Sen. Bernie Sanders told CBS News he's "very disappointed" by the bill to end the government shutdown, calling a planned vote on health insurance subsidies "meaningless."
This is not coming from a mean spirited place, but “what if all American’s cancel their insurance?” Well, it will never happen unless there’s a practical, immediate, and acceptable alternative available. So, we can feel free to play through the scenario in our heads, but if I’m going to go day dreaming, I’m going to dream about stuff that’s way more fun to think about than health insurance (like what if I had superhero powers or what if I won the lottery jackpot).
The hard reality is that healthcare without some kind of medical coverage (insurance, medicare, medicaid, etc) in the USA is not practical. Younger and healthier folks, people without kids or other dependents, and things like that can make do without, and many do.
However, there’s already a huge pool of people who get free or significantly reduced cost coverage via programs like the VA (for veterans), Medicare (for seniors), and Medicaid (for poor and disabled). Another giant pool of people receive heavily subsidized health insurance via their employers, because the employers pay some or all of the premiums. Although that group often complains about the cost and quality, many/most of them still know that it’s very risky to go without and that there’s at least some level of return on investment there that makes it still worth it. Then sandwiched in with that group are the young adults who are on their parents’ insurance so they don’t really pay for it themselves anyway.
While those groups are full of people who are like minded and want to see reform, you’ll never see significant push back and willingness to stop paying from those groups. So, it’s really only a relatively small block of Americans who are bearing the entire brunt of their health insurance costs and who could potentially get by without it, who would also be willing to. And that pool isn’t likely large enough to affect significant change on its own. You’ll basically get half the country telling them to get a job (completely ignorant of the reality of the situation), another third of the country telling them that it’s a choice they made and others shouldn’t have to pay for it, and the bulk of the remainder that aligns ideologically but who aren’t in a position to drop their healthcare coverage.
Keeping in mind that I’ve obviously glossed over a lot of details and caveats because at the end of the day this is just a long assed comment and not a dissertation.
This is not coming from a mean spirited place, but “what if all American’s cancel their insurance?” Well, it will never happen unless there’s a practical, immediate, and acceptable alternative available. So, we can feel free to play through the scenario in our heads, but if I’m going to go day dreaming, I’m going to dream about stuff that’s way more fun to think about than health insurance (like what if I had superhero powers or what if I won the lottery jackpot).
The hard reality is that healthcare without some kind of medical coverage (insurance, medicare, medicaid, etc) in the USA is not practical. Younger and healthier folks, people without kids or other dependents, and things like that can make do without, and many do.
However, there’s already a huge pool of people who get free or significantly reduced cost coverage via programs like the VA (for veterans), Medicare (for seniors), and Medicaid (for poor and disabled). Another giant pool of people receive heavily subsidized health insurance via their employers, because the employers pay some or all of the premiums. Although that group often complains about the cost and quality, many/most of them still know that it’s very risky to go without and that there’s at least some level of return on investment there that makes it still worth it. Then sandwiched in with that group are the young adults who are on their parents’ insurance so they don’t really pay for it themselves anyway.
While those groups are full of people who are like minded and want to see reform, you’ll never see significant push back and willingness to stop paying from those groups. So, it’s really only a relatively small block of Americans who are bearing the entire brunt of their health insurance costs and who could potentially get by without it, who would also be willing to. And that pool isn’t likely large enough to affect significant change on its own. You’ll basically get half the country telling them to get a job (completely ignorant of the reality of the situation), another third of the country telling them that it’s a choice they made and others shouldn’t have to pay for it, and the bulk of the remainder that aligns ideologically but who aren’t in a position to drop their healthcare coverage.
Keeping in mind that I’ve obviously glossed over a lot of details and caveats because at the end of the day this is just a long assed comment and not a dissertation.