Your assessment is spot on, accurately describing the crisis in healthcare across the nation. Healthcare as a vital responsibility of government is under direct assault by the GOP with the perverted notion that marketplace capitalism and the private sector would provide better service.
We are reaching the a tipping point of wealth sequestration amongst the few and the evisceration of the middle class for the many. The pain experienced by the vast majority of Americans is not only very real in terms of affordability but now, health maintenance and reduced life expectancy are in the crosshairs.
These crises are unsustainable. The Trump administration and GOP dominated Congress are simply pouring volatile accelerants onto our burning civil order. The betrayal of public service has been reprehensible. This new year wil force confrontation and demand remunerative actions.
I don't disagree - we should all have healthcare and these tax credits are a life raft. But they just make the insurance companies richer. The GOP, to their credit, say they are the wrong answer. Extend the credits, but what policy and program should we work TOWARDS? How do we make healthcare work for patients and those who provide it?
As Groucho Marx said, “I resemble that remark.” When I moved to the Oregon coast, I chose a house only blocks away from Bay Area Hospital because after years of caring for elder loved ones, I knew better than to grow old far away from a hospital. If/when BAH closes, I will have to uproot my life and move to or near a big city. And I’m one of the lucky ones because I can afford to move, because my roots in the community aren’t so deep that moving would tear apart my family. I fear for all those I’ll leave behind. The myopia and failure to legislate to fix this problem are a huge abdication of duty on the part of lawmakers at the state and federal levels.
and all to prevent taxes from returning to their level in 2016. Was taxation oppressive 9 years ago? Was the economy staggering from the onerous levies on business? I suggest not. Businesses and the ultra-rich will survive quite nicely if the billions of dollars are NOT cut out of Medicaid and Medicare but left to ensure good reliable health care.
Canadian author Margaret Atwood thinks it is the intent of the Trump regime to kill poor Americans because they are too expensive to the rich. For some time, I thought that was too dark an interpretation of what we are experiencing. Now, I’m not so sure.
Writing from the UK, when will the US population realise that their healthcare system is a completely corrupt cartel. Hospitals charge ludicrous amounts knowing that, generally, the insurers will pay and they know that they can just hike premiums to compensate.
The US spends twice as much per capita than the UK but health outcomes in many areas are worse than the UK.
Nobody here worries about the cost of an ambulance or any health issues. Nobody loses their house because they were ill.
Unfortunately the health cartel seems to include lawmakers but the current situation is untenable in the long term imho.
Inland, in Ashland, Asante is closing almost all of Ashland Hospital’s services. Overnight stays. The birthing center. It’s reduced to labs and maybe emergency. We’re all just trying to figure it out. Our hospital has been so vital to our small town. Schools are closing too. It’s disheartening.
Why, oh why, can we not have a healthcare system that works for everyone. Our small town, Odessa, WA has a critical care hospital, a clinic, a nursing home and an assisted living center. In a town of about 850, it is the largest employer, and I am grateful that I only have to drive 11 miles to see my primary care team. The emergency room has been invaluable. I already have to drive 95 miles to see my urologist. Can't imagine having to go that far for everything. Have written my congressman about my concerns. Being MAGA, he was unresponsive. I'm very worried for myself, my friends and family, and my community.
The North Olympic Peninsula of WA is in a similar boat. I've had three primary caregivers in the 10 years I've lived here. Folks get better offers elsewhere or leave because of overwork. Fuck insurance companies. It was a good idea before they became profit centers where denying coverage was the norm instead of the exception.
The insurance corporations are deliberately jargon-filled tangles of confusion. they are so good at hiding their profit centers, I.e. the executives making millions of dollars a year in compensation.
Here's what I think, and I have no idea how it all works:
Each community supports their own medical center/hospital. Every person in every household is charged a nominal fee to belong to that hospital. Prices for every service at that medical center/hospital is easily found, on a website, or by anyone at the medical facility you ask. Easy answer.
A sick person goes to the hospital knowing that they will be seen, their community "insurance" will cover their stay, medicaid and Medicare also kick in and anything over the bottom line is paid by the patient on a sliding scale that they can afford. If a lawyer needs a broken leg set, they would definitely pay more than a child with the same issue living in a trailer with a single mom.
The people deciding who pays what are at the medical center. They are people you can talk to and create payment accounts with; they are not a faceless conglomeration of nobodies, replaced by AI.
The insurance companies have made it so we don't understand their paperwork which they hide behind. They don't know you, they don't care about you, they set their own prices, they have all the power over your health care.
Insurance companies employ thousands of people so they are said to be too big to fail. But guess what? Give them a year or two and those employees are going to be given two weeks of severance and shown the door. Instead, AI will do their job, easy for a machine. Then what? Machines denying sick people health care? That's what we are looking at.
Look at any pictures of America 50+ years ago -you don’t see much if any obesity. Deregulation leading to big agriculture, big food and big pharma has resulted in a hollowing out, fattening up and addiction of our country. Big problems.
The WE there is a palpable mixture of long standing sectors. And ‘we’ play a not to be forgotten part. With the overweight population staggering the heart/diabetes factors little is done from the local rural aspect that I’ve ever seen. ( I worked with a lot of doctors with my clients and asked why losing weight was not a priority..the most common answer was “ the least possible change to expect from the impoverished “..)
One of the main issues is education. Statistically …the higher the education the less medical needs. Are there any reliable studies that point out the major contributing CAUSES of care needed?
There is no doubt about Big Pharma’s part nor the political part of that either.
I think I saw 35% of Americans are in the obese sector. If you look at old footage there were few, if any, fat people. 20-30# isn’t a problem. 50 is. Not talking about medications that for some are necessary and cause weight gain.
The political arena boggles my mind, how do other countries manage it..and why isn’t that headlines? I’ve rarely heard anyone complain about the waits, service, care though it’s ‘touted’.
When ‘we’ address the areas that are of major concern versus endlessly the 1-4% of any given population ‘problems’ (those designated) being the issue….it’s NOT rocket science . With the hundreds of thou$and$ upon thou$and$ the sports arenas entail , a pandemic was the best thing to get people out and active, discovering again hiking, camping, outdoor activities. The changes social media brought aren’t complicated.
Exercise and adequate water ( not POP) intake are the two best medicines.
I nor any others are targeting diseases no one asks for, or hereditary factors.
Yes, if people are poor and can only afford highly processed foods, they are going to be obese. We remain the only developed country in the world without universal healthcare. That is the primary issue and why medical bills throw so many into bankruptcy.
Thanks , Barry. Excellent point. Many haven’t learned from scratch cooking which btw is cheaper, but granted takes more time. I loved the 30 ideas for meal preps under 30 minutes .
Such a spot on article. Strong work overlaying all the factors that may result in an absolutely unacceptable outcome for your community. I hate that residents of the USA have to contend with such a broken and dysfunctional system. I am a retired RN. I have 2 kids with serious health conditions who are adults now and can NEVER be uninsured. I worked two jobs to pay their COBRA premiums when they aged out of my employer provided coverage in the late 90’s. The ACA saved them. It was available right before COBRA coverage ran out. They both work as do most people who get coverage through the ACA. Thank you again for a brilliant article.
That is some smartypants multi-faceted figuring there Mary. And it all adds up to trouble. Why do I keep coming back to "this is what Putin would want in order to destroy America"?
The only “bright side” is the republicans are also affected. With any luck that might swing the vote. I also believe, and always have, that Trump’s intention is to cull the population. The poor, sick, and elderly are expendable. May he rot in hell! Sooner than later!
What gets me absolutely seething over this his whole healthcare mess is simply this: why in the hell can't we have the healthcare that those in office have? They all have Cadillac healthcare (for life) and they continue to jerk around with our well-being. They are "supposed to be working for us", right? They were elected by us to work for us on our behalf...but yet they continue to hold us hostage on proper healthcare and diddle around, while all of those elected have not a worry when it comes to receiving healthcare. I don't care which party is in office ( actually I do, and it's not the present administration) it boils down to providing the same health coverage for us as is for those elected to office. To be continually touted as the "greatest, richest country in the world" is a total farce; we can't even take care of our own people.
Your assessment is spot on, accurately describing the crisis in healthcare across the nation. Healthcare as a vital responsibility of government is under direct assault by the GOP with the perverted notion that marketplace capitalism and the private sector would provide better service.
We are reaching the a tipping point of wealth sequestration amongst the few and the evisceration of the middle class for the many. The pain experienced by the vast majority of Americans is not only very real in terms of affordability but now, health maintenance and reduced life expectancy are in the crosshairs.
These crises are unsustainable. The Trump administration and GOP dominated Congress are simply pouring volatile accelerants onto our burning civil order. The betrayal of public service has been reprehensible. This new year wil force confrontation and demand remunerative actions.
I don't disagree - we should all have healthcare and these tax credits are a life raft. But they just make the insurance companies richer. The GOP, to their credit, say they are the wrong answer. Extend the credits, but what policy and program should we work TOWARDS? How do we make healthcare work for patients and those who provide it?
As Groucho Marx said, “I resemble that remark.” When I moved to the Oregon coast, I chose a house only blocks away from Bay Area Hospital because after years of caring for elder loved ones, I knew better than to grow old far away from a hospital. If/when BAH closes, I will have to uproot my life and move to or near a big city. And I’m one of the lucky ones because I can afford to move, because my roots in the community aren’t so deep that moving would tear apart my family. I fear for all those I’ll leave behind. The myopia and failure to legislate to fix this problem are a huge abdication of duty on the part of lawmakers at the state and federal levels.
and all to prevent taxes from returning to their level in 2016. Was taxation oppressive 9 years ago? Was the economy staggering from the onerous levies on business? I suggest not. Businesses and the ultra-rich will survive quite nicely if the billions of dollars are NOT cut out of Medicaid and Medicare but left to ensure good reliable health care.
Very powerful post. Thank you.
Canadian author Margaret Atwood thinks it is the intent of the Trump regime to kill poor Americans because they are too expensive to the rich. For some time, I thought that was too dark an interpretation of what we are experiencing. Now, I’m not so sure.
Writing from the UK, when will the US population realise that their healthcare system is a completely corrupt cartel. Hospitals charge ludicrous amounts knowing that, generally, the insurers will pay and they know that they can just hike premiums to compensate.
The US spends twice as much per capita than the UK but health outcomes in many areas are worse than the UK.
Nobody here worries about the cost of an ambulance or any health issues. Nobody loses their house because they were ill.
Unfortunately the health cartel seems to include lawmakers but the current situation is untenable in the long term imho.
Inland, in Ashland, Asante is closing almost all of Ashland Hospital’s services. Overnight stays. The birthing center. It’s reduced to labs and maybe emergency. We’re all just trying to figure it out. Our hospital has been so vital to our small town. Schools are closing too. It’s disheartening.
Why, oh why, can we not have a healthcare system that works for everyone. Our small town, Odessa, WA has a critical care hospital, a clinic, a nursing home and an assisted living center. In a town of about 850, it is the largest employer, and I am grateful that I only have to drive 11 miles to see my primary care team. The emergency room has been invaluable. I already have to drive 95 miles to see my urologist. Can't imagine having to go that far for everything. Have written my congressman about my concerns. Being MAGA, he was unresponsive. I'm very worried for myself, my friends and family, and my community.
The North Olympic Peninsula of WA is in a similar boat. I've had three primary caregivers in the 10 years I've lived here. Folks get better offers elsewhere or leave because of overwork. Fuck insurance companies. It was a good idea before they became profit centers where denying coverage was the norm instead of the exception.
The insurance corporations are deliberately jargon-filled tangles of confusion. they are so good at hiding their profit centers, I.e. the executives making millions of dollars a year in compensation.
Here's what I think, and I have no idea how it all works:
Each community supports their own medical center/hospital. Every person in every household is charged a nominal fee to belong to that hospital. Prices for every service at that medical center/hospital is easily found, on a website, or by anyone at the medical facility you ask. Easy answer.
A sick person goes to the hospital knowing that they will be seen, their community "insurance" will cover their stay, medicaid and Medicare also kick in and anything over the bottom line is paid by the patient on a sliding scale that they can afford. If a lawyer needs a broken leg set, they would definitely pay more than a child with the same issue living in a trailer with a single mom.
The people deciding who pays what are at the medical center. They are people you can talk to and create payment accounts with; they are not a faceless conglomeration of nobodies, replaced by AI.
The insurance companies have made it so we don't understand their paperwork which they hide behind. They don't know you, they don't care about you, they set their own prices, they have all the power over your health care.
Insurance companies employ thousands of people so they are said to be too big to fail. But guess what? Give them a year or two and those employees are going to be given two weeks of severance and shown the door. Instead, AI will do their job, easy for a machine. Then what? Machines denying sick people health care? That's what we are looking at.
Seems like a sign of a declining or collapsing society. If healthcare is not available due to cruel policy and politics, then who are we?
Look at any pictures of America 50+ years ago -you don’t see much if any obesity. Deregulation leading to big agriculture, big food and big pharma has resulted in a hollowing out, fattening up and addiction of our country. Big problems.
The WE there is a palpable mixture of long standing sectors. And ‘we’ play a not to be forgotten part. With the overweight population staggering the heart/diabetes factors little is done from the local rural aspect that I’ve ever seen. ( I worked with a lot of doctors with my clients and asked why losing weight was not a priority..the most common answer was “ the least possible change to expect from the impoverished “..)
One of the main issues is education. Statistically …the higher the education the less medical needs. Are there any reliable studies that point out the major contributing CAUSES of care needed?
There is no doubt about Big Pharma’s part nor the political part of that either.
I think I saw 35% of Americans are in the obese sector. If you look at old footage there were few, if any, fat people. 20-30# isn’t a problem. 50 is. Not talking about medications that for some are necessary and cause weight gain.
The political arena boggles my mind, how do other countries manage it..and why isn’t that headlines? I’ve rarely heard anyone complain about the waits, service, care though it’s ‘touted’.
When ‘we’ address the areas that are of major concern versus endlessly the 1-4% of any given population ‘problems’ (those designated) being the issue….it’s NOT rocket science . With the hundreds of thou$and$ upon thou$and$ the sports arenas entail , a pandemic was the best thing to get people out and active, discovering again hiking, camping, outdoor activities. The changes social media brought aren’t complicated.
Exercise and adequate water ( not POP) intake are the two best medicines.
I nor any others are targeting diseases no one asks for, or hereditary factors.
The science is there.
I live in remote rural. It’s a problem.
Yes, if people are poor and can only afford highly processed foods, they are going to be obese. We remain the only developed country in the world without universal healthcare. That is the primary issue and why medical bills throw so many into bankruptcy.
Thanks , Barry. Excellent point. Many haven’t learned from scratch cooking which btw is cheaper, but granted takes more time. I loved the 30 ideas for meal preps under 30 minutes .
Such a spot on article. Strong work overlaying all the factors that may result in an absolutely unacceptable outcome for your community. I hate that residents of the USA have to contend with such a broken and dysfunctional system. I am a retired RN. I have 2 kids with serious health conditions who are adults now and can NEVER be uninsured. I worked two jobs to pay their COBRA premiums when they aged out of my employer provided coverage in the late 90’s. The ACA saved them. It was available right before COBRA coverage ran out. They both work as do most people who get coverage through the ACA. Thank you again for a brilliant article.
That is some smartypants multi-faceted figuring there Mary. And it all adds up to trouble. Why do I keep coming back to "this is what Putin would want in order to destroy America"?
The only “bright side” is the republicans are also affected. With any luck that might swing the vote. I also believe, and always have, that Trump’s intention is to cull the population. The poor, sick, and elderly are expendable. May he rot in hell! Sooner than later!
What gets me absolutely seething over this his whole healthcare mess is simply this: why in the hell can't we have the healthcare that those in office have? They all have Cadillac healthcare (for life) and they continue to jerk around with our well-being. They are "supposed to be working for us", right? They were elected by us to work for us on our behalf...but yet they continue to hold us hostage on proper healthcare and diddle around, while all of those elected have not a worry when it comes to receiving healthcare. I don't care which party is in office ( actually I do, and it's not the present administration) it boils down to providing the same health coverage for us as is for those elected to office. To be continually touted as the "greatest, richest country in the world" is a total farce; we can't even take care of our own people.