Employer Provided Insurance: THIRTY THREE MILLION Americans Won't Be Worrying About Losing It Anymore LOL

I think the current crisis neatly illustrates the insanity to tying health insurance to employment.


Medicare for All!   Vote for Bernie!   


3.3 million people newly unemployed.  Guess they are happy to have "choice" now,right? As Joe Biden said, "If you love your insurance you can keep it!" Except you can't.

How can anyone still be against Medicare for All at this point?   Vote for Bernie or you are voting to continue a broken system where millions have no coverage.  Yes, they can do Cobra, etc.  but that assumes that laid off people have the money to afford the premiums/deductibles (and costs are expected to skyrocket).  Medicare for All covers everyone and is free at the point of service.  


this is the nightmare scenario.  Millions of people with no health insurance in the middle of a pandemic.


ml1 said:

this is the nightmare scenario.  Millions of people with no health insurance in the middle of a pandemic.

 And if someone other than you know who was President would he or she use all the powers he or she had to force doctors and hospitals to treat everyone whether they had insurance or not?


Severe symptoms of Corona Virus are an Emergency and I would think a POTUS could declare even milder symptoms and Emergence requiring testing at the least.

https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/medical-malpractice/uninsured-patient-denied-emergency-treatment.html


STANV said:

Severe symptoms of Corona Virus are an Emergency and I would think a POTUS could declare even milder symptoms and Emergence requiring testing at the least.

https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/medical-malpractice/uninsured-patient-denied-emergency-treatment.html

Why would he do that? Would his company get a kickback for every patient?


basil said:

Why would he do that? Would his company get a kickback for every patient?

 Of course he wouldn't. I was thinking about a normal POTUS. Go to my first post above.


The issue is whether or not regular folks trust that they can afford to go for treatment. 


STANV said:

 And if someone other than you know who was President would he or she use all the powers he or she had to force doctors and hospitals to treat everyone whether they had insurance or not?

Probably not.  And if they did, the people without insurance would be getting a big bill.  I know Biden said everything would be free during an emergency, but you have to wonder.  We have people going without insulin now and Biden's healthcare plan would not help them.   


ml1 said:

The issue is whether or not regular folks trust that they can afford to go for treatment. 

We have 30 million people without insurance.  I have been hearing horror stories of people going to the emergency room with symptoms and being sent away and still getting a $1 bill.  

That's our wonderful healthcare system, and Trump is not the only one to blame.  


nan said:

We have 30 million people without insurance.  I have been hearing horror stories of people going to the emergency room with symptoms and being sent away and still getting a $1 bill.  

That's our wonderful healthcare system, and Trump is not the only one to blame.  

 Were they turned away because they had no insurance or because their symptoms were not severe enough. The former is illegal. 


Times is reporting that insurance premiums will rise 40% in response to the epidemic (as it stands today).  Hard to say whether employers will pass those costs on directly to the ever dwindling pool of workers with employer provided insurance or just take it out of their wages.

If only someone could think of a better way of allocating health care.......


STANV said:

 Were they turned away because they had no insurance or because their symptoms were not severe enough. The former is illegal. 

 Here's a case where a teen was turned away from an urgent care clinic who evidently can turn you away.  He died while on the way to the emergency room.  If this kid was covered he would have received healthcare sooner and might have been saved.  Now we have 3.3 million who have lost their jobs.  So good-bye healthcare unless you have the funds for Cobra.  Many don't.

There is not argument left against Medicare for All.


Klinker said:

Times is reporting that insurance premiums will rise 40% in response to the epidemic (as it stands today).  Hard to say whether employers will pass those costs on directly to the ever dwindling pool of workers with employer provided insurance or just take it out of their wages.

If only someone could think of a better way of allocating health care.......

 Biden said that he would veto Medicare for All because basically where are we going to get that money. . .


Every cloud has a silver lining. It would not surprise me if the Corona Virus led to M4A, with or without Bernie.


Seems to me that the compromise is that Bernie withdraws after Biden swears on Beau's grave that he will enact Medicare for All.  I doubt Nan would be persuaded but the simple truth is that Bernie isn't going to get the nomination and, barring an act of God, Biden is going to be the nominee.  The Democratic Party has to find someway to unify  itself going into the Fall and this seems like a no brainer (tailor made for Biden, in other words).


Then again.

CNBC:Biden says coronavirus’ impact on health system hasn’t changed his mind on single-payer

You have to have a mind to change your mind.  Unless something drastic changes (and drastic things change every day) we lost the General election on Super Tuesday.  Pathetic.....


Klinker said:

Then again.

CNBC:Biden says coronavirus’ impact on health system hasn’t changed his mind on single-payer

You have to have a mind to change your mind.  Unless something drastic changes (and drastic things change every day) we lost the General election on Super Tuesday.  Pathetic.....

 Biden was talking about the ability of hospitals to meet the medical needs.  This is in the article -

“The thing that is needed is, for example, we have a whole number of hospitals that are being stretched, including rural hospitals, they are going to need more financing. That doesn’t come from a single-payer system,” Biden said.

“That comes from the federal government stepping up and dealing with concerns that they have,” Biden said. “The reimbursement they are going to get, how they’re going to be able to move forward.”

Which is a different topic than insurance coverage.


STANV said:

Every cloud has a silver lining. It would not surprise me if the Corona Virus led to M4A, with or without Bernie.

 I think you're underestimating the greed of our politicians and the lock that the insurance industry has on our society.


The St. Louis Fed this afternoon predicted that unemployment could hit 32%.  47 million people.


Interview with Wendell Potter, the former healthcare executive now Medicare for All advocate.  This is an in depth analysis of Medicare for All versus Obamacare and the Public Option.   

Basically, we need Medicare for All.  Yesterday.  Joe Biden said he would veto Medicare for All. 


nan said:

Joe Biden said he would veto Medicare for All. 

Since you stated it flatly twice.

A viral tweet said, "Joe Biden just told @Lawrence that as president he would veto Medicare for All if it passed both houses and came to his desk."

Biden’s response on MSNBC was not as definitive as the post made it seem.

Biden replied that he "would veto anything that delays providing the security and the certainty of health care being available now." He said if it passed, he would want to look at the costs and the impact on the budget and taxes for the middle class.

To put it another way, Biden only had critical words when asked about Medicare for All, but he didn’t bluntly state he would veto it.

The statement is partially accurate but takes things out of context. We rate this statement Half True.

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/10/facebook-posts/when-biden-was-asked-if-he-would-veto-medicare-all/


DaveSchmidt said:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/10/facebook-posts/when-biden-was-asked-if-he-would-veto-medicare-all/

He's not going to support Medicare for All.  I saw the video and I knew you would write that.  Politico is not always correct, by the way.  To me he made it clear that he was opposed. He critiques it using right-wing and insurance lobby talking point.  He gets money from the healthcare industry.  

Medicare for All will be difficult to achieve, and only a determined, focused person would even have a chance.  Biden would not be motivated to do that even on a good day and he rarely has good days based on his recent public appearances. 

Moving on - did you watch the video?


nan said:

Moving on - did you watch the video?

No, nan, I didn’t. I’m always eager to encounter and weigh well-reasoned arguments. But why would I waste time watching more videos endorsed by someone who has made her disrespect for facts so plain?


nan said:

DaveSchmidt said:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/mar/10/facebook-posts/when-biden-was-asked-if-he-would-veto-medicare-all/

He's not going to support Medicare for All.  I saw the video and I knew you would write that.  Politico is not always correct, by the way.  To me he made it clear that he was opposed. He critiques it using right-wing and insurance lobby talking point.  He gets money from the healthcare industry.  

Medicare for All will be difficult to achieve, and only a determined, focused person would even have a chance.  Biden would not be motivated to do that even on a good day and he rarely has good days based on his recent public appearances. 

Moving on - did you watch the video?

Politico happens to be correct here, as is clear if you watch Biden's original answer.

If M4A were to miraculously get passed in both houses, it's really highly unlikely that Biden would veto it. Presumably he would be involved as it got passed.

His main stated objection is the cost, largely because he's innumerate and has a circa 1972 calculator which emits fumes. The legislative leaders would patiently take him to the side and show him how the economics work out using visicalc.


DaveSchmidt said:

No, nan, I didn’t. I’m always eager to encounter and weigh reasonable arguments. But why would I waste time watching more videos endorsed by someone who has made her disrespect for facts so plain?

If you think Joe Biden would pursue Medicare for All than YOU need to show me the FACTS.  They asked him if he would veto it and he clearly was not going to sign it.  You can fight over infinitesimal details that don't add up to crap, and throw superior sounding personal mini Ted talks, but it all adds up akin to microscopic particles in a petri dish.  Do you ever read these threads for content, rather than spelling, grammer or precise applications of vocabulary?   There is this thing called the "big picture."  Check it out. 

Anyway, I posted the video with the Wendell Potter interview because I found it interesting and was curious about what others would think.  End of story. 


not for nothing,  Biden's economic adviser while he was VP was Jared Bernstein - as lefty an economist as you're likely to find that high up. And he still advises Biden, albeit informally.


In order to add a comment – you must Join this community – Click here to do so.