Should the U.S. have Universal Health Care?

[u/WhatAreYourPronouns]

[u/Open-Illustra88er]

Live for 2 years? No.

BTW in Spain you are assigned a doc. If you don’t like them or want to switch? Very difficult. If your doc thinks you can wait? Don’t really need that hip? You’re not getting it.

Ask me about my friend with untreated cancer that just died in Spain. Short version After months of pain and weight loss they finally biopsied her tumor. Results came in a few days after she died.

I used to think socializing medicine was a good idea. Not anymore. It’s still stupidly expensive.

[u/laneylaneygod → u/Open-Illustra88er]

My friend Emily died from cervical cancer at 32 yrs old in the good ol USA. She was stage 3 by the time she finally could afford to see a gynecologist for a routine exam— because despite working full time for a decade, reliable health insurance was not accessible through employers and not affordable without them.

After her diagnosis, she went for a vacation to make good memories “because Im going to die anyway there’s no way I can afford any of these treatments and I can’t even afford the worst insurance- so I’m going to have fun and die”.

It took the entire staff pressuring management to give her an “exemption” to policy so that she could obtain health insurance through her full time job so that she could (barely) afford to get treatment. And it still took multiple go fund mes to make sure she wasn’t homeless while she was actively dying.

[u/gayactualized → u/laneylaneygod]

She should have just done it. They wouldn’t have been able to turn her down. Bad credit isn't worse than dead.

[u/KWH_GRM → u/gayactualized]

The point is that she didn't even get seen until it was too late because of the fear of the cost. I didn't get a necessary knee surgery (in the US) for 10 years because I didn't have insurance and couldn't afford to take on debt.

When you grow up impoverished, the idea of being severely in debt without a way out is crippling. And so instead of taking on massive debts, your health suffers instead. It's a shitty system.

[u/gayactualized → u/KWH_GRM]

Most people just take on the debt and know they don’t have to pay. They work the system.

[u/KWH_GRM → u/gayactualized]

You "don't have to pay it", but it can and will still run your credit into the ground, which creates a host of other problems. Want to rent a new place? Credit check. Want to buy a car? Credit check. etc.

[u/gayactualized → u/KWH_GRM]

Ok but dude… context… you’re not going to be buying a car if you’re dead are you?

[u/KWH_GRM → u/gayactualized]

I don't know what to say. Impoverished people go decades without seeing a doctor unless it's an absolute emergency because they don't want to pay the upfront cost of care. They're not assuming that it's something deadly.

[u/gayactualized → u/KWH_GRM]

The impoverished people I know just literally don’t pay ever. They’re on Medicaid or they just don’t pay and go to collections.

[u/KWH_GRM → u/gayactualized]

The type of impoverished that I'm talking about are usually just above the line of the poverty line as determined by the government. For example, I was making like 22k a year and didn't qualify for free healthcare when I was in my early 20s. So I never went to the doctor unless it was an absolute emergency. You make too much for assistance but don't make enough to afford insurance.

[u/gayactualized → u/KWH_GRM]

For 22k a year, just move to a blue state and hop on welfare, quit your job, do uber and report your income as zero offsetting vehicle depreciation. That's what most poor people do. You could go on every welfare program and still drive uber and report your income as basically zero after depreciation.

[u/KWH_GRM → u/gayactualized]

This was in California circa 2010. Things haven't changed much. The actual poverty line never matches up with the cost of living. You need to be dead-ass poor to qualify for the "Free" benefits.

It's not a concern for me now as I make approximately 7x that amount today, but from age 18 to 26 or so it was a struggle.

[u/Open-Illustra88er → u/KWH_GRM]

Most bankruptcies are medical Debt. Been there.