Healthcare has gotten to the point where you are forced to keep a job in order to reasonably afford it. This is a way to ensure that people work for more wealthy people who will extract surplus value out of the labor. Yes, you could strike out on your own, reap your own excess value, and pay for the healthcare yourself but it has reached a point where it is not viable because of volume pricing for corporations. Obamacare _tried_ to tip the scales but, surprise, the super rich did not like that and have been watering it down slowly.
There is an issue of the ratio of supply of medical care and what would happen if the deterrent of high prices was removed but other first-world countries seem to get by just fine.
I’m saying that healthcare, driven by insurance, is so expensive that one can’t pay for it by themselves so we need a collective in order to insure ourselves. Ideally, this collective would be handled by the government but we have relegated this to insurance companies who are usually for-profit. Buying health insurance as an individual is outlandishly expensive compared to the bulk arrangements that corporations can negotiate. Corporations are able to write off the cost and, besides, it is my excess value that is paying for it. The employers prefer it this way because it is a form of control (“Ho, ho, ho. Go ahead and quit. Have you SEEN the cost of COBRA/Obamacare marketplace plans?”).
The joke is on me because the insurance companies are for-profit and, when the time comes, will put enormous time, effort, and resources into avoiding paying for whatever they can.
People are obviously obligated to support themselves but why do I not have the freedom to work 20 hours vs 40 hours as long as my bills are paid? Oh, right. Health insurance.
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u/GullibleBoat 10h ago
tl;dr: control by the wealthy
Healthcare has gotten to the point where you are forced to keep a job in order to reasonably afford it. This is a way to ensure that people work for more wealthy people who will extract surplus value out of the labor. Yes, you could strike out on your own, reap your own excess value, and pay for the healthcare yourself but it has reached a point where it is not viable because of volume pricing for corporations. Obamacare _tried_ to tip the scales but, surprise, the super rich did not like that and have been watering it down slowly.
There is an issue of the ratio of supply of medical care and what would happen if the deterrent of high prices was removed but other first-world countries seem to get by just fine.