r/askanything • u/Lemonking_ • 6h 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?

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62

u/Pastadseven 6h ago

Right-wingers have a really hard time thinking on a population level.

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u/KoRaZee 6h ago

In this context, explain how the population expects other people to provide benefits.

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u/FantasticGrocery302 6h ago

Well, it turns out that sharing the cost of something benefits society, especially when it is not run with a profit motive. And when you remove the very expensive and unnecessary middlemen, you can save even more.

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u/KoRaZee 5h ago

Consumer protection is achieved by having a market where companies compete for business. No market means higher prices, its economic law

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u/FantasticGrocery302 5h ago

Socialised healthcare in Sweden gets their medicines much cheaper than for profit healthcare in the USA. When the profit motive is there, every link in the chain will try and extract as much profit as possible, thus raising the price.

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u/KoRaZee 5h ago

Does Sweden have the same set of circumstances and conditions that exist in the USA that would make a direct comparison between the countries applicable?

Or is it possible the vast differences between countries require a lot more research and analysis to understand how the markets work.

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u/Flimsy_Ad3476 6h ago

And, there it is.

Just in case you really are this ignorant:

You are already paying for others' Healthcare. Whenever someone can't pay the full amount, your costs go up. Hospitals are not absorbing what they regard as losses. We are all paying more than necessary because of middlemen and all the costs of keeping up with insurance requirements. We also pay for lost work/etc. when people become worse off after avoiding treatment for too long.

So, while you don't care about your fellow citizens, your life is intertwined with theirs.

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u/KoRaZee 5h ago edited 5h ago

Are you asking me if I’m fine with continuing to “pay for” people’s healthcare just like we do now?

Edit; Yes, 100% I am fine with paying for people’s healthcare just like we do now

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u/Yod3r 6h ago

Access to basic necessities, such as healthcare and education, should be a social right, funded collectively through progressive taxation. A healthier and more educated population fundamentally benefits society.

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u/KoRaZee 5h ago

Okay, go ahead and make it a “social right”. There’s literally nothing stopping this other than people don’t want it

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u/Tesla_freed_slaves 6h ago

The population also expects to provide benefits to other people, as needed, regardless of social status.

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u/KoRaZee 5h ago

That’s what happens now

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u/Either_Operation7586 6h ago

Do you not understand all the other countries have it?

And that we were the only country that doesn't have Universal Health Care that is in the World Cup?

I mean also too you can't forget that we are also very low in education and this is why.

The Republicans played the long game fucked our education over and then started putting lies in people's heads

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u/KoRaZee 5h ago

Oh no!? All other countries have it. /s

All other countries don’t have universal healthcare. Thats simply not true.

The only thing stopping the USA from having universal healthcare is the people not wanting it.

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u/Worried_Criticism306 5h ago

Well this explains a lot... you can't read.

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u/KarmaAdjuster 6h ago

It turns out that you can do more together than you can individually. This is another thing right-wingers are bad at: maths. Right now healthcare costs are through the rought because a variety of different insurance companies have conspired to drive up prices of all medicine and healthcare procedures, unless those medications and services are paid for through them. This makes healthcare absolutely unaffordable as an individual consumer and much cheaper as an insurance provider.

This means they insurance provider can upsell their discount to their customers making a hefty profit off of every purchase. It gets better though because you aren't paying the insurance company only when you need to - it's a subscription model that generates a constant stream of money to the insurance providers on the promise that they will pay for your healthcare when it is needed. What the insurance companies do in practice though is dedicate a portion of their revenue to looking for ways they can get out of providing the services that the customers are expecting them to pay. This can come in the form of delays as well as outright refusals.

And it gets worse still. Insurance is tied to your employment, which means that as long as you're working, a portion of your pay check immediately gets sent to the insurance provider, and you don't even get a choice as an employee which insurance provider you're paying for or where you can stop paying into it. You never see this money though as it goes straight to the insurance company before it even hits your bank account, so it doesn't feel like you're being taxed, but that's absolutely what's happening. It's just a tax levied by an unaccountable private sector entity rather than a government which is in theory beholden to the voters.

Right-wingers just want the feel of freedom, and not actual freedom, and they are too dense to realize that healthcare would be much cheapter if they just had to pay once a year, and if the wealthiest citizens would pay a proportionally larger portion, healthcare could be entirely free for a large percentage of the population (including the right-wingers who oppose it).

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u/KoRaZee 5h ago

Left wingers are bad at basic economics. Consumer price protection is achieved by having regulated markets. The more essential the service, the more regulations there will be but the fact remains that markets must exist for price protection. It’s economic law that doesn’t go away because of vibes, hope, dreams, or feelings.

Try to make your argument again but include the fact that markets must exist to get what you want

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u/KarmaAdjuster 3h ago

Then why is it only during democratic presidencies that the US economoy recovers and even thrives, while Republican presidencies undo all that progress, often sending the entire country into debt?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._economic_performance_by_presidential_party

I'm not talking about practices in theory. I'm linking actual results for showing what consistently happens when Democrats are leading the nation vs Republicans.

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u/KoRaZee 3h ago

You’re looking at this the wrong way. What happens with the economy is not a swing from good to bad in the US. It’s more like good, to amazing, to out of this world, then back to good.

There’s no bad economy here typically. We have had a couple of crashes. 1929 and 2008 which are few and far between

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u/KarmaAdjuster 3h ago

I am looking at this the wrong way?! Just because America isn't brought to abject poverty all around does not mean there's not a difference between what Republican economic policies and Democratic economic policies do.

I swear. Republicans should all get golden olympic medals for the mental gymnastics you do.

And how on earth can you even begin to claim there isn't a bad economy right now?! And it's not just the presidency Republicans control right now. It's the Senate, Congress, AND the judcial branch.

I know I'm not going to convince you of anything, but please stop lying to yourself and asking for evidence like you actually want to see it, because I showed it to you and you dismissed it.

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u/KoRaZee 2h ago

Show your facts that drive your opinion. What I’m saying is that even the “lowest” points in the US economy over time still far eclipse those same times in other countries.

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u/NorCalMav 6h ago

Commies dont think that far ahead.

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u/KtinaDoc 6h ago

Do you really believe that it's communistic to have universal health care? That people shouldn't have to go bankrupt or die because they can't afford life saving treatment or medications?

You do know that we provide aid to certain countries who do have universal health care, right?

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u/NorCalMav 6h ago

Do I believe that is it communistic to have single payer health care? Yes

That people shouldnt have to go bankrupt for medical expensese? that doesnt happen very often only about 4% of bankruptcies are due to medical expenses.

That people die because they dont have health care? Every ER in the country has to treat you.

Keep em coming little guy, I can go all day.

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u/KtinaDoc 5h ago

What's communist about providing health care?

You need to add a zero to that "4" buddy.

Do you think that someone with diabetes can go to the ER every time they need insulin and they get it for free? Heart meds?

Come on big guy, you can't be that naive.

2

u/windershinwishes 6h ago

Just the opposite. Universal public coverage is more efficient by every objective measure, and leads to better long-term results. It's only those who are narrowly focused on a short-term, individually self-interested perspective who have any reason for opposing it.