She'll save more on insurance than she'll pay in extra taxes. Public health care doesn't threaten doctors' incomes. It does threaten insurance middlemen.
Replies
Which is why our government is so against it.
jun 27, 2025, 4:16 am • 2 0 • view
Agreed. The cost of premiums includes profit so a socialized or universal Medicare would net cost people less and cover all of us. It’s the fear of change (and greed of those who hoard wealth) and they’ll just have to get educated.
jun 26, 2025, 2:49 pm • 66 5 • view
American private health insurance is considerably more expensive than the European equivalent, mainly due to the litigation culture in the US ie medical staff are forced to take out huge anti malpractice insurance policies which, of course, further enriches the insurance industry. #CapitalismKills
jul 4, 2025, 9:33 pm • 0 0 • view
Worth factoring in that the reason insurance companies profit is that they routinely deny care. The equation isn't cost of care plus profits, it's cost of care minus huge amounts saved by letting people suffer and die plus profits.
jun 26, 2025, 3:03 pm • 64 5 • view
The business case has become profit over people for insurance companies, because there are shareholders. This has to stop for the care to be the priority. UHC’s shareholders are actually suing them for the increase in medical procedures now being approved (since Luigi’s message). That is fucked up.
jun 26, 2025, 3:12 pm • 28 1 • view
Americans rather get 100,000 net salary and pay 4,000 of health insurance, IF nothing like surgery or dental happens, than get 95,000 salary and pay zero for health care.
jun 26, 2025, 7:38 pm • 4 0 • view
Do you know someone who pays $4,000 annually for health insurance? My most recent monthly insurance premium was upwards of $1,500. I can't remember a year the total was under $10,000.
jun 26, 2025, 7:50 pm • 2 0 • view
Premium plus deductible and co-pay, I spend this or more.
jun 26, 2025, 9:24 pm • 4 0 • view
That was my point. I don't know a single insured person who is paying anywhere near as little as $4,000 annually unless someone else is picking up the tab for their insurance. I've paid $10k or more just for insurance and then still ended up paying a few thousand in direct medical expenses.
jun 26, 2025, 9:34 pm • 5 0 • view
It is absurd. I have heard people refusing calling an ambulance because it would realistically bankrupt them.
jun 27, 2025, 1:09 pm • 2 0 • view
Americans spend approximately 20% of their earnings on healthcare. Those with socialized options pay 8-13% (generally apportioned through taxes). Where does that ~10% go??? Into the pockets of insurance company executives.
jun 26, 2025, 8:01 pm • 3 0 • view
Again, too simplistic, for many reasons. The care provided is different in the US and other countries, in part in that so many people in the US receive no care at all. Prices for services are much higher here than in many countries, as are prescription drug prices. Just a couple of examples.
jun 26, 2025, 8:59 pm • 2 0 • view
Of course. I've been writing about that for decades. That's exactly why the simplified claim that removing the profit margin would make healthcare cost less in the aggregate doesn't hold up. Insurance companies make and increase profits by denying care.
jun 26, 2025, 3:15 pm • 13 0 • view
In other words, removing (or even just reducing) the profit margin does indeed make healthcare cost less in the aggregate.
jun 27, 2025, 9:25 am • 4 0 • view
Only if you continue to deny service to the huge chunk not getting them. What you assert is that once you remove profits, it will be cheaper to provide healthcare services to 330 million people than it currently is to provide them to, say, 250 million. Maybe, but there's no math to support it.
jun 27, 2025, 3:53 pm • 0 0 • view
Western Europe, Canada, Australia, etc. provide healthcare services to more people than that in aggregate, at lower cost, with better outcomes. There’s the math.
jun 29, 2025, 12:56 am • 2 1 • view
As I said, not just “remove profits”, also reduce costs like billing ($500 BILLION/yr), markering ($30 billion), etc. and make private providers compete against free public services. I now live in a country with universal healthcare and I see it myself even when I go to a private doctor.
jun 29, 2025, 1:13 am • 0 0 • view
And still you gloss over the billions in healthcare costs that are currently not happening because people can't afford healthcare.
jul 3, 2025, 9:06 pm • 0 0 • view
And you gloss over the billions that are currently wasted administering for-profit healthcare. Also, neglected minor health issues turn into major ones that wind up costing even more. Dozens of other countries spend less on healthcare and cover everyone. How do you imagine they do it?
jul 3, 2025, 9:34 pm • 1 0 • view
But throw in their massive administrative and marketing bureaucracies, plus obscenely huge executive salaries, and it’s clear why every country with a less profit-driven system spends less for better care.
jun 27, 2025, 9:23 am • 1 0 • view
Lawyers, in general, are not good at math.
jun 26, 2025, 5:24 pm • 0 0 • view
This. My sister and her husband, both lawyers have pointed out that they would pay less taxes for socialized medicine then they currently pay for their private yet not very good insurance
jun 26, 2025, 11:27 pm • 21 0 • view
On top of that is everything that ins doesn't even cover. Its all bullshit.
jun 26, 2025, 11:36 pm • 10 0 • view
Yup. Not having to pay for CEOs to siphon off 20m to do nothing would save us a shit ton of money. People would lose a lot of jobs, but that's more manageable than this shitshow, and it's better than ppl losing their lives.
jun 27, 2025, 11:53 am • 5 0 • view
Not having to work a corporate job just to have insurance for your family opens up a lot of potential for entrepreneurship. It really creates a world where folks have a better chance of pursuing something they love or even just switching jobs when they feel/see the need to.
jun 27, 2025, 12:35 pm • 8 0 • view
My whole retirement plan revolved around Biden winning in 2020 and funding the ACA to bridge me to Medicare. I was fortunate that worked out. Having the Felon return & turn the country upside down makes that path for others untenable now.
jun 27, 2025, 12:40 pm • 6 0 • view
Mr Bernie Sanders. Had an Angioplasty with Stent cost $200,000 plus Meds. Mine. Free including meds. But the Irish Government have a set fee for overnight including meals. €80:00. If you are low income you have a medical card. Or you can have private insurance. 🇮🇪🇪🇺
jun 26, 2025, 4:20 pm • 2 0 • view
Average Surgical Docter in the Republic of Ireland €250,000:00. One years American university fee can produce one doctor after 7 years tuition. 🇮🇪🇪🇺
jun 26, 2025, 4:16 pm • 0 0 • view
This is what I keep telling people. I work in medical billing. If you add up your annual premium, deductible, co-pays, prescriptions, and all the shit your insurance won’t cover (for me, it was “add-ons” for my glasses; I’m legally without them), look at that number. Tax increase WONT be larger.
jun 26, 2025, 3:43 pm • 8 0 • view
I will collect on 4th of July. A pair of glasses. Verifocl. Including frames included free eye test. I have payed €84:00 for the lenses to have photo gray. This included tax of €15:25. 🇮🇪🇪🇺
jun 26, 2025, 4:25 pm • 1 0 • view
Insurance covered the exam and frames $69 or less. The frames I wanted her $99 so the store marked them half off since I had to pay out of pocket. Poly lenses was not covered nor was transitional lenses. I don’t recall the breakdown but I paid $450 for $600 glasses and nothing for the exam.
jun 26, 2025, 4:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Legally blind* without them; clearly cause I proofread that and still didn’t see a word was missing 💀
jun 26, 2025, 5:08 pm • 3 0 • view
I prefer to pay my taxes to a duly elected government rathar than to for-profit companies.
jun 27, 2025, 4:45 pm • 2 0 • view
People are finally beginning to catch on to the fact that insurance companies are not needed, do nothing, and are a scam.
jun 26, 2025, 5:45 pm • 4 0 • view