare and Medicaid are what help their parents get the help they need. I think it’s pretty powerful to already have programs ready to go. Those programs just need some better marketing and more access.
In this case words matter, and universal is not synonymous with government run. Universal healthcare means available for everyone. If it isn't available for everyone, it is not universal.
Government implemented universal single payer is the best implementation based on every civilized country.
Yeah, you’re right. I just don’t think perfection should be the enemy of good enough. Although, like others have said, Medicare and Medicaid are nowhere near even good enough. But they are programs that exists, and providers and insurers already have to, by law, negotiate with them. The laws need major reform, but it might be easier to make incremental changes rather than a total overhaul.
Plus the US does have many disparate laws guaranteeing some basic treatment. For example, hospitals have to provide stabilizing care for anyone, regardless of ability to pay. Incremental reform could gradually bring all those laws under Medicare/Medicaid, giving everyone time to adjust.
Medicare is hugely broken and barely works even for those who are eligible. You still need to get private insurance (called gap insurance) for many, many things.
When I had to switch from BCN to Medicare after I became fully disabled, one of my prescriptions went from $200 a month to $3500, and I started getting denied for routine tests. I was denied a heart cath my cardiologist ordered. I’ve had to stop 4 of my prescriptions because of cost, which of course has made me even more sick.
Even in some utopian daydream, that’s nowhere near ‘universal healthcare’, and expanding that broken system is not a solution.
eta: The US needs actual universal healthcare that’s not inexorably tied to privatisation.
Capitalism is capitalism. What you are really saying is that there are other factors at play that actually make the difference. I guess it’s the fact that in europe (and germany) the goverment governs the free market more. In the united states there is more of a free market and more ‘lobbied’ politicians keeping it that way (the dragon).
I asked my wife if she wanted kids and she just waved around and said “look at this shit, do you really want to put a someone through this?” Yep, the world is screwed. But I believe people have to make their own, conscious choice. No sense in forcing them to either have kids or not.
you wont catch me raising children both because im a mess, and i refuse to raise children in a dysfunctional society that hasn’t got its shit together.
We had a long talk about it and the above statement is just the gist of it. If we lived in better times, sure. But not in this timeline. We both came to that conclusion and it is perfectly fine.
Not to butt in your business, but if that’s your only reason to not have children, and you’re otherwise financially capable and willing to raise kids, have you two considered adoption? Instead of bringing someone extra into this shit as you put it, you’d just be helping one of the people who’re unfortunately already in it.
Sorry for the late reply, was night here. Yes, we actually thought about that. But while it is easy to just have a kid, adoption (at least here in Germany where you only have around 4000 adoptions per year) comes with quite the list of requirements. We are both working full time and just recently found a very nice apartment, but without a seperate room for a kid. Then again my wife is a kindergarten teacher, so she already has like 20 kids ;)
As the parent of a current Kindergartener (and also a former one myself), give your wife a big hug for us. Her job is so important, a especially if we want this world’s society to turn around and fix the problems it’s made for itself.
The sad part of this is the people here with the critial thinking and reasoning skills to make that descision are the ones not passing on those attributes, but its the low income & education people are the ones who cant even think far enough ahead to wear a fucking condom.
You say that as if it’s necessary for human kind to improve. We don’t have control over what happens to our species and we will go extinct which is absolutely fine. Not sure what is up with this whole obsession with continuing the species. Stop worrying about something that will naturally work itself out instead of complaining that the ‘wrong’ pe ople are breeding. Maybe thats just the natural way of things. I mean, greed, violence, hatred and discrimination are all ingrained parts of the human animal meant to aide in the whole survival aspect of things. It wasn’t meant to catapult earth species into space. Unless you are ok with genetic engineering and removing those traits from the gene pool you will never not have power hungry assholes ruining it for the rest of us. And that’s fine. That’s just what life on earth is like.
My wife and I were planning to have kids in 2020. We had already started the process in 2019. Then covid happened. Then people hoarded toilet paper during a respiratory pandemic that doesn’t even affect your bowels. Then supply lines shut down. Then forest fires raged out of control across the country, turning the skies into red ash. Then protests and riots broke out across the country. All the while trump was happening about eleventy billion times. Ultimately we got a master class on how fucking ridiculous this world has become. We decided never to have kids. We’re already middle aged, so that’s it for us. It’s too late now. We occasionally consider adopting, but that’s a whole other bag of cats.
People weren’t hoarding toilet paper because they thought it affected their bowels – they were hoarding it because who knew what might happen where we’d have to stay at home or be isolated for a long time.
What’s strange is, why toilet paper and not much else lol. At least where I lived. I wasn’t hoarding, I was just trying to get some at the store because we were running out completely, and the shelves were empty. 💀 Had to buy some non-bulk expensive and fragile af paper.
The why TP is because it was big and noticeable in store. There was a chunk missing and then word got that “you need to get some before they run out” and that causes a run and the stores run out.
If you remember during the gas pipeline cyber attack. It only effected a specific area of the country SE area, but areas outside of the actual problem ran out of fuel because people heard about other stations running out and having problems. We are not good at handling stressful situations together. We turn into a “fuck you, I got mine and I might need to stockpile more for later” type of people.
If you ever decide you do want kids, I’d endorse adopting. That way you’re not bringing a new life into this shitty world, you’re hopefully improving one that’s already gotten dealt a bad hand in life.
Just FYI it does affect bowels. My mom had straight diarrhea for weeks while she had covid. I may have had it and my bf we both had the hits for over a week.
Same, same. Well just in Germany. We haven’t been hit as bad as the U.S. but your country stretches over three climate zones. However, we live in a small town on the Baltic coast and last year was nuts with the weather. And yes, some people are unfortunately very egoistical and make it even harder for the rest who just want to have a halfway decent life.
Actually the Netherlands has a system that is quite similar to the US healthcare system, with private insurance and insurance subsidies for low incomes and basically privately run hospitals. The difference is that the government sorta acts like a single-payer. They set price lists for how much hospitals can charge for health care if they want to get paid by the insurance companies. And they negotiate with big pharma to purchase expensive medicines at a lower price.
Yeah, and it's not going great. Prices are rising fast and many things aren't covered anymore, or only in expensive extra packages. Healthcare insurance works better the more people you spread it over. We should reinstate the central Ziekenfonds. It's cheaper for everyone.
What do you mean, NOT going great? The owners of the private hospitals are raking in sooo much cash on the backs of the victims patients they get to fleece, it’s awesome! Well, for them, anyway, but that’s what counts, right?
They make no losses, really. The people who pirate, either can’t afford it or can’t access it, or are done with the bullshit and taking a political stance to disengage. They were never among their customer base, anyway.
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