Optimus_Steel wrote:sChOlaRlY_Magi wrote:Xatticus wrote:
I think some changes will be made to better cope with the eventuality of future pandemics, but I don't think this will serve as the impetus for substantive healthcare changes. If the United States was a democracy, we would already have a universal healthcare system. The majority of the population is in support of it, but as with many issues, the political will doesn't represent the wants of the masses. Our healthcare insurance industry is like a tiger that has its teeth sunk into the neck of its prey. It isn't going to let go. There is too much on the line. I don't think it's any coincidence that the democratic party's establishment has machinated to nominate the candidate with the least substantive plan for healthcare reform. Just look at last night's primaries for the evidence.
I would say that the one big positive from this might be the precedent that is set by handing out money to everyone in this time of need. I'm a big proponent of universal basic income or a negative income tax. Industry doesn't drive the economy. Demand does. Where there is demand, industry will rise to meet it. The government has been in the business of handing out money for a long time, but it has given it out to contractors for the defense or justice departments. Or it infuses money into a banking system that endangers the entire country with excess risk. Money that is given to the poor and working class addresses the needs of those most in need and it is money that is injected straight back into the economy. I think it is kind of a big deal that there is bipartisan support for this right now.
This makes me very sad, because the logic is so sound.
I too am a proponent of the universal income. But imo we'll need both in the very near future. I can guarantee any manufacturers that had to shut down, and has capital is converting as much as they can over to robotics right now. It's the perfect cover for them.
So a massive amount of layoffs will be in the near future. Something has to give as we already spend trillions in corporate welfare and the tax cut the GOP passed. It really becomes punitive to the middle class, starting next year iirc.
It will be an absolute sh*show if we don't game plan very carefully.
It already is, really.
Sooo many good points from several posters. The main thing we have to do is convince people who are afraid of single payer or universal healthcare because they've been fooled by decades of health insurance companies propaganda, to recognize that if we don't go that way this will happen again. And to hammer home that it's cheaper and covers every person, regardless of whether you lose your job or quit to start a business, you and you family will be covered, bankruptcy related to healthcare will dissapear, no co pays, no deductible, no receiving 10 different bills for one procedure and having to call and fight with the health insurance companies to cover this or that, not having to call and ask for permission to get tested for something, not having to decide each November what 2 versions of the plan your employer picked you should choose while you forecast how sick you think you and your wife and kid will be in the coming year. None of this BS. Let make things simpler, stress free and healthier. Let do this, let's make single payer happen.
Really great points on all of this yourself!
There are so many things that boggles my mind that Americans just take... It really is ridiculous if you look at how much progress has been blocked since the New Deal alone....
Yet here we are dog whistling guns and healthcare.
You could point to so many programs that we already have and say, well that's socialism, and you're good with that. Why not this? Have you never lost a job? That sounds funny, but for the 1st time in 40 years I took a chance on opening a small business because my wife was making good money working for Blue Cross...
Fast forward to when they fired her whole department rather than get sued for discrimination, and then I get into a vehicle accident with no health insurance. Well, I can easily say I'd gladly pay an extra 50 bucks a month out of my taxes, which will probably be a write off, to never have to worry about something like that again...
Hell, I've paid tens of thousands to fund schools because of property taxes. I'd gladly pay more if it would mean your kids are better educated than us.
) seems counterintuitive if you guys can figure it out on your own.
