As an American I am naturally very interested in the current state of healthcare in our nation and how it is going to evolve.
Personally I am a HUGE advocate of a single payer system. I am not going to go too deep into why, but my main reasons are as follows:
MONEY: I just do not understand why we wouldn't want to save money overall on healthcare. I don't know about everyone else, but I spend about 250 a month to have "top quality" coverage - and let me tell you, top quality is not an accurate descriptor. On top of that I have to meet a 5k deductible before my health insurance starts kicking in. I've done the math and I would have been better of buying catastrophic insurance and paying cash for my needs last year. So why wouldn't I want to slightly raise my taxes to avoid paying a GIANT insurance bill each month? It just makes no sense to me! The US pays the MOST for healthcare out of all developed nations and have some of THE WORST outcomes.. why am I paying so much each month??
EFFICIENCY: I am a proud, card carrying progressive! And as such I am constantly looking to the future and wanting our society to evolve as quickly as possible. Which is why efficiency is such a huge deal to me. I seriously HATE wasted time, money, resources, etc. So WHY do we even have or NEED insurance companies? It's just an extra step, a middle man, and as middle men often do, they just waste time, resources, etc. It would be much more efficient to have healthcare providers deal with one entity when getting reimbursed for their services. I cannot think of one time my insurance company went above and beyond for me in any way... in fact, most times, they are the ones causing me headaches and wasting my time.
PRIVACY & FREEDOM: YEP, you heard me right. PRIVACY, F-R-E-E-D-O-M. I am sorry, but ever since I entered the workforce as a naive 22 year old I've always wondered, WHY is my healthcare through my provider? Like, it's supposed to be a huge perk, and one of the biggest reasons to seek traditional unemployment, but the marriage of healthcare and work always seemed a bit...creepy to me? Intrusive? Like why is my employer involved in my health care at all?? I am a pretty private person as it is. I hate all these mandatory business lunches, and grab a drink with the boss kinds of deals... I really am not at work so I can share my life story with everyone I meet (that's what steemit is for ;)), so it really annoys me that something as personal as HEALTHCARE is even a part of the work ecosystem. And as someone who has had a hand in helping pick a health plan for employees, let me tell you it is expensive, time consuming, annoying, and sucks. Companies could save so much money if health plans were just NOT a part of the equation.
I would love to live in a world where I could go from company to company, pursing my dreams and passions, without having to consider my HEALTH COVERAGE when wanting to do so...because...why is my company in charge of my health plan again? It makes no SENSE. Some people might be fans of the golden handcuffs, but I am not. I like my freedom.
Which brings me to the actual point of the blog... why are there so many Americans that are against a single payer system? I seriously want to know. I swear I'm not trying to pick a fight (yet, ha), but I just cannot think of any GOOD arguments against such a system. Of course that is just my opinion, but I am wanting to here yours. This community seems particularly smart, well informed, put together, amazing, good-looking, etc. so I want to discuss it with you guys! I might come off a little sassy, but I am genuinely curious as to what fears about a single payer system may be.
Whether I get any responses or not it has been SO MUCH FUN putting pen to paper, so to speak.
LOVE