The Cold Insanity of Our US Capitalism

America's Inanse, Immoral, Unconscionable Health Care System

No other country in the world does health care the way we do.

And it's killing us. LIterally killing us.

But first, it bankrupts a lot of us. Crazy when what is supposed to be your "health care system" is actually murderous. No?

Our Insane US Healthcare System

No other nation in the world does health care the way we do in the US.

--We have, far and away, the most expensive health care system in the world. --We are the only nation that ties health care to profit. --We are the only nation where citizens go bankrupt from health care costs. --We are the only nation where our number one cause for bankruptcy for citizens is health care costs, approximately 40% of all bankruptcies in the US are from this, year after year, consistently. Insane. Obscene. Immoral. Fixable.

US Healthcare System vs This Pandemic

 Can we not now, with this pandemic, recognize and admit that our for-profit health care system in the US is clearly hurting Americans? We are supposedly, reputedly the "wealthiest nation in the world" and have the "best health care system in the world" but, but it's not universal health care.

We are the only Western, industrialized nation IN THE WORLD without universal health care.

We are the only nation in the world that has citizens declaring bankruptcy due to health care costs.

The number one cause of bankruptcy in the nation is health care costs.

With all that, finally, and, again, this pandemic, we have MORE DEATHS from this pandemic than ANY OTHER NATION IN THE WORLD.

Can we not see a connection between this for-profit health care system and all these pandemic deaths?

Can't we?

And then, can we maybe do something about all this?

We are, after all, "exceptional."

Right?

At What Point, America, Do You Get This on Health Care?

Okay, America. It's 2020. Worst, most killing international pandemic in more than 100 years.

You're the only Western, industrialized nation without universal health care. You're the only nation that tied and ties health care to profit.

The U.S. is the Only Very Highly Developed Country Without Universal HealthCare

You have, far and away, THE MOST EXPENSIVE health care system IN THE WORLD. And it also gives you THE WORST OUTCOMES, for all that money.

U.S. Healthcare: Most 

Expensive and Worst Performing

The U.S. Has the Most Expensive Healthcare System in the World

And we're the only nation--IN THE WORLD--where citizens can and do go bankrupt for health care costs.

Only in America: Bankruptcy Due to Health Care Costs

And not just bankruptcies, which is bad enough, but it's the NUMBER ONE CAUSE OF BANKRUPTCY in the nation.

Health Care Costs Number One Cause of Bankruptcy for American Families

And now? As I said, with this worst, most killing international pandemic in over 100 years? And the job losses? And so, people losing their health insurance?

Millions Have Lost Health Insurance in Pandemic

COVID-19 Job Losses Threaten Insurance Coverage

27M Americans may have lost job-based health insurance

At what point do you get this?

How long are we going to let corporations and profits be more important than people? And their lives?

You didn't used to be clueless. Or heartless.

Or downright stupid.

Quote of the Day -- Successful Presidential Edition

Again, thanks, so much, Republicans.

That's quite the guy you got there. Quite the man--and businessman--you foisted on us all.

Can We Not All Now Agree On This?

I mean, come on.  What's gone right with this guy?

But hey, thanks, Republicans!

Quote of the Day -- On America and Universal Health Care

Quote today from one George D Morgan on Facebook.

He's so right.

"I spent 36 years in the insurance business. So I know a thing or two about the subject. The one thing everyone needs to understand is that insurance is an exclusionary product--though it includes good risks that the insurance companies want, it EXcludes bad risks they do not want.

Because of the exclusionary nature of insurance, health care is not, never has been, and never will be, a good candidate as an insurance product. This is because everyone needs health care.

Everyone---without exception.

So don't talk to me about Socialism or Capitalism or anything in between. We need to adopt a universal health care system because health care is universally needed--unlike what is provided by insurance.

It's really that simple."

And the rest of the Western, industrialized world does it. 

Somehow I think we could manage.

Our Obscene, Highly Immoral, Bankrupting, Even Murderous Healthcare System

In the past week, quite by accident, I've heard two different stories from two completely unconnected people, women, as chance would have it, about health care travesties. They highlight, very well, the ugly insanity of how we do health care.

The first was from a woman who said she worked full time at a law office and for her family's health insurance, she paid $600 per month.

That's it.

That's the whole story.

One person, one woman, trying to support her family and the best her company--heck, our nation--could offer her was to pay $600 per month for health care insurance.

She rightly and truly pointed out, too, that this didn't include the huge, thousands of dollars minimums she'd have to pay first if there were any health care needs nor does it include the co-pays.

That alone is, as the headline says, obscene and immoral.

Is it any wonder health care costs are the number one cause of bankruptcy in this nation?

The second example was from a co-worker, by chance, this afternoon. I heard her talking that she had, some time ago, gone to her doctor's office and had some sort of health care episode of some kind. She was in her doctor's office by coincidence, for something else, entirely. The doctor's office was physically attached to the hospital. One could go through the hallways to get there.

Once she started having this "episode"--I don't know what the ailment was--they told the doctor's staff, naturally. That staff informed the woman they would not only call an ambulance but that--get this--THEY HAD TO CALL THE AMBULANCE.  She couldn't go through the building or even go around to the front door or something. An ambulance had to be called, she had to be put into it and be taken to the emergency entrance.

So that's what happened.

And because of that, she was billed $800.

$800 for an ambulance trip, AROUND THE BUILDING, not even a block, that took seconds.

This is a woman who doesn't make a great deal of money, ladies and gentlemen.

We seem to not have any sense when it comes to health care in this nation. We're all about companies and corporations making loads of money and having big profits but we don't care about the costs.

Again, WE ARE THE ONLY NATION THAT DOES THIS.

We, the US, are the only nation in the world that ties health and health care to profit and profits.

Consequently, we are the only nation that has citizens that go bankrupt due to health care costs.

We are the only nation that has people die because they can't afford treatment. We are the only nation that has people die because they can't afford insulin, as just one perfect example.

We just are not very bright. In spite of what we tell ourselves.

Link:

Americans are dying because they can’t afford insulin

Capitalism--And Our American Suicide Rates

There is a new study out from the Center for Disease Control, the CDC, on suicide in America. It's fascinating. Very telling, in fact.

New Study on Rising Suicide Rates Suggests 

Capitalism Is Quite Literally Killing Us

A bit from the article:

A study released late last week showed that suicide rates have risen significantly across the country. The culprit appears to be capitalism.

It’s largely assumed that people who decide to kill themselves are suffering from a mental illness. Mental Health America estimates that 30 to 70 percent of Americans who end their own lives are suffering from either severe depression or bipolar disorder. However, according to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 54 percent of Americans who committed suicide in 27 states in 2015 had no known mental health condition.

The CDC study, which examined suicide rates in all 50 states between 1999 and 2016, found that the rate of Americans taking their own lives increased by an alarming 38 to 58 percent in 12 states, 31 to 37 percent in another 12 states, and 19 percent to 30 percent in another 12 states. The CDC found that on average, suicide rates jumped by more than 30 percent for all 50 states.
The fact that more than half of these suicides were not attributed to any mental illness in a majority of states for at least one year of the period the CDC studied is remarkable, and begs the question of what other factors led to thousands of Americans taking their own lives. CDC researchers discovered that, outside of problems with intimate partners, the prime causes of suicide for Americans with no known mental illnesses were primarily financial in nature.
And really, think about it. Think about what's true for the most of us. We have--

--Long work hours, the longest of the industrialized nations.
--Highest costs for
     --health care:  worst outcomes and lowest mortality rate of the industrialized nations
     --internet:  highest costs, slowest speeds of the industrialized nations
--Highest bankruptcy rate of the industrialized nations (40% due to health care costs)
--Short, very short vacation time, shortest of any industrialized nation
--High education costs, highest costs of secondary education of any industrialized nation
--Highest wealth inequality of any industrialized nation
--Highest poverty rate of the industrialized nations

--Highest child poverty rate of the industrialized nations

And this is just a partial list.

But we have high suicide rates why?

Links:

Why Missouri and Kansas are lousy places to live 

if you're poor

If you're poor, Kansas is one of the worst places to live, 

study says

What Tying Health Care to Profit(s) Gets You

Yes sir/ma'am, this, this, among many other things, is just what, exactly, tying health care to profit and profits gets a nation---us.

U.S. Health Care Ranked Worst 

in the Developed World

Note two things about the article--First, it is from Time magazine, not some wild, irresponsible rag and two, it was published June 17, 2014.  As prices and costs for health care in our nation get ever-higher, this only becomes more true and only gets worse.

This study is from just last year.

Study: US healthcare system is worst 

among 11 developed nations

Report: U.S. Has the Worst Health Care System

Here are some of the other things tying health and health care to profits gains you.

Once again, U.S. has most expensive, 

least effective health care

Health Care Costs: 

The Leading Cause of Bankruptcy

So congratulations, America. The rest of the world knows better than this. We pay more, far more, than any other nation for health care and we have the worst medical outcomes.

Aren't we brilliant?  Seems "exceptional" to me, right?

Will you EVER learn?

The Real Reason America Doesn't Have Universal Health Care

Higher and Yet Higher Health Care Costs Thanks to This President

Yes, sir, all that bloviating and equivocating this Republican President is doing is no way going to be good for your or my health care costs in this nation. The health care companies, the pharmaceuticals and insurance companies, especially, are using it to, yet again, still more, just keep on raising and raising their prices---and so, our costs.

This came out yesterday, from the non-partisan Kaiser Family Foundation, no less.

Study says Trump moves trigger health premium jumps for 2018

The Trump administration's own actions are triggering double-digit premium increases on individual health insurance policies purchased by many consumers, a nonpartisan study has found.

So to all the Trump voters and supporters, once again, to you and The Donald, both, we say, THANK, FELLAS!!

The One Nation Without Universal Health Care

This is what Capitalism has gotten us in both health care pricing and mortality rates as well internet pricing and speed. Ours are both the most expensive and worst quality.



We're just not that bright.

Links:

Once again, U.S. has most expensive, least effective health care

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and Worst Performing

American "Health Care"

American health care.

It is the most expensive---and by expensive, I mean outrageously so--and least effective health care system in the world. And by a lot. We have the worst medical outcomes of the top 17 industrialized nations.

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and 

Worst Performing

We have the worst, lowest mortality rates of those top 17 industrialized nations meaning we die sooner than the other 16.

It's insane.

And all because we tie health care to profit and profits. 

No other nation in the world does this. Just us. And this is what it's giving us.

I saw the following comparison on Facebook today, posted by a friend. I post it here, in hopes people will open their minds. From Tom Degan.

"As an American who has been living in Europe for most of the last 20 years, one who has visited doctors numerous times in four different countries, whose two children were brought into this world in European hospitals (France and England), who has himself spent a week in a public British hospital, and who underwent an operation in a private British clinic, I think I can say a thing or two about health care in Europe.

"Our out of pocket expenses for the births? Zero. Even though in France my wife spent 5 days in the hospital after the birth of our first daughter, which is standard by the way.

"During the three years we lived in England, we never once paid for medicine for our children. Children get drugs for free in the UK. Visits to the GP are free for everybody.

"My expenses for the week in the NHS hospital? Zero.

"The cost of the operation in the private clinic? Zero, it was covered by my work insurance, as was the post-op physical therapy I needed.

"In Western Europe you would never be forced to sell your home in order to pay for your medical bills, as happens all too often in America when catastrophic illness strikes and the insurance company decides that your condition was 'pre-existing'.

"The quality of the care? Mostly good. French hospitals are excellent, even the food is decent. The food at the NHS hospital was beyond awful, but then again most English food is pretty bad (though they do have great Indian food). At night, they were understaffed, but I am guessing that, apart from that place where Dr. House works, most American hospitals are understaffed at night, too.

"In short, in the US, you pay more, get less, and die younger than we do in Europe. What part of that don't you understand?

"My fellow Americans, you have nothing to fear except those who would use fear to keep you enslaved to the myth of the might of the American health care system."

--Jeff Degan, from Tom Degan's blog, posted 8/19/09

Links:   "The Rant" by Tom Degan

"The Rant" by Tom Degan | Facebook

One More Debate?

After these two debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Cliinton, what, now, is left to say? Okay, sure, they haven't really touched on climate change or equal rights for LGBTQ citizens or voter ID laws and no doubt a long list of other subjects but what, really, will be said or revealed in the next and final debate between these two?

Unless there's yet one--two? more?--horrific revelations about Trump that comes out between now and then, don't you expect we'll get more of the same from them in this last debate?

Mrs. Clinton will be facts and details with some history thrown in and he'll be the prancing, stalking, evading, emotional disaster he always is.

My question:

What will actually be revealed?

If people can still be behind the lying, bankrupting, shallow, racist, misogynistic, sexist, immature, irresponsible 70 year old that he is, given all that's been revealed on him, what hope is there anyone will change their minds?

And how could anyone be an undecided voter at this point?

What the hell else does one need to learn?

Donald Trump, Briefly, Succinctly But Completely Described

There is a terrific, brief article out just now describing Donald Trump. And before it's assumed it's from some Left Wing, Liberal, deeply Democratic Party operative, know that the person they're quoting, the person describing The Donald is actually from a GOP consultant, one Rick Wilson. Here's the article.

At last, the fatal quote about Donald Trump

Also in brevity, here's the gist of the article:

...the real fatal flaw has just been named by GOP consultant Rick Wilson. “Everything Trump touches dies.” It’s a triumph of concision, summing up perfectly in four words the strange and devastating trail of wreckage he leaves behind him. It turns out that Trump is the Faustian bargain, the homme fatale, the Art of the Deal with the Devil.

Trump has eaten like acid through a wide swath of the Republican Party and many of its leaders, as they are learning too late. Luckily for the rest of us, the pattern is now clear. The kryptonite for Trump is our recognition that Trump is kryptonite to America.

And as proof, coincidentally, take note of an event today.

Trump Taj Mahal Closes After 26 Years; 5th Casino Casualty

Trump's own Taj Mahal casino/hotel in Atlantic City closed today. As the article says, his 5th failed casino. And this on top of his 6 bankruptcies.

This is the good to great businessman?

This is the guy they want to lead us? For his business acumen?

Really?



Links:

Donald Trump bankruptcy: Everything you want to know 

Donald Trump's Many Business Failures, Explained

Donald Trump Declares Moral Bankruptcy

Donald Trump's 2016 Debate Lies: He Did Go Bankrupt

The Many Scandals of Donald Trump: A Cheat Sheet

Lyin' Donald: 101 Of Trump's Greatest Lies

Donald Trump lies at debate about his 'sex tape' tweet on former beauty queen

Donald Trump’s Week of Misrepresentations,Exaggerations and Half-Truths

Why Does Donald Trump Lie So Much?

Donald Trump is unfit to be president. Here are 191 reasons why

Donald Trump Made It Clear -- Again -- That He's Unfit For The Presidency

USA Today editorial declares Donald Trump is 

'unfit for the presidency'

If Restaurants In America Were Run Like Our Hospitals

Further examples of what's wrong with our so-sick health care system in America.

The Sick, Sorry, Even Immoral and Unconscionable State of Health Care in America

Examples of this sick system we call health care in America.

Example 1:

I have a friend who hurt himself, rather badly, at work, while working. He hurt his back.

He is off work now, both recuperating and waiting for the repair on his back that is required.

In the meantime, to make things worse, he is having to fight his employer--and probably the insurance company---to have workmen's compensation cover his injury.

What he's going through:

"For those of you that have never dealt with workman's comp.....I pray you never have to. For those that have, you know my anger and frustration of waiting for everything, as it needs approvals...you get one thing behind you and the next step takes an eternity to proceed to the next step in care of your injury.... What should take a matter of days to diagnosis, make preparations for and do repairs is still in the preparation stage and final repair--surgery--doesn't even have a scheduled date or approval from the powers that be....."

Fighting to get covered on an injury plainly sustained while at work, while working.

Nice, huh?

Example number 2:

A co-worker at my office has an allergy of some kind but she doesn't know to what she is allergic.

The allergy test, to discover that allergy?

$1000.

And not covered by her health insurance.

Naturally. Who's surprised?

So she goes without any relief. She'll keep "running into" whatever mysterious thing it is she's allergic to, all because America's health care system is tied to profit, completely unlike any other industrialized nation in the world.

Example number 3:

And then there's all the people, thousands upon thousands of Americans across the country, for whom there are fundraisers, lead by family and friends, to help people pay as much of their health care bills as possible because, for one reason or another, they can't pay the bills.

With medical insurance often lacking, 

fund-raisers help the sick pay bills

There's even a website to help people do it.

Medical Fundraising: Get Help Paying Medical Bills -YouCaring

No other nation does that. Only us "exceptional" Americans. Fantastic, isn't it?

Final example:

Then there's the statistic that more people go bankrupt---bankrupt---due to health care bills than any other reason or source. Check that out:

Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies

We Americans have, hands down, proven, without and doubt or comparison, the most expensive health care system in the world.

And it's bankrupting us.

Worse, it's killing us:

US Healthcare: Most Expensive and Worst 

Performing

And to those who say we Americans have the best health care system in the world? And/or that our system is helping to pay for all the progress made in the world in  medicine? Note, again, that NO OTHER NATION IN THE INDUSTRIALIZED WORLD TIES HEALTH CARE TO PROFIT. No other nation does this. The United States has, by far, the most expensive health care system in the world and we are ranked 17th---SEVENTEENTH--in mortality rates. Americans die before the people in 16 other nations yet we pay more than anyone else.

We just aren't that bright.

And we could change this.

But we have to demand it. We have to demand change, the change we so sorely need.

Link:  8 facts that explain what's wrong with American health care

The Republican Replacement for Obamacare?

So, after years and years of complaining and criticizing and 56 votes against it in Congress, the Republican Party has finally, finally come up with what they say is their replacement for Obamacare. And it's a beaut:

GOP replacement plan for Obamacare unveiled by Congressman Fred Upton, two U.S. senators

From the article:

Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, is among the authors of a Republican plan released this week to replace the Affordable Care Act.

The plan would abolish the federal Health Insurance Marketplace and the expansion of Medicaid. In its place, Americans with an income of up to 300 percent of the poverty guidelines would receive tax credits to purchase insurance on the private market.

The federal mandate to purchase insurance would be abolished. Insurers would be required to insure people with pre-existing conditions, but only if they haven't let their coverage lapse. 

The plan would still allow young adults to stay on their parents' health care plan until age 26, but states could "choose to opt out of this provision."

In another change from the ACA, insurers would be allowed to charged older customers up to five times more for premiums compared to young adults, who are typically healthier and less expensive to insure. The ACA limits the cost differential to three times more.

The plan also would eliminate the types of medical services mandates in the ACA, allowing Americans more flexibility in purchasing plans that provide minimal coverage.

Overall, it appears the proposal would reduce the government costs compared to the ACA, but increase costs for some individual consumers and insure fewer people.

So it's a total "give" back to the health care insurance companies.
All these former, existing benefits of Obamacare for the people go away.

And the Republicans are for the people.

Yeah, right.