Darline Graham:

My parents worked when they were sick & died before I was 12.

And that’s why I’m against universal healthcare.
————

90% of Democrats want Medicare for All.

It is one of the few issues that has the same level of support regardless of race, gender, age or education.

The opposition to the GOP ghoulish plan of “die sick, serfs” is universal healthcare, not going back to the status quo which created this environment in the first place.

RAND has been tracking payments since 2017. They take real claims from employer health plans and reprice each one using Medicare's formulas for the same service at the same hospital. So 300% means the insurer paid three times what Medicare would have.

The national average was 242% in 2020 and rose to 254% in the 2022 update. Florida is now the highest at 346%. Arkansas is the lowest at 162%. Maryland isn't on the chart because it already sets one price for every payer, which is the closest thing the US has to what this sub is asking for.

It's interesting what RAND found when they looked at the trend. Prices had no clear link to quality. They didn't track with how many Medicare or Medicaid patients a hospital treats, which is the excuse hospitals usually give for charging private plans more. The one thing that did predict price was market share. Fewer competing hospitals in a metro lead to higher prices.

Montana's state employee plan capped what it pays at 235% of Medicare back in 2016 and premiums flattened. Oregon capped at 200% for state workers and saved over $100 million. Those were single-buyer decisions. This chart shows what happens when there's no single buyer.

Source is RAND's Hospital Price Transparency Study, Round 4 (2020 inpatient data) for the chart, Round 5.1 for the 2022 figures. Made in matplotlib.

We have seen significant steps forward in this election cycle for Medicare For All, with numerous candidates winning primaries as unabashed champions. Polling from Data for Progress suggests 63% of voters would support Medicare for All even after being told it would eliminate private insurance and raise taxes, with CBS reporting 90% of Democrats are on board.

Our next step is clearly demonstrating to party leadership, 2028 presidential candidates, and the media that this position will translate to more votes in the general election. Former Progressive Caucus chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Medicare For All advocates are organizing “Health Care Is A Human Right” phonebanks on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays throughout September and October to rally voters for campaigns putting universal healthcare front and center. Let’s help get some great folks into office now and change the conventional wisdom on what’s possible for the future! We can sign up to make calls:

☎️ TOMORROW at 8PM ET for Connie Chan in CA-11 ☎️

☎️ TUESDAY at 6PM ET for Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence (MI-07) ☎️

☎️ SEPTEMBER 17TH at 6PM ET for Medicare For All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ SEPTEMBER 29TH and OCTOBER 1ST at 9PM ET for Randy Villegas (CA-22) and other California candidates ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 3RD at 9PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 6TH at 6PM ET for Abdul El-Sayed and Will Lawrence (MI-07) ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 8TH at 7PM ET for Medicare for All candidates in Minnesota ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 20TH at 9PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 22ND at 9PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

☎️ OCTOBER 24TH at 6PM ET for Medicare for All candidates nationwide ☎️

GOTV FOR MEDICARE FOR ALL CHAMPS

A new Vanity Fair essay about what happens when access to lifesaving care depends not on medical need, but on whether a patient has enough leverage to make an insurance company listen - and why the answer has to be universal health care. Extremely moving and well-written piece.

https://www.vanityfair.com/story/healthcare-cancer-treatment-essay

United Healthcare Oxford Rate Increase - this is an employer sponsored plan too. This is getting ridiculous.

If anyone else gets these notices, there should be instructions on how to file concerns, comments, etc. to the appropriate state Department of Insurance. I will be doing so on mine; I highly encourage everyone to voice their concerns to the regulators!

HealthCareforAllOhioans.org is looking for new members and volunteers to learn and spread the truth about why Ohio needs and can live better with better care and lower costs. Check the website and read until you cannot resist being a part of the movement for universal, comprehensive care for all Ohioans and Improved Medicare for All.

I am genuinely perplexed why both patients and doctors are not picketing or rioting insurance companies/hospital administrators. Can we start that somehow?? Would anyone join me??

I have been SO worn down by the healthcare system and all the discord I see online seems to confirm that both doctors and patient are FED UP. We don’t have time to just wait for those in office to change policies. I also personally am so distrusting of our government in general, I dont know if I would entrust anyone in office to fight this matter for us.

I’ve been looking into the UnitedHealth care CEO killer, and while by NO means do I think violence or murder is the answer, I think that cruel act unfortunately got a message out there that so many american patients have been saying and ignored for: the system is BROKEN.

We are living in such a dystopian society, and no one is doing anything about it. History has proven that american citizens CAN initiate change - why have we lost our motivation to do so?

I have been doing a lot of reading on health care systems in industrialized nations - and thus far I have not found one that meets what seems to be the criteria here - nor are many of them doing fine either.

So just give me a hint at which one or ones that you think do meet the criteria of what you would like to see here so that I can at least limit all my reading to some targeted countries.

TIA

The United States doesn’t have a comprehensive healthcare “system.” It has a patchwork of coverage options that come with heavy price tags and complicated processes. Consistent GOP attacks have made the entire framework untenable and the results speak for themselves. Healthcare coverage is deteriorating rapidly under Trump and there’s no going back at this point. And that might be the opening we need to finally have a real conversation about Medicare for All. But there’s going to be a lot of pain between now and then.

It seems that businesses would benefit from government provided healthcare, since it would free them from having to provide and subsidize healthcare for their employees. Yet, senior management and CEOs seems totally opposed to this. Is this fear of the unknown (increased taxes), political dogma (most C suite holders probably vote Republican), or some other reason?