The American Dream itself is now hidden. It was stolen by Republicans that fight for no regulations, no raises, and no health coverage for EVERY American. We are indentured in a sense; many tethered to a job for some lame insurance plan. That's just the way corporations like it.
To add insult to injury, Republicans gave this country a psychopathic president and a cabinet filled with psychos to make sure our health deteriorates further. Take care everyone. Protesting the Medicaid and food assistance losses is a healthy outlet. See you in the streets.
Most Americans remember the false news because it got widely amplified throughout the media. Few know of Potter’s confession some years later. It got no amplification.
Let me tell you of my experience with this ‘inferior system’.
I was walking back from invigilating my final exam at the University of Toronto. I felt a tightening in my chest and called my doctor and got through to him immediately. He told me to be at the hospital at 8 AM next morning. He would arrange a cardiac stress test for me. I failed it with flying colors. I remember starting to pass out and someone rushing in with a large hypodermic needle and jabbing me in the arm back to consciousness. Three weeks later I had an angiogram to detect the problem. Two months later I had quadruple bypass surgery.
In the hospital only 3 ½ days. For three months I had a nurse visit me twice a week to check on me and change bandages. After that I was enrolled for six months in a diet and exercise program at a local gym. We were a group of about 30 divided into smaller units of four each with our own physiotherapist to watch over us as we exercised to make sure we weren’t doing too much – or too little.
At this time, I had a special aftercare doctor, a cardiologist, a cardiac surgeon, a pharmacist, an aftercare nurse, a physiotherapist and my regular family doctor, all covered by government insurance.
I haven’t had any complication since. That was 10 years ago.
And it’s worth mentioning that no Canadian has medical debt.
Your experience should be required reading for all elected officials in U.S. state and federal government. I had a less serious issue in Lima, Peru a few years ago. I fell on the sidewalk and fractured my elbow. An ambulance (a public service; no charge) arrived in minutes and took me to the hospital. Following a thorough examination, I received an itemized estimate of my required care. When I returned to have the stitches removed, the MD directed me to the business office. My first thought was "how much more?" To my great surprise, I received a refund of several hundred dollars for estimated services that were not necessary. Upon my return home, my physical therapist looked at my elbow films and declared that it was the best elbow surgery he had ever seen in his 35+year career.
My net cost after refund and travel insurance: $6,300. The same weekend my sister had back surgery in the U.S. Her room charge ALONE (1.5 days, identical to mine) was billed at $36,000.
Certainly, more Americans have to hear stories that contradict the propaganda they believe about the American healthcare system that is enriching the owners of the insurance companies at the expense of the American public. If all of the other countries can do it, America the richest of all countries can do it.
It’s absolutely amazing that if something is good for the general population in this Country , it’s automatically not going to happen .
That’s the way things have been happening and it gets worse under this administration every day.
The bottom line seems to be” you are only allowed to offer the wealthiest, the people that don’t need it , the good stuff in these United States. And the Constitution be damned. Just ask the Supreme Courts “dirty six”.
I recall that for decades, the American Medical Association opposed a national health service. It was likely just greed. Physicians were always some of the richest people in town. But over the years, running a small business became an increasing distraction, and the long hours demanded by private practices began to make 9-5 jobs more appealing than just making money. Today, my understanding is that AMA no longer stridently opposes a universal healthcare. However, they do still object for a variety of reasons that seem rather specious given that AMA would surely play a role in setting the government rules.
What makes more sense to me is a national health insurance program, like Medicare, where things like cosmetic surgery must be found to be medically necessary (e.g., injury-related), and prescription medication is free - otherwise you pay out of pocket. This would allow government caps on charges depending on the severity of the medical problem. For example, neurosurgeons have to undergo more training and thus likely deserve higher pay.
The military already has a system like that where retirees can go to any doctor, and whatever Medicare does not cover, TRICARE for Life pays the difference. Fee caps are already determined. All physicians know this and can refuse military retirees who will not pay them more. The thing is, most of the heavy lifting is already done and in place. It just needs Congress to find a way to pay for it.
See my comments elsewhere. Some medical providers spend as much time and money on reconciling various types of coverage as on treating patients.
The AMA House of Delegates referred the AMA Board of Trustees to a resolution calling for the organization to “study the impacts of various approaches that offer a public option … including but not limited to a Medicare buy-in; a public option offered on health insurance exchanges; and buying into either the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program or a state employee health plan.”
At one time Vermont had attempted an Ontario - like plan -- in 2011, Vermont passed Act 48, establishing Green Mountain Care, intended to create a state-level single-payer system providing universal healthcare coverage to all residents. According to Vermont Public, this legislation aimed for a publicly-financed system where taxes would cover healthcare costs and the Green Mountain Care Board would determine provider payment rates and benefits.
However, the plan was abandoned in 2014 by Governor Peter Shumlin, who cited concerns about the potential for economic disruption due to the significant tax increases required to fund the system, according to Wikipedia. Financing proved to be a major hurdle, with estimates suggesting substantial new tax revenue would be needed.
Following the abandonment of the single-payer plan, Vermont shifted its focus to other healthcare reforms, such as the All-Payer Accountable Care Organization Model, which builds upon the existing healthcare infrastructure and aims to improve health outcomes and control costs by moving towards value-based payments. The Vermont Agency of Human Services recently announced participation in the AHEAD model, which aims to provide investment and flexibility for healthcare transformation starting in 2027, according to a press release.
Great minds think alike. I published my substack this morning. Free.
Meanwhile, Medicare will pilot a pre-authorization requirement for some services in six states. New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington.
Thom: "Medicare For All, like Canada has, would save American families thousands every year immediately and do away with the 500,000+ annual bankruptcies in this country that happen only because somebody in the family got sick."
At present Medicare has a springing lien on medical benefits from lawsuits and workers' comp. The insurance exposure in most PI litigation is future medical, which is often used as a multiplier for the real exposure in PI, pain and suffering damages.
IMHO if the collateral resourses rule were extinguished, coupled with Medicare for all, vitually all insurance rates will drop like a rock. That includes stuff like medical malpractice rates, which is a major cost factor in risk analysis.
The indenity protion of insurance would be a mere fraction of what it is now, and future medical would be eliminated as Medicare for all would cover.
The primary beneficiaries would INCLUDE manufacturers...... That includes drug companies.
The American Dream is dead, replaced by Project 2025. If you don't work, you don't eat (art 12, 1936 Soviet Constitution). Their health care plan. Don't get sick, if you do, die quickly (Alan Grayson)
Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall and can't be put back together again. Gone are FEMA, Dept of Education, the EPA, birthright citizenship, including those who have ancestors who came here in the 17th Century, gone are free speech, if that means criticizing the regime,
We no longer have a government, we have a regime one with the 4th Largest army (a paramilitary one in budget) now that Trump has signed his BBB. over $100 billion for ICE/CBP/ATF/DEA (all under Justice), the only budgets that are greater are the DOD, Russia and China. This is Trumps Geheim Stats Polizei, Brown shirts, Schutzstaffel all rolled into one.
With the BBB out of the way, the Senate can now pass the SAVE Act, and disenfranchise almost half of the country. The courts are going to be clogged with women changing their names, states department of records are going to be clogged with requests for birth certificates.
Meanwhile there is voter caging, and over 100 Voter suppression laws.Musk money, billionaire money and Musks American Party. Not tomention the many county election committees and chairs that have beenrun off by MAGA threats, and replaced by MAGA henchmen.
I see no relief, save an overthrow of the regime via a national uprising. Protests aren't enough. I doubt that Trumpis even aware of them, if they aren't carried on Fox, then he is unaware.
There is no indication that the protests have achieved any results. If a lower court rules against him, he ignores it or SCOTUS reverses the ruling. He has even ignored SCOTUS (Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case as an example, paying USAID contractors is another)
Resistance, general strikes, uprising are our only chance, but that will only serve Trump by giving him an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and thus martial law.
And there is one thing about Americans, we have no tolerance for inconvenience, we are accustomed to our comfort, and we shudder at violence or action that might lead to violence.
Americans are soft and spoiled. Americans cry poor mouth, kvetch over having to choose between food and drugs, but they sure can afford a cell phone, a provider, TV's cars, wine, beer and whiskey, not to mention pot,nicotine and cocaine.
The problem pointed to is a true thing - but it is only grams of whole truth. Even if a single-payer system was in-place today - as a society, we're still faced with poor decision-making by our collective humanity - for what is put into our mouth. Shareholders and executives of companies that sell / benefit from putting the crap out their for consumption - need to pay a huge tax that properly aligns their cost to society. It's the ultimate form of capitalism - but they've short-circuited / cheated the feedback loop. And so, yes, we suffer.
O, Captain my Captain there you have it. You are right, again. Still I think they would just rather see us all die. That works well into their heartless plan. What to do, what to do.
I know you are right. But the 2025 project people have further plans I’m sure! Their help has to mop up the floor because they are already drooling as they gaze around the world!!!
The American Dream itself is now hidden. It was stolen by Republicans that fight for no regulations, no raises, and no health coverage for EVERY American. We are indentured in a sense; many tethered to a job for some lame insurance plan. That's just the way corporations like it.
To add insult to injury, Republicans gave this country a psychopathic president and a cabinet filled with psychos to make sure our health deteriorates further. Take care everyone. Protesting the Medicaid and food assistance losses is a healthy outlet. See you in the streets.
Despite that, I still play the lottery.
Check out my substack.
It’s astounding that so many Americans believe the US healthcare system is superior to the Canadian. And this false impression governs despite the confessions of a health insurance executive, Wendell Potter, that he orchestrated a false campaign to discredit the quality of Canadian medical care: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.5631285/this-former-u-s-health-insurance-exec-says-he-lied-to-americans-about-canadian-health-care-1.5631874
Most Americans remember the false news because it got widely amplified throughout the media. Few know of Potter’s confession some years later. It got no amplification.
Let me tell you of my experience with this ‘inferior system’.
I was walking back from invigilating my final exam at the University of Toronto. I felt a tightening in my chest and called my doctor and got through to him immediately. He told me to be at the hospital at 8 AM next morning. He would arrange a cardiac stress test for me. I failed it with flying colors. I remember starting to pass out and someone rushing in with a large hypodermic needle and jabbing me in the arm back to consciousness. Three weeks later I had an angiogram to detect the problem. Two months later I had quadruple bypass surgery.
In the hospital only 3 ½ days. For three months I had a nurse visit me twice a week to check on me and change bandages. After that I was enrolled for six months in a diet and exercise program at a local gym. We were a group of about 30 divided into smaller units of four each with our own physiotherapist to watch over us as we exercised to make sure we weren’t doing too much – or too little.
At this time, I had a special aftercare doctor, a cardiologist, a cardiac surgeon, a pharmacist, an aftercare nurse, a physiotherapist and my regular family doctor, all covered by government insurance.
I haven’t had any complication since. That was 10 years ago.
And it’s worth mentioning that no Canadian has medical debt.
Your experience should be required reading for all elected officials in U.S. state and federal government. I had a less serious issue in Lima, Peru a few years ago. I fell on the sidewalk and fractured my elbow. An ambulance (a public service; no charge) arrived in minutes and took me to the hospital. Following a thorough examination, I received an itemized estimate of my required care. When I returned to have the stitches removed, the MD directed me to the business office. My first thought was "how much more?" To my great surprise, I received a refund of several hundred dollars for estimated services that were not necessary. Upon my return home, my physical therapist looked at my elbow films and declared that it was the best elbow surgery he had ever seen in his 35+year career.
My net cost after refund and travel insurance: $6,300. The same weekend my sister had back surgery in the U.S. Her room charge ALONE (1.5 days, identical to mine) was billed at $36,000.
Certainly, more Americans have to hear stories that contradict the propaganda they believe about the American healthcare system that is enriching the owners of the insurance companies at the expense of the American public. If all of the other countries can do it, America the richest of all countries can do it.
It’s absolutely amazing that if something is good for the general population in this Country , it’s automatically not going to happen .
That’s the way things have been happening and it gets worse under this administration every day.
The bottom line seems to be” you are only allowed to offer the wealthiest, the people that don’t need it , the good stuff in these United States. And the Constitution be damned. Just ask the Supreme Courts “dirty six”.
I recall that for decades, the American Medical Association opposed a national health service. It was likely just greed. Physicians were always some of the richest people in town. But over the years, running a small business became an increasing distraction, and the long hours demanded by private practices began to make 9-5 jobs more appealing than just making money. Today, my understanding is that AMA no longer stridently opposes a universal healthcare. However, they do still object for a variety of reasons that seem rather specious given that AMA would surely play a role in setting the government rules.
What makes more sense to me is a national health insurance program, like Medicare, where things like cosmetic surgery must be found to be medically necessary (e.g., injury-related), and prescription medication is free - otherwise you pay out of pocket. This would allow government caps on charges depending on the severity of the medical problem. For example, neurosurgeons have to undergo more training and thus likely deserve higher pay.
The military already has a system like that where retirees can go to any doctor, and whatever Medicare does not cover, TRICARE for Life pays the difference. Fee caps are already determined. All physicians know this and can refuse military retirees who will not pay them more. The thing is, most of the heavy lifting is already done and in place. It just needs Congress to find a way to pay for it.
See my comments elsewhere. Some medical providers spend as much time and money on reconciling various types of coverage as on treating patients.
The AMA House of Delegates referred the AMA Board of Trustees to a resolution calling for the organization to “study the impacts of various approaches that offer a public option … including but not limited to a Medicare buy-in; a public option offered on health insurance exchanges; and buying into either the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program or a state employee health plan.”
At one time Vermont had attempted an Ontario - like plan -- in 2011, Vermont passed Act 48, establishing Green Mountain Care, intended to create a state-level single-payer system providing universal healthcare coverage to all residents. According to Vermont Public, this legislation aimed for a publicly-financed system where taxes would cover healthcare costs and the Green Mountain Care Board would determine provider payment rates and benefits.
However, the plan was abandoned in 2014 by Governor Peter Shumlin, who cited concerns about the potential for economic disruption due to the significant tax increases required to fund the system, according to Wikipedia. Financing proved to be a major hurdle, with estimates suggesting substantial new tax revenue would be needed.
Following the abandonment of the single-payer plan, Vermont shifted its focus to other healthcare reforms, such as the All-Payer Accountable Care Organization Model, which builds upon the existing healthcare infrastructure and aims to improve health outcomes and control costs by moving towards value-based payments. The Vermont Agency of Human Services recently announced participation in the AHEAD model, which aims to provide investment and flexibility for healthcare transformation starting in 2027, according to a press release.
Great minds think alike. I published my substack this morning. Free.
Meanwhile, Medicare will pilot a pre-authorization requirement for some services in six states. New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington.
Starts Jan 1, 2026. IMHO the fix is in.
https://prospect.org/health/2025-07-02-medicare-trump-preauthorization/
Thom: "Medicare For All, like Canada has, would save American families thousands every year immediately and do away with the 500,000+ annual bankruptcies in this country that happen only because somebody in the family got sick."
At present Medicare has a springing lien on medical benefits from lawsuits and workers' comp. The insurance exposure in most PI litigation is future medical, which is often used as a multiplier for the real exposure in PI, pain and suffering damages.
IMHO if the collateral resourses rule were extinguished, coupled with Medicare for all, vitually all insurance rates will drop like a rock. That includes stuff like medical malpractice rates, which is a major cost factor in risk analysis.
The indenity protion of insurance would be a mere fraction of what it is now, and future medical would be eliminated as Medicare for all would cover.
The primary beneficiaries would INCLUDE manufacturers...... That includes drug companies.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and research. Disturbing as it is, we need to know.
The American Dream is dead, replaced by Project 2025. If you don't work, you don't eat (art 12, 1936 Soviet Constitution). Their health care plan. Don't get sick, if you do, die quickly (Alan Grayson)
Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall and can't be put back together again. Gone are FEMA, Dept of Education, the EPA, birthright citizenship, including those who have ancestors who came here in the 17th Century, gone are free speech, if that means criticizing the regime,
We no longer have a government, we have a regime one with the 4th Largest army (a paramilitary one in budget) now that Trump has signed his BBB. over $100 billion for ICE/CBP/ATF/DEA (all under Justice), the only budgets that are greater are the DOD, Russia and China. This is Trumps Geheim Stats Polizei, Brown shirts, Schutzstaffel all rolled into one.
With the BBB out of the way, the Senate can now pass the SAVE Act, and disenfranchise almost half of the country. The courts are going to be clogged with women changing their names, states department of records are going to be clogged with requests for birth certificates.
Meanwhile there is voter caging, and over 100 Voter suppression laws.Musk money, billionaire money and Musks American Party. Not tomention the many county election committees and chairs that have beenrun off by MAGA threats, and replaced by MAGA henchmen.
I see no relief, save an overthrow of the regime via a national uprising. Protests aren't enough. I doubt that Trumpis even aware of them, if they aren't carried on Fox, then he is unaware.
There is no indication that the protests have achieved any results. If a lower court rules against him, he ignores it or SCOTUS reverses the ruling. He has even ignored SCOTUS (Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case as an example, paying USAID contractors is another)
Resistance, general strikes, uprising are our only chance, but that will only serve Trump by giving him an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and thus martial law.
And there is one thing about Americans, we have no tolerance for inconvenience, we are accustomed to our comfort, and we shudder at violence or action that might lead to violence.
Americans are soft and spoiled. Americans cry poor mouth, kvetch over having to choose between food and drugs, but they sure can afford a cell phone, a provider, TV's cars, wine, beer and whiskey, not to mention pot,nicotine and cocaine.
The problem pointed to is a true thing - but it is only grams of whole truth. Even if a single-payer system was in-place today - as a society, we're still faced with poor decision-making by our collective humanity - for what is put into our mouth. Shareholders and executives of companies that sell / benefit from putting the crap out their for consumption - need to pay a huge tax that properly aligns their cost to society. It's the ultimate form of capitalism - but they've short-circuited / cheated the feedback loop. And so, yes, we suffer.
O, Captain my Captain there you have it. You are right, again. Still I think they would just rather see us all die. That works well into their heartless plan. What to do, what to do.
How do we clean out the stink? One of these greedy b*****tard!@@.
I know you are right. But the 2025 project people have further plans I’m sure! Their help has to mop up the floor because they are already drooling as they gaze around the world!!!
Paul Krugman posted an interesting interview about single payer limitations yesterday...https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/health-care-jonathan-gruber