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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Summary

A Gallup poll shows 62% of Americans believe the government should ensure universal healthcare coverage—the highest support in over a decade.

While Democratic backing remains strong at 90%, support among Republicans and Independents has also grown since 2020.

Public frustration with the for-profit healthcare system has intensified following the arrest of a suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, reportedly motivated by anger at the industry.

Recent controversies, including Anthem’s rollback of anesthesia coverage cuts, and debates over Medicare privatization highlight ongoing dissatisfaction with the system.

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[-] squirrelwithnut@lemmy.world 41 points 6 days ago

Sounds like 62% of Americans should have voted for the candidate that might have actually made that possible.

[-] iMastari@lemmy.world 15 points 6 days ago

Bernie Sanders tried but did not get enough votes when he ran for president because the government paying for your healthcare is apparently bad for some reason.

[-] skeezix@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago

Its bad for profits. And since the government is run by people with a vested interest in profits, it wont change anytime soon. All the oligarchs have to do is convince enough rubes that universal healthcare is bad, and it will never see the light of day.

[-] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago

Might is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence.

[-] InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

Its important to make incremental progress. Kamala was a standard dem like Joe. Still they are open to hearing good ideas; compared to Trump.

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago

Trump is open to hearing good ideas too. Problem is, "good" is highly subjective.

[-] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Candidates*

Real change will come from house and senate.

[-] AbaixoDeCao@lemm.ee 15 points 6 days ago

Too late with the Orange Man in the White House...

[-] caboose2006@lemmy.ca 12 points 6 days ago

I tried to explain to a luddite like 10 years ago that their healthcare costs would go down. He said he doesn't care, he doesn't want to pay for someone else's healthcare. He had insurance through work. I tried explaining to him that THAT'S the whole point of insurance, you pay for other people's healthcare, you're not just paying into an account that you then draw from. Your premium goes to someone else's cancer treatment. He said I didn't understand insurance. Dude had 3 kids too. So his healthcare costs proportionally to mine would have been waaayyy lower.

Like, it's a no brainer.

[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 5 points 6 days ago

He said I didn’t understand insurance.

Reminds me of fiscal conservatives that would always lecture people on economics, while not having even the slightest understanding of how it works.

[-] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Until the USA can cap healthcare costs, shit ain't gonna happen. Every single legal resident in the USA should have the same healthcare as the politicians.

[-] schizolol9@lemy.lol 1 points 6 days ago

Free healthcare for all!

[-] Shardikprime@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I don't think this has ever been contended. I believe the issue dividing camps is in the how

[-] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago
[-] vividspecter@lemm.ee 1 points 6 days ago

That's a slightly different question (opinion on the ACA vs whether the government should ensure that everyone has healthcare).

Although the latter is also true, according to the OP article:

The poll found that a majority of Republicans still believe ensuring health coverage is not the government's job, but the majority has shrunk since 2020.

That year, only 22% of Republican voters believed the government should ensure everyone in the country has healthcare, but that number has now grown to 32%.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 185 points 1 week ago

How many of those 62% voted for the guy who wants to let insurance companies deny even harder?

[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 68 points 1 week ago

too fuckin' many, and how many sat this one out?

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 109 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Here's the thing... having health coverage doesn't mean jack crap.

I've told my story before, it got best of'd on reddit and such, but it bears repeating why we need Universal Health Care:

tl;dr lost my doctors due to an insurance change 4 weeks in to a 6 week open heart surgery recovery...

In 2018, my company was in the process of being sold. No big deal, above my paygrade, nothing for me to worry about.

Then I got sick right after Thanksgiving. Really bad heartburn that lasted 5 days. It wasn't heartburn. I had a heart attack. 12/3/2018 I had open heart surgery, single bypass, and that started a 6 week recovery clock.

On 1/1/2019, the sale of my company closed and we officially had new owners. I also officially lost all of my doctors because the new employers don't do Kaiser in Oregon. They do it in WA and CA, but each state has to be negotiated and they never had presence here.

1/2/2019 I start working with Aetna to find doctors, hospitals, etc. Beyond the cardiologist I need a new pharmacist, podiatrist, diabetes care and a general "doctor" doctor.

Fortunately, my new employer is a big enough fish, they have their own concierge at Aetna and she gets me into the Legacy Health system.

On 1/3/2019 I start developing complications, but I don't know it at the time. It starts with a cough. All the time. Then, when I try to lay down, like to sleep, I'm drowning, literally choking and gagging.

The concierge and I try to get an appointment, we're told 2-3 months. For a dude still recovering from open heart surgery? Best they could do is 2 weeks. 1/14/2019.

I can't lay down to sleep so I buy a travel neck pillow and sleep sitting up.

I get to see the new doctor at the "official" end of the 6 week recovery. He doesn't know me or my history so he wants to run tests.

I'm sitting at home playing video games and waiting on test results when the call comes... Congestive heart failure. Report to the ER immediately.

My heart developed an irregular heart beat, which caused fluid build up in my chest. They admitted me and were getting ready to pull fluid off me.

"What happened to your foot?"

"I dunno, what happened to my foot? I can't feel my feet."

Remember when I said I was sitting around playing video games, waiting for test results? Yeah, my foot was touching a radiator and I didn't know it. 3rd degree burns, first four toes. Pinkie was spared.

So I'm in the hospital a week. I lose 4 liters of water per day. 50 lbs. of water. No wonder I was drowning. Regular bandage changes.

So now I'm facing two procedures. Electrocardio version to fix my heart, skin grafts to fix my toes.

This whole time the new insurance covers 80% until I reach the out of pocket maximum of $6,500. Then it will cover 100%.

The old insurance? ER visit for heart attack, hospital admission, 8 days in the hospital, open heart bypass... $250. $100 for meds and all the oxygen bottles I can carry.

So we hit the out of pocket maximum almost immediately. My wife had a problem with her foot running through the Seattle airport. The doctor who did her toe amputation was decided to be out of network so that was another $1,100.


I was never unemployed through all this. I had enough vacation and sick time banked to cover it. Cobra didn't apply. Continuity of care didn't apply because the new hospital DID have a cardiac department. Buying my old insurance wasn't an option, it was far too expensive without employer backing. Income is too high for assistance (thank god) and I took steps to max out my HSA account, which is good because we drained it twice.

Three 1 week hospital stays (2 for me, 1 for my wife), multiple ER visits, two more major medical procedures... That would be enough to break most people even with good insurance.

So if you read any of that, let me ask you something... Why does the quality of my health care and my quality of life have to depend on who I work for and what insurance companies they choose to work with?

[-] horse_battery_staple@lemmy.world 36 points 1 week ago

Why does the quality of my health care and my quality of life have to depend on who I work for and what insurance companies they choose to work with?

Because Nixon was in bed with big business, then Ford fumbled the gas crisis, and finally Carter naively trusted Congress to transition from employee mandates to single payer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_health_care_reform_in_the_United_States

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[-] ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world 73 points 1 week ago

How is it only 62%?! Who actually looks at their medical bill and thinks, "Yep, this is accurate and absolutely worth every penny"? I have health insurance, and I still avoid going to the doctor unless I’m practically dying because I simply can’t afford it.

And yet, I’m stuck paying nearly $10k a year for insurance—just in case something catastrophic happens—only to still face massive copays, out-of-pocket costs, and coverage denials. It’s completely counterintuitive.

The system is broken.

Screw the insurance industry.
Screw the state of medical care in the U.S.

Healthcare shouldn’t be a privilege—it’s a human right. Normalize that.

[-] LillyPip@lemmy.ca 35 points 1 week ago

The other 38% are either young and healthy enough to have never have had to deal with the healthcare industry or are just so staunchly individualistic they’d rather die than let someone else get a ‘handout’. ‘Taxes are theft’, ‘why should MY money go to blah’, me me me. Lack of empathy and/or a very naïve understanding of what society is actually for.

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[-] underwire212@lemm.ee 70 points 1 week ago

TIL 38% of Americans are CEO’s

[-] Greee1911@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

38% are the, I never have to go to the doctor. I never get sick. Until one day, they realize what an absolute nightmare the healthcare system is. 38% are probably the percentage that have had use for anything other than doctors visits.

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[-] circuitfarmer@lemmy.sdf.org 56 points 1 week ago

Yeah, I mean... You ain't getting shit with Trump.

[-] Allonzee@lemmy.world 30 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I vote blue out of harm reduction, but don't kid yourself.

The single greatest acheivement Democrats crow about was a healthcare band-aid originally conceived by the Heritage Foundation and instituted by a Republican governor designed to further enshrine private, for profit insurers like United Healthcare cut in as the entire point.

When the people screamed "Help us left wing from this for profit deathcare hell! Here's a supermajority!" they protected the profit motive in what gets covered and declared victory.

They can make excuses, there's always several, but as the decades go by and nothing changes, advocating patience starts to sound like "well just be patient, maybe my nepo great grandkids will magically decide to start being civil and equitable with your peasant great grandkids, lol."

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[-] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 40 points 1 week ago

and yet a good portion of y'all voted for trump and the republicans...

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[-] crystalmerchant@lemmy.world 39 points 1 week ago

Not "coverage", "affordable coverage". I don't want coverage through whatever capitalist exploit insurance company. I want affordable healthcare without lifesucking middlemen

[-] ellen_musk_0x@lemm.ee 5 points 6 days ago

The coverage the fire department provides is affordable. And my Library. And my streets. And the storm water system. And K-12.

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Yeah but only sick people use healthcare so fuck them. /s

Capitalist healthcare is class eugenics. CMV.

[-] MisterD@lemmy.ca 1 points 6 days ago

That's a single payer health system. Government pays the health providers You pay the government through taxes.

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[-] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 week ago

And the other 40% rely on the help and care of others every day while blabbering on about being “self-made” which actually just means “selfish asshole”.

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[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 34 points 1 week ago

* that actually pays out when you need something.

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this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2024
1187 points (99.7% liked)

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