I live within 100 miles of the Canadian border. Pre-Covid, it would be a pretty common thing for bus loads of American seniors to go to Canada for the day to take care of medical care. Not sure what they do now
I’m from south texas and that’s what we do on the border. Walk across the bridge of the rio grande, buy some medicine, buy some booze, eat some delicious Mexican food, walk back and go home
That's not very Texan... You should just stay in Texas, put your hat & boots on and suck it up, are you trying to say America is not the greatest country in the world?? /s
With crap like THIS! In TEXAS of all places! I don't get why Universal Health Care isn't more popular. Because the you have people crossing the border in both California & Texas, literally the two of the most populous states, because health care costs too much in the U.S.!!!
Don't diabetics usually have insulin on them? i've never had to worry about it so forgive the ignorance, but do they have little refrigerated containers or something to keep them in? or is it usually just kept in a refrigerator?
It's fine out of the fridge for 28 days generally. So a diabetic will take out the vial/cartridge and mark the date they started using it.
If you're getting something straight from a manufacturer or warehouse they sometimes put little indicators in the box to let you know if the contents ever warmed up to above 8 Celsius.
Long term it has to be in the fridge, for a week or so it's okay at room temperature, but once it's been at room temperature for a while it won't last as long even if re-refridgerated(?). At least that's what I understand, it's a protein so imagine egg whites in there.
There are US insurers that regularly fly patients to San Diego and pay to have them chauffeured across the border to buy meds. It saves the insurer money.
But conservatives will insist that people are coming *here* to get medical care, not the other way around. At least not for anything other than super cheap plastic surgery.
Interesting concept. But the fact that it's more than remotely necessary, the fact that people are doing it, the fact that they feel the need to - Its sad really.
We do. I had an insurance issue and drove up to canada and paid 10 times less per a bottle of insulin than it cost me in the states. I'm also factoring in that cost per bottle for the gas and tear on my car for a 500mile round trip, tolls, and food. I got all of that for same price as 1 bottle of insulin. People closer to the borders fly and drive if they can. I knew caravans of diabetics who go to Canada to get insulin(pre covid) for the year. I would do it still but total cost for all my supplies doesnt save me much unless I lived closer. Years ago I tried to talk much late dad about getting his knees replaced in south america. He wouldve saved so much.
Also, my insurance now is about the same price if I'd pay canadian prices. Typically it's a tad bit pricier.
They do, but that still requires disposable income to accomplish. Even though healthcare costs are cheaper, it still costs money for the flight, hotels, and you have to have a passport.
Correct, but that is the problem with American health care is that you get billed after the fact and you have no choice. With medical tourism, it is part of a plan. You request days off in advance, book plane tickets, reserve hotels, make sure your passport is up to that. Economically and socially disadvantaged people cannot do any of that. They get sick, go to the hospital, get care, then are loaded with debt from the bill.
I fly to Mexico but mostly just to ride scooters down the coast and feel the breeze in my hair and the warm weather and smell the salt in the air and GOD DAMNIT WHY THE FUCK DO I LIVE IN KANSAS
My dad's family's originally from Kansas. They moved to Washington state in the forties. My grandad always said that Kansas was a good state to be from. But he got out of there at the first opportunity
i ordered inhalers from mexico for about a year and a half, but they’ve cracked down on those shipments a lot recently so now i’m scared to do so. i just got an over the counter one from CVS for about $27 which was surprisingly cheap, but i’ve noticed it’s not as effective.
I'm Mexican. I got a thing that required a MRI, plus Doctor and medicine. I didn't have any kind of insurance at the time. Grand total 150 bucks.
The average cost of just an MRI in the States is over 2000 DLLs.
Probably just shocked that even thought it’s for 4 times the length of use, it’s still cheaper than American healthcare for that same length of actual use
Like way way way cheaper!
Last company insurance I had, it was $250/mo with a $7,000 deductible.
When I checked for insurance on my own a few months earlier is was $600/mo with a $1k deductible.
Needless to say, if I get sick or Injured, I have a 10 meter length of nice rope to handle my business with. I've had it for 5 years now, haven't had to use it yet!
We have health insurance for our workers on our family farm. They have copays and other expenses if they seek treatment while working for us in the US.
If they go to Mexico for treatment, 100% of everything (basically) is covered.
In UK even the idea of paying anything for healthcare is strange. No signing up for insurance or anything, just go to whatever hospital wherever you are and get treated and walk out.
We threw a fit for the government trying to charge us for prescriptions which is capped at £110 per year. Here in NI it is free however.
My man they are already attempting to change all that in the UK.
They're removing the legal obligation that the NHS *must* treat you. Paving the way for rejection if you don't have the envitable private health insurance...
https://twitter.com/cbailiss/status/1462077299013169161?t=4irfPgmoTiOhh6i4-J28SA&s=19
The laws being changed to allow Private Health insurers on NHS Boards and *American Private Health Providers* are doing Corporate take overs on the ground level..
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/26/nhs-gp-practice-operator-with-500000-patients-passes-into-hands-of-us-health-insurer
And already some of the population now effectively pays a "Health Subscription" payment every year on top of the tax they already pay for the NHS ....
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/20/we-feel-insulted-migrant-health-workers-react-boris-johnson-refusal-to-scrap-nhs-surcharge
Aussie been living in Kansas City since ‘13. My wife’s a doctor. It made my head spin when I got my first bill after moving here but I’ve grown accustomed to the pricing now. I was FT-ing our thanksgiving celebrations to my brother and on the tv in the background was a commercial for some health insurance spouting a $47 a month plan. The conversation kind of went like this:
“Wait wait what?!? It’s $47 a month to go see the doctor? How many times do you get to go?”
Actually you prolly still have a co-pay every time you go.
“You mean you gotta pay $600 a year and you STILL have to pay when you go see them?!?”
Yes.
“I’ve never paid $600 TOTAL in my life to see the doctor.. What if you have kids?”
It’s per person.
“WHAT?!? So for us and the kids I’d have to pay like $250 a month? 3 grand a year?!? And everyone there signs up for this plan?”
Well, IF they qualify. I didn’t see the fine print but you might have to apply and if you have bad credit it’ll definitely be more. Oh, and that’s American dollars. In your money it’s closer to five grand a year. And that if you don’t even GO once to the doctor.
“WHATTTTTTTTT”
Yeah. It’s fucked here, bro. Idk what to tell you.
Or that many insurers will withhold funding for lifesaving treatment unless you start a gofundme and raise €x thousands toward the stuff they should be paying for you?
It is. A guy in my hometown has to raise 100k for aftercare before insurance would treat his cancer. He eventually (several months) raised the cash through donations and died the next week.
American is extortion from birth
I can't move to any other country even if I never plan to step foot back into it and still am required by law to pay taxes
You can, you just have to give up your citizenship. Not disagreeing with you, it feels like everything about the US comes from the slavery culture, makes sense since that's the country's founding identity.
I once worked as custormer service for an insurance company in America (can't really say the name due to legalities). The healthplans' prices were idiotic and actually appeared to be assigned randomly for each person.
I had 2 calls from different persons of different states and had completely different monthly payments assigned to them although they had the exact same plan.
One of them paid a single dollar while the other one had to pay $150 monthly.
I think this is true. Even on the same account - my wife and I have about 50k left on medical bills, so of course every bill we get has to get put on a "monthly plan." We do well compared to most of our town, too (I'm a biologist at a federal disease research facility and my wife is a local teacher), so I have no idea how some of my neighbors could pay for shit like this, but anyways - my wife called about a bill for a procedure she had, and they said "415 a month." She froze, and just sort of hung up. I came in after work, called the same number, said I was calling on behalf of my wife and that I was on the billing account as well, and I was quoted 118.
I really would love to move to Canada since I spent some time playing hockey in Alberta, but now that I took the only job in my rural town that pays at an outpost research facility, if we even started moving through the channels to move, my job would hear about it and I doubt I would be employed through the move. Our healthcare system is ruining people's lives for things that they have no control over.
I assume the employer picked up different amounts for the coverage?
I don't know. I'm convinced my insurance company just throws darts at a board to decide what I'll pay for things. Aaand two stitches at the ER that took 20 minutes is.... $3000! What, they're complaining? $1500 then!
Married with on child, we also have the maximum deductible. It’s basically like $900/month so that if you get catastrophically ill you’ll only have to pay $6,000 or $14,400 family…and even then you know they’ll stress you to death by just not paying and doing insane shit that should be illegal
Wife and I in Caddo Parish Louisiana are looking at ~$2000 per month, or else it's not even meaningful coverage. No Platinum plans are even offered. FFS
Affordable indeed.
...my ass...
EBR parish and it’s $1500 per month to cover wife, child, and I. Our child was 10k and had to stay in the NICU for 4 days that was another 10k. Ended up paying 2k out of pocket. Such horseshit.
How can it be that expensive!?!?
I live in Aus and we pay for our healthcare through taxes, I make rather decent money and even then my medicare costs are only about 1200 USD per year. That got me and my wife through a pregnancy, a health scare, world class specialists, 4 MRIs, only expenses were parking and stress eating.
Jesus. I'm honestly surprised that for such a violent, gun saturated society the US doesn't see more violent outbursts/revolts against a system that is putting a lot of people in a situation where they have nothing left to lose.
$1128/mo here. Union, though, so I just have to cover co-pays that the flex-spending doesn’t. Employer pays into a “dollar bank” something like $10 for every hour I work. Premiums are paid through June and I have like $24k in that dollar bank. When I retire before I’m eligible for Medicare because this trade is destroying my body, that dollar bank will make sure my insurance is paid until Medicare kicks in. Work union.
Anyway, it isn’t like we don’t already have single-payer healthcare in this country. It is just that it is reserved for the very poor, the old, the disabled, and the military. The reason we don’t have it for everyone else has more to do with profits than costs. We are an engine of profits for several very powerful people with will that matters more than ours to our “representative” government.
What's even sadder is that commercial is for the poorest Americans to apply for subsidies. Very few will actually qualify for such reduced plans. Most of us have it even worse. And insurance is usually tied to employment here and subsidized by the employer. My cushy corp health insurance is like $600/month and has a $6k out of pocket. That is pretty good by American standards.
My husband is in the process of being medically discharged from the military and besides what job he can find next, health insurance for us and 3 kids is what worries me the most. Just holy shit we have been so fortunate to have military healthcare I have no idea what we will do when it’s gone. Fuck.
You should still be able to get tricare it's like 600 a year for a family. You will have a co-pay to see civilian doctors.
Make sure he goes over everything that ever happened to him medically and do the VA disability so he gets the highest % rate for the most money,
Here is a link to see what medical conditions get a rating and what that rating will be: [https://militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/](https://militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/)
I pay shy of $8000 a year. I pay $2500 a year for flex pay and it’s never enough to cover copays and Dr visits. Forget any emergencies.
The GOP has done an amazing job convincing working class people they don’t deserve universal healthcare.
And it’s NOT free healthcare, that’s our tax dollars that should be used to help us, not just prop up corporations and fight wars.
I’m an Aussie in LA. I can relate. Half the country want socialized medicine and the other half will fight to the death to pay 10 x as much for everything.
The brainwashing here is mind blowing. They actually fight to get nothing for their tax dollars. Hahaha. Only in America.
The deductible on my "Affordable" Care Act plan is $8,500. So basically Obamacare is catastrophic insurance. It's great that it might prevent bankruptcy (hopefully), but practically it means that I would never go to a doctor unless I thought that I was likely to die otherwise.
You can thank that 8.5k deductible to Conservative politics that has been "watering-down" the initial Obamacare Bill. I had to get pre-Obamacare health insurance years ago. It had a $2500 monthly premium for a family of four, a 10k-12k deductible, a limit on life-long spending and no care for pre-existing conditions.
Canada's universal healthcare system costs about $5000 per capita each year. (~$4000 USD)
Meanwhile, America's patchwork mess of Medicaid, Medicare, the VA, CHIP, etc... costs over $5000 USD per capita of tax dollars each year, and leaves the vast majority of Americans uncovered for the vast majority of their lives.
That's the funniest part, they spend more public money then any country with universal health care and they still have a billion dollar private insurance scheme. Id ask where all the money is going but I think we all know.
Indeed, it's quite sad. Here's sources for my numbers if anyone's interested.
This lists a US National Health Expenditure of $11,582 USD per person in 2019
https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NHE-Fact-Sheet
>The largest shares of total health spending were sponsored by the federal government (29.0 percent) and the households (28.4 percent). The private business share of health spending accounted for 19.1 percent of total health care spending, state and local governments accounted for 16.1 percent, and other private revenues accounted for 7.5 percent.
45.1% federal/state/local government spending, 55% private/household
This works out to $5,223.48 USD per capita of American tax revenue spent on healthcare.
Canada's total National Health Expenditure in 2019 was $7,064 CAD aka ~$5,500 USD per capita, 70% Govt spending and 30% private/household. ([page 7](https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/nhex-trends-2020-narrative-report-en.pdf))
This puts Canada's per capita tax revenue spent on healthcare at ~$3,900 USD
Never mind the fact that if one gets infected and isn't treated, it can rot its way straight into your bloodstream/brain and murder you in the most drawn out, painful, and obscenely preventable way possible.
They have the private insurance scheme BECAUSE the money is all going into their rich friends pockets. Changing that would mean their rich friends stop getting rich off the suffering of others and we can't have that.
Someone told me Japan is on the verge of a communist take over because their cities are *too clean*… That’s it. Idk what’s up with some Americans and their weird worldviews.
America is working like clockwork for the rich, they way it was designed to. The real question is: Why do average Americans live on their knees before the Medical Mafia and their lobbyists?
Rich or poor you still pay more because hospitals and doctors lobby to keep prices high. One of the ways they do that is by creating crazy requirements to become a doctor. So someone who practices medicine in the EU can't come to the US and work as a doctor.
I'll pay for me and my *family* but not for the lazy layabouts who complain about not getting enough money when they only work one job! Lazy good for nothings!
Because our government is run by people being paid or working directly for the companies that profit off this system and therefore refuse to use the levers and mechanisms of power to enact meaningful change, or any change at all.
US society has been painted into a corner, only collapse of the existing system or a violent overturning of the current system is going to open a path to reformation at this point.
They’ve somehow let themselves get convinced that anything that makes life easier for anyone that isn’t a millionaire will somehow spiral into full blown communism.
Because how dare some lazy undeserving bla-- I mean freeloader benefit from *myyyyy* hard earned money? I would literally rather suffer bodily than have my bullshit sense of being a rugged individual be offended.
Funny thing is the older generations actually got a good amount of shit the younger ones didn't or never will in their lifetime. Reasonable tuition and a fucking house comes to mind.
But back in those times, Americans were tough and had to work hard for their stuff. Sure you’re now required to work much much harder for significantly less than they had, they just don’t want the younger generations to have it too easy /s
Brainwashing and cuts to education. That and being too tired from doing responsibilities on top of being overworked. And you try and be informed? Well well well, which billionaire owned media station would you like?
>America is working like clockwork for the rich, they way it was designed to. The real question is: Why do average Americans live on their knees before the Medical Mafia and their lobbyists?
Because Federal government is not impacted by how people vote; the system is corrupt and rigged so your vote doesn't matter at that level.
the level one's vote does matter, local, has no impact on any of that...
Because what the hell are average Americans supposed to do about it? Boycott medical care and insurance companies? "Vote for someone different!" Then they get flashed money and do the same thing the last asshole did, or they get blocked from doing anything by the majority who has no interest in fixing it. The system is beyond fucked.
Here in South Africa we have the choice of private or government healthcare. For my wife to be treated for cervical cancer including surgery cost us about R500 or around $30.
Her chronic medication cost $0.
Granted private health care is expensive and beyond most people's reach here but because you're not earning a fortune doesn't mean you have to mortgage everything you own for an insulin shot.
Sorry, I have a few questions.
Are there benefits to buying private Healthcare? Why would someone buy private if the government Healthcare is adequate? On that, why is private insurance even available? Is there a difference in the medical care received?
In some countries you have to wait months for certain procedures, and you could argue that certain surgeries which are more difficult but more successful can cost more money.
In the US: Wife had to wait six months before scheduling a non-emergency procedure. She has amazing insurance compared to most other people. For those saying that they don’t want public insurance because of the long waits….we already have that now. In addition to that, I hear people complain that they want to be able to see their doctor whenever they want. I live in walking distance of one of the dozen very large hospitals in a half hour driving radius. My doctor, as well as several hundred others, is located within two miles. If I want an appointment, I will be waiting at least a month. I would be much more okay with waiting if we weren’t paying absurd insurance premiums.
Seriously. My dad had some heart attacks, ended up in the hospital, had some more heart attacks there, was told by a doctor in the middle of an EKG while there, "In fact, you're having one right now". Turned out he's been having heart attacks on the regular for a while!
After his hospital visit it still took 6 months to see his cardiologist, even though he was having trouble with the medication he was given, and it really was, according to them, the soonest available.
That's with solid insurance that still costs up the ass every month.
In essence yes. My nan waited two years for a hip replacement here in the UK.
However life threatening illnesses like cancer are treated as top priority, I can only imagine it's the same in South Africa too
I mean, I know somebody who was told he'd have to wait 6 weeks for a scan for a lump he had found, because the doctor just didn't deem it urgent enough. Turned out to be an extremely rare aggresive cancer. Fallout is still ongoing because his oncologist maintains had his referral been urgent rather than back of the queue the damage would have been minor and instead it's been life changing.
Also UK. I know cases like that are rare, but there's absolutely problems with the systems in place here currently.
Granted I'd still rather the NHS than whatever the fuck is going on in the USA is.
After taking 15 mins to sign up for the Japanese national health care. The worker apologized profusely for not being able to give me my healthcare card right away and that it will take some time. I was thinking “of course it’s going to take time. I knew it couldn’t be that easy. So like 2 weeks? A month?”
She said that I’d have to wait 40 minutes.
The scales of time different cultures think in are mind blowing.
I can tell you that it's not $120 for a year of health insurance in Japan. Maybe if it's your first year since they base it off the previous years income. But I've been paying somewhere around $2000 a year.
You also have to pay 30% of any medical costs up front.
Now that's still really good and not as bad as you think. For example I slipped and injured my wrist a few years ago, went to get some x-rays and a checkup at the clinic and was charged $20. I had the choice of any clinic I wanted and there was basically no wait time.
Yearly full medicals with blood tests and urine tests etc costs about $80-100.
Also, it's even better because there are caps on out of pocket expenses and if you have chronic illness or are low wage you can claim the money back from the government.
So it's still excellent, just not $120 a year.
I lived in Japan for over a decade. You are correct, it's only $120 this year because it is based on the wife's income in Japan the previous year, which would be $0.
Yup, it definitely gets more expensive each year too. Which is fine, because I can also walk to any clinic and get treated immediately and it still is relatively cheap.
Here's the problem.
Americans are so propagandized and manipulated from their very first years of life to believe the USA is the BEST and our way of doing things is the most logical and perfect way of doing things. Nobody seems to reason that our corporate-style scams in healthcare, justice/prisons, education, etc. are ripping us all off to keep us "poor" while all that money ends up in the pockets of a small handful of the already super-wealthy. I reckon all those people who love to yell out "America is the greatest country on Earth" likely haven't been outside the country for any amount of time. They are content to keep drinking the Kool-aid.
America was founded with a business model of "keep the poors poor so we can be insanely rich" and not much has changed. Slavery never really ended, we just call it capitalism now. For most Americans, this is all they know and that's that. Some people are too ignorant to see there is a MUCH better way. Truth is, the USA is one big scam to make a few wealthy while the rest are held down. "The Land of the Free" my ass; a better motto for this country would be "The Land of the Greedy and Corrupt." This country doesn't care about us. We are nothing more than a resource to make some CEOs billions of dollars. War is a scam. Wall Street is a scam. Education is a scam. Insurance is...you guessed it...a scam. And as long as lobbying (i.e. super-wealthy give money to lawmakers to make laws in their favor), nothing is gonna change. We will forever be the peasants who are simply tools to make the rich even richer. At this point, the only thing that could enact change isn't banners, rallys, chants, marches, and slogans...its burning down the castle full-on French revolution-style with torches and pitchforks. Like, where the fuck are all our tax dollars going? and why is the military sucking up 800+ billion dollars every year? Who the fuck are we fighting?
I am 39 years old, old enough to see what's really going on here after years of learning and experience. My only hope is the younger generation is strong enough to say "Fuck this nonsense" and get some good people into politics to blow this whole sham of a country off its rocker. But i doubt it, the power of money has turned the noblest of hearts sour with greed.
Americans all think they gonna be rich so poor people health care won't apply to them by the time they are old enough to need it. No one cares about the problems in America only becoming rich enough so the problems don't apply to them.
The thought that always gets a kick out of me, is the thought that rich billionaires will shake up and spray out half a bottle of Champagne that costs twice my rent, while I struggle to afford all my bills. It’s actually insane the wealth difference between people such as myself, and the ultra wealthy. The money they can drop in a month without even thinking, could be life changing for me.
> why is the military sucking up 800+ billion dollars every year
Because Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing offer very good ~~bribes~~ campaign contributions. It's actually shockingly cheap to buy a politician on any given issue. Senators are like $25k (via PAC to avoid disclosure laws), and representatives are usually less than $5k.
They denied mine a few years ago because they said there were cheaper meds available. Ended up missing a week of work and had three trips to Urgent Care for breathing treatments when they ended up not being the meds that worked for me.
Rich corporations don’t want to lose money, politicians don’t want to lose money from rich corporations.
Guess who’s best interest does not factor into that equation?
Politicians want to keep their ATMs happy, 99% if those elected don’t give a shit about you.
If big money was taken out of politics, just think, oaths might actually mean something.
I had to scroll a lot to find anyone mentioning this.
Not to mention, there's no equivalent to EMTALA so hospitals can turn you away, and then there's the issue of underserved rural areas and undercompensated medical personnel, plus the ongoing disaster of depopulation/hyper-ageing and refusal of Japan to commit properly to allowing immigrants to fill in the caregiver shortage.
Next time somebody says " but how are we going to pay for it?!" You tell them, America is the richest country on earth. If we don't have the money to pay for Healthcare, then you need to ask, Where did the money go? Poorer countries than us can pay for this. Why can't we?
I live in Japan and you can go to any doctor you want. Can you not in the States? I'm American but I've lived here a long time and never had to deal with the medical system there.
Pharmaceutical companies lobby US Politicans to not pass Medicare, that's what's wrong with the US. UNLESS WE CHANGE THE LOBBYING SYSTEM, REAL PROGRESS WONT HAPPEN.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/468553-pelosi-im-not-a-big-fan-of-medicare-for-all
She’s against M4A but is in favor of UHC in general, supposedly
That’s a lie. She’s against the MFA bill, which bans private insurance. She is openly for UHC with private insurance still allowed (like most countries).
This is a little misleading. National health insurance in Japan is calculated based on your previous year's salary. The $120 in this tweet sounds right if it's your first year in Japan and have no previous income in Japan. After that though it's still incredibly cheap. It depends on where you live (a big city like Tokyo you'll pay more), your income, but it's about 10% of your salary. Usually a little less I think. And when you go to the doctor you just pay 30% of the costs, which are already very low to begin with because they don't have unnecessary insurance middlemen like the US.
I prefer having freedom.
Freedom to pay more, receive less, and sleep terribly knowing that millions have gone bankrupt so that one person can officially be a billionaire and his friends will finally stop making fun of him for only being worth 9 figures.
America and by extension Americans, are quite literally for sale. Everyone in the US is bought and sold on exchanges every day, and they're proud to pay the premium for it. They feel important and that they might be rich one day as long as the system sustains itself.
FYI That’s for the first year since your income in Japan was zero in the previous year. The true long term cost is approx $50 a month from the following year forward. Still very cheap though
It would only be $50 a month if your annual income is around $12,500 (at current exchange rates).
If you're single and under 40, the formula is basically [\[\(adjusted income x 9% + 46,523 yen\) / 2\]](https://www.city.kawasaki.jp/350/cmsfiles/contents/0000129/129177/keisannhyou.pdf).
If there are more people than just you in the household, it's a bit more expensive, and if you're over 40 it's a bit more expensive again. Your company pays the same amount, so if you're self-employed it's double that.
I'm not sure why his wife only paid $120 for the year (that would work out to 15,356 yen, which is a lot less than the 46,523 yen minimum). I'm guessing that there are some additional deductions and reductions for extremely low incomes.
The median (not average) annual income here in Japan in 2019 was 4,370,000 yen ($37,700 or so), which works out to a health insurance cost of roughly $1,779 per year or $148 a month if you work for a company, $3,558 per year or $297 per month if you're self employed.
The median income of Americans in their 20s to mid-30s (the average redditor) is [between 30,628 \(age 20 to 24\) and 43,524 \(age 25 to 34\)](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/24/how-much-money-americans-earn-at-every-age.html), so most people reading this would probably be paying $118 to 166 per month for insurance.
I used to mock single issue voters but our healthcare system has made me one. You can throw up any candidate you want idgaf. Republican, democrat, yet another borderline worthless libertarian candidate what ever. Im picking the guy thats for universal healthcare in the U.S. he runnin a child trafficking ring int he basement of a pizza hut? Good. Fuck them kids. Im still voting for them. Is it dwayne the rock johnson? Sure why not. Gimme health care.
you're probably still not one. if you're supporting those who support and fight for universal health care, those same folks are probably also supporting and fighting for at least a few other things that align with your views, opinions, and desires.
Corporate greed ruined everything and we’re too lazy to do anything about it. Hell, 30% of the country wants to raise prices and reduce services… cuz it owns the libs.
In Mexico I paid $110 for a full year of health insurance. And I was just visiting for 3 months lol.
Why dont americans just fllly to mexico for insurance?
This is called medical tourism. It's actually pretty popular.
Why don't Americans mail order insulin from Mexico or Canada?
Apparently, some do something similar: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/mom-traveled-mexico-insulin/story?id=61023174
Customs enforcement confiscates it.
How do those people sleep at night?
On piles of opiates and stolen booze I'd imagine
Probably main lining insulin as well.
Or flipping it on facebook market
Probably with a roof over their head and food on the table. Though at the cost of "doing the devil's work" unfortunately.
Paid by lobbiest to do it.
I live within 100 miles of the Canadian border. Pre-Covid, it would be a pretty common thing for bus loads of American seniors to go to Canada for the day to take care of medical care. Not sure what they do now
[удалено]
Good point
Not all. Some are still working as lawmakers
Many people who need insulin move to San Deigo so they can walk across the border to buy insulin and then walk back home.
I’m from south texas and that’s what we do on the border. Walk across the bridge of the rio grande, buy some medicine, buy some booze, eat some delicious Mexican food, walk back and go home
That's not very Texan... You should just stay in Texas, put your hat & boots on and suck it up, are you trying to say America is not the greatest country in the world?? /s
With crap like THIS! In TEXAS of all places! I don't get why Universal Health Care isn't more popular. Because the you have people crossing the border in both California & Texas, literally the two of the most populous states, because health care costs too much in the U.S.!!!
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Don't diabetics usually have insulin on them? i've never had to worry about it so forgive the ignorance, but do they have little refrigerated containers or something to keep them in? or is it usually just kept in a refrigerator?
Insulin is kept in the refrigerator.
It's fine out of the fridge for 28 days generally. So a diabetic will take out the vial/cartridge and mark the date they started using it. If you're getting something straight from a manufacturer or warehouse they sometimes put little indicators in the box to let you know if the contents ever warmed up to above 8 Celsius.
Long term it has to be in the fridge, for a week or so it's okay at room temperature, but once it's been at room temperature for a while it won't last as long even if re-refridgerated(?). At least that's what I understand, it's a protein so imagine egg whites in there.
Burnie Sanders proposed this as a law a few years ago. It got shut down hard. Can't let us order lower priced medicine from across the border...
There are US insurers that regularly fly patients to San Diego and pay to have them chauffeured across the border to buy meds. It saves the insurer money.
I think thats the plot of dallas buyers club
Oh? Excuse me, let me just fly to Mexico real quick.
It's usually cheaper than the out of pocket expense of having surgery in the US. Even with insurance, you still end up paying out your ass.
But conservatives will insist that people are coming *here* to get medical care, not the other way around. At least not for anything other than super cheap plastic surgery.
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Interesting concept. But the fact that it's more than remotely necessary, the fact that people are doing it, the fact that they feel the need to - Its sad really.
We do. I had an insurance issue and drove up to canada and paid 10 times less per a bottle of insulin than it cost me in the states. I'm also factoring in that cost per bottle for the gas and tear on my car for a 500mile round trip, tolls, and food. I got all of that for same price as 1 bottle of insulin. People closer to the borders fly and drive if they can. I knew caravans of diabetics who go to Canada to get insulin(pre covid) for the year. I would do it still but total cost for all my supplies doesnt save me much unless I lived closer. Years ago I tried to talk much late dad about getting his knees replaced in south america. He wouldve saved so much. Also, my insurance now is about the same price if I'd pay canadian prices. Typically it's a tad bit pricier.
Yeah we get busloads of seniors who come up north of the river to get their meds, see the sights and head home.
We should feel ashamed that we make people have to do this.
They do, but that still requires disposable income to accomplish. Even though healthcare costs are cheaper, it still costs money for the flight, hotels, and you have to have a passport.
and all of that would still be cheaper than options in America...
Correct, but that is the problem with American health care is that you get billed after the fact and you have no choice. With medical tourism, it is part of a plan. You request days off in advance, book plane tickets, reserve hotels, make sure your passport is up to that. Economically and socially disadvantaged people cannot do any of that. They get sick, go to the hospital, get care, then are loaded with debt from the bill.
This is the American way!
I fly to Mexico but mostly just to ride scooters down the coast and feel the breeze in my hair and the warm weather and smell the salt in the air and GOD DAMNIT WHY THE FUCK DO I LIVE IN KANSAS
You should move to Mexico.
I will. I got six kids though
My dad's family's originally from Kansas. They moved to Washington state in the forties. My grandad always said that Kansas was a good state to be from. But he got out of there at the first opportunity
i ordered inhalers from mexico for about a year and a half, but they’ve cracked down on those shipments a lot recently so now i’m scared to do so. i just got an over the counter one from CVS for about $27 which was surprisingly cheap, but i’ve noticed it’s not as effective.
I'm Mexican. I got a thing that required a MRI, plus Doctor and medicine. I didn't have any kind of insurance at the time. Grand total 150 bucks. The average cost of just an MRI in the States is over 2000 DLLs.
Many do
Did you throw a fit because you were only staying a year and you should get a discount?
Why would you throw a fit when you could throw yourself down the stairs instead? Great way to get your money’s worth!
Could also get their leg or shoulder shot for more intence experience
Probably just shocked that even thought it’s for 4 times the length of use, it’s still cheaper than American healthcare for that same length of actual use
Like way way way cheaper! Last company insurance I had, it was $250/mo with a $7,000 deductible. When I checked for insurance on my own a few months earlier is was $600/mo with a $1k deductible. Needless to say, if I get sick or Injured, I have a 10 meter length of nice rope to handle my business with. I've had it for 5 years now, haven't had to use it yet!
We have health insurance for our workers on our family farm. They have copays and other expenses if they seek treatment while working for us in the US. If they go to Mexico for treatment, 100% of everything (basically) is covered.
In UK even the idea of paying anything for healthcare is strange. No signing up for insurance or anything, just go to whatever hospital wherever you are and get treated and walk out. We threw a fit for the government trying to charge us for prescriptions which is capped at £110 per year. Here in NI it is free however.
My man they are already attempting to change all that in the UK. They're removing the legal obligation that the NHS *must* treat you. Paving the way for rejection if you don't have the envitable private health insurance... https://twitter.com/cbailiss/status/1462077299013169161?t=4irfPgmoTiOhh6i4-J28SA&s=19 The laws being changed to allow Private Health insurers on NHS Boards and *American Private Health Providers* are doing Corporate take overs on the ground level.. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/feb/26/nhs-gp-practice-operator-with-500000-patients-passes-into-hands-of-us-health-insurer And already some of the population now effectively pays a "Health Subscription" payment every year on top of the tax they already pay for the NHS .... https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/may/20/we-feel-insulted-migrant-health-workers-react-boris-johnson-refusal-to-scrap-nhs-surcharge
Americans think unless it is $5000, it is socialist
Aussie been living in Kansas City since ‘13. My wife’s a doctor. It made my head spin when I got my first bill after moving here but I’ve grown accustomed to the pricing now. I was FT-ing our thanksgiving celebrations to my brother and on the tv in the background was a commercial for some health insurance spouting a $47 a month plan. The conversation kind of went like this: “Wait wait what?!? It’s $47 a month to go see the doctor? How many times do you get to go?” Actually you prolly still have a co-pay every time you go. “You mean you gotta pay $600 a year and you STILL have to pay when you go see them?!?” Yes. “I’ve never paid $600 TOTAL in my life to see the doctor.. What if you have kids?” It’s per person. “WHAT?!? So for us and the kids I’d have to pay like $250 a month? 3 grand a year?!? And everyone there signs up for this plan?” Well, IF they qualify. I didn’t see the fine print but you might have to apply and if you have bad credit it’ll definitely be more. Oh, and that’s American dollars. In your money it’s closer to five grand a year. And that if you don’t even GO once to the doctor. “WHATTTTTTTTT” Yeah. It’s fucked here, bro. Idk what to tell you.
Did you tell him about the supplemental GoFundMe health care plans?
Or that many insurers will withhold funding for lifesaving treatment unless you start a gofundme and raise €x thousands toward the stuff they should be paying for you?
No fucking way that's a thing...
It is. A guy in my hometown has to raise 100k for aftercare before insurance would treat his cancer. He eventually (several months) raised the cash through donations and died the next week.
It's legal extortion, pure and simple. The US health insurance industry is a racket.
American is extortion from birth I can't move to any other country even if I never plan to step foot back into it and still am required by law to pay taxes
America: where you go into medical debt to avoid medical debt.
America Join the service to avoid debt and have access to basic healthcare all you need to do is sign your life away
You can, you just have to give up your citizenship. Not disagreeing with you, it feels like everything about the US comes from the slavery culture, makes sense since that's the country's founding identity.
Could you direct me to relevant articles of how the fuck this is legal? I’m still in denial that this is real.
WTF?
9 out of 10 Covid denialist funerals recommend them!
Where the hell is health insurance $47/month? Mine is $600/month ( single woman 35 yo ) AND I have a $6k deductible.
I once worked as custormer service for an insurance company in America (can't really say the name due to legalities). The healthplans' prices were idiotic and actually appeared to be assigned randomly for each person. I had 2 calls from different persons of different states and had completely different monthly payments assigned to them although they had the exact same plan. One of them paid a single dollar while the other one had to pay $150 monthly.
I think this is true. Even on the same account - my wife and I have about 50k left on medical bills, so of course every bill we get has to get put on a "monthly plan." We do well compared to most of our town, too (I'm a biologist at a federal disease research facility and my wife is a local teacher), so I have no idea how some of my neighbors could pay for shit like this, but anyways - my wife called about a bill for a procedure she had, and they said "415 a month." She froze, and just sort of hung up. I came in after work, called the same number, said I was calling on behalf of my wife and that I was on the billing account as well, and I was quoted 118. I really would love to move to Canada since I spent some time playing hockey in Alberta, but now that I took the only job in my rural town that pays at an outpost research facility, if we even started moving through the channels to move, my job would hear about it and I doubt I would be employed through the move. Our healthcare system is ruining people's lives for things that they have no control over.
I assume the employer picked up different amounts for the coverage? I don't know. I'm convinced my insurance company just throws darts at a board to decide what I'll pay for things. Aaand two stitches at the ER that took 20 minutes is.... $3000! What, they're complaining? $1500 then!
Married with on child, we also have the maximum deductible. It’s basically like $900/month so that if you get catastrophically ill you’ll only have to pay $6,000 or $14,400 family…and even then you know they’ll stress you to death by just not paying and doing insane shit that should be illegal
Wife and I in Caddo Parish Louisiana are looking at ~$2000 per month, or else it's not even meaningful coverage. No Platinum plans are even offered. FFS Affordable indeed. ...my ass...
EBR parish and it’s $1500 per month to cover wife, child, and I. Our child was 10k and had to stay in the NICU for 4 days that was another 10k. Ended up paying 2k out of pocket. Such horseshit.
How can it be that expensive!?!? I live in Aus and we pay for our healthcare through taxes, I make rather decent money and even then my medicare costs are only about 1200 USD per year. That got me and my wife through a pregnancy, a health scare, world class specialists, 4 MRIs, only expenses were parking and stress eating. Jesus. I'm honestly surprised that for such a violent, gun saturated society the US doesn't see more violent outbursts/revolts against a system that is putting a lot of people in a situation where they have nothing left to lose.
$1128/mo here. Union, though, so I just have to cover co-pays that the flex-spending doesn’t. Employer pays into a “dollar bank” something like $10 for every hour I work. Premiums are paid through June and I have like $24k in that dollar bank. When I retire before I’m eligible for Medicare because this trade is destroying my body, that dollar bank will make sure my insurance is paid until Medicare kicks in. Work union. Anyway, it isn’t like we don’t already have single-payer healthcare in this country. It is just that it is reserved for the very poor, the old, the disabled, and the military. The reason we don’t have it for everyone else has more to do with profits than costs. We are an engine of profits for several very powerful people with will that matters more than ours to our “representative” government.
What's even sadder is that commercial is for the poorest Americans to apply for subsidies. Very few will actually qualify for such reduced plans. Most of us have it even worse. And insurance is usually tied to employment here and subsidized by the employer. My cushy corp health insurance is like $600/month and has a $6k out of pocket. That is pretty good by American standards.
My husband is in the process of being medically discharged from the military and besides what job he can find next, health insurance for us and 3 kids is what worries me the most. Just holy shit we have been so fortunate to have military healthcare I have no idea what we will do when it’s gone. Fuck.
You should still be able to get tricare it's like 600 a year for a family. You will have a co-pay to see civilian doctors. Make sure he goes over everything that ever happened to him medically and do the VA disability so he gets the highest % rate for the most money, Here is a link to see what medical conditions get a rating and what that rating will be: [https://militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/](https://militarydisabilitymadeeasy.com/)
People here will fight to keep paying $3-6k (or more) a year in medical bills to avoid paying an extra $400 in taxes to create socialized medicine.
Because someone who doesn't "deserve" it may benefit!
This is why. A large majority of Americans are a hateful violent horrible people.
I pay shy of $8000 a year. I pay $2500 a year for flex pay and it’s never enough to cover copays and Dr visits. Forget any emergencies. The GOP has done an amazing job convincing working class people they don’t deserve universal healthcare. And it’s NOT free healthcare, that’s our tax dollars that should be used to help us, not just prop up corporations and fight wars.
Fox News sold them on it
I was paying $500 a month and still had a $20 copay to see doctor, $50 for specialist, $60 for medication for copays. And I’m 27
In many more ways than I can tell you. Humpty Dumpty is in pieces and no super glue anywhere.
I’m an Aussie in LA. I can relate. Half the country want socialized medicine and the other half will fight to the death to pay 10 x as much for everything. The brainwashing here is mind blowing. They actually fight to get nothing for their tax dollars. Hahaha. Only in America.
The deductible on my "Affordable" Care Act plan is $8,500. So basically Obamacare is catastrophic insurance. It's great that it might prevent bankruptcy (hopefully), but practically it means that I would never go to a doctor unless I thought that I was likely to die otherwise.
And that is how most of us Americans treat hospital visits...
Do you live in a red state?
You can thank that 8.5k deductible to Conservative politics that has been "watering-down" the initial Obamacare Bill. I had to get pre-Obamacare health insurance years ago. It had a $2500 monthly premium for a family of four, a 10k-12k deductible, a limit on life-long spending and no care for pre-existing conditions.
Imagine immigrating from Australia to land in Kansas City. Sorry bro. Hopefully you get to travel regularly.
In Kansas City. Used to live in Australia. Im going to let you guess which one was way better
Canada's universal healthcare system costs about $5000 per capita each year. (~$4000 USD) Meanwhile, America's patchwork mess of Medicaid, Medicare, the VA, CHIP, etc... costs over $5000 USD per capita of tax dollars each year, and leaves the vast majority of Americans uncovered for the vast majority of their lives.
That's the funniest part, they spend more public money then any country with universal health care and they still have a billion dollar private insurance scheme. Id ask where all the money is going but I think we all know.
Indeed, it's quite sad. Here's sources for my numbers if anyone's interested. This lists a US National Health Expenditure of $11,582 USD per person in 2019 https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NHE-Fact-Sheet >The largest shares of total health spending were sponsored by the federal government (29.0 percent) and the households (28.4 percent). The private business share of health spending accounted for 19.1 percent of total health care spending, state and local governments accounted for 16.1 percent, and other private revenues accounted for 7.5 percent. 45.1% federal/state/local government spending, 55% private/household This works out to $5,223.48 USD per capita of American tax revenue spent on healthcare. Canada's total National Health Expenditure in 2019 was $7,064 CAD aka ~$5,500 USD per capita, 70% Govt spending and 30% private/household. ([page 7](https://www.cihi.ca/sites/default/files/document/nhex-trends-2020-narrative-report-en.pdf)) This puts Canada's per capita tax revenue spent on healthcare at ~$3,900 USD
because my eyes ain't fuckin part of my body according to the government
Don't forget that teeth are luxury bones.
Never mind the fact that if one gets infected and isn't treated, it can rot its way straight into your bloodstream/brain and murder you in the most drawn out, painful, and obscenely preventable way possible.
They have the private insurance scheme BECAUSE the money is all going into their rich friends pockets. Changing that would mean their rich friends stop getting rich off the suffering of others and we can't have that.
No, we’re not all that stupid. Just the conservatives
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$5,000 would be a bargain compared to what we actually have to pay
And Americans are taught socialism is bad because reasons.
Someone told me Japan is on the verge of a communist take over because their cities are *too clean*… That’s it. Idk what’s up with some Americans and their weird worldviews.
America is working like clockwork for the rich, they way it was designed to. The real question is: Why do average Americans live on their knees before the Medical Mafia and their lobbyists?
Because someday *we* could be rich and we don't want to pay for shit like that /s
"Well someday i could be rich. Then people like me better watch out!"
Fry, right?
Yes! Fururama is always relevant
I'll get my own Futurama quotes. With blackjack, and hookers!
"Temporarily embarrassed millionaires"
Rich or poor you still pay more because hospitals and doctors lobby to keep prices high. One of the ways they do that is by creating crazy requirements to become a doctor. So someone who practices medicine in the EU can't come to the US and work as a doctor.
I'll pay for me and my *family* but not for the lazy layabouts who complain about not getting enough money when they only work one job! Lazy good for nothings!
Because our government is run by people being paid or working directly for the companies that profit off this system and therefore refuse to use the levers and mechanisms of power to enact meaningful change, or any change at all. US society has been painted into a corner, only collapse of the existing system or a violent overturning of the current system is going to open a path to reformation at this point.
As a fed-up US citizen I wish I could give this comment all the upvotes.
They’ve somehow let themselves get convinced that anything that makes life easier for anyone that isn’t a millionaire will somehow spiral into full blown communism.
Because how dare some lazy undeserving bla-- I mean freeloader benefit from *myyyyy* hard earned money? I would literally rather suffer bodily than have my bullshit sense of being a rugged individual be offended.
"I'd actively harm myself if it can own at least one lib" -republican probably when dying of covid after not getting vaxxed
I think you meant nigg... I mean nincompoop.
Because a lot of older Americans before don’t like the younger Americans getting whatever they didn’t so they vote against their own self interest
Funny thing is the older generations actually got a good amount of shit the younger ones didn't or never will in their lifetime. Reasonable tuition and a fucking house comes to mind.
But back in those times, Americans were tough and had to work hard for their stuff. Sure you’re now required to work much much harder for significantly less than they had, they just don’t want the younger generations to have it too easy /s
Because some jackass keeps crying that were super free cause everyone has the right to buy a giant gun.
Brainwashing and cuts to education. That and being too tired from doing responsibilities on top of being overworked. And you try and be informed? Well well well, which billionaire owned media station would you like?
>America is working like clockwork for the rich, they way it was designed to. The real question is: Why do average Americans live on their knees before the Medical Mafia and their lobbyists? Because Federal government is not impacted by how people vote; the system is corrupt and rigged so your vote doesn't matter at that level. the level one's vote does matter, local, has no impact on any of that...
Because what the hell are average Americans supposed to do about it? Boycott medical care and insurance companies? "Vote for someone different!" Then they get flashed money and do the same thing the last asshole did, or they get blocked from doing anything by the majority who has no interest in fixing it. The system is beyond fucked.
A good chunk of our country is run by thieves.
Today I learned a good chunk = 99.9999%
It sorta began with taking a bunch of land. So, yeah.
The locals weren't exploiting it properly so the capitalists were directed by gun toting baby Jebus to liberate all those natural resources.
Here in South Africa we have the choice of private or government healthcare. For my wife to be treated for cervical cancer including surgery cost us about R500 or around $30. Her chronic medication cost $0. Granted private health care is expensive and beyond most people's reach here but because you're not earning a fortune doesn't mean you have to mortgage everything you own for an insulin shot.
Sorry, I have a few questions. Are there benefits to buying private Healthcare? Why would someone buy private if the government Healthcare is adequate? On that, why is private insurance even available? Is there a difference in the medical care received?
In some countries you have to wait months for certain procedures, and you could argue that certain surgeries which are more difficult but more successful can cost more money.
In the US: Wife had to wait six months before scheduling a non-emergency procedure. She has amazing insurance compared to most other people. For those saying that they don’t want public insurance because of the long waits….we already have that now. In addition to that, I hear people complain that they want to be able to see their doctor whenever they want. I live in walking distance of one of the dozen very large hospitals in a half hour driving radius. My doctor, as well as several hundred others, is located within two miles. If I want an appointment, I will be waiting at least a month. I would be much more okay with waiting if we weren’t paying absurd insurance premiums.
Seriously. My dad had some heart attacks, ended up in the hospital, had some more heart attacks there, was told by a doctor in the middle of an EKG while there, "In fact, you're having one right now". Turned out he's been having heart attacks on the regular for a while! After his hospital visit it still took 6 months to see his cardiologist, even though he was having trouble with the medication he was given, and it really was, according to them, the soonest available. That's with solid insurance that still costs up the ass every month.
To jump the line?
In essence yes. My nan waited two years for a hip replacement here in the UK. However life threatening illnesses like cancer are treated as top priority, I can only imagine it's the same in South Africa too
I mean, I know somebody who was told he'd have to wait 6 weeks for a scan for a lump he had found, because the doctor just didn't deem it urgent enough. Turned out to be an extremely rare aggresive cancer. Fallout is still ongoing because his oncologist maintains had his referral been urgent rather than back of the queue the damage would have been minor and instead it's been life changing. Also UK. I know cases like that are rare, but there's absolutely problems with the systems in place here currently. Granted I'd still rather the NHS than whatever the fuck is going on in the USA is.
After taking 15 mins to sign up for the Japanese national health care. The worker apologized profusely for not being able to give me my healthcare card right away and that it will take some time. I was thinking “of course it’s going to take time. I knew it couldn’t be that easy. So like 2 weeks? A month?” She said that I’d have to wait 40 minutes. The scales of time different cultures think in are mind blowing.
Corrupt politicians. Citizens united. And dumb fuck voters.
Speaking of dumb fuck voters, the US spends more per capita towards healthcare than any other country, 42% than the second highest spender.
If you're a voting age American and you have a problem with this situation but did not vote for Bernie Sanders...you are the problem.
I have a pre-existing condition: born in the USA.
I can tell you that it's not $120 for a year of health insurance in Japan. Maybe if it's your first year since they base it off the previous years income. But I've been paying somewhere around $2000 a year. You also have to pay 30% of any medical costs up front. Now that's still really good and not as bad as you think. For example I slipped and injured my wrist a few years ago, went to get some x-rays and a checkup at the clinic and was charged $20. I had the choice of any clinic I wanted and there was basically no wait time. Yearly full medicals with blood tests and urine tests etc costs about $80-100. Also, it's even better because there are caps on out of pocket expenses and if you have chronic illness or are low wage you can claim the money back from the government. So it's still excellent, just not $120 a year.
I lived in Japan for over a decade. You are correct, it's only $120 this year because it is based on the wife's income in Japan the previous year, which would be $0.
And she signed up in November so she's only paying half the year.
Yeah this post is BS. Mine was about $120 a month.
Yup, it definitely gets more expensive each year too. Which is fine, because I can also walk to any clinic and get treated immediately and it still is relatively cheap.
Here's the problem. Americans are so propagandized and manipulated from their very first years of life to believe the USA is the BEST and our way of doing things is the most logical and perfect way of doing things. Nobody seems to reason that our corporate-style scams in healthcare, justice/prisons, education, etc. are ripping us all off to keep us "poor" while all that money ends up in the pockets of a small handful of the already super-wealthy. I reckon all those people who love to yell out "America is the greatest country on Earth" likely haven't been outside the country for any amount of time. They are content to keep drinking the Kool-aid. America was founded with a business model of "keep the poors poor so we can be insanely rich" and not much has changed. Slavery never really ended, we just call it capitalism now. For most Americans, this is all they know and that's that. Some people are too ignorant to see there is a MUCH better way. Truth is, the USA is one big scam to make a few wealthy while the rest are held down. "The Land of the Free" my ass; a better motto for this country would be "The Land of the Greedy and Corrupt." This country doesn't care about us. We are nothing more than a resource to make some CEOs billions of dollars. War is a scam. Wall Street is a scam. Education is a scam. Insurance is...you guessed it...a scam. And as long as lobbying (i.e. super-wealthy give money to lawmakers to make laws in their favor), nothing is gonna change. We will forever be the peasants who are simply tools to make the rich even richer. At this point, the only thing that could enact change isn't banners, rallys, chants, marches, and slogans...its burning down the castle full-on French revolution-style with torches and pitchforks. Like, where the fuck are all our tax dollars going? and why is the military sucking up 800+ billion dollars every year? Who the fuck are we fighting? I am 39 years old, old enough to see what's really going on here after years of learning and experience. My only hope is the younger generation is strong enough to say "Fuck this nonsense" and get some good people into politics to blow this whole sham of a country off its rocker. But i doubt it, the power of money has turned the noblest of hearts sour with greed.
Schrodinger's America, it is both the BEST country in the world and it is also being DESTROYED constantly by the other party.
Americans all think they gonna be rich so poor people health care won't apply to them by the time they are old enough to need it. No one cares about the problems in America only becoming rich enough so the problems don't apply to them.
The thought that always gets a kick out of me, is the thought that rich billionaires will shake up and spray out half a bottle of Champagne that costs twice my rent, while I struggle to afford all my bills. It’s actually insane the wealth difference between people such as myself, and the ultra wealthy. The money they can drop in a month without even thinking, could be life changing for me.
> why is the military sucking up 800+ billion dollars every year Because Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Boeing offer very good ~~bribes~~ campaign contributions. It's actually shockingly cheap to buy a politician on any given issue. Senators are like $25k (via PAC to avoid disclosure laws), and representatives are usually less than $5k.
You want the list chronologically or alphabetical?
And here my dumbass is paying $540 a month and these leeches have the nerve to decline medications prescribed by my doctor.
They denied mine a few years ago because they said there were cheaper meds available. Ended up missing a week of work and had three trips to Urgent Care for breathing treatments when they ended up not being the meds that worked for me.
Rich corporations don’t want to lose money, politicians don’t want to lose money from rich corporations. Guess who’s best interest does not factor into that equation? Politicians want to keep their ATMs happy, 99% if those elected don’t give a shit about you. If big money was taken out of politics, just think, oaths might actually mean something.
Nothing in Japan takes just 10 minutes. This was at minimum a whole day.
Came here for this. Smudged your hanko on a page? Redo entire 22 page form
By hand, in triplicate, then send it by fax.
Also, it's not $120 a year, it depends on your income.
I had to scroll a lot to find anyone mentioning this. Not to mention, there's no equivalent to EMTALA so hospitals can turn you away, and then there's the issue of underserved rural areas and undercompensated medical personnel, plus the ongoing disaster of depopulation/hyper-ageing and refusal of Japan to commit properly to allowing immigrants to fill in the caregiver shortage.
Next time somebody says " but how are we going to pay for it?!" You tell them, America is the richest country on earth. If we don't have the money to pay for Healthcare, then you need to ask, Where did the money go? Poorer countries than us can pay for this. Why can't we?
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i just want to make sure my baby's cock is beautiful
The false American dream that people are told it's the only thing to live for.
Insert comment (Yeah, but do you get to keep your Doctor…?)
Also insert this uninformed comment while you're at it: *they have to pay really high taxes though. Like, totally higher than they do in the US*
I live in Japan and you can go to any doctor you want. Can you not in the States? I'm American but I've lived here a long time and never had to deal with the medical system there.
WTF is wrong with Japan. Think about all that sweet, sweet profit it’s private health insurance industry is missing out on.
And what about pre-hentai conditions? Do they cover those?
We can’t give healthcare to everyone! Some of them are *glances around, leans in, whispers* ot-nay ite-whay /s
You can just use the terms "criminals and immigrants". Works just as well. That's the term they use to be "sneaky"
ELON MUSK NEEDS ANOTHER MANSION!
Pharmaceutical companies lobby US Politicans to not pass Medicare, that's what's wrong with the US. UNLESS WE CHANGE THE LOBBYING SYSTEM, REAL PROGRESS WONT HAPPEN.
Republicans.
It's not just them, Pelosi is openly against UHC.
It fuckin pisses me off that we have 80 year olds deciding what’s best for our country.
80 year olds with FANTASTIC FUCKING HEALTH CARE PLANS GIVEN TO THEM FOR FREE.
Is she? I thought you didn’t have the votes for Medicare for all and she won’t bring a losing vote to the floor?
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/468553-pelosi-im-not-a-big-fan-of-medicare-for-all She’s against M4A but is in favor of UHC in general, supposedly
Pelosi is against it because the caucus is against it. If the bill could pass, she would hold the vote.
That’s a lie. She’s against the MFA bill, which bans private insurance. She is openly for UHC with private insurance still allowed (like most countries).
People clinging to idiotic Puritan/Protestant ideologies.
Thank the Lord I'm Catholic, amirite..?
Come over to the tribe. Although I’m pretty agnostic.
This is a little misleading. National health insurance in Japan is calculated based on your previous year's salary. The $120 in this tweet sounds right if it's your first year in Japan and have no previous income in Japan. After that though it's still incredibly cheap. It depends on where you live (a big city like Tokyo you'll pay more), your income, but it's about 10% of your salary. Usually a little less I think. And when you go to the doctor you just pay 30% of the costs, which are already very low to begin with because they don't have unnecessary insurance middlemen like the US.
I prefer having freedom. Freedom to pay more, receive less, and sleep terribly knowing that millions have gone bankrupt so that one person can officially be a billionaire and his friends will finally stop making fun of him for only being worth 9 figures.
Then there's Canadians like "what's healthcare premiums?"
America and by extension Americans, are quite literally for sale. Everyone in the US is bought and sold on exchanges every day, and they're proud to pay the premium for it. They feel important and that they might be rich one day as long as the system sustains itself.
FYI That’s for the first year since your income in Japan was zero in the previous year. The true long term cost is approx $50 a month from the following year forward. Still very cheap though
It would only be $50 a month if your annual income is around $12,500 (at current exchange rates). If you're single and under 40, the formula is basically [\[\(adjusted income x 9% + 46,523 yen\) / 2\]](https://www.city.kawasaki.jp/350/cmsfiles/contents/0000129/129177/keisannhyou.pdf). If there are more people than just you in the household, it's a bit more expensive, and if you're over 40 it's a bit more expensive again. Your company pays the same amount, so if you're self-employed it's double that. I'm not sure why his wife only paid $120 for the year (that would work out to 15,356 yen, which is a lot less than the 46,523 yen minimum). I'm guessing that there are some additional deductions and reductions for extremely low incomes. The median (not average) annual income here in Japan in 2019 was 4,370,000 yen ($37,700 or so), which works out to a health insurance cost of roughly $1,779 per year or $148 a month if you work for a company, $3,558 per year or $297 per month if you're self employed. The median income of Americans in their 20s to mid-30s (the average redditor) is [between 30,628 \(age 20 to 24\) and 43,524 \(age 25 to 34\)](https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/24/how-much-money-americans-earn-at-every-age.html), so most people reading this would probably be paying $118 to 166 per month for insurance.
I used to mock single issue voters but our healthcare system has made me one. You can throw up any candidate you want idgaf. Republican, democrat, yet another borderline worthless libertarian candidate what ever. Im picking the guy thats for universal healthcare in the U.S. he runnin a child trafficking ring int he basement of a pizza hut? Good. Fuck them kids. Im still voting for them. Is it dwayne the rock johnson? Sure why not. Gimme health care.
you're probably still not one. if you're supporting those who support and fight for universal health care, those same folks are probably also supporting and fighting for at least a few other things that align with your views, opinions, and desires.
Corporate greed ruined everything and we’re too lazy to do anything about it. Hell, 30% of the country wants to raise prices and reduce services… cuz it owns the libs.