There are no better people to call this travesty out than you and you dear wife and daughter. I am so sorry you all have had to endorse this dehumanizing experience. Love to all
BUT. RAGE IS NOT RATIONAL. And Americans will continue to rage at the depravity of our health care sustem until our governments come to recognize that BASIC, EFFECTIVE HEALTHCARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT. Many nations recognize and implement this right, e.g. Canada, France. America's '"system" is simple, and barbaric: THE RICH SHALL LIVE AND THE POOR SHALL DIE.
“Health” “care” is an oxymoron. It is anything but medicine, and no one should support it! It’s a death and disability RACKET that needs torn down completely.
People need to wake up. It amazes me that so many are still so fooled.
Oh this is such a shame… a few inexpensive herbs could have permanently reversed the asthma…. The human race needs to open up to true healing and ditch these enslavers!
Thank you for the article. I cannot understand why the alleviation of human suffering is not considered worthwhile, as an inherent good in its own. It always has to be quantified in dollars, eg. $X spent on primary care saves $Y later.
For my work I lived in various other countries for close to 25 years. Some of those were Norway, England, Greece, Iran and various Persian Gulf Emirates. ALL of these countries had a better healthcare system than America.
“Pre-existing conditions” were called “medical history” and used to help the diagnosis of your current condition.
“For Profit medical insurance” is almost a contradiction in terms. Any treatment will lower profits and will be scrutinized most carefully and turned down, often without comment. They know that less than 1% of denials are challenged, no matter how needed the treatment.
The healthcare officer who was gunned down recently was the leader of a company who, as a matter of policy, turned down 18% of claims. Department heads were given bonuses based on profits. Guess how that works out?
Why has there not been an enormous class-action lawsuit against these corporate sociopaths?
Oh, right. Because they spend the money they steal from us on an army of attorneys to defend this atrocity.
I would love to see a list of every single presidential, congressional and senate candidate along with an itemized total of how much campaign money they accepted from healthcare corporations.
This includes: health insurance companies, corporate hospitals, private equity firms and the pharmaceutical industry.
Healthcare in the United States is a dystopian hellscape. And, mark my words, it’s going to get worse.
So yes, we know that the healthcare system in this country kills 70,000 people each year by denying health care; we know that the u.s. is the only highly developed nation in the world that does not have universal healthcare; we know that the u.s. is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to life expectancy, maternal and infant mortality; we know that people repeatedly express a desire for something like universal healthcare ie the Affordable Care Act, yet people also elected trump who has stated his intent to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (as well as other horrific changes via Project 2025) and also elected republican majorities in both the House and the Senate (the Supreme Court, packed by trump, has already revealed its conservative-leaning positions). So what is going on here? How is positive change to be made, as expressed by people who then vote specifically against their own best interests? How do we get universal healthcare in a country peopled by many who vote the way they do to eliminate any possibility of universal healthcare? What are the specific steps that have to be taken to obtain universal healthcare in a country where many vote to defeat universal healthcare?
Costa Rica is a much poorer country than the US ($13,850 vs. $80,300 per capita gross national income in 2023), yet it has the right priorities, serving its citizens. It has no military budget to speak of, but it has universal healthcare.
Your primary experience is key to understanding the situation.
USPIRG did a study and a report called The Wealth Primary. They found that:
The candidate who spends the most money in a congressional primary wins 92% of the time.
82% of that money comes from multi-millionaires and big business.
Therefore, candidates who disagree with the rich are not going to get those big donations, and are going to lose almost all the time. There will always be a wealth-friendly majority in Congress.
What we need, before *anything* else, is a donation limit that an average American can afford. Without that, we are left trying to convince people who were carefully selected to disagree with us.
My son has cancer. He’s four, this isn’t his first battle with it, and to date our EOB show insurance has paid ~$3 million dollars for his treatments. My insurance is tied to my job, which is in danger due to the archaic leave policies in the U.S. as this isn’t his first time in treatment I have had to take short stints of unpaid leave while also angering my team due to my “special treatment”. I am literally in a space where I am forced to prioritize my job (note: “job” not “career”) in order to provide medical insurance for my son in order to give him a chance to live.
Thank you and yes, it’s absurd, we should not tolerate this!
Insurance premiums are too high, especially if you add in dependents. The health insurance family plans where I work begin at $2225 monthly and cannot be cancelled, not without a fight, and it’s deducted directly from your pay check. Some employees make only $12 to $15 an hour so they can’t afford to purchase health insurance from work and make just enough over the line to receive Medicaid so they simply go without.
Here in NC, the Affordable Care Act has never been enacted so you are forced to buy healthcare insurance from your place of work even though most plans barely meet the governments minimum standards.
Add in the high insurance deductibles you’re forced to pay along with the >= $7000 per person out of pocket cost, terms you must meet before your insurance begins to pay anything at all, it’s no wonder our for profit healthcare system is making billions annually in profits!
The reason families struggle financially to the extent they can hardly afford groceries is due to the amount of money they are being forced to pay for basically worthless health insurance, insurance which is keeping them sick and broke!
“After years of torture, victim murders the serial killer responsible for thousands of needless painful deaths “.
There are no better people to call this travesty out than you and you dear wife and daughter. I am so sorry you all have had to endorse this dehumanizing experience. Love to all
kILLING - BAD
JOY AT KILLING - WORSE
BUT. RAGE IS NOT RATIONAL. And Americans will continue to rage at the depravity of our health care sustem until our governments come to recognize that BASIC, EFFECTIVE HEALTHCARE IS A HUMAN RIGHT. Many nations recognize and implement this right, e.g. Canada, France. America's '"system" is simple, and barbaric: THE RICH SHALL LIVE AND THE POOR SHALL DIE.
“Health” “care” is an oxymoron. It is anything but medicine, and no one should support it! It’s a death and disability RACKET that needs torn down completely.
People need to wake up. It amazes me that so many are still so fooled.
Oh this is such a shame… a few inexpensive herbs could have permanently reversed the asthma…. The human race needs to open up to true healing and ditch these enslavers!
Thank you for the article. I cannot understand why the alleviation of human suffering is not considered worthwhile, as an inherent good in its own. It always has to be quantified in dollars, eg. $X spent on primary care saves $Y later.
I didnt know you had substack! Just subscribed! Happy weekend
I’m honored and grateful. Thank you!
For my work I lived in various other countries for close to 25 years. Some of those were Norway, England, Greece, Iran and various Persian Gulf Emirates. ALL of these countries had a better healthcare system than America.
“Pre-existing conditions” were called “medical history” and used to help the diagnosis of your current condition.
“For Profit medical insurance” is almost a contradiction in terms. Any treatment will lower profits and will be scrutinized most carefully and turned down, often without comment. They know that less than 1% of denials are challenged, no matter how needed the treatment.
The healthcare officer who was gunned down recently was the leader of a company who, as a matter of policy, turned down 18% of claims. Department heads were given bonuses based on profits. Guess how that works out?
If they catch this guy and put him on trial , I hope this is a case for jury nullification or even argue self defense
Why has there not been an enormous class-action lawsuit against these corporate sociopaths?
Oh, right. Because they spend the money they steal from us on an army of attorneys to defend this atrocity.
I would love to see a list of every single presidential, congressional and senate candidate along with an itemized total of how much campaign money they accepted from healthcare corporations.
This includes: health insurance companies, corporate hospitals, private equity firms and the pharmaceutical industry.
Healthcare in the United States is a dystopian hellscape. And, mark my words, it’s going to get worse.
So yes, we know that the healthcare system in this country kills 70,000 people each year by denying health care; we know that the u.s. is the only highly developed nation in the world that does not have universal healthcare; we know that the u.s. is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to life expectancy, maternal and infant mortality; we know that people repeatedly express a desire for something like universal healthcare ie the Affordable Care Act, yet people also elected trump who has stated his intent to dismantle the Affordable Care Act (as well as other horrific changes via Project 2025) and also elected republican majorities in both the House and the Senate (the Supreme Court, packed by trump, has already revealed its conservative-leaning positions). So what is going on here? How is positive change to be made, as expressed by people who then vote specifically against their own best interests? How do we get universal healthcare in a country peopled by many who vote the way they do to eliminate any possibility of universal healthcare? What are the specific steps that have to be taken to obtain universal healthcare in a country where many vote to defeat universal healthcare?
Costa Rica is a much poorer country than the US ($13,850 vs. $80,300 per capita gross national income in 2023), yet it has the right priorities, serving its citizens. It has no military budget to speak of, but it has universal healthcare.
Your primary experience is key to understanding the situation.
USPIRG did a study and a report called The Wealth Primary. They found that:
The candidate who spends the most money in a congressional primary wins 92% of the time.
82% of that money comes from multi-millionaires and big business.
Therefore, candidates who disagree with the rich are not going to get those big donations, and are going to lose almost all the time. There will always be a wealth-friendly majority in Congress.
What we need, before *anything* else, is a donation limit that an average American can afford. Without that, we are left trying to convince people who were carefully selected to disagree with us.
Attack the political money filter first.
My son has cancer. He’s four, this isn’t his first battle with it, and to date our EOB show insurance has paid ~$3 million dollars for his treatments. My insurance is tied to my job, which is in danger due to the archaic leave policies in the U.S. as this isn’t his first time in treatment I have had to take short stints of unpaid leave while also angering my team due to my “special treatment”. I am literally in a space where I am forced to prioritize my job (note: “job” not “career”) in order to provide medical insurance for my son in order to give him a chance to live.
Thank you and yes, it’s absurd, we should not tolerate this!
Insurance premiums are too high, especially if you add in dependents. The health insurance family plans where I work begin at $2225 monthly and cannot be cancelled, not without a fight, and it’s deducted directly from your pay check. Some employees make only $12 to $15 an hour so they can’t afford to purchase health insurance from work and make just enough over the line to receive Medicaid so they simply go without.
Here in NC, the Affordable Care Act has never been enacted so you are forced to buy healthcare insurance from your place of work even though most plans barely meet the governments minimum standards.
Add in the high insurance deductibles you’re forced to pay along with the >= $7000 per person out of pocket cost, terms you must meet before your insurance begins to pay anything at all, it’s no wonder our for profit healthcare system is making billions annually in profits!
The reason families struggle financially to the extent they can hardly afford groceries is due to the amount of money they are being forced to pay for basically worthless health insurance, insurance which is keeping them sick and broke!
What a well-written and effectively argued column. Thank you!
Thank you Nanette