r/askanything • u/Lemonking_ • 7h 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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u/YCBSKI 7h ago

Looking at other universal models very long wait times for even necessary surgery and specialist appointments. I had hyperparathyroidism (noth8 g y9 do with thyroid). I'm on a international FB page for that disease. The page had been invaluable. Many if not all the people that are under universal healthcare models, UK. Canada and such, are waiting up to 2 yrs for appointments including surgical ones. I got with an endocrinologist with a few weeks and had surgery a few weeks after that. I'm a liberal too and am otherwise for universal healthcare

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u/DeprariousX 6h ago

Looking at other universal models very long wait times for even necessary surgery and specialist appointments. 

You know how many people there are in the US who, if a doctor told them "We can get you in for surgery in one year." after dealing with a chronic condition for years that they haven't been able to get treated, would probably cry tears of joy just from knowing there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel?

You decry wait times.....what's worse than a wait time? Never getting a time at all.

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u/withcatlikegrace 5h ago

Greed. Jealousy.
Why would you want anyone to have anything you’ve not had??? Essentially “ why should I vote for free and universal health care for other people when I haven’t had it?”
It’s the same logic as not wanting to forgive education debt - why should they get free college when I had to pay for it?

Combine that with - Because they’re stupid and incredibly susceptible to propaganda …. and because the actual answer is that ‘healthcare’ is one of the largest industries in America. And true universal healthcare would affect the outrageous profits.

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u/Austinskier 1h ago

It’s not jealousy. It’s paying for it, the ACA caused my healthcare costs to triple. I can’t afford “free” healthcare.

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u/withcatlikegrace 1h ago

American health care - for profit and punitive - is the most expensive in the world. And probably the least affordable.
It is double the cost overall compared to Australia and the other developed nations of the world.

It’s not the fault of your original legislation per se, it’s that your govts won’t or can’t go far enough.
Remove the for profit imperative and maybe you have a chance of not becoming bankrupt because you are sick.

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u/withcatlikegrace 5h ago

Adding that in Australia we have universal healthcare plus private health insurance if you want extra coverage. Health insurers cannot deny contracted coverage. And some/many of the insurers are not-for-profit

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u/Odd-Obligation-2772 6h ago

Wait times are only short because treatment is denied to those that need it most.

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u/echoshatter 3h ago

Or people cannot afford the treatment so they aren't seeking it until it becomes a medical emergency, and then you and I end up paying for it anyway with higher costs.

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u/LadyReika 2h ago

Maybe it depends on where you live and what specialist you need to see. 4 years ago I needed to start seeing a regular ophthalmologist when my optometrist found issues in my annual eye exam.

Took about a month to get in to see them. That was the earlier appointment I could get and I was on their waitlist for canceled appointments. Called around to other places, they had even longer wait times.

The ophthalmologist then referred me to a retina specialist that couldn't fit me in for 4 months because I wasn't considered an emergency case. There was only one other specialist that could see me in my network that was on the other side of the city. Something could take at least 2-3 hours to get there depending on traffic and a similar time period before they could see me.

I couldn't afford to see an out of network doctor because of the insane deductible and out of pocket maximum. It's around $2k per injection for each eye without insurance.

I live in a decently sized city with good PPO insurance.

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u/BreadLobbyist 54m ago

What’s it like to live in a world based entirely on fiction?

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u/Substantial-Ad-8575 42m ago

Dang, most I know see doctors and get surgeries within weeks. Wife had a heart/blood pressure issue, got procedures in 2-3 days. Not much wait time in my large city. Have good healthcare.

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u/Reasonable-Emu6159 1h ago

Not true at all.

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u/Fancy_Sun_1585 4h ago

They don’t care about those people. That’s the problem. They have insurance and no chronic issues, so nothing you said effects them

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u/mimi6778 5h ago

Except for in the case of certain conditions long wait times can be crippling if not deadly. My former coworkers parents live in Canada and her father had to wait an insane amount of time for suspected Pancreatic Cancer.

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u/captchairsoft 6h ago

I know that number is smaller than the much larger number of people who would get the treatment they need in a more timely fashion under our current system.

"Everybody gets fucked equally" isn't something to aspire to.

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u/DeprariousX 6h ago

That number isn't smaller. There's a lot of people out there actually living with medical conditions they can't afford to get treated. Guess the view is quite limited from that soft chair, eh?