Seriously, no terrorist group has ever caused as many deaths in the U.S. as our morally bankrupt GOP legislators are set to do. Call your senators and tell them to hold the line. Script attached below.
Continue reading “Where is the line between the GOP’s toxic capitalism and legislative manslaughter?”
Whether you like John Oliver or not, he covers the basic arguments the health care industry lobbyists and their pet legislators use against a single-payer health care , or Medicare-for-All.
Cost, choice and waiting times.
Although the US spends the most on health care, we have worst health outcomes, the least access, the highest cost and a medical bankruptcy rate unheard of among high-income countries. The average wait time to see a doctor is 26 days. (Report here and here) And this is with leaving 30 million of us out of the equation altogether. Thanks Remote Area Medical, for realizing that Americans need your free clinics as much as third world nations do!
Speaking of millions, while Secretary Becerra of the Dept. of Health and Human Services makes $221,400 a year, six private healthcare CEOS together make over $114 million!
Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), our “choice” in health care was often determined by where we worked or by cost. However, insurance companies had many more “choices” available to them – to outright reject us, retroactively cancel policies, apply caps, limit coverage and charge us whatever they could. In 2009, 1 in 7 applicants with pre-existing conditions could not get insurance at any price from the four largest insurance companies. In 2016, an average of 27% of adult Americans under the age of 65 had health conditions that would leave them uninsurable pre-ACA. In case we’ve forgotten what it was like, BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois published their pre-existing conditions list here, (including a 25% upcharge for being overweight!), which will be immediately reinstated if the ACA is repealed.
Although Seema Verma, Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and MedicaidServices (CMS), says she “is committed to empowering patients to take ownership of their healthcare and ensuring they have access to the resources they need to make informed decisions,” she tweeted her approval of an article that called for “turning away patients based on their health status, or charging older, sicker patients more than three times what they charged younger, healthier ones — two valuable strategies for keeping costs down.”
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 