this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
639 points (99.2% liked)

News

23014 readers
10 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 88 points 11 months ago (2 children)

At times I wonder if medically assisted suicides are frowned upon due to not being able to further drain the money out of patients and their extended credit lines.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (7 children)

You don't have to wonder any longer. You've figured it out. Take the morality out of many political decisions and you have the right answer. Abortions? -- nobody gives a shit about those children. It's a convenient cover so they don't have to say "Mothers are killing the thing that we will enslave and drain later on in the economy!" Everyone says that they care about the child until it's born -- they don't even care before that point. And the lack of care/suffering/poverty of the child afterwards is the point of exploitation. So the system is working as intended. They need more workers, they need to siphon every ounce of production out of those workers.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (5 children)

They're also frowned upon because it's pretty cruel to tell someone "well, you could just die" because they can't afford medical treatments or a place to live.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 66 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I remember when we bought a house 8 years ago (seems like a lifetime now) talking to the mortgage broker and he basically said they straight-up ignore medical debt because everyone has it and nobody would ever get a loan if it was considered. It's utterly insane to me how the wealthiest nation in the world can't keep its citizens healthy and out of debt.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago

They can, but the current system is far more profitable.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

That's lucky of you. Many do take it into account.

What's nuts is that the majority of people declaring bankruptcy because of medical debt have insurance.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

The credit agencies do this, too. Medical debt is either not counted against your credit score or is weighted so little it won't affect much.

It makes perfect sense, because it's not an accurate depiction of your credit seeking habits. It is debt that you did not choose to take on.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 49 points 11 months ago (3 children)

The US healthcare system is a for profit death cult ran by racketeers

[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

~~The US healthcare system~~ America is a for profit death cult ran by racketeers

FTFY

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Violence is the only reasonable response.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 44 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

It always has. IIRC the biggest reason for bankruptcy in the US has been medical bills, for a while. Our greed driven system is garbage.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Michael Moore made a whole damn documentary about it in 2007, 16 fucking years ago.

Nothing has changed.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (11 children)

They eliminated pre-existing conditions and maximum lifetime payments for health insurance, so that's not nothing.

But they failed to pass a public option which means health insurance companies have a captive audience for their rent-seeking.

And the Democrats still just talk about getting people affordable "coverage" and not affordable "care."

And hospitals are still understaffed and mental health care has six month waiting lists.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Mental health care is also often just excluded from coverage. My current job is the first time in my life I've had insurance that would cover therapy rather than be like "Look, we gave you one 60 minute session with our free crisis line, what more do you want? If you really need it, it's only $450 a session if it's that important."

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I had to call thirteen different therapy offices before I found one that could take me before summer.

Of course, my health insurance website showed them all as "Accepting New Patients"

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Where I live, all care has a six month wait list. I started a new job with new insurance back in April, still haven't been able to get in anywhere to see a new PCP. My dentist canceled an appointment on me last week and rescheduled it for February.

People say socialized medicine leads to long wait times to see doctors. Well, I'm not seeing them now anyway, so at least it's less or of my pocket.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Not just the biggest, the biggest by far. Two thirds of bankruptcies are due to medical debt.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (4 children)

It amazes me how people went to work sick as if it was normal. Of courses some bosses were assholes and "wouldn't let you go home" or "needed you at work". Sure boss let me sneeze in my hand before I shake everybody else's hand.

Now these days woah big scary covid. If you're not feeling good please stay home. We should've been staying home like 30 yrs ago,

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Went

They still are.

I have a 103 fever and here I am. At work.

I'm not sure what places you are working that kept the COVID era scare.

Medicine is so polarized I can't even tell my coworkers I tested positive for COVID. One of them will go on a violent rant for hours. '"Yep, I'm definitely a crisis actor. They don't pay much these days. This is my second job"

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Literally all my coworkers still come to work sick despite having sick leave. Gets everyone else sick.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Stop paying medical bills. A debt strike would be easier than a general strike.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Well part of it 8s not going to hurt your credit score anymore:

https://www.cnbc.com/select/medical-debt-credit-report/

Any bills under $500 in collections won't be going against your score. Debts larger than that in collections have to be there for at least a year to be on your credit score and disappear once they are paid.

We could fix all this shit by having the cheaper Medicare for All solution.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Aetna pulled out of my county for five months. I ended up in a ICU for three days, which is about a $50,000 bill.

So now I'm on the hook for an $8,000 out of network deductible.

Fuck U.S. health insurance.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (4 children)

My wife had to go to the ER a few years ago. The hospital we thought we were going to was in network. Unfortunately the ER is a separate entity that was not in network. That was a nice $1000 bill.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

$500 is nothing. My son fell and hit his head and had a small seizure from the fall.. took him to the ER, ct scan, medical exam, anti nausea medication, costed $750 out if pocket AFTER insurance. It was like a $3k medical bill before insurance. For like 2 hours at the ER and a scan... it's ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I've been seeing this headline for more than twenty years.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Another 20 years and people might be fed up enough to do something about it.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Mostly they just get sick and die.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I see we're waiting for the "cancer patients start going into insurance companies with boomboom vests" phase of the crisis

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Yet COVID vaccinations are down...

And "essential workers" are right back to being expected to work while sick...

This is fine.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago

Nothing changed for "essential workers". The only reprieve they received was guaranteed time off if they contracted Covid. We still had sick people working, they were the wrong kind of sick.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (2 children)

can't get sick if you can't afford the diagnosis.

[–] derpgon 8 points 11 months ago

The next obvious evolutionary step.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

I'm American. When I get cancer I plan to have one or two good months and kill myself.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I was at a work training in the US with someone from Japan. She said she had only been to the US one other time but that she had gotten sick and spent 2 weeks in the hospital.

I don’t know what Japan’s healthcare system is like, but I can’t imagine being someone from another country and unfamiliar with our shitty system and getting that huge ass bill.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Most probably it was still covered by here Japanese insurance. A friend of mine broke an arm while in US and some insurance he bought in Poland paid for everything. You don't have to be familiar with American system. It's just like any other insurance.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

The Repblican health care plan since 2009:

https://youtu.be/bSRo51SbQQs

  1. Don't get sick.
  2. If you do get sick...
  3. Die Quickly

Man, where's Alan Grayson when you need him?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (3 children)

We are so baffled in Europe about how a country that preaches human rights around the world revels in denying its own people one of the most fundamental human rights. Truly mind boggling.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I view medicine in the US similar to video piracy. If you are going to make access expensive and difficult to obtain, then I have no issue with stealing it. Medical debt is handled differently than other types of debt. IANAL, but I have no qualms with running up a 700k medical debt for life saving treatment then bouncing on the bill.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ehrlichman: “Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason that he can … the reason he can do it … I had Edgar Kaiser come in … talk to me about this and I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because …”

President Nixon: [Unclear.]

Ehrlichman: “… the less care they give them, the more money they make.”

President Nixon: “Fine.” [Unclear.]

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transcript_of_taped_conversation_between_President_Richard_Nixon_and_John_D._Ehrlichman_%281971%29_that_led_to_the_HMO_act_of_1973:

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (10 children)

Hey I just a had a thought. We should have a vote on student loan debt. If you vote against a blanket clearing of the debt you automatically go on a list of people who can't declare bankruptcy due to medical debt.

load more comments (10 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›