The days before Christmas are spent shopping around for gift ideas, emptying your bank account for those gift ideas, hopping from one fancy holiday to the next, and pretending to get everything you got before. It must have something to do with the euphoric agony of watching the scale disappear. 11 months of binge eating history.
We do some of this at home too. But for us, the millions of Americans who don't receive health insurance from their employers or the government, advent calendars are an annual ordeal with open enrollment. We spend weeks making actuarial bets on our health, searching for the insurance plan that is least likely to bankrupt us, while still remaining in some degree in what only acutely mentally ill patients would call the best health care system in the world. provides access to.
Obamacare was supposed to make all that unnecessary. But Obamacare was born with a fatal flaw. Its main promoters are private insurance companies. That would be like building a cancer treatment center on top of a nuclear waste dump. For insurance companies, Obamacare is a legalized form of extortion from policyholders and the government, allowing them to get away with minimizing coverage in return.it's been record profit orgy Comparable only to oil company shakedowns.
This is compounded by 1,000 lawsuits filed by Republicans who can't stand Obamacare's subsidies and mandates that require insurance companies to cover preventive care or deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions. Add in the annual death toll and what you're left with is a maze of chutes and ladders that a full-time cryptographer would need to navigate.
Here's a little morbid fact you probably aren't aware of, especially if you have insurance through your employer. That's because the government subsidized private employer health insurance this year.$345 billionThat's nearly five times the subsidy paid to Obamacare enrollees, or $71 billion. For every dollar spent, Obamacare enrollees receive more benefits. But why are employers subsidized in the first place? It's a massive cost shift for the government, an additional dollar rake for insurance companies, and an opportunity for us to reduce health care services to mere employees. drives up the price of health care even as it continues to pretend to provide it.
I should note that my wife is also one of the 49 percent of Americans who obtain insurance through their workplace. In most ways, this is a great insurance policy, except for one. There are almost no deductibles or copayments. There is no premium. However, she cannot choose a doctor. She can't even shop. Either she pays for Florida Healthcare or she pays for it herself. It's not a choice. This is a mandatory order from the insurance company. But “choose your own doctor” is one of the big misconceptions in American medicine, she says. No one except Medicare beneficiaries and the wealthiest few have a choice. In most cases, your insurance company will choose it for you and give you a list of approved providers.
Beyond that, you're out of luck. This means that one of the tenets of modern American medical care is a lie. Healthcare providers justify high premiums and copays on the premise that they don't spend as much of their own money on unnecessary things. You will receive better services than if you had full coverage. Shop around and get the best deals. However, shopping is prohibited.
And the very idea of shopping for care like melons and soy milk in the face of life-altering shocks to the system is absurd or even immoral. (Excuse me, Mr. Left Front Shimoyukie, before you keep killing me with this myocardial infarction, let me first do a little research on the internet about the best doctor's contract in the tri-gun area.)
So when my wife started a new job this year and moved away from the health care market, she had to sever the relationships she had built over the years with her previous doctors and, as a cancer survivor, Just like that, I had to make all sorts of gambles that I shouldn't have. There is no need to think about what kind of care she will receive.
Adding me and my son to her plan is an option, but we would have to pay over $14,000 a year in premiums. Therefore, it is not a realistic option. Back to the marketplace, I have paid *only* $11,000 this year. But there's a catch. If she wants to keep her current plan, it will increase by 33% to $14,000. and There is an $8,000 deductible and additional copays. I have a choice of plans for her for just under $10,000, but the deductible is higher than the price of a new car, and of course forget about doctor selection.
What if I get cancer again? The plan I'm considering would leave him with a $20,000 bill after his first week of radiation, assuming I haven't been executed by The Walking Dead yet. . A lower deductible will almost double your premium. But when I do that, please do not If you get cancer, your money will be wasted. Maybe I'll get cancer or another serious illness. At least I'll get my money's worth.
That is the perversion of our healthcare system. Staying healthy can save you tens of thousands of dollars. If you get sick while not gambling properly, you will go bankrupt anyway.that's why 100 million Americans have medical debt. That's why we have the most expensive health care system in the developed world, the worst health outcomes with the lowest life expectancy, the sickest population, the cheapest government, and the cruelest markets. That's what I'm doing.
The 60 million people on Medicare are even luckier. They can benefit from European-style universal health insurance combined with private insurance, giving them an almost unlimited choice of doctors, clinics, and hospitals. If you require additional insurance, you are free to purchase it as well. It's far from perfect. But compared to the other things most Americans are dealing with, it's jubilation. At least you can suffer in peace.
The same model should apply to everyone from birth to death. But two constituencies stand in the way. Insurance companies stand to lose some of that sneaky windfall, and on the other hand are Medicare recipients who skew Republican, vote at higher rates than younger blocs, and spend their days opposing expansion. . They are the ones who should be marching on Capitol Hill, demanding Medicare for All, and taking care of their children and grandchildren. Instead, they're at Margaritaville or the Mayo Clinic lecturing the virtues of Darwinism to the assholes who slave for them.
Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive's editor. A version of this work will be broadcast on his WNZF.
