Tbh as a nurse even just directly accepting pay from patients would be a huge improvement in the Healthcare system. Even having the patient directly pay the hospital then the hospital pays me would be a big improvement over health insurance companies. The entire purpose of a middleman is to make things more convenient and yet they’ve figured out how to make more money the less convenient it is to receive care because they get their premium either way, and the more they refuse to do the more they get to keep. They’re literally leeches that contribute nothing beneficial to the process.
A big reason we have stuff like $100 bandaids is because of a longstandimg health insurance tradition of the Healthcare insurance companies insisting that the hospitals charge exorbitant prices to the uninsured so that they can offer their customers “discounts.” It’s the same marketing strategy as how mattress stores are always having a sale. The mattress was always worth $400, they just added the $800 next to it to make that $400 look better. After years and years of the insurance companies “negotiating” for more money off the price we have hospitals charging $100 to put a baby on its mothers chest after birth, then that price is magically “negotiated” down to $1 which the insurance company so graciously deigns to pay.
Some people still wouldn’t be able to pay which is why we really need to move towards a government provided fund that covers at least the basics for everyone, but for most people not having to pay $500 for a bandaid and only having to pay $1-2k for a major surgery would be doable, especially if they’re not also paying $300 monthly and $3.6k yearly for “insurance” that will still try to get the anasthaesia cut off mid surgery. And it would make mutual aid and charitable funding a much more realistic possibility for those who can’t afford it.
So anyway yeah we actually should just completely abolish the health insurance industry. It wouldn’t fix everything but it would actually be a huge improvement just by cutting out the middleman and by making a negotiation that was already unfair to begin with at least more open / honest.
Okay but it’s only an improvement for people can afford it. Other people die. That’s the entire argument behind calling Brian Thompson a murderer, by advocating for not distributing based on need you’re essentially what other commenters in this thread would call a murderer.
You can have mutual aid and charitable funding RIGHT NOW. Nothing is stopping us, it’s heavily advocated for.
Aaaaand you ignored the part of my argument where it’s still a marginal improvement for that population (who already can’t afford it even with insurance). The other commenter is right, you’re cherrypicking and arguing in bad faith. I’ve no patience for sealions. Bye.
Aaaaaand I don’t think it would be an improvement at all because I don’t think people would be sharing their wealth without incentive to have their own issues covered. As I mentioned before, you can right at this very moment do charity or community action to cover the care of people who need it, such as donating to St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital. People aren’t, though. They don’t want to cover somebody else’s problem.
I’ve been fighting sealions like you all day, must be a skill issue.
