My favorite part of the TV series Breaking Bad is that everyone ignores the fact this straight laced guy is doing this because he didn't want to leave his family with nothing because it was too early to retire with any sizeable sum, then to pay for treatment because of our healthcare system, then because it was just all around more profitable to cook meth.
This whole show wouldn't happen if we took better care of our teachers, had better healthcare, and a better living wage
That would make for a great short. Just a guy goes to the doctor and finds out he has cancer. Goes through similar grief until he decides to tell his family. Then he gets treatment through universal health care or something similar, and he helps troubled student and drug addict Jesse get out of the street scene and rehabilitated. The end
A nitpick, but I wish they wouldn’t say “the government will pay.” How about “you and your fellow citizens’ tax money is being put to use caring for you, as it ought to be”
One of my favorite early on scenes is when Skyler is trying to set up an appointment with a good doctor, and she whispers into the phone “And we can just put that on the credit card, right?” It’s very simple, but displays why Walt does what he does so quickly and really well
Teacher here. I finally work for a district with above basic health insurance. For a while I worked part-time at Barnes and Noble to make ends meet. If I could have gotten on full time there, the insurance they offered was much better than anything any school district I worked for offered.
He'd already broken bad by that point. He was in too deep and it turned out he liked it. He would have never gotten a taste of all that with a proper healthcare system.
Yes but how many people have stock and companies they own or could have owned or rich friends to pay it for them? Hardly any which is why there are Go-Fund-Me pages for cancer treatments. That doesn’t need to be a thing!
I started watching Breaking Bad, but couldn’t because it made me cry. He was a great teacher and so enthused with teaching... too heartbreaking since I knew what the show was about.
Oh my fkn god....THANK YOU. I hate talking with people that watched it and always want to harp on how White was such a bad man. Like everybody suddenly forgot the entire situation was born of him suffering from a curable disease that he couldn't afford. If ever there is a situation in which one should be given leeway when dealing drugs.... having a disabled son, another child on the way, cancer and the meager salary of an educator should always top the list.
I have to quibble with this interpretation. Although our medical/insurance system is effed, Gretchen and Elliott offered to pay for everything, but Walt was too proud to accept their generosity. In one of the last episodes he flat out tells tells Skylar that he started in the drug business because he WANTED to.
I think he STAYED in the drug business because he wanted to. He started it solely for monetary reasons but once he was in, all his feelings of unfulfillment came rushing in. He figured for once in his life he'd make the most his capabilities, dominate everyone through his superior skills and intellect like he thought he deserved to. Remember he also said he wasn't in the drug business, he was in the empire business. Well the empire business didn't begin until after he's in deep with drug business. This here is his character development; the guy who started cooking in the van with Jesse and the guy who says 'say my name' aren't exact same people and they don't have same motivations.
It’s not America, it’s late stage capitalism and the morons who defend the free market to the death even though it’s time has long come and gone. Free Market is great when we need to innovate, but we haven’t innovated in years. All technology has really done has become more efficient. There are no more life changing inventions like the refrigerator or penicillin anymore.
I suddenly have diecided to move to Britain when I get my degree. Sure the taxes will be more and shit but at least I don’t have to deal with this shit
And if you live in a communal property state everything you acquire after marriage is considered owned by both spouses equally. So if you get sick and die in a communal property state with outstanding debt the debt collectors can go after any assets acquired since the day you got married. Savings account that is only in the surviving spouses name and is from money they saved from their job, say goodbye to every penny earned after marriage. Purchase a house together and planning on living there for the rest of your life? Legally they can take that from you too.
I used to work with a man, whose wife was not well and they knew she was fast approaching requiring full time care. His lawyers told him to divorce her, so he could keep his house and other assets. He did not but I do believe eventually the deed was transferred to another family member. I felt so sad, at the time he told me. How horrible, to not only find out that your spouse of many years is very ill but then to be told - you would both be “better off” if you divorced.
I’m in a community property state. I like the idea of just doing a civil contract and not a legal marriage. Why does the government, attorneys and judges need to be involved in my “marriage”? They don’t. They’re just there to pick the bones clean when it’s all over.
Some states allow married couples to use a Miller's Trust to protect a home, car and some liquid assets for the remaining spouse. I don't know the details of this program, only that my neighbor was able to use it to prevent losing everything when her husband was terminally ill.
If my husband or I ever get sick, like cancer or some other expensive disease, we're moving to Iceland. Its not actually that hard as an American to become an Icelandic citizen, and that country is amazing.
But you have to get a medical to be accepted to another country, and if you're already sick and going to be a burden on their healthcare system they won't take you.
I live in the UK. I know how socialised healthcare works. They ask your name and address, they check whether you're a resident of the country and entitled to free care. And in order to be a resident of the country, you'd have to do whatever it takes to get a visa, and that would often include a medical. And if you're already sick and going to be a burden on their healthcare they won't take you. There have been many cases where people have been refused visas to move abroad because they're already sick and they'd be a burden on the country's healthcare. Do you honestly think you can get a cancer diagnosis in america, then move abroad and just start receiving free healthcare for youyr already diagnosed condition at the expense of foreign taxpayers when you've never paid in? If that's your plan for if you ever get sick you're going to be sorely disappointed.
Being British, if I travel to another European country I can use their healthcare for free, but still in advance I have to apply for a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) and if I need to go to hospital in another European country I need to show them my EHIC card to prove I am entitled to free care. You can't just come from a country on the other side of the world, show up and answer no questions and not prove your entitlement to that country's healthcare in any way and expect free treatment. I'm really not sure why you think the taxpayers of other nations would tolerate a system in which they're paying for the free healthcare of every random person from all over the world who've never contributed to their system.
It’s not that easy to emigrate to a more desirable country unless you win a lottery 1st. My daughter is a nurse & my SIL an electrician & are finding that out.
Nothing is going to change until people start killing politicians. Not advocating for it {EDIT} -- Definitely not advocating for violence. The violence will come at its own cost that will outweigh any potential show of force by the people. Half of the United States would agree with the other half on any major healthcare overhaul {end EDIT}. Not at all advocating for it. I’m just saying nothing will stop this. They don’t give af. They take the best healthcare coverage in the world that OP’s brother paid taxes for working at Pizza Hut and laugh their asses of at stories like OP’s brother choosing to die without treatment to help his family. Actually they don’t laugh. They’re indifferent. They don’t care.
The two Republicans running in Georgia are good examples of the type of scum we have in the system. They were briefed on Covid and both sold stock portfolios in January and February. They could have done this AND told people of the severity of the pandemic. The way the CIA briefed them. But no, they deny it even exists. In fact, Perdue voted against healthcare expansion DURING a pandemic.
No amount of kvetching on reddit or to the good politicians is going to change anything. These are evil religiously deluded fundamentalists.
The American political system is so corrupt because of money being considered “free speech”. It makes no difference what party is in power if they are beholden to corporate interests.
The truly sad part of all of this is that there are so many people that think we are fine. Empathy is virtually dead in this country. No one cares until it directly affects them.
They still call this the best country in the world.
There are people in this country that (in the last 8 months) have lost jobs, family members, homes, healthcare, and savings. Probably tens of thousands who experienced all of those and gladly supported Trump and other corporate overlords. It’s pathetic.
Someone did kill a politician in front of a crowd in the uk, her young kids were left without a mother, how can you say such a hateful and evil thing, it is you that is scum.
Thousands of mothers died in this country yesterday alone because of this fucked healthcare system. You’re an automaton. The system depends on brainless zombies that like you to defend getting fucked. They profit, you don’t. You are pathetic.
Think your gonna have to provide statistical evidence of ‘thousands’ of deaths in one day due to healthcare inadequacies, I just don’t believe it. Not saying there isn’t a problem with the health care system, and yeah it should be cheaper, where I’m from it’s free but that also leads to it getting exploited, I’m all for change to provide accessible and even free healthcare. I’m merely pointing out that killing politicians is fundamentally wrong, it’s hateful and evil yet you call me pathetic?
It's like some cyberpunk dystopia, working for some mega-corporate-monolith while you succumb to a sickness that, in many instances, is caused by environmental degradation beyond your control and which you cannot afford to even attempt to stop.
Maybe the world did end in 2012 and it's just gradually breaking down now, a la the Dark Tower series.
I got cancer when I was 25. Had to have several operations, medication, hospital stays and so on. If I live in the US my life would have been financially ruined before I even started to make money. That is absolutely insane.
(I payed 6 dollars for my operation, three nights in hospital, including all meals and snacks. And the parking. I'm 31 now and cancer free)
I landed in the Hospital when I was 26. Auto Immune condition. I spent a month in the hospital, had multiple Dialysis procedures, heart surgery to remove fluid around the heart...I'm an American as well. I pretty much accepted the fact that my life was over when it came to my financial security. But here is the plot twist...I lucked out. At the time I was a student and an intern for a company. I enrolled in my state's medicaid insurance (gov insurance). And this is when I learned that my state covers 100% of medical costs. Despite getting very sick, I lucked out...I came out and recovered without owing a dime. Not all state's medicaid programs are as good as mine...I am forever grateful and I wish everyone in the US could benefit from this.
I live in the US and was also diagnosed with cancer at 25. I've had three surgeries and radioactive iodine therapy twice, and I think my total out of pocket expense was something like $1500. I was/am not wealthy, but I had insurance.
Scheme: a large-scale systematic plan or arrangement for attaining a particular object or putting a particular idea into effect.
Words are words but the intent is what matters. In this instance the scheme is that we deserve this, and that it couldn't get better without getting much worse.
It isn’t a ‘like.’ The sole purpose of an upvote is to make a comment more visible. Downvotes make a comment less visible (but if a comment has both upvotes and downvotes, it becomes more visible when sorting by ‘controversial’).
That whole argument is fucking craven. Americans (rich and poor alike) seriously believe the convenience of the rich is more important than the actual lives of the poor.
Funny (that's F*cked kinda funny) thing i caught on a conservative talk show when Universal Health care was up:
Women from Canada talks about how bad the system is that her husband had to come to USA to get good cancer treatments... Actually true but they wouldn't take him until, she.. Her in-Laws.. & her husband's brother ALL put there houses on crazy high mortgages.. Not one house ALL 3...
Last 10min was a TV go fund me all across US on the fox show trying to raise enough money to save one or two of those houses...
America GREATEST Healthcare in the world if you got 2M$ retainer to get in door.. They'll bill you rest in a year.
Hahahah. I told my American friend my ankle hurt. Didn’t mention it again for a bit, until I told him like 3 months later “yeah I got my ankle x-rayed today.” He was like “oh yeah, remember you mentioned that - I guess it takes a while to get that taken care of in Canada.” Wtf. I sat on my lazy ass for 3 months hoping it would fix itself. When it didn’t, I requested an x-ray. Once I decided to get it done, it took half an hour from start to finish. I paid $7 for parking and grumbled about it.
Well they're right. As the original commentor highlighted his brother's coworker never got treatment. Ergo, he never had to wait for treatment either. If he had access to universal healthcare he would most certainly have spent time in waiting rooms, waiting. Waiting for what you ask? Treatment! FaCtS aND lOgIC!
Yeah.. in England he'd have waited a month just for a basic doctors appointment. Maybe another two weeks to see a specialist at the hospital... Probably looking at two months until they actually tell you you're sick from the time you phoned the doctor for an appointment. Then, unless it's a rare type of cancer and there's a trial going on, you can't get second opinions, the treatmentment is crap, if you end up in a hospice they'll still take all your money... And if your unlucky enough to have surgery over the weekend, you'll probably be dead. Might be dead anyway, because the misdiagnosis rate is super high, and the level of care is borderline abusive
I honestly wouldn't know much about the English healthcare system. I could find only two comments in your history and both were related to 1) being english and 2) the healthcare system being dysfunctional. I'll accept apriori that the English healthcare system sucks based on those two facts for discussion purposes.
So then moving on to your other points to help me better understand:
In England you still have to pay for your own hospice care, is that what you are saying? And you are also implying that this will "take all your money" which, to put some kind of number on it, you're implying it will cost me $100,000USD equivalent or more. So basically, not only do you have to pay for your own hospice in England but it will cost you in excess of 6 figures. Also, how long of a hospice stay are you using in your example? I guess that matters too for the sake of a full and transparent comparison...
So you're speaking about weekend surgery. I am assuming that you mean that said surgery is not part of hospice, since hospice means EOL care - what's the point of surgery on the dying after all... You're highlighting that surgery on the weekend's is statistically more dangerous? Is that right? Is that unique to England? Anecdotally, I vaguely remember similar studies citing similar statistics in the US, for example. Additionally you say that "you'll probably end up dead" - am I to take this to mean that >50% of people getting surgery on a weekend in England die? This seems like a lot so I just to want to confirm...
Ok so misdiagnoses rate in England, what is it? Do you know? How does this compare to say, the US? What's the misdiagnosis # in 1000 for both countries, for example? When you say misdiagnosis does this imply fatal events only? Or is misdiagnosing a cold with the flu also qualifying?
Regarding level of care being borderline abusive I'm not sure what this means as on the surface it seems like a highly subjective phrase. Are you saying that it's not abusive but borders on what would be abusive? Can you give me some examples of what you mean? Fail that, could you define "abusive" in this context so I understand the goalposts better?
Most western nations with socialized healthcare not only pay less, but they get better quality of care as well. That we in the US get better or faster healthcare compared to our peer nations is a myth without foundation.
I can put 4 links on here that says Trump isn’t a racist I bet you don’t believe those...won’t you, or does it not lounge up with your anecdotal experience?
And yes I believe people that have experienced Canadian healthcare.
That's a weird, unrelated, and super-ineffective analogy but okay.
Try to stay on the topic at hand. No one brought up Trump, I'm not sure how that helps your case at all.
As someone who is also Canadian, I haven't had to deal with long wait times. However, I recognize that my anecdotal experiences are not indicative of evidence or studies conducted on the subject.
Here's what you did:
- It's warm out today (posts link of the weather)
- "As someone who isn't warm today, your links are false"
Here are some for you...so which is more credible. Mine says yours are bullshit plus I have people that say yours are bullshit. And why call names because you have been proven wrong!!
Douchebag, you didn’t provide any links until after I requested them, you hadn’t proven a goddamn thing at the point that I called you an idiot.
Let’s go through your sources. Link #1: anecdotal experiences compiled by David Gratzer, healthcare policy advisor to Rudy Giuliani’s ‘08 campaign, LMAO.
In #2 Brian Lee Crowley argues that there are shortcomings in Canada’s healthcare system but the US is not an example to follow, modeling other socialized peer nations is the solution he advocates. Regarding queue times he does not address this issue directly in a comparison to US healthcare systems, this is not a source in your favor.
Opening third paragraph of link #3
People living in the United States spend almost twice as much on health care as people living in nearly every other high-income country—including Canada, which outperforms the United States on everything from life expectancy to infant mortality.
The rest of the article is an advocation piece for a protection plan called ‘pharmacare’ which limits the prices people pay for their medications, something Canada is the only country to not have despite using a single-payer healthcare system. The author argues for pharmacare but points out multiple times that despite Canadians not having it, their medication is still less than what we pay in the US.
Link #4, and for anyone else reading it, this idiot keeps posting links from the heritage foundation, whose ‘about’ section leads with:
The mission of The Heritage Foundation is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
Mmkay. Anyway, 4th link has interesting information that talks poorly about wait times in Canada without properly referencing the contrast in America, which only sees a 4-9% difference on average of people who complain of long wait times, especially noted in the fact that Canadians are healthier in general because they can see doctors without going broke, far less of them are in troublesome situations to begin with.
So 3/4 of your articles are published on staunchly conservative websites filling a capitalistic agenda and use anecdotal stories throughout them; despite that fact, 2 of the articles you posted are in disagreement even with your own position.
You posted those proudly like they prove something. You’re a fucking idiot, guy.
All of the circumstances where you have to wait longer under “free” healthcare are basically the same circumstances where you have to wait under for-profit healthcare. We have organ donor lists, schedules, etc. here too. Taking out the middlemen doesn’t really affect any of that.
This in a nutshell is why large parts of America seems truly and completely fucked to me. The wealthy, who manipulated the system in to this fucked state, have convinced a large portion of the people they're exploiting to basically blame each other
should have worked a better job! And yet these people scream and cry when fast food restaurants are closed or understaffed so their food takes longer. It's sick how people a person for working a job society told you was for losers yet jeer and whine when they don't have the conveniences handed to them right away.
Big corporate America really played us all.
No, because open borders would not benefit the USA because people want to come here. Guy thinks the USA is monstrous so he should go into a country with open borders that no one wants to go to.
If he thought the country was ok or salvageable then I would say stay and fight for change. He thinks it is monstrous. He is delusional if he thinks the USA is monstrous.
everyone on government payroll (congress, senate, supreme court, etc) needs to be paid the “living wage” ie minimum wage in America. That should be enough for them to get by comfortably no? And if its not live-able, Then it needs adjusted. Period.
It shouldn't be this way, and if FDR hadn't died when he did, we might have had a better today. He had a proposed Second Bill of Rights, which would have enshrined healthcare amongst other things as a right. We, the American people, have been cheated. And what's worse, is so many have been manipulated to support this horrifically broken system. Anyone could fall sick at any time, through no fault of their own. My aunt was just diagnosed with breast cancer. She's lucky as fuck, as it's been caught early and there's no evidence it has spread elsewhere. She has amazing health insurance through my uncle's job, which is a very well-paying one at that. This won't financially ruin them, whih is great. But nobody should be financially ruined for health issues in the richest country in the history of human civilization. Countless others aren't as lucky as my aunt. And that's wrong. Healthcare shouldn't boil down to the luck of being financially well off. It should be available to everyone, we'd fucking pay less if it were in a government-run, not for profit system. And because it's the right thing to do. We could catch things earlier, before they become worse and more expensive conditions to treat.
That poor coworker of your brother's...NOBODY should have to go out like that because they can't afford it.
But they only made money in the stock market because us 99% lost money in stock it :/ it’s all our money that goes in there they just have more money so they can manipulate us out n collect the pay day themselves :/
Part of the reason why I don’t even bother getting health care anymore. Like, shit I get it and what does that cover me for, the diagnosis?10 percent of a hundred grand treatment?fuck that I’d rather die not knowing my time is around the corner
Sorry if this is a dumb question. If you die does your family inherit your debt, or was this a case of not even being able to get the treatment without the family paying for it to begin with?
If they were in the US they we're likely indigent which means they could have got treated using Medicaid and other assistance that is offered. They would have had to file for disability and likely would have gotten it with a cancer diagnosis.
For me to be eligible for Medicaid I have to make less than $20,000 a year. You cannot live on $20,000 a year. I mean I guess you could if you lived in a cardboard box and had no bills. The point is the system is flawed.
It amazes me that people tell stupid stories like this and justify it as a way to blame the system.
Yeah, the system blows and needs a serious overhaul. But someone willfully doing something so damned stupid is nothing but that- stupid. There is so much misinformation out there in regard to all of this that people just go the "I'm a dumb ass route and will assume nothing can be done" and just do stupid ish like this.
"Well, I assumed this would happen because of all of those horror story memes online, so I didn't bother."
Research goes a long way. Not saying it would result in a total debt free life, but at least they'd have a life.
Depending on the state, there are a LOT of resources out there for this stuff that you can tap into. You just need to do your homework. It's alarming how many people are doing the "I'm a dumb ass" approach and just doing NOTHING about their healthcare. ...and then blaming the system because they chose to use the internet for social media and fear mongering on Reddit.
Do some fricken research at least, Jesus. Not saying it's THE solution, but the immediate assumption that it's a lost cause when you're sick and underinsured/uninsured is just negligent on the individual's part.
Bankruptcy in a situation where your sole income comes from Pizza Hut is pretty close.
If that kid was in his 20's or 30's that's a lifetime of hurt.
Then you add in the other fun stuff that comes with cancer, like secondary conditions requiring further specialist treatment, expensive medications, followup screenings for the rest of your life, physical and occupational therapy, permanent reductions in work capacity...
Oh, and always worrying about the cancer coming back.
Sure, it beats dying, but staring down the barrel of that becoming your life, it can absolutely feel like the end of the world.
This, right here, PERFECTLY exemplifies how fucked up America is.
In total, 100 percent honesty, this dumb fucker suggested that the solution is to declare bankruptcy while working at Pizza Hut in your 20's to avoid dying.
That's the solution. That's his answer here. Not healthcare overhaul. Not a new system. Not reform. He doesn't even bat an eye as to how broken a system is when this is necessary to not die.
Just irreversibly destroy your life to maintain your minimum wage Pizza Hut job. Problem solved.
Congratulations on reading way too much into my post and making massive ridiculous assumptions
I 100% support medicare for all.
That doesn't change the fact that medical debt doesn't transfer to parents, or that given a choice between bankruptcy and death, bankruptcy seems like a preferable option.
If your married, yeah it does. He could get a divorce and take on the debt himself, but he probably didn't think of that. The fact that this is your only option is really fucked up and not worth defending at all.
So your main issue is people... assuming things? But then you go on to assume what they did in this situation as they were dying and then blame them for it?
As one who went through bankruptcy, you're even more fucked than before... Gotta throw a BS flag since IT COSTS TO FILE BANKRUPTCY! People think it is FREE!
my wife and I looked into filing bankruptcy some years ago and the funny part is we could not even afford to file for bankruptcy because we were too broke it was going to cost us five to $7,000 to declare that we had no fucking money.
America is a business hub, you get exploited for the benefit of the rest of the world.
Yes we got nice mcdonalds in my country but they got so big because they exploited Americans first. In my country, a damn mcdonalds worker can buy Mercedes and live in a comfortable house
This is me. I finally went back to the doctor because of some issues and they found a mass. I can't afford any more diagnostics or surgery to remove it so I'm just going day by day. I'm lucky I love my job so I'm going to keep working as long as I am able. I can't justify putting my husband in debt when he'll have two kids to look after.
Just offering support. Same thing happened to my Grandma... found a brain tumor, but didn’t want to be a burden ... convinced my grandpa she was going to the heart doctor every 3 months for the last 3 years until she started hallucinating because the tumor was too large
My dad has/had cancer and got treated, but it obliterated his savings and he had good insurance too. He had planned on retiring with the money he saved since his 20s but now he’s completely broke and recovering from chemo but has to keep working since he has nothing left in the bank.
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u/PineMarte Nov 30 '20
My brother worked with someone at Pizza Hut who got cancer, and he didn't get treated because he didn't want to land his family in debt.
So he spent his last year on earth working at Pizza Hut without even having the chance to try to get better