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In reply to the discussion: Clinton: 'There is no way I won't be' nominee [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Your employer CAN stop providing health insurance any time he wants. And then where would you be? Unless of course, your employer is the government and your insurance is actually paid out of taxes that other people, some earning less than you and having to pay for their own insurance, pay.
Everyone should save. But people who live paycheck to paycheck are precisely the people who need a single payer plan. We never know when, as we have seen with Carrier in Indianapolis, a private employer will just decide to close our workplace for one reason or another.
Fact is most Americans are unable to save. Our cars cost us too much. Unless you live in a big city and have decent public transportation, you virtually have to have one. Education debt is a big item for young Americans. The cost of co-pays and medications including over-the-counter medications takes a good part of many budgets. We pay too much to watch the box. (We don't subscribe to cable. It's too expensive. A lot of Americans would be better informed and save a lot of time if they cancelled.)
A lot of people living paycheck to paycheck waste a lot of money. And then misfortune strikes. And when it does the cost to American society due to the lack of funds and preparation on the part of individual Americans is high. It isn't just the foreclosed homes, the bankruptcies, the alcoholism and drug addiction, the anxiety and fear. It's broken homes, confused and angry children and in extreme cases, a legacy of crime and imprisonment.
We have done what we can to oust dangerous animals from the areas of the world in which we live our daily lives. It's just part of being human to want to live in a safe, secure world and to raise your children in that world. But somehow, Americans seem to crave the adventure of sudden economic disaster. Very strange to me having lived in Europe so many years and having seen what a modicum of social security like knowing your medical bills will be paid in an emergency or should you become seriously ill that Americans enjoy the thrill and adventure of our private insurance system so much. I guess it's that old Wild West fantasy that we enjoy.
Bernie grew up in a family in which money was scarce and the source of tension and disputes. So did many Americans. That's why he favors making sure that the necessities like healthcare and education are available to ALL and not just to the lucky few whose employers agree to pay for them (for the moment).
We can choose to have a society in which even the disabled, the poor, the mentally ill and the just plain cantankerous can go to the doctor when they need to. Or we can have a society in which you only get the privilege of medical care when you can afford the monthly premiums PLUS the co-pays. I prefer the first. If the majority prefers the second, if the majority would rather pay the co-pays than the extra taxes, then I will keep working to persuade people that single payer is much better than they think because it is. I've enjoyed it. I've experienced it. When your husband falls and breaks his hip and can't work for eight weeks and hobbles on crutches for a year and you have two young children, you really appreciate the security of knowing that even if he can't work for some months, at least you don't have to pay impossible medical bills. It's really great. Also great if you are already overwhelmed by student debt and really want to have that baby that you couldn't afford when you were in graduate school.
Lots and lots of reasons to prefer single payer. Of course you pay for it. It isn't free. But you pay for it when your income is highest, now in those emergency periods when your income is low. So it is a matter of when you pay for your health insurance not whether you pay for it.
And remember, you are paying for your health insurance now because it is party of your salary.
I am pretty certain that health insurance will be much cheaper once we take the profit out of it. So your estimate of $8000 per year comes out to about $700 per month. If you are earning considerably more than the median, that is not an unfair share. Remember there are lots of people who are not lucky enough to be able to earn much. I spoke to a young, disabled woman last week who told me about her friends who earn 25 cents per piece where they work. They need your help.
As I have said, the Hillary supporters are Democrats when it comes to social issues but not when it comes to economic issues. Like Republicans, they've got theirs and that's all that matters.
By the way, when you go to the hospital, your insurance has to stretch to cover the cost of the care for indigents that your hospital is required to provide in the emergency room (a Reagan era rule that hospitals have to provide those services, I believe) so you pay for really bad, really expensive care for people who should have health insurance already. We can actually save lives and do it for a reasonable amount of money with single payer.
And no. I do not work for the Bernie campaign or any other hospital or non-profit. I just am retired. At one time, I worked for a homeless project writing grants and doing other administrative work. I know whereof I speak when it comes to the importance of providing universal healthcare in our country. Employers could save on workers' compensation insurance costs if we folded the medical portion of workers' compensation into a universal, non-profit or Medicare-like health system. I used to buy the health insurance for our non-profit.