r/HealthInsurance • u/pandapower63 • Apr 14 '24

Plan Choice Suggestions What can regular Americans who are fed up with their health insurance do about it?

I’ve written my elected officials in government. What else can we do? It’s depressing and it’s wrong. That people can’t get healthcare easily and affordably. People are dying early because they don’t get the care they need.

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54

u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

For who? Most major politicians from both sides are paid by insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

Biden ran on introducing a public option and it never even came up again after he was elected. I’m sure he will talk about it again now that it’s election time but will he actually do anything? I think not. The best that can happen is he wins and it doesn’t get worse than it is.

Voting does not work with the current bribery based system. It’s very clear that profit margins are more important than people.

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u/GroinFlutter Apr 14 '24

Voting works if everyone actually votes in their local elections, not just the big ones. These politicians start locally.

It’s not going to be fast or quick. But it has to start somewhere

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u/PinkWetFish68 Apr 14 '24

Definitely agree. It’s not the one guy every four years, it’s the 435 voted in every two years and the 100 up every 6 years that matter most!

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '24

It's state and local elections that matter. The federal government is corrupt beyond repair. Most of the time there isn't even a decent option running for a particular House or Senate seat.

Using the direct ballot initiative process available in 26 states, we could get a state level universal system in place within the next decade.

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u/swellfog Apr 14 '24

Actually, voting hasn’t been working which is why you see such anger and disengagement.

Politicians on all sides no longer respond to voters. They respond to donors and those who can give them and their kids well paying jobs, and consulting gigs when they get out of office. One of the biggest issues is the revolving door between Tech, Wall Street and Corporate America and DC.

DC (yes, both parties) literally has disdain for voters, they see them as an annoyance they have to deal with during election season.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 15 '24

Yes, Say it louder for the ones in back!

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

The only time my vote has actually improved my life is in my local elections so I always vote but federally I don’t have any reason to hope.

I was exited when I thought California might enact universal healthcare and that could start happening state by state, but like every other time it was just talk and profit won.

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u/GroinFlutter Apr 14 '24

Even the big general elections have a lot of local measures and state laws that are on the ballot.

If you don’t feel comfortable voting for a president or any of the other major ones, you can leave those blank and vote on the others.

That’s what my partner does. Just refuses to vote for a president, but votes for everything else.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '24

That’s what my partner does. Just refuses to vote for a president, but votes for everything else.

That's what I do. I leave federal elections blank unless a candidate is super compelling, which is rare. Meanwhile, I vote in EVERY state and local election on my ballot.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

I always vote, I’ve gone third party left things blank when I didn’t have a good candidate. I do it and recognize it’s important but federally it’s the same bs it’s always been. Some politician who is taking money and orders from the right people and doesn’t do a damn thing for me or any other working class person. Dems do at least maintain the suffering and don’t exasperate it but don’t actually do anything.

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u/cottercutie Apr 15 '24

HAVE to start at the local level! If you start voting out local and state politicians in Red states who will not expand Medicaid, or who are trying to undo expansion in states where it does exist, then it will filter up. Start there. Then we continue to move forward towards a public option that isn't tied to employment

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u/CTRL_ALT_DELIGHT Apr 14 '24

Voting does not work. The two parties share a consensus on these (and most) matters. Things change through direct action, not through the ballot box.

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u/GroinFlutter Apr 14 '24

Okay. What direct action do you suggest that would work best without harming patients or doctors or their livelihoods?

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u/CTRL_ALT_DELIGHT Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 16 '24

Literally anything is more effective than pretending you can vote your way into a better future. Write a letter or phone bank, join a community mutual aid group, go to a protest. I wonder if I am wasting my breath reading your weird equivocation about harm.

Edit: comments are locked now, but it's hilarious you think that having a masters in health administration is a flex. You're the problem. You, the MBAs, and the insurance companies are the vampires sucking our healthcare system dry.

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u/GroinFlutter Apr 15 '24

Literally, no. Writing letters doesn’t work. Joining community groups won’t work. Going to protests won’t work. Healthcare is a whole other beast in the US. There’s too many people indifferent towards it and there’s many more benefiting from it.

I have an MHA, so sure. You are quite literally wasting your breath.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '24

There’s too many people indifferent towards it

Where are these people? I've never met anyone with a positive opinion of their health insurance. If they are all hiding out in gated communities, they sure aren't close to a majority.

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u/GroinFlutter Apr 15 '24

those with good (low patient responsibility) employer coverage and those on Medicare. People on Medicare sure don’t want anything changing with their coverage

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '24

Sometimes short term loss is required for long term gain.

What is less bad: having severely shitty healthcare for a couple of years followed by a universal system on par with those of other wealthy countries, or continuing with this awful healthcare system indefinitely?

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u/HystericalSail Apr 15 '24

This is why my wife registered as a Republican. So she can have some input as to who gets through the primary, ever so slightly lower odds of a choice between a far right social conservative sellout vs neolib sellout when it comes time to elect one of two assclowns.

I admit she has a point. Thinking of following her lead, but on the D side. Both of us were/are registered as independent, neither one of us voted party line in the past.

But my goal is getting back to a more centrist policy. Those with a vested interest in far right or far left don't need to consider this approach.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '24

It’s not going to be fast or quick. But it has to start somewhere

You need to realize that people who don't have access to healthcare don't have some unlimited amount of time to wait for neo-libs and neo-cons to get their head out of their asses. We need direct ballot initiatives for state level universal healthcare in multiple states. Once we can get a system passed in at least one state, it will act as a catalyst for others to follow.

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u/GroinFlutter Apr 15 '24

Voting for allat in CA whenever I can 🤷🏽‍♀️

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u/Chokedee-bp Apr 14 '24

Pretty sure most democrats in office and democratic voters support a universal healthcare system for all which would lower cost in long run and reduce the bullshit high deductibles we currently have . If you vote Republican and complain about expensive health care you deserve it

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u/VariationNo5419 Apr 15 '24

I think the dems have done a bad job at messaging. "Single-payer health insurance". I bet most Americans don't know what it means, and neither politicians nor the media explain what it is. Most people didn't know Obamacare and the Affordable Healthcare Act were the same thing. Republicans ran on repealing Obamacare and their constituents went for it because they hated anything Pres. Obama did. And when they won and tried to decimate the Affordable Care Act, Republican voters freaked out, not knowing they voted to get rid of their own healthcare.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

I don’t vote republican. I want universal healthcare. Most dems don’t support it, their base does so they sometimes do something but never what actually needs to be done. Just enough to get votes and keep the donors, donating.

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u/Claque-2 Apr 14 '24

Biden went after pharma companies so hard he got insulin down from $350 to $35 dollars. He also gave Medicare the right to negotiate drug prices, a right that Republicans took away. If you need more information, and NOT the misinformation you tried here, read up on the Inflation Reduction Act.

Katie Porter brought the Pharma Bros in and used her infamous white board. She was not elected to the Senate and will soon be out of office, so I don't want to hear 'both sides'.

Vote for candidates that support Medicaid for all, they are all Progressives and Democrats - and Biden.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

When insulin was invented the patient was sold for a dollar. The inverter said it was for the world, yet only in America did we allow corporations to sell it at outrageous rates for so long. It cost like $2 to make and most countries sell it for like $10-15. Doing the bare minimum a couple times with the most absurd egregious things is not enough. It’s good I’m happy he did that, but holy cow how did we let that go that long! $350 to save your life for a month! How many died as a result of that greed!

Biden does not support Medicare for all, in fact he said he would veto it. He also said this multiple times running against Sanders. Most democrats do not as they also get bribes from these corporations.

Look I’m not saying republicans are good, in fact they are way more abhorrent than democrats. But I’m nit going to pretend everything is just fine when democrats are in power it’s just slightly less horrible than when republicans are in power. The insulin thing was great now what about the rest of it.

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u/Claque-2 Apr 14 '24

A million people dying from COVID19 was not slightly less horrid. And opening medicine up for negotiating was also a big fu(king deal.

We will have Medicaid for All. And it will be thanks to Democrats and Progressives.

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u/MikieJag Apr 14 '24

I can only hope. Seems every time the try something (Obamacare aka affordable health care) it gets gutted by the republicans. Or re-voted out of existence.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

The more I’ve watched the more I’m convinced that they just don’t fight that hard. Republicans will have some crazy requests when they are the minority and gain ground and dems will have a supermajority and compromise to nothing most times. It gets gutted because democrats don’t have any guts.

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u/MikieJag Apr 15 '24

Yeah, they tend to give up too easy, then again they always compromise or the govt gets shut down.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 15 '24

I feel like they are like “ oh no please don’t do exactly what my donors want, oh no, you did it, well let me tell my voters how naughty you are, oh no.

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u/TheHealadin Apr 15 '24

The ACA was approved by insurance companies. Romney would have passed the same thing.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

I hope you’re right, I really hope I’m wrong. For me I think that maybe whenever they get some time from their busy schedule of insider trading and donor calls I guess they could maybe do that, if the donors agree of course.

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u/Claque-2 Apr 14 '24

Still attacking the Democrats, huh?

Yes, the Republicans have already stripped HC bare of profit. They've stolen from doctors, nurses, hospitals and patients. Their profit involves negotiating prices down to almost nothing and then having the patients pay the difference. The insatiable need to always have more has turned them into the worst kind of parasites, those who kill their hosts. And you support them.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 15 '24

Yup. I do not think of politics like I think my sports teams. If my team sucks I’m still a fan and ride it out. When is literal preventable death for profit I’m incredibly critical. Dems are better than republicans but still ineffective and have many of the same donors. I look at results not speeches or what I call performative legislation that does very little.

We’ve obviously needed a universal system like the rest of the developed world. Most dems do not support it so I don’t support most of them.

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u/brian-kemp Apr 14 '24

Exactly, Obama admin had a super majority and a red carpet for a public option and instead let insurance lobbyists write the ACA. It’s a fucking travesty.

People unable to get insured due to pre existing conditions was absolutely a problem, but pushing them onto private insurance just made everyone else’s premium skyrocket and put us in the predicament we’re in. Should’ve expanded Medicaid or make a new program for high risk people unable to get on private insurance because they were deemed too costly.

Something has to be done about costs though, and unfortunately part of that has to come from overseas in some way shape or form imo. Other countries with socialized medicine benefit from the fact that healthcare innovation R&D costs are largely recouped in the USA.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

I was just reading about it and Joe Lieberman a democrat was going to filibuster the public option.

Like just look up what we spend compared to other countries and our results. It’s more than every other developed nation and with worse results, and die sooner. Now that’s value for you pay more to be more sick and die sooner.

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u/fatbandoneonman Apr 14 '24

Yep 👏 give me a true progressive to vote for

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u/myTchondria Apr 14 '24

Isn’t the “Market Place” by each state the public option? Also known as Obama Care. This is why I am voting blue. It will keep the public option open. I have hope if Congress goes blue we could also expand it.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24 edited Apr 14 '24

No. The public opinion is a government run insurance that competes directly with the private market. Obama wanted this originally but gave up on it in the final bill. We have health insurance exchanges, the public option never got passed. What’s funny is the public option is still not universal healthcare, it’s a moderate policy to try and drive down insurance companies prices.

Edit. Just was reading up on it, here’s a link. A democrat named Joe Lieberman threatened filibuster is the public option was included.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_health_insurance_option#:~:text=Following%20his%20election%2C%20Obama%20downplayed,removed%20from%20the%20final%20bill.

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u/myTchondria Apr 14 '24

Here is a good link to understand health insurance.

https://assurance.com/health-insurance/marketplace-vs-private-insurance/

I’d suggest contacting an insurance broker to see your options in your area as well as the marketplace.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

If I’m understanding correctly the defining characteristic that is different seems to be direct competition of government and private products. We do not have this, if we did insurance companies could have to lower costs to compete. Which is why no politicians left right or whatever invested with these corporations would ever allow it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

Nope, can’t find anyone to vote for honestly. I can vote for not making it worse faster but I can’t vote to make anything better.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '24

That’s true. Nobody seriously wants to improve it but it’s clear that the republicans want to make things worse. 

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u/CuriousOptimistic Apr 15 '24

Yes, this 'both sides' stuff is nonsense. Neither party is awesome but one is still VASTLY better than the other on this issue.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Ifawumi Apr 14 '24

People always say this. I've been a nurse for 30 years and also have a ton of friends in Europe. Every patient or friend I've talked to does not significantly pay more taxes than we do, especially considering that you subtract health insurance costs, health copays, prescriptions, etc that we have to pay. Every foreign patient I've had gets the heck out of here as soon as possible and usually with a comment about not understanding how we deal with this and saying it's insane

I mean how much do you pay an insurance per month right now? You realize that cost totally goes away. Your taxes will not go up that much if we had nationalized healthcare

Think about this please

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u/HealthInsurance-ModTeam Apr 15 '24

Simple rule, please no politics in this subreddit.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '24

The US has by a wide margin the highest healthcare costs per capita of any country. Dependant on how things would be set up, maybe taxes would go up but premiums, deductibles and out of pocket would go down. So overall it should be a win over the current system.

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u/MrDinStP Apr 14 '24

Stop drinking the kool aid.

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u/[deleted] Apr 14 '24

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Darryl_Lict Apr 14 '24

Bunch of red states have turned down Medicaid expansion which is paid for by federal funds. They don't want to help poor people. Now, Democrats aren't great for universal healthcare, but they are much better than Republicans.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

They are both profit over people, dems just have to maintain some credibility with their base. That why they talk so much more than they do.

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '24

True, because it's not just one guy, it's the congressmen and senators

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '24 edited Apr 24 '24

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This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/sevillada Apr 14 '24

"Biden ran on introducing a public option and it never even came up again"

Democrats didn't win both houses.  Last time they did, with Biden and Obama, they did work on it.

Not sure if you noticed, but Republicans block everything.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 15 '24

No a democratic senator named Joe Lieberman threatened to filibuster the public option in Obama term. It was ultimately left out of the final bill.

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u/autostart17 Apr 14 '24

Stop voting for anyone under a Republican or Democrat banner.

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u/i-VII-VI Apr 14 '24

Voted lots of ways, go third party and it’s not viable, get a republican who fucks it up more go democrat get nothing but it doesn’t get worse, don’t vote on the federal candidates and get blamed for everything wrong either the world. The local stuff is the only real choice the rest of it is bought and paid for.

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u/autostart17 Apr 14 '24

Yeah. It’s crazy that statistically there is no correlation between public support for a bill in Congress and the likelihood that it gets passed.

Arguably craziest fact in American politics, and few even know/talk about it.