The days before Christmas should have something to do with the euphoric torment of hunting down gift ideas, emptying bank accounts for said gift ideas, hopping from one holiday gaiety after another and watching the scale wipe out whatever gains we pretend to have made over the previous 11 months of gluttony.
We do some of that in our household. But for us as for the millions of Americans who don’t get their health insurance from their employer or from the government, the Advent calendar is the annual calvary through open enrollment. We spend weeks making actuarial bets on our health and looking for the insurance plan least likely to bankrupt us while still providing us some access to what only people with acute psychosis still refer to as the best health care system in the world.
Obamacare should have made all that unnecessary. But Obamacare was born with a fatal defect: its main driver is private insurers. That’s like building a cancer treatment center on top of a nuclear waste dump. To insurers, Obamacare is legalized extortion from policyholders and from the government, in exchange for as little coverage as they can get away with. It’s been an orgy of record profits comparable only to oil companies’ shakedown.
Add to that Obamacare’s decade of deaths by a thousand lawsuits filed by Republicans who can’t stand those subsidies or mandates requiring insurers to cover preventive care or forbidding them from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, and you’re left with a maze of chutes and ladders that require a full-time cryptographer to navigate.
Here’s a diseased little factoid you’re probably not aware of, especially if you get your insurance from your employer: this year the government’s subsidies for private employers’ health insurance–$345 billion— is almost five times the subsidy –$71 billion–going to people enrolled in Obamacare. Dollar for dollar, individuals in Obamacare still get more. But why are employers subsidized in the first place? It’s a massive cost-shift to government and yet another shoveling of dollars to insurers that pushes up the price of health care even as we continue to pretend it’s just employee-provided.
I should note that my wife is among the 49 percent of Americans who get insurance through their workplace. In most ways but one it’s great insurance worthy of ululations. Hardly any deductibles or out of pocket expenses. No premiums. But she can’t choose her doctors. She can’t even shop around. It’s Florida Healthcare or pay them yourself. That’s not a choice. It’s an edict forced by the insurer. But “choosing your own doctor” is one of the big myths of American healthcare. Except for Medicare recipients and the wealthiest few, no one gets to choose. For most, the insurance company is chosen for you, and the insurer, in turn, hands you its list of approved providers.
Beyond that, you’re out of luck, which puts the lie to one of the principles of modern American healthcare: providers justify high premiums and out-of-pocket costs on the assumption that you’ll spend less of your own money on wasted services than if you had full coverage. You’ll shop around, get the best deal. But there is no shopping around allowed.
And the very notion of shopping around for care like it’s melons and soy milk is absurd–or immoral–when you’re faced with life-changing shocks to the system. (Excuse me, left anterior descending artery, let me do a little internet research on the best doc deal in the tri-county region first before you continue to kill me with this myocardial infarction.)
So when my wife got a new job this year and left the healthcare marketplace, she had to sever the relationships she’s had over years with her previous doctors, and–like me, as a casualty of cancer–make all sorts of gambles she shouldn’t have to make on the kind of care she’ll receive.
Adding me and my son to her plan is an option, but we’d have to pay over $14,000 a year in premiums. So it’s not a real option. Back to the marketplace, where I’ve been paying “only” $11,000 this year. But here’s the catch. If I wanted to keep the plan I’m on now, it’s increasing 33 percent to $14,000, with an $8,000 deductible, and with additional co-pays. I have the option for a plan of just under $10,000, but the deductible is more than the cost of a new car, and of course forget about choice in doctors.
What if I get cancer again? The plan I’m looking at would leave me with a $20,000 bill after my first week of radiation, assuming I’ve not been condemned to the walking dead just yet. If I paid for a lower deductible, my premiums would nearly double. But if I do that and don’t get cancer, the money would be wasted. Maybe I should get cancer again or some catastrophic illness. At least I’d get my money’s worth.
That’s the perversion of our healthcare system. Stay healthy, and it’s tens of thousands of dollars out the window for nothing. Get sick while you haven’t made the right gamble, and you’re getting bankrupted anyway. That’s why 100 million Americans have health care debt. That’s why we have the costliest health care system of any industrial country, and by far the worst health outcomes–the lowest life expectancy, the most diseased population, the cheapest government and the cruelest marketplace.
The 60 million people on Medicare are luckier. They get to benefit from European-style universal government insurance combined with private providers, giving them an almost unlimited choice of doctors, clinics and hospitals. If they want supplemental insurance, they’re free to have that, too. It’s nowhere near perfect. But compared to the rest of what most Americans are saddled with, it’s rapture: at least you get to be in agony with peace of mind.
The same model should apply to all, from birth to death. But two constituencies stand in the way: insurance companies, which stand to lose some of their obscene windfalls, and Medicare recipients, who skew Republican, vote in higher proportion than younger blocks, and carry the day against expansion. They’re the ones who should be marching to the Capitol, demanding Medicare for all, looking out for their children and grandchildren. Instead, they’re at Margaritaville, or at Mayo Clinic, lecturing the schmucks slaving for them about the virtues of Darwinism.
Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive’s editor. A version of this piece airs on WNZF.
PB says
I feel your pain but Medicare is no piece of cake either. Just like all of this once great nation it is broken. God help our children. Like Ancient Rome, greed and corruption will doom the USA, just a matter of time!
Larry says
PB you are so right. If trump has a 2nd term and the fascist republicans keep the house Democracy as broken as it is we’ll be racing toward an Autocratic theocracy.
PB says
Larry it is not Democrats or Republicans! Its all politicians, corporate leaders and the like. Pure and simple Greed and Power! As the middle class disappears the top 2% will take it all. Slippery Slope.
Ann Williams says
Pierre Tristam, you are so spot on with this article. I am on Medicare and Supplement Plan. It is not great; but, definitely better than the nightmare you are dealing with when it comes to healthcare. My husband was on Obamacare. By him not working his last 6 years, before going on Medicare; he qualified for almost a 50% subsidy of the monthly cost of healthcare. He paid almost $7,000 a year for healthcare on Obamacare. As you stated, he had a very limited network of doctors and for specialist; he basically had no choice and had to take the one specialist available in his Florida Healthcare Plan that he was in. If hospitalized his insurance had a$5,000/per year deductible. That deductible had increased to $8000 when he recently left that Obamacare, Florida Healthcare Plan. He was so thrilled to get on Medicare when he recently turned 65. As you stated; WE NEED MEDICARE FOR ALL. Our present US citizens need Medicare for All; but, so do our children and grandchildren. When you vote Republican you are definitely voting against your child and grandchildren getting a fair shake with healthcare.
It is a travesty for what is going on the US with healthcare.
These Republicans have fought Obamacare way before it became a law and they fought dirty to get the Obamacare convoluted and benefitting the insurance companies instead of benefitting Americans who struggle everyday with this nightmare called ‘healthcare’ in the US.
Thank you for publishing this excellent article and telling the real store of the horror of healthcare in the US today. By the way, I am a Democrat and on Medicare; and, from what you stated above, when it comes to the Medicare crowd, I now realize I am in the minority. My husband is an Independent; but, definitely leans left.
To all you senior Republicans; if you like Social Security and Medicare, maybe you should pay attention to what the Republican want to do Social Security and Medicare. If we give them the chance to be totally in power; you can kiss those two programs, as you know them, good by. Many Republicans have stated publicly they want these two programs gone.
Ann Williams
Pogo says
@P.T.
You are entirely on point, but — your Yiddish could use a little help:
A little help
https://www.google.com/search?q=schmuck
Don’t let the schmucks get you down.
Old Guy says
Well said.
Atwp says
Keep voting for Republicans.
TR says
Hahaha, Obamacare was from the Democrats. Another nonfactual comment from someone who is anti American IMO.
Marcus Aurelius says
If I recall correctly, NO Republicans voted for ObamaCare aka “Affordable Care Act”
ObamaCare / Affordable Care Act was purely Democrat.
Nancy Pelosi famously said, and I’m paraphrasing . . . If you want to know what’s in the bill, you’ll have to read the bill (but it was/is thousands of pages long, so only those who put it together knew what it was all about).
Who put the bill together? Democrats, mainly career politicians like Joe Biden and others, who are career politicians and who have never worked in the real world most of their adult lives to even know and understand what life is like NOT inside the protected walls of congress. How long has Joe Biden been in office? Since the 1970s. How would he or others like him have any conception of the way the real world works, but they deign to create a healthcare plan even they don’t want to use.
No members of congress are required to be covered under ObamaCare. Members of congress have much better healthcare coverage and they wouldn’t want ObamaCare because they know its an inferior product.
Obama famously said, and I’m paraphrasing . . . If you like you’re doctor, you can keep your doctor. Also, and again I’m paraphrasing . . . Your insurance premium will be under $2600.00.
We (some of us) were lied to. Those of us who understand the way things work (meaning economics and finance) knew “we” were being lied to and therefore didn’t support ObamaCare and were crucified for not supporting it.
When Republicans opposed ObamaCare, they were crucified and Democrats propagandized that by starting the myth the Republicans didn’t / don’t want a good healthcare plan for the poor and minorities. Nothing could be further than the truth. Republicans knew it was an inferior product from the get go.
Finally, ObamaCare (“Affordable Care Act”) helped destroy what remained of the healthcare system. Doctors had to give up their private practices due to drowning in ObamaCare rules and regulations PLUS a lot of ObamaCare insurance plans don’t reimburse doctors or reimburse $6 or $10 for a GI procedure, etc. So doctors had to sell their practices to large hospitals like AdventHealth so as to go under the financial AND legal protection of a large healthcare institution which could shoulder the financial and legal requirements for coding and billing, compliance procedures, diversity, inclusion and equity requirements, continual government paperwork which has been taking up to 98% of a doctor’s time. Doctors were drowning with the advent of ObamaCare. All that regulation is EXPENSIVE and an independent healthcare practitioner just can’t afford to keep a practice running on the very few dollars that ObamaCare reimburses. Don’t forget there’s office rent, equipment rent, computer compliance, employees, computer program IT professionals, software expenses, software required updates, etc.
Atwp, I’ve read all your posts and am impressed by the fact that your opinions come mostly from lack of knowledge in the way things work in the world, in politics, in finance, and in healthcare.
It’s not too late for you to take 2 courses in economics, and those would be micro economics and macro economics, so as to learn how things really work in the world. Learn about “the invisible hand”. Learn about “hands off”. Learn about the “laissez faire”approach. Learn about how things really work in the world.
Finally, some posts about Republicans wanting to do away with social security and Medicare . . . currently, Biden is working on getting rid of Medicare Advantage. Look it up. It’s not some propaganda you hear from the mainstream media. Look it up and read for yourself. Stop relying on CNN, MSNBC and the like to get your knowledge on what’s going on.
Pierre Tristam says
Obamacare in its original version was a necessary start toward universal insurance, despite its flawed premise (Obama stepped off the single-payer model when he was still in his first-year illusionary phase of thinking that Republican lawmakers could be negotiating partners). It could have been the basis for required improvements over the years. Instead it turned into a perpetual punching bag, with never an alternative, let alone a viable alternative, presented by the GOP. (Then again tell me one piece of legislation, other than tax cuts for the rich and blow jobs for business, that the GOP passed during the pussy-grabber’s reign.) The higher premiums we’re seeing now are in large part due to the elimination of the mandate the original legislation came with. The mandate widened the pool and lowered costs, until they were judged out. Thank your GOP lawsuits for that. I wish you were right about Biden eliminating Medicare Advantage. He should get rid of it. It’s a swindle. But you’re spreading falsehoods even as you blame others for spreading propaganda: the administration is only looking to tinker with Medicare Advantage, not eliminate it. As for lawmakers not reading the original Obamacare bill: show me one lawmaker who has ever read a bill longer thana page and a half, and I’ll show you the way to El Dorado (by which I do not mean Mar-a-Lago). You should not so blithely sully Marcus Aurelius’s name, an emperor whose reign, as Gibbon put it, was “possibly the only period of history in which the happiness of a great people was the sole object of government.” Surely not something that can be said of elephantine reigns since Nixon in this country well on its way to third-world status.
Pogo says
@P.T.
Good reply. What’s missing is the piercing of the pomposity, calumny, and ordinary bad faith exhibited by shitheads condescendingly posing as experts.
Their bloviating, and regurgitation of Ayn Rand groupie jargon, doesn’t bear up to even perfunctory examination.
All that they don’t say raises the old question: are they liars — or ignorant? Both, is a definite possibility.
While they mumble about 18th century Adam Smith’s invisible pecker, etc., there’s no mention of cartels, price fixing, market consolidation, automation, just in time/lean manufacturing, inventory starvation (aka supply chain problems) for the sake of money grubbing — and all the other aspects of the zero-sum game they pretend doesn’t exist — simply because they don’t speak of it.
Time and fortune will come to them too. They will deserve every bit of it.
Related, just a small part
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=deaths+lack+of+insurance
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=healthcare+hidden+price+list
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+medicare+part+d+is+republican+gift+to+big+pharma
Ed says
The premise that Obamacare was the first step to universal health care is probably the primary reason it was and will remain a battle.
Health care spending in 2022 reached $4.5 trillion and as a share of our nations GDP, spending accounted for 17.3% That’s big business and it would mean a transformational change if universal health care in US were to occur.
In my opinion, ( no facts to prove this theory ), if the free enterprise (capitalism) system is removed from health care, the best and brightest people may not be attracted to the field. If you are a super star peak performer you may be tempted to take a different career path. Who would spend 14-16 years of study/residency to become a brain/heart ( or any specialized) doctor or surgeon for a job? Would our nursing staffs work 12 hour shifts for government wages? I don’t know.
If I needed a heart transplant, I want the best of everything and I’m ok if they earn millions of dollar a year. Why do the Uber wealthy come to US for these types of services?
Health care wages are only one of factors that drive health care cost into the stratosphere. Advances in medical technologies, chronic disease prevalence, and administrative expenses are bigger contributors.
Obviously, it is a very complex issue and thousands of intelligent experts have not been able to reform our healthcare system, so until they do….enjoy the ever increasing premiums, since it is the only path.
Pierre Tristam says
Ed, to reiterate: socialized medicine is not in the cards—like you, I don’t think it makes sense— only socialized insurance, which we already have, but as a discriminatory system: only for the 65 and over set.
Pogo says
@P.T.
Some people, most well over 65, are trying to address your complaint:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_for_All_Act
Follow the blood money — it’s going somewhere:
https://www.google.com/search?q=healthcare+expenditures+by+country
Related
As stated
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/system-features/how-does-universal-health-coverage-work
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+medicare+reimbursement+rates+were+created
As stated
https://www.google.com/search?q=history+of+medicare+reimbursement+rates
Atwp says
Marcus I know more than you think I know. So don’t fool yourself about my knowledge about the world of politics and the economy, just saying.
Pogo says
@MAGA Trolls: are they stupid, ignorant, liars — or all of that
All of that and worse
https://www.google.com/search?q=Affordable+Health+Care+Act+derived+from+Heritage+Foundation%2FRepublican+Party+proposal
How to tell shit from Shinola — a start
https://www.commonwealthfund.org/international-health-policy-center/system-features/how-does-universal-health-coverage-work
Rich Santomassino says
I counsel people on Medicare and Medicaid and help them as much as possible. If you think things are bad in this country for those of us who can afford Medicare, give some thought and prayers to the millions of people in America that are low income. Many of these folks have little or no insurance and things get worse every year for these people.
When Medicare started in 1965, I’m sure it was a much better program than it is today. If only the politicians could have seen what a trainwreck it would become! They had a chance then to create a single payer healthcare system for Americans but missed that boat. Most Americans think socialized medicine is communism. The people in countries with social medicine have a much better wellness quotient then Americans and don’t have to live their lives in fear that if they get sick they will end up homeless.
Laurel says
The term “socialized medicine” was created by an advertising agency.
Bill says
Listen intellects I have been in the business over 38yrs and stop blameshufting on the Republicans which you communists always do ,obamcare is for those who fo not want to work that have babies out of wedlock and for those who work and make good income private short coverage is available or indemnity plans with zero deductible there are alternatives if you could speak with me but all you do us bash conservative principles by the way the bidens did no wrong?really they need jail time what a bunch of bold faced liars running America to socialisim.
c says
Punctuation can be your friend – if you let it.
Oh by the way – try re-reading the definition of ‘socialism’ – and I think you’ll find that you engage in ‘socialist’ activities every day.
Nancy N. says
Obamacare is also for people like me who are self-employed and before the ACA law was passed, could not buy insurance at any price because of medical underwriting. I was uninsured for several years before the ACA law went into effect and I was finally able to buy insurance.
I’d also like to point out that being poor (not making what you call “a good income”) is not a crime and that death or injury from lack of health insurance should not be a penalty for being poor in this or any other country.
Also, please make up your mind – are we communists or socialists?
Oh and, note to self – never buy insurance from anyone named Bill around here on the off chance it could be this guy. YIKES.
Sherry says
@ bill- Counseling for your hate and anger issues would be very beneficial for you, and those who care about you. Also, switching to learning the authenticated news on PBS would hopefully bring you back to sane reality. Good Luck and Happy Holidays!
Nancy N. says
Healthcare is a human right, period. Every dollar that leaves the healthcare system in profit to the pockets of some large corporation’s shareholders, ultimately hurts – and is paid for by – the most vulnerable people in the healthcare ecosystem: patients. These companies are literally making their money off of society’s most vulnerable – the sick and injured.
I recently broke my ankle on a trip to France and had to go to the ER in Paris. Of course, this was way outside my health insurance network, so the entire bill for that visit – doctor consult, x-rays, splinting of my leg – got sent directly to me. The total bill for all of this was 130 euros (less than $150). Meanwhile, after returning to the U.S. and continuing treatment for my injury on my health insurance, just a single bill from an American doctor who read my pre-0p imaging without ever laying eyes on me was more than that!
The American healthcare system is hopelessly stacked in favor of those who make a profit on it. Their interests are fundamentally in conflict with patients and the system will never be humane until profit motive is entirely removed from it.
No Political Affiliation says
Universal healthcare/socialized medicine works works in nearly every other first world country, evens countries with far less wealth than the USA. Pretending it can’t work in America is asinine. Americans are paying more than other countries for shittier services, it doesn’t matter if we have the best doctors in the world if people can’t afford to see them.
Pierre Tristam says
Just to be clear, I’m an advocate of the socialist model of insurance–what Medicare is (which is why it’s so funny to hear all those conservatives go orgasmic over their Medicare while bitching about “socialism”). But socialized medicine still gives me kidney stones.
Bill C says
@PT reminds me of an actual protest sign that said “Government keep your hands off my Medicare”.
c says
Reminds *me* of the idiots wanting to abolish Obamacare, and not concerned because THEY were covered by the ACA act :)
Robert Joseph Fortier says
I was a Certified Financial Planner…CFP…for approximately 40 years. A large part of our practice was to find health care plans for our clients, so I am pretty sure that I know more about healthcare than the artist of this article.
For example, if you are self-employed, you can choose the plan that fits you best. You can pick the plan that your providers participate in. If you are on medicare you can find some excellent plans that do not have monthly premiums. Yes…that is right…no money out of your pocket to see a doctor.
“Americans are paying more than other countries for shittier services, it doesn’t matter if we have the best doctors in the world if people can’t afford to see them” ???
Stick to something you know or at least speak with someone in the business of HealthCare Insurance facts and understands the reality of the Medicare issue…
Nancy N. says
With all due respect, it sounds like you are retired, so you might have known something at one point about shopping for healthcare plans for people rich enough to hire a financial planner, but the situation you describe doesn’t reflect the current state of healthcare, or of the concerns of people who actually USE their healthcare.
For instance, what about when all your providers aren’t on the same plan? Or they are – but the plan is ridiculously expensive? Anyone hiring a financial planner probably doesn’t have that worry, but many of the rest of us do.
Or what about when you need new providers mid-year and there are no options on the plan you are now married to for the year? Or your provider decides to drop your insurance?
As for Medicare, “no premiums” doesn’t mean no costs. Anyone who is on Medicare and uses a lot of healthcare services knows that. There’s copays for everything. Paying for medications nearly bankrupted my mother.
And don’t even get me started on how useless Medicaid, which serves many of this state’s most vulnerable and medically complex patients, is…starting with the near complete inability to find a decent provider that will even take it.
It is absolutely a fact that Americans spend more of our GDP on healthcare than almost all other industrialized countries, and by almost all measures of health – lifespan, maternal-fetal mortality, etc – we are failing miserably compared to the countries that spend less.
Sherry says
Thank you Nancy N.! We’ve had similar experiences while traveling in European countries. I had a tooth filled in Spain, on a “walk in” basis, for $25.00. Saying that, my friends in Canada and the UK say that getting seen by a doctor often takes months and surgeries like knee replacements over 2 years.
Wealthy people have no idea, and could care less, about the plight of those less fortunate.
Endless dark money says
America only cares about money. So little Johnny needs to die cause he can’t afford care.
Repubcons took out the government option in Obama care that was the price control piece. They cared more their donors are profitable then little Johnny’s life. Nothing has changed since there’s a reason 51 of 52 developed nations of the world have universal system. Merica is the only one that doesn’t. Don’t forget the republicans are running on repealing Obamacare to replace it with” just die already” or whatever catchy line their ignorant followers will get behind. Bottom line is if your not in the richest 1% of Americans then republicons have zero policies that will help you.
Laurel says
Pierre: We seniors, with Medicare, are in your way? Again, it’s our fault as we all vote exactly alike. No spectrum there.
This is a problem of the insurance companies’ and pharmaceutical companies’ lobbyists. The system, except Medicare, is broken. We had to worry about it, and plan for it, for years. We both were lucky enough to have jobs that had good insurance. I retired, and my husband got a new job with great insurance for both of us. When I turned 65, I jumped to Medicare. My husband did the same a year later.
The only thing wrong with Medicare is Republicans wanting to get rid of it so their beloved businesses could grab it, and us, by the throat. I don’t care what the sales specialists here write, let me tell you how it is. We have plain, old Medicare. No Advantage plans, no gap plans, just A and B. We have the cheapest D plan we could find, so our monthly amount is about $188 each, which is automatically withdrawn from our SS. This allows us to go to Mayo Clinic, the number one hospital in the country. They do not take any Advantage plans. We get amazing care as established patients, and right now, new patients have to get on a waiting list for personal doctors, for around four years. We can pick our own doctors. Yes we pay co-pays, but they are very manageable and surprisingly low. The D plan is virtually useless, but between pharmacy discounts and Good Rx (there are other discounters) and generics, that’s not an issue either. We got the D plan to avoid future penalties. So, Pierre, prepare for age 65.
I do sympathize now. There is no, good, excuse for companies charging us what they do. Americans are so happy to rip off other Americans, it’s disgusting. Americans are charged more for drugs, produced by our own American companies, than any other countries in the world. We have taken capitalism to a height that causes our own people to go bankrupt, yet our Congress gets excellent healthcare for life.
Yes, many seniors vote against their own interest, as do poor people, as do others, but definitely not all. I do wish people would wake up and vote for Medicare for all and stop with the term “socialized medicine” created by an advertising firm for the sole purpose of swaying people in the direction away from their own interests.
Maybe we should stop subsidizing corporations.
Mary Fusco says
Nothing is free. It is being paid for either directly or indirectly. Countries with supposedly “free” medical care are taxed to the extreme. I am on medicare and pay monthly from my social security plus I also pay for a supplemental plan. Let’s look at all the single mothers who give birth every 20 minutes and are on a free ride from conception of their 8 kids until they are 18. My husband and I worked a total of 100 years and always paid for our insurance. I don’t really want to pay for some bimbo to have a baby at my expense. Just saying.
Nancy N. says
Measured by share of GDP, so it takes into account all healthcare spending including taxes, the US spends far more on healthcare than other countries with universal healthcare – and we get statistically worse outcomes for it. It makes sense if you think about it: lack of universal care means many people don’t get care early on for conditions when care is cheap and effective. Instead they get only crisis care that is more expensive and less effective.
Oh and those countries where they are spending so much less and getting better outcomes than we are? They have a significantly higher rate of out of wedlock births than the US does – some as high as 50% higher than we do. Because when when you live in a society where everyone is automatically entitled to healthcare, there is less necessity to marry just to be able to receive basic human needs. So more couples choose not to formally marry. Single mothers in this country aren’t the problem; they are the victims of our inhumane system that decides who is worthy of healthcare based solely on how much money a person makes and whether they have (the right) insurance. We have a system designed to benefit shareholders, not patients.
But don’t let facts get in the way of your prejudice.
Laurel says
Mary Fusco: “Let’s look at all the single mothers who give birth every 20 minutes and are on a free ride from conception of their 8 kids until they are 18.”
Well, let me see. At 160 minutes, all kids are popped out and get a free ride for 18 years. Any woman who can do that, deserves some kind of help! So anyway, it’s good to know that it’s single bimbos who are responsible and not seniors.
Gosh, the stuff people come up with!
Sherry says
@mary. . . as usual, your distain for the underprivileged/people of color is incredibly clear. You certainly live in a silo in the best state for supporting your cruel biases. So sad for you!
Another voice in the woods says
My personal experience has been: So- so insurance through my employer that cost a lot and covered some, the best insurance I’ve ever had in my life through the ACA (Obamacare) for very little cost and excellent benefits but only within a tightly confined geographical area, and now I’m starting with Medicare and finding plenty of issues with that and paying 3000% more than I was with the ACA plan for limited coverage…. I know whatever we’re doing, there are always problems. Ideally, we all have the same insurance that covers us well and prices are controlled. That is the real issue in all of this.
Endangered species says
So socialized medicine for the old and everyone else gets to pay for it on top of their own Healthcare if they can afford it or die from the consequences. Sounds like a great system for the billionaires! Wealthy people in merica on average live 12 years more than the avg poors; the gop plan is to double or triple those figures as quickly as possible.