Somehow the subject has drifted from the current affair namely Corid 19 and into a 'bash the system' vein that is not at all becoming or helpful to anybody.
For the most part, the United States has one of the finest health care systems in the world. Countries who have gone the path of socialized medicine have long lists of people waiting for care for everything from joint replacement surgeries to cardiac care. I have yet to encounter a country whose citizens say that they are happy with the state of their medical care when they are dealing with socialized medicine.
Granted, the insurance system needs an overhaul in the worst way. Hospitals, doctors, pharmacies are forced to raise their prices in order to cover the loss generated by everything from BCBS to Medicare or Medicaid. Still, even with that exception, we have GREAT medical care here in America.
The Affordable Health Care Act gave people with low income or pre existing health conditions the ability to get insurance. There is no excuse for anyone to be without insurance in the US.
As for rich people bashing. Before anyone responds ask yourself a question. How many poor people ever started a business, hired jobless people or handed out a paycheck to their employees? Do you know any? I don't. People have money for two reasons. Either they have inherited it from their families....who worked for it. Or they themselves have worked for what they have earned.
Before gushing over Medicare for all and Socialized Medicine ask yourself this question. where is the money for this going to come from? To quote Margaret Thatcher: “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”
I was a nurse for over 30 years before retirement. I think of all the health care professionals, doctors, nurses, lab, support personnel who are sacrificing themselves right now to answer the call of dealing with this horrible virus and feel a deep sense of pride in my chosen profession. There aren't many who would put themselves in their shoes right now, yet if you walk into an office or hospital, they will be there, tired, stressed, scared, and worried, yet willing to do their best to help you no matter what your need is.
This is America. The land of opportunity. You can be as rich or as poor as you want to be and more power to you, although there are many healthy people here in the US who are capable of being out earning a paycheck yet choose to live off the fat of the land with working people paying for their free meal ticket, free cell phone, free medical care, free housing....the list goes on.
To all of you health care providers who also own your own flocks and are members here on BYC thank you. From the bottom of my heart. You are all angels in scrubs to me.
Sorry for the rant but let's focus on how we as flock owners are dealing with the potential hardships that may be facing us thanks to the Corona Virus aka, Corid 19 and leave bashing at the curb with the rest of the trash.
I understand where you are coming from, and I respect the heck out of all nurses and doctors and other healthcare workers.
It is not your fault AT ALL, but America is not even in the top ten countries with the best medical systems by almost any metric, public opinion or results. Almost every other major country has socialized medicine. Generally, their citizens are happier with their health care systems, and they have higher life expectancies, lower maternal and infant mortality rates, and often shorter wait times than America does. They don't go bankrupt trying to get healthcare. They don't die because they are afraid of the cost of going to the doctor. All of this information can be found easily online. If you don't trust most statistics, go look at gofundme and websites like that. Look at how many people are begging for help to get medicine for their kids and parents.
I am not trying to bash you or the people working in the system, you are not the problem. In fact, you are a huge part of the solution.
On money, Americans pay twice as much as any other country for healthcare. Many medicines cost more than 10x as much here as in other countries. Meanwhile 80 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. As one of those Americans, I will say that Obamacare is/was unaffordable to me. I make just a little bit too much money to get subsidized, but not nearly enough to cover a $600/month premium with insane deductibles and copays. In other words, that $600 a month goes straight into the insurance company's pocket, and then I still pay for everything. My uncle right now has a medical condition that means he will probably lose his job (he's on medical leave). He pays an insane amount for his insurance, but he's had to go to the emergency room over and over, and each time costs him $800 WITH insurance. Not to mention the cost he's paying for each new procedure. My mother had lots of skin cancers. Each treatment cost her thousands even though she paid I think $700/month for insurance. There are millions of people in these situations.
As for where does the money come from, the money is already there. Not only that, but our government just gave billions to a pharmaceutical company for developing a vaccine that will not be made affordable for everyone. That money would go a long way for working people who need help during this crisis. They also invented 1.5 trillion dollars to flood into the market. Nobody asks where the money will come from when it is for corporations or the rich. When it's for poor people, suddenly the economy is terrible and we can't afford anything.
I haven't seen any rich person bashing on here. I would be happy to talk about that but it's too off topic. All I can say is that for being the land of opportunity, we are not. (For example, we have a higher percent of our population in jail than any other country, even North Korea and China and Iran, and yes, people go to jail in America solely because they are poor)... too off topic.
You can't expect a health crisis to not lead to a discussion about our inequitable health care system. Before this crisis, 45,000 people a year died because they couldn't afford medication/healthcare in America. How many of our half a million homeless people are homeless because of medical debt or because they can't afford the healthcare they need?
In general, once there is a treatment, there is no indication it will be affordable. I'm fine with going back to talking about COV-19 specifically.
Here we go:
I think they should make tests and treatment for COV-19 affordable for everyone so that we can slow down the spread of the virus. I hope the government helps people who don't get their usual working hours due to closures or due to having to stay home with their kids.
PS Please don't think I'm insulting you or your former colleagues, or trying to push you around. I like to talk about this stuff because I feel like there's a lot of misinformation out there. It's cool to disagree. I just want everyone to take the time to do a little research to see where other people are coming from.
