U.S. Politics

I helped my mom pick a health insurance plan through the marketplace after she lost her job and I was aghast at how fundamentally broken our healthcare system is. If you want decent coverage, you need to pay the equivalent of rent in New York City each month. Otherwise, you'll need to take on a ridiculously high deductible and try to avoid the doctor as much as you can... Very difficult for my mother who has rheumatoid arthritis. And the lowest cost plan still ended up being around $5,000 a year in premiums!!

With millions of Americans unemployed and getting cut off from their employers' health insurance, I just can't fathom how someone thinks the current system works and isn't in support of Medicare for All????

 

We're on a new page so maybe the thread will work now

EDIT IT DID NOT WORK

 

Yeah, her opponent narrowed Rashida’s lead to single digits in the last poll from earlier this year. Rashida also barely beat that same opponent 2 years ago.

 

The fact that the Dem primary had 22+ (!) candidates and not one of them besides Sanders supported single-payer healthcare really says it all. A policy supported by a majority of Dems yet only supported by less than 5% of Dems who were running for president? [bktidalwavevoice] that don't make no sense...

So many different nonsense reiterations of the same for-profit healthcare schemes - Medicare X, Medicare For All Who Want It, Medicare For America, "let's give ourselves a longer glidepath so we can get everyone at the table and work it out"...

The fact that not a single candidate pushed even just banning duplicative primary care while saying we'll get to dental/vision down the road like Canada is because they were just that too bought out by the insurance companies to even make that small yet strategic of a compromise....

The smug media class elites now claiming to be fine with M4A as an eventual progressive goal for Democrats down the line now that they worked overtime to take out the only politician who would have realistically put his life on the line to make it happen as president...

I can't wait to one day beat the shit out of Pete Buttigieg in the gays-only section of Hell.

 

What is this nonsense?
They are so transparently trying to force the school's hands here. First they're taking data away from the CDC, now they're saying they'd rather the schools decide on their own if they should reopen, without the CDC having any data to tell them what they should do. It's literally the center for disease control.... That is THEIR JOB. Then they're trying to have ICE send foreign students back to their countries if schools won't open. Like this is their pandemic plan? Forcing the schools to open? For what?

 

I think this push is happening because the White House knows kids still being at home in the Fall is an irrefutable illustration of this admin’s failure in containing the virus. Part of their strategy is pretending that covid is over, and it’s hard to sell that message to working parents stuck at home with their kids for another school term.

 

Sigh. I know that by posting this late at night, I'm going to wake up to an unsolicited 5,000 word essay on how AOC, Ilhan Omar, Bernie Sanders and Angela Davis all hate poor people.



But, I had a busy day and had missed the news that Angela Davis had "endorsed" Biden. I use the bunny ears because I'm not sure that she herself would describe it as an endorsement. That said, she did very clearly outline why she is choosing to support Biden.




Yes, I know that all of those people are either wealthy or at least make a good living and have access to healthcare. And, yes, I know that it's possible to both respect the work of a longtime activist like Angela Davis and simultaneously disagree with her decision here. But, perhaps it's worth reiterating that not everyone who has made this calculation (because that's what it feels like to me as a swing state voter) is a soulless corporatist.

 

Reading this the other day helped me a lot and negated my need for any further conversation about it.

 

I think it’s a way for the state to evade its responsibility of taking care of people during crisis. Like, oh you’re all working now so you don’t need government assistance. Maybe the stupidest position this administration has taken.

edit: Oh, I just thought, maybe it’s also to improve the unemployment numbers? There must be a lot of school staff who find themselves out of work during remote instruction (cleaning staff, food staff, security, etc.), plus parents who exit the labor force to take care of their kids at home.

 

So they’re really going full white supremacist. I know the alarm has been sounded a million times, sometimes too impulsively or sensationally, but we have literal Klan members in the White House.

 

What infuriates me was how much they relied on the talking point of “Americans want to keep their insurance” like anyone had any kind of choice in all of this. Like, of course my Mom wanted to stay on her plan with the hotel she worked at, but the fact is that the moment her employment ended, her decent insurance was ripped away from her. She now won’t be able to see the specialist she’s been going to for years (flashback to Obama promising Americans they can keep their doctors.)

Even barring a pandemic, and losing her job...She was still grueling away as a housekeeper that was physically demanding when she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. The only reason she kept her job was because of the insurance. That’s not a choice. That’s having a gun to her head and saying toil away or you’ll pay thousands in medical bills.

 

FUCKING FUCK

 

What a selfish decision to not resign at the start of Obama’s second term.

 

Rest in power, Rep. Lewis.

 

I actually cried last night when I saw news of Rep. Lewis' death. In his 30+ years in Congress, he accomplished more and fought harder for civil rights than most politicians could dream of several lifetimes over. He was the representative for a lot of my friends in downtown Atlanta and it hurts to think of a world where he's no longer fighting alongside us. He died believing the South could be redeemed and now it's up to us to carry that torch

 

FACEPALM.

 

dlkfjlsdkjfsdkkkkklll!1

 

You articulated this so well. And, I'm so sorry for your Mom. It's definitely not a choice. These days, I'm fortunate to have a good job (that I actually enjoy) and which offers me great healthcare coverage that my employer subsidizes all of. This is a privileged position and I never forget it. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, I got laid off three times in as many years while undergoing cancer treatment and going through recovery. It always felt like I was on the knife's edge because there was zero chance I could have afforded treatment on my own -- let alone consider quitting work and dedicating all my time to my health and recovery. Whatever. I made it through all of that fine... many others do not. As a swing state voter, although I'm begrudgingly voting for Biden, on healthcare alone, it's hard not to feel like we missed our one chance to pass M4A with Bernie. Every time I cheer another progressive primary win, I can't help but think.. there's another potential ally Bernie would've had in Congress.