• WashedOver@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    76
    ·
    7 months ago

    At times I wonder if medically assisted suicides are frowned upon due to not being able to further drain the money out of patients and their extended credit lines.

    • thantik@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      41
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      You don’t have to wonder any longer. You’ve figured it out. Take the morality out of many political decisions and you have the right answer. Abortions? – nobody gives a shit about those children. It’s a convenient cover so they don’t have to say “Mothers are killing the thing that we will enslave and drain later on in the economy!” Everyone says that they care about the child until it’s born – they don’t even care before that point. And the lack of care/suffering/poverty of the child afterwards is the point of exploitation. So the system is working as intended. They need more workers, they need to siphon every ounce of production out of those workers.

      • AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        7 months ago

        Abortions? – nobody gives a shit about those children. It’s a convenient cover so they don’t have to say “Mothers are killing the thing that we will enslave and drain later on in the economy!"

        What sort of purpose does it serve to force a woman to carry a pregnancy to term when the fetus has a Fatal fetal abnormality?

        • Aceticon@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          7 months ago

          It’s for the useful idiots who follow these politicians to believe that those politicians’ choices are driven by moral principles rather than cold personal upside maximization and a sociopathic disregard for others: for appearances’ sake, same as going around kissing babies and shaking the hands of people they look down on.

          This might sound crazy to any normal person because normal people wouldn’t sacrifice others like that merely for the sake of “the message”, but sociopaths don’t feel any guilt or shame when they hurt or harm others, so they’re capable of sacrificing others to quite an extreme level merelly for some minor benefits to themselves, if the victims are powerless to reciprocate (which in this case they are).

        • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          7 months ago

          It gives conservatives something to jack off about.

          Violence is the only reasonable response.

        • Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          7 months ago

          What sort of purpose does it serve to force a woman to carry a pregnancy

          One sterile woman is a good exchange for 10 babies born in poverty who will join the Army.

          • Fedizen@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            The policy creates orphans more than it creates a population boom. And eventually people do find ways to prevent/stop pregnancies they’re just more dangerous and you see small bump in births then they go down as women die.

            The strategic problem is nobody wants orphans so what happens? They get abused and become unstable. Ain’t many of them going to join the army.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      7 months ago

      They’re also frowned upon because it’s pretty cruel to tell someone “well, you could just die” because they can’t afford medical treatments or a place to live.

      • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        7 months ago

        Rush Limbaugh taught conservatives to hate universal health insurance because doctors would tell you to just die.

        • WaxiestSteam69@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          7 months ago

          Not on topic but I recently listened to the Rush Limbaugh episodes of “Behind the Bastards”. I didn’t think I could dislike Rush more than I already did but I found out he was worse than I thought.

      • FontMasterFlex@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        7 months ago

        How is that any different than it is now? You can choose to die with dignity, or, in the current system, drain your funds, your families funds, put everyone in debt, THEN die.

  • 0110010001100010@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    61
    ·
    7 months ago

    I remember when we bought a house 8 years ago (seems like a lifetime now) talking to the mortgage broker and he basically said they straight-up ignore medical debt because everyone has it and nobody would ever get a loan if it was considered. It’s utterly insane to me how the wealthiest nation in the world can’t keep its citizens healthy and out of debt.

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      7 months ago

      That’s lucky of you. Many do take it into account.

      What’s nuts is that the majority of people declaring bankruptcy because of medical debt have insurance.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      7 months ago

      the wealthiest nation in the world can’t keep its citizens healthy and out of debt.

      But it can. The wealthiest nation in the world per capita is Luxembourg; then Switzerland. I think Norway finishes the top three. Excellent medical systems.

      CUBA’s consolidated single-payer healthcare system beats the US’s #30 rank. And does it far, far cheaper. https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/best-healthcare-in-the-world/

      As Jeff Daniels says in the first act of the first episode of Newsroom, " Yosemite?"

      • Quereller@lemmy.one
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        In Switzerland healthcare, is not bad but expensive. Insurance is mandatory and the same fee for every income. I pay about 12-16% of my gross income for the health of my family. Oh, and this is with the hospitals (and other things) highly subsidized with tax money. Health costs are problematic for the middle class.

    • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      The credit agencies do this, too. Medical debt is either not counted against your credit score or is weighted so little it won’t affect much.

      It makes perfect sense, because it’s not an accurate depiction of your credit seeking habits. It is debt that you did not choose to take on.

  • Jaderick@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    41
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    It always has. IIRC the biggest reason for bankruptcy in the US has been medical bills, for a while. Our greed driven system is garbage.

      • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
        cake
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        35
        ·
        7 months ago

        They eliminated pre-existing conditions and maximum lifetime payments for health insurance, so that’s not nothing.

        But they failed to pass a public option which means health insurance companies have a captive audience for their rent-seeking.

        And the Democrats still just talk about getting people affordable “coverage” and not affordable “care.”

        And hospitals are still understaffed and mental health care has six month waiting lists.

        • tmyakal@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          13
          ·
          7 months ago

          Where I live, all care has a six month wait list. I started a new job with new insurance back in April, still haven’t been able to get in anywhere to see a new PCP. My dentist canceled an appointment on me last week and rescheduled it for February.

          People say socialized medicine leads to long wait times to see doctors. Well, I’m not seeing them now anyway, so at least it’s less or of my pocket.

        • shikitohno@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          11
          ·
          7 months ago

          Mental health care is also often just excluded from coverage. My current job is the first time in my life I’ve had insurance that would cover therapy rather than be like “Look, we gave you one 60 minute session with our free crisis line, what more do you want? If you really need it, it’s only $450 a session if it’s that important.”

          • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
            cake
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            7 months ago

            I had to call thirteen different therapy offices before I found one that could take me before summer.

            Of course, my health insurance website showed them all as “Accepting New Patients”

            • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              7 months ago

              We have a single wait-list if none are available. They email you when there’s an opening at a PCP in the area, and you can veto or lemon-law two offers before you have to go around again.

        • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          7 months ago

          And the Democrats still just talk about getting people affordable “coverage” and not affordable “care.”

          You want to review how the Republicans actually convinced people, especially in the poorest regions who’d benefit the most from a system of improved coverage and reduced cost, that it was a bad thing.

          Democrats can’t shoot for affordable care; they’re trying to get coverage in the door, at least.

        • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          7 months ago

          And the Democrats still just talk about getting people affordable “coverage” and not affordable “care.”

          The charitable interpretation is that they’re talking about getting the government to pay for healthcare and they don’t want to make it sound like medical professionals would all become government employees.

            • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              7 months ago

              Because that would be a lot less popular. A lot of Americans are terrified of the scenario because they’re afraid of change in general, and they’re afraid the result would be run even worse than the system we have now, because they think governments are inherently less competent than private companies.

              I’m not talking about brainwashed Republicans; I mean centrist Dems whose support is absolutely vital for a Dem politician in almost any congressional district.

              • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                7 months ago

                You mean blue Republicans who get paid to perpetuate this bullshit. They aren’t Democrats; they’re fascist spies.

      • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        Because nobody has responded appropriately: with violence. It is the only reasonable response.

    • SeaJ@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      7 months ago

      Well part of it 8s not going to hurt your credit score anymore:

      https://www.cnbc.com/select/medical-debt-credit-report/

      Any bills under $500 in collections won’t be going against your score. Debts larger than that in collections have to be there for at least a year to be on your credit score and disappear once they are paid.

      We could fix all this shit by having the cheaper Medicare for All solution.

      • FReddit@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        7 months ago

        Aetna pulled out of my county for five months. I ended up in a ICU for three days, which is about a $50,000 bill.

        So now I’m on the hook for an $8,000 out of network deductible.

        Fuck U.S. health insurance.

        • SeaJ@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          7 months ago

          My wife had to go to the ER a few years ago. The hospital we thought we were going to was in network. Unfortunately the ER is a separate entity that was not in network. That was a nice $1000 bill.

          • Ignisnex@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            7 months ago

            So I’m trying to follow the misery in this thread, but I don’t know what “in network” means. Is there some sort of intranet that hospitals and insurance companies use to bill each other? I don’t get it.

      • Limit@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        7 months ago

        $500 is nothing. My son fell and hit his head and had a small seizure from the fall… took him to the ER, ct scan, medical exam, anti nausea medication, costed $750 out if pocket AFTER insurance. It was like a $3k medical bill before insurance. For like 2 hours at the ER and a scan… it’s ridiculous.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    Yet COVID vaccinations are down…

    And “essential workers” are right back to being expected to work while sick…

    This is fine.

    • Froyn@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      13
      ·
      7 months ago

      Nothing changed for “essential workers”. The only reprieve they received was guaranteed time off if they contracted Covid. We still had sick people working, they were the wrong kind of sick.

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      7 months ago

      Got my free COVID shot and my free flu shot 90metres away at the pharmacy. Strolled in, they pulled up my info on pharmanet, all good, let’s do it. Out in 5.

  • FlavoredButtHair@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    7 months ago

    It amazes me how people went to work sick as if it was normal. Of courses some bosses were assholes and “wouldn’t let you go home” or “needed you at work”. Sure boss let me sneeze in my hand before I shake everybody else’s hand.

    Now these days woah big scary covid. If you’re not feeling good please stay home. We should’ve been staying home like 30 yrs ago,

    • Patches@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Went

      They still are.

      I have a 103 fever and here I am. At work.

      I’m not sure what places you are working that kept the COVID era scare.

      Medicine is so polarized I can’t even tell my coworkers I tested positive for COVID. One of them will go on a violent rant for hours. '“Yep, I’m definitely a crisis actor. They don’t pay much these days. This is my second job”

      • FlavoredButtHair@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        I mean if you feel sick and wanna stay home, it happens. I just wish managers were less assholes and were more considerate.

    • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      7 months ago

      The bummer is that the biss never needed you at work. They only needed you to be a profit cow. Capitalism is a violent and psychotic economic system.

    • Gargantu8@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      7 months ago

      Literally all my coworkers still come to work sick despite having sick leave. Gets everyone else sick.

    • Zink@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      7 months ago

      I wonder if it’s a case of empathy being forced on some people, like when a Republican is suddenly LGBT tolerant because one of their own kids came out. But in this case it’s the feeling of worrying about their health or that of a loved one.

      Whatever the cause, it’s still a positive change. I’m sure many of us who already saw the sense in staying home will now err on the side of caution a little more often.

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    17
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    I was at a work training in the US with someone from Japan. She said she had only been to the US one other time but that she had gotten sick and spent 2 weeks in the hospital.

    I don’t know what Japan’s healthcare system is like, but I can’t imagine being someone from another country and unfamiliar with our shitty system and getting that huge ass bill.

    • ExLisper@linux.community
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 months ago

      Most probably it was still covered by here Japanese insurance. A friend of mine broke an arm while in US and some insurance he bought in Poland paid for everything. You don’t have to be familiar with American system. It’s just like any other insurance.

      • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        Traveller insurance can often offset it.

        It’s NOT like any other insurance.

        Case in point: I rolled into the hospital with a sore arm. X-rays and an arm cast. But I left my wallet at home because my ride showed up early. “just phone down with your health number, if you could, so we can update the right file. Thanks!”. 0$

        Non-US case2: I felt a wave of dizziness on the way to work and almost browned out while driving. Pulled over. It passed and I drove 2 blocks to the hospital. Related my story and spent 8 hours in test after test, room after room. I got the full workup. $0

        Non-US case 3: my dear friend collapsed while this wife was out getting Starbucks. Dumbstruck and in pain. He could only speed dial her number: 911 was too complex. She does 911 and races home (xkr-s) as the first ambulance arrives and lets them in. They stabilize while the specialized cardiac bus is arriving. “Follow us in. Look. We’re gonna try for surrey but if he crashes we’ll divert to rch(trauma center). We’re gonna hit the lights, siren and punch it. Don’t feel you need to-- [spots jaguar idling] okay. So keep up only if it’s safe. We’re going.” SGH spotted something, not sure. Admitted for obs. Something was something, so it was a hot and loud bus to RCH anyway because it was serious and if he coded in traffic it would kill him. Heat up the trauma center o-r on a Sunday morning to apply 5 stents and prevent death by Widowmaker heart attack. He lives. Goes home in 2 weeks. $0

        We’re not even paying monthly premiums anymore. But I would. I’m at the top end of the income-based sliding scale and I’ll pay it every damned month.

        US example: dude rolls into wrong hospital while unconscious after soccer collision. Concussion. Tylenol. “Go home. Don’t fall asleep”. $80k(trauma center)+$10(Tylenol).

        My US example: IT. Great insurance as they like us (Unix dev). Northgate Hospital in WA as I’m an H1b imm’grint takin-yer-jerb. Roll in for a simple procedure to alleviate spinal pressure when a sinus (not that kind) isn’t draining by itself. Advise the doc it’s a common thing for me, and a local and a horse-needle will get it back in line. Doc lays in with a scalpel and butchers me. Charges $500 for the pleasure but the invoice of arbitrary charges I didn’t have to pay was insane. Came home when my first h1 was up. Not looking back.

        Americans have normalized low-key medical fear and avoidance that they don’t realize; and they are missing chances to catch things before it costs them their house or their life; and defending medical-induced bankruptcy (which can’t be discharged through bankruptcy) while completely blind to the fact that no other g8 is this objectively cruel to its own people.

  • brothershamus@kbin.social
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    7 months ago

    Ehrlichman: “Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason that he can … the reason he can do it … I had Edgar Kaiser come in … talk to me about this and I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because …”

    President Nixon: [Unclear.]

    Ehrlichman: “… the less care they give them, the more money they make.”

    President Nixon: “Fine.” [Unclear.]

    https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transcript_of_taped_conversation_between_President_Richard_Nixon_and_John_D._Ehrlichman_%281971%29_that_led_to_the_HMO_act_of_1973:

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    7 months ago

    Hey I just a had a thought. We should have a vote on student loan debt. If you vote against a blanket clearing of the debt you automatically go on a list of people who can’t declare bankruptcy due to medical debt.

    • egitalian@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      6
      ·
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      What about us who worked hard AF to pay off their off student loans early?

      This was 5 years ago, not 15 or 20. I’m not being petulant or a child

      • prole@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        “Wah, I didn’t get the thing so that means nobody can get the thing!”

        You sound like a petulant child. Be happy that millions of young people would have been lifted out of debt.

    • spyd3r@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      11
      ·
      7 months ago

      Sorry, but taxpayers shouldn’t be bailing out your poor financial decisions. You took out the loans, you can pay them back.

      • abbotsbury@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        7 months ago

        Taxpayers bail out poor financial decisions all the time, I see no reason to stop right before one that would actually help people.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        7 months ago

        why is this advice only heeded when people are asked to bail out non-billionaires? Feels like we stopped doing that shit over 80 years ago. This cosplay free market shit is so delusional.

        We’re constantly bailing out and subsidizing megacorps, but when asked to invest even the tiniest fraction of that spending into education people all pretend that’s not how our economy works. Poor economic decisions that lose trillions of dollars are made all the time but people act like college students are the only ones that should pay for them.

        When some idiot buys a government subsidized 80k SUV and cries about gas prices being too high we bail out that dumbass constantly, even buy him a stupid road to drive it on. But college students, well we cant subsidize their luxurious bullshit because jeff bezos’ profit margin won’t go up right away.