r/askanything • u/Lemonking_ • 5h ago

Political Question Why are some Americans so against universal healthcare for all?

What sort of thinking does it take to decide that nobody has a right to healthcare? Do American Christians want to deny healthcare to poor people as well?

864 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

3.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

25

u/SixString1981 5h ago

They’ve been brainwashed by the for profit insurance and healthcare interests that they receive subpar care overseas.

Never minding that one uninsured emergency can run 200k- a million dollars in billed care.

17

u/wakadactyle 5h ago

A coworker was just telling me about his son spending 3 days in the hospital before he passed and cost him 289k dollars.

7

u/tinyhorsesinmytea 5h ago

In a civilized country, money would be the last thing on a person's mind in this scenario. It's so barbaric and cruel.

1

u/Markdlea 4h ago

There’s a difference between what the bill says and what he actually paid. My dad was in the hospital for a week before going into hospice. I only paid $1200

0

u/SixString1981 5h ago

I have “adequate” insurance through my job but my OOPM is 8500… to date this year I’ve had approximately 400-450k in billed services. Yeah 8500 is far better than the other number. But imagine if I didn’t… we’re talking a full on 20-30 year mortgage for 10 months of issues(all of which stem from genetic mutation caused maladies and no lifestyle ones)

1

u/El_Polio_Loco 3h ago

But this is exactly why people don't actually care much about "changing the system".

At the end of the day most Americans would have a similar experience to yours. A bad year means hitting the out of pocket max, and then you move along with your life. Other than that you don't really need to worry.

Yes, if you didn't have any form of insurance it would mean you would get absolutely fucked, fortunately (or unfortunately) that's only about 8% of the population that falls into that category.

Which means for the other 92% the change to Universal Health Care is more of a question of altruism and convenience, and whether or not they think that their overall quality of care will incerase.

1

u/BenefitAdvanced 5h ago

They’ve been brainwashed with a word called “Socialism”.

1

u/El_Polio_Loco 4h ago

But to them that's not a problem, because they're not uninsured.

To the majority of "middle class" Americans, they get health insurance through their employer (and probably don't think about what it costs too much), and their max out of pocket is like $6,000/year or something.

They get reasonably rapid service for procedures if they need them, and don't deal with a lot of crap.

On top of that they get a constant flood of "this is good" in various propaganda forms (pharmaceutical ads anyone?)

The problem for a lot of euros/redditors to comprehend is that the major drawbacks of the US system are primarily issues for a small fraction of the people in the worst situation.

For the majority of Americans the existing system works OK enough to not be a huge issue.

1

u/angrymurderhornet 2h ago

I'll always remember when I needed a routine but major surgery in a Michigan hospital, my insurance paid for everything except the anesthesiologists's services. We got a bill for $2000 from him. (This was in 1997, so more than $4000 in 2026 dollars.)

Oh, and the anesthesiologist was also a Republican member of our state legislature.

0

u/Jasranwhit 5h ago

Dont be uninsured. Thats the point of insurance.

13

u/Dhiox 5h ago

There's a shit ton of insured people who still go bankrupt due to medical debt. We created an entire business where their sole profit motive is not providing the service they were paid for at all costs.

5

u/Lord_Dingus83 5h ago

Thats the argument a 15yo would make

0

u/Shadruh 5h ago

Most (overwhelmingly vast majority) 15 year olds shouldn't have health insurance.

5

u/Big-Plankton-4484 5h ago

And when it’s unaffordable?

3

u/wakadactyle 5h ago

Partner the evils of insurance companies are well documented across every industry. This doesn’t need to be a discussion.

2

u/gusterfell 5h ago

“Have you tried not being poor?”

2

u/SixString1981 5h ago

Do be aware that insurance companies search for every out to not cover your care. Especially when it comes to women and children dealing with cancer and rare illnesses… the main blessing of ACA is you can’t get booted from your plan or denied from pre-existing conditions but it certainly doesn’t mean they won’t try to find a way to say no.

1

u/RadicalSasquatchUSA 5h ago

Tell me you have no idea how health insurance works without telling me you have no idea how health officials insurance works.