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Republicans insisted for many many years - in fact, most of all time, that the US had the very best health care in the world - bar none.
Just because you claim "they always knew" does not make it so.
The ACA and RomneyCare and many other programs surely HAVE given better access to health care to millions. Even my higher-end health insurance (note - I am upper-middle class) didn't have the preventative care measures that the ACA does (included physical and much much more)...
Now - if you want to claim with validity that some state governments...mostly those in the Confederacy....have rejected the ACA and Medicare program which would help their populations - that is a truism. But don't blame that on the Dems and the ACA and Medicare. You can't force people to lose their ignorance. If they elect pols who want to see them suffer, die and pay much more...that's on them.
The "they are all the same" argument is very tired. Progressives did SS, Medicare, SCHIP, ADA, ACA and many other things which helped human beings. Republicans, as a whole (especially in the last 20 years) have been dead set against this...and, in fact, based their entire agenda on same.
These things are NOT the same. We cannot agree on them.
Nope, they are not the same at all.
As you point out, SS, Medicare, ACA, CHIP, ... these were all supported by progressives and opposed by conservatives.
ACA was written and approved by the insurance companies.
.
Uh - I hate to break it to you at this late date, but when industries are involved with trillions of dollars and are institutions that have existed for many decades....they DO get a say in how things are changed.
Our nation is based on this - evolution, not revolution.
AND, in all those "Socialized Medicine" countries, the Medical industry and pharma make billions.
Throwing poop at the wall and claiming it makes X into Y doesn't cut it. Obviously players involved in a situation must, to some extent, approve of the changes.
In the case of ACA, it (for example) limited the amount they could spend on Administration to something like 15%. Before, they could spend any amount - 50% if they liked.
They saw the writing on the wall - heard from Docs, Hospitals, Economists, Politicians and others that the current system is not sustainable, and decided it would be better to START with these major changes.
That doesn't make them evil. Burning down the insurance industry and big pharma won't solve any problems - in fact, it will make more.
But many big corporations are fact-based. When you show them that we pay double and get less they have to respond....and they did, to an extent.
Of course, the GOP has now said "you are now free to rip off the people again". What the GOP wants to do it rip health insurance from tens of millions then fool tens of millions of others by allowing insurance companies to sell policies that don't cover anything.
Still waiting for Obama's promise on GMO labeling that he made about 40 times, said it would be one of the first things he did if elected. Oh wait ... he never did that.
SHOCKER.
ALL.
PRESIDENTS
LIE
Another thing that is not the same.
Lies, distortions, falsehoods, 1/2 truths, good intentions, possibilities - these are all things that are along the line of what we are discussing. They can be measured. By any measure, Trump has told total lies more than any POTUS in history - stuff not even slightly grounded in the truth.
A POTUS who doesn't get their agenda done due to political realities is not a "liar". Here, for example, is a basic measurement of Obamas promised vs. Doings.... The Obameter: Tracking Obama's promises | PolitiFact
I'd say 75% accomplished or compromised is a very good record. That is why historians put Obama in the top 1/3 of Presidents.
On the other hand, Trumps statements (he really hasn't accomplished anything much to measure - but that won't turn out well either).
That is, by far, a new record and it is likely to continue. This is why he is currently at #45 out of 45 Presidents.
There is such thing as a Real World despite all the BS that is spewed. Of course, Trump and his followers want to hide that behind a wall of fog by saying "they all lie" or "they are all the same" or "he speaks his mind (well, his mind is a lie too!)"........
Sorry, no go. One of these things is not like the other. It's like you telling me a $10 bill is better than a $100 bill. It's not. Facts matter.
Uh - I hate to break it to you at this late date, but when industries are involved with trillions of dollars and are institutions that have existed for many decades....they DO get a say in how things are changed.
Our nation is based on this - evolution, not revolution.
AND, in all those "Socialized Medicine" countries, the Medical industry and pharma make billions.
Throwing poop at the wall and claiming it makes X into Y doesn't cut it. Obviously players involved in a situation must, to some extent, approve of the changes.
In the case of ACA, it (for example) limited the amount they could spend on Administration to something like 15%. Before, they could spend any amount - 50% if they liked.
They saw the writing on the wall - heard from Docs, Hospitals, Economists, Politicians and others that the current system is not sustainable, and decided it would be better to START with these major changes.
That doesn't make them evil. Burning down the insurance industry and big pharma won't solve any problems - in fact, it will make more.
But many big corporations are fact-based. When you show them that we pay double and get less they have to respond....and they did, to an extent.
Of course, the GOP has now said "you are now free to rip off the people again". What the GOP wants to do it rip health insurance from tens of millions then fool tens of millions of others by allowing insurance companies to sell policies that don't cover anything.
That's a shell game.
If you truly want good health care, get rid of insurance companies.
The debate in the '60s over Medicare was just like today.
Why should the ants have to pay for medical care for the grasshoppers who couldn't get it organized to get pensions with health insurance until they died, the ones who didn't save enough to cover the costs of their own health care in their reclining years.
People were dying because they couldn't afford insulin, heart medications, let alone surgeries... and still there were those who insisted this was only fair.
Do you really think pensions and benefits are almost nonexistent because the workers were lazy and-didn’t work for government?. Our federal workforce has shrunk compared to where it was a generation ago.
The current generation does not have the sweet deal I had as a retired municipal librarian. A new employee puts double what I put into my pension and their insurance is just as expensive as the public sector.
Bernie Sanders suggested a gap between 127k-250k and then the payroll tax kicks in after 250k.
Regardless, the medicare tax is taxed on all income with no cap. People who pay many millions in Medicare taxes over their lifetimes dont get some unique and special Medicare that others dont get. The cap on income subject to SS should work similarly. As inquality continues to increase, more and more of the national income is no longer subject to SS taxes as the top 1% hoard a larger and larger share of total income.
How much would you have to earn in your life to pay “many millions” in Medicare taxes? Isn’t it 2.35%?
$300M over 40 years?
Germany has had Universal Healthcare since 1883. No two countries do Universal Healthcare the same way. Some are Single Payer. Some are completely private insurer pay. Most are a mixed bag.
Some require all employers to contribute. Some do not.
What they have in common is the individual mandate.
The rest of the developed world make annual adjustments and periodically reform their healthcare systems. They don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
75 % of US adults are overweight/ obese. As such, the population is substantially more vulnerable to heart disease, Diabetes and ensuing complications, stroke, some Cancers and joint deterioration. The US consumes far more than its fair share of mood altering and pain medications. It should come as no surprise the US spends more on healthcare.
I can't tell what your position is, but it really doesn't matter.
1. You state 75% are overweight. Not sure if that is accurate or not, I don't think "overweight" is a medical designation. According to JAMA, just under 35% of Adult Americans are Obese: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesit..._United_States (Yes the link is to Wikipedia, but they are citing a credible source in JAMA)
2. Why are you talking about universal healthcare. We don't have that in the USA. We didn't under Obama, and we certainly don't under Trump. IMO (it's an opinion, not a fact), we should, but the fact is that we don't, and didn't, so I think you are comparing apples to orangutans.
It is valid that our increased obesity rate would help to lower total healthcare spends, but it certainly does not account for the huge disparity. As for the over-use of medications, you can blame much of that as a symptom of the problem, rather than the problem itself. The problem is that the for-profit healthcare industries, including pharma, are at the helm with regards to our law-making process. It was true under Obama, and it is more true under Trump (Drain the swamp, my ass!). One example: If Big Pharma and the Prison Industry did not own DC Politicians, then Medical MJ would be legal, and the opioid crisis would be much less, causing a favorable impact on medicine.
Likewise, instead of trapping people to be "healthcare patients for life", we'd be more focused on prevention and cure. That is not in the best financial interest of all healthcare, so it is not what happens. Again, the system is stacked to keep healthcare costs high, because it's a money driven industry, instead of results driven.
Bottom line: We (America) are far from a good solution. Obama brought us ever so slightly closer, while admittedly not nearly close enough. He gets credit for going in the right direction, but no praise for solving anything. Trump is undoing that, and setting us back even further.
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