The Basement(Enter At Your Own Risk, Read first post.)

[Professor_Oak]

Money printing will naturally lead to inflation. How do they not see the future already. Oh wait , they do… That’s kinda not smart of em.

[brown_witch]

I live within walking distance of one of the US Mints and can confirm that truckloads of money are leaving that place all the dang time.

[Boiler]

As long as we can hold the rest of the world at gun point and force them all to exchange commodities in dollars, we good fam. Let the good times roll.

[Professor_Oak]

Why don’t u karate kid the truck drivers

[Killerdog]

@Boiler

No please sit down on a bean bag, puff the hookah and stay a while!

In the US our healthcare costs are inflated by a number of factors.

Yeah that all sounds about right. Hence, not sure why people would defend that over a UHC system. While it’s “controlled” it ultimately lets companies charge what they want in certain places which affects everything else by simply putting it up. I mean in my simple search on google for “How much does it cost to have an appendix removed US” it says the price range is $1,500 - $180,000. No way it could ever range that much cost-wise to the companies. The procedure is extremely simple and doesn’t even need someone heavily qualified.

I understand the whole “why should people get stuff for free that I’m paying for” argument, but when you’re talking about offering a certain level of healthcare for the population I think it’s the kind of people the rich should support. Maybe what would suit people nicely is that it’s only certain types of healthcare which are free… the ones which are critical for people to live? Hard to define I suppose, but working out ideals that everyone can agree with is a start.

I also find it silly how many US companies offer healthcare insurance to the families of all their workers. Over here we find that very weird, it immediately makes us think of all the people who don’t get that with their companies. When a UK person works for an American company they often get given the free private healthcare for their family. My dad tried to ask for money instead when he started working for his current company but they wouldn’t let him have it… hence we have private UK healthcare lol, don’t need it here.

[brown_witch]

Because I don’t want to die?

I have seen the guns they pulled out when someone robbed a local bank, not sure I want to know what they’d do to someone who tried to rob a semi truck full of cash.

[Professor_Oak]

This will change … this will change !!! Europe is the beginning of the downfall of the west and rise of the east !!

But US is playing all it’s smart cards internationally through all it’s bilateral agreements and dialogues though.

[Professor_Oak]

But they make it look so easy in all of those Hollywood movies.

[Killerdog]

The Indian version would have them all singing and dancing at the end. That would make it look even easier XD

Reservoir Dogs might be a bit closer to reality

[Professor_Oak]

Haha I’ve always found Indian back dancers in an American Rob scene , very hilarious… I wanna see that lol.

[brown_witch]

Well you can get a “discount” thru many companies that you work for. But it is still mandatory in the US that you have healthcare, and it is still quite expensive, even through a company.

Not sure why I should be forced to purchase something that has to do with my body.
Or why lawmakers can make any sort of decision about my body at all.

Going to go ahead and say that if it is mandatory and involves my body, it should be subsidized. Otherwise I’m pretty sure the goal isn’t to benefit my wellbeing, it’s to benefit the wellbing of the insurance company’s bank account

[Boiler]

Well we no longer have to pay a penalty for not having it. So may as well not get it if you don’t want it.

[Professor_Oak]

That’s bizarre actually. Cos can I mention here that the rest of the world , at least Asia, is shown to believe that US has the most effective cheap affordable healthcare in the world. That’s twisted .

[Boiler]

I pay 1400 US a year. My employer pays 6000 US a year for me.

I can see my doctor 1x a year for free.

All additional visits are $40.

I pay $15 a bottle for most prescriptions.

I pay 20% of all medical procedures up to 5k total expenses in a single year, then my insurance pays the rest.

I am 29 years old, 5’10" 185, exercise 20 hours a week and have never gotten my moneys worth in a year on my insurance.

[Professor_Oak]

Health insurance should be voluntary !!

[Killerdog]

@Professor_Oak

That’s bizarre actually. Cos can I mention here that the rest of the world , at least Asia, is shown to believe that US has the most effective cheap affordable healthcare in the world. That’s twisted .

Go watch Breaking Bad. That shows just how bad the healthcare prices are and what they can do to people

[Boiler]

It is now. The previous administration made it mandatory. The current made it voluntary.

Who knows what the next will do lol.

[NMEGaryOak]

@Professor_Oak

But what yah gonna do with all the extra money

I’m should be able to do whatever the ■■■■ I want with my money, and you should too imo

Sadly that’s not the way the world works

[Professor_Oak]

Ye I feel that too… But there are negative externalities when we make money…

[ItsSherlock]

@NMEGaryOak

I am saying this without looking up any actual data but I would guess that the difference between the wealthiest and the poorest in those countries is substantially smaller than a country as large as the United States.

Will not look it up either but this seems to be true to me

@NMEGaryOak

People don’t have a problem paying into a program like universal healthcare when they also benefit from it to a degree that is more consistent across the entire population.

That is a very good point

@Zardecil

Sure if someone had an unequal opportunity, but what if they did? Why am I required to take care of the person that decided to not take that opportunity?

@Zardecil

I’ll also point out that that was their choice. They chose to go into that less well paying field, and as such have chosen to deal with the risks that go with it as well.

@Boiler

And yes. If i wanna be a professional potato painter thats my choice… and a bad one lol

Because thats how a social solidarity system works. The concept of a welfare state includes that the state decided to care for everyone. No matter how they look like, no matter where they come from and no matter which decissions they made in their life. Also quick economic excursion: There is wanted and unwanted unemployement. The vast majority of unemployed people is without a job against their will. They would like to work but they cant because they cant find a job. For example thats the case when people are quite old, worked in a job that doesnt exist anymore, worked in a business that went bankrupt and now all of their former employes are looking for a job but the job market simply has no need for 500 new pilots at the moment. There are so many different reasons why people lose their jobs and most of the time its unwanted unemployement. And even if its wanted unemployed, you can have good reasons for it: You have to take care for your sick parents, you have to take care for your child, you want to study and need more time for it etc. The case of the lazy potatoe painter that had chance to do better but didnt take the chance on purpose is the great exception under all the people who are unemployed or have a low income.

Also one thing I want to point out: Its absurd to claim people “chose” to go into less paying fields and therefore have to deal with the risk that comes with it.

First of all: It should be pretty clear that not everyone can become CEO of a wall street company. Its not like we can say: What? Youre are nurse? Why didnt you become a second elon musk?

Second: Most of the time your school leaving qualification/graduation decides whether you are allowed to visit a university or will have access to the better paid jobs or not. But reaching a graduation that allows you to go to an university is heavily reliant on your social background. 49 of 100 children from an upper class academic background go to university in Germany. Compared to that: Only 6 from 100 children from working class families will have the possibility to go to university. Was it the childs choice to be born in a working class family? Is it an achievement to be the child of a wealthy family? Are 90 % of working class children simply stupid NO!. Of course there are people who start at the bottom and make their way up to the top. But thats a general statistic. Those people are already included. Its the educational that decides whether you will be succesful in life or not most of the times. And this system is broken, unfair and it reproduces inequality. For most people its not “their choice” to go into a less paying field its what they have left after the educational system betrayed them.

Third: Everbody needs the people who are doing the less paid work. When youre in hospital, I think everybody will be happy to see a nurse. And when you bring your children to the kindergarten you will be happy to see a nursery school teacher. And when you take the metro or the bus, you will be happy to see that someone drives that bus or the metro. Not everyone can become a manager and therefore its wrong to look down on the people who are working in jobs that can be counted towards the less paying fields. I’d like to quote KD here:

@Killerdog

The point of universal healthcare, I feel, is not to take money away from the wealthy to people who’ve worked less but to ensure that in such a developed country there is a good standard of living for everyone.

Fourth: This is a mens world. For a long time it was the goldstandard for families that the man had the main income and went to work while his wife stayed at home. If woman wanted to work they had to work in so called “woman jobs” like teachers, nurses, geriatric nurses, social work and so on. Because the womens income wasnt actually needed since the mans income was high enough, the income of the woman was considered “additional income”. Because of the mans income this additional income could be extremely low, in the end nobody cared. If you take a close look: The less paying fields today are very often the “additional income” fields of the past. Although these jobs are so important for the society of a country they got pushed into the less paying fields by the stupid idea of men and women do not deserver equal payment. But sadly it hasnt changed too much. 9 out of 10 nurses are still women. Yeah, they might have chosen this job. But they are working in a job that should have a much a higher income and its not their fault that this isnt happening.

@Boiler

As Zard mentioned, our hospitals charge outrageous unsubstantiated mystery charges. We talking like $100 for a dose of advil ($3 for 100 doses at the local market). These charges are deliberately inflated, however, and you can easily reduce them by making minimum interest free medical payments for a year and then buying out the remaining debt for 40%. For example my wife broke her foot. The hospital wanted 850 bucks after insurance. We set up $70 a month interest free payment. A few months later the hospital said if we send a check for 300 the remaining would be wiped…

Genereal healthcare should work the other way round. In germany the insurance company decides how much money the hospital will get for which treatment for. We have a general treaty between the insurance companies and the health sector. This treaty defines how much money the doctor or the hospital will get for a certain treatment. For example if you broke your foot: Lets say you had visited the hospital, had an xray and after that surgery. You stayed in the hospital for one day and went home afterwards. Once your gone the hospital will take a look into that general treaty and the information it will get says: Performing a final diagnosis: 20 bucks, xray 40 bucks, surgery 100 bucks, one day in the hospital 80 bucks. All in all the hospital can charge 240 bucks for the treatment. General insurance company will pay. That was just an example. The real fees will be much higher But this system has its flaws aswell. For example: Its way more rewarding for your doctor to make 10 xrays than talking with your for 10 minutes.