Universal Health Care is a right.

@Powderflask How privileged and tone deaf of you.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow How much money you donating to charities to alleviate the problem?

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow I don’t give a fuck if it’s tone deaf or not. I pay my bills, my groceries, and my needs by the sweat of my brow 58 hours of work this week

@Powderflask How nice that you have the privilege to do so. Not everyone else is that lucky. And the fact that you have to work 58 hours a week to make ends meet working for the same oligarchs you go to bat for. lol

@sunsporter1649 Charities as a solution was a failed experiment in the Victorian era. Keep up.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow That means you are leaving? Too bad, so sad.

@SW-User Try that again in a coherent sentence.

@SW-User He is saving his pennies to move to the workers paradise of venezuela

@Powderflask Universal healthcare doesn’t mean you have to pay someone else’s bills. This is super silly. There are tons of ways to set it up, and the easiest is making private insurance compulsory - meaning, everyone pays their own bills. Chances are, you’d save money - because basically everyone in the world pays less than we do.

@QuixoticSoul There are alot of ways to do it but wouldn't that just be the Heritage Foundation Obamacare situation of just compounding the issue with just giving corrupt oligarchs a captive market?

@QuixoticSoul compulsory as in by law? Extortion? Pay for insurance you can’t afford or go to jail

@Powderflask In practice people who can’t afford it typically get some help - just as in the US we have Medicaid, etc - except it’s easier to simply subsidize their payments for regular insurance. Don’t like it - tough, when you’re uninsured, wreck your car, and end up in the hospital the rest of us have to pony up anyhow. Gambling just screws the overall pool, and still leaves those who are paying holding the bag when something goes wrong.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow All in how you set it up - I like the Swiss model, where insurers aren’t allowed to make a profit on the basic tier of service, just the upgrades. The basic universal level of care has to be offered at cost.

@QuixoticSoul so we’re back to what I just said either raising taxes for government insurance such as Medicaid or extortion.

@QuixoticSoul This doesn't address the problem that with the US for profit system if you lose your job you are basically fucked because it is tied to employment. Do you know how the Swiss model addresses that?

In Canada secondary care is private but primary care is not. Although a bad ruling in Quebec screwed that up and created a 2 tier system there.

@Powderflask No, Medicaid is an expensive and badly set up cludge and our insurers are running wild - properly set up universal healthcare would let us lower both taxes and out of pocket costs - literally everyone else is paying less than we are, we have the dumbest most expensive system in the developed world.

Yes, extortion. So sorry you won’t be allowed to gamble with your health and leave the rest of us holding the bag when you rack up millions and default. Living without health insurance is dumb as all hell.

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Simple - it’s not tied to employment.

@QuixoticSoul So is the government paying the insurers to provide a basic plan?

@QuixoticSoul ok 👍🏻

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow No - the government mandates requirements and requires that the basic plan is offered at cost to everyone. Anyone who wants a chunk of the considerable profits that can be made on add-ons and upgrades has to play along. Actual prices are set through market competition between insurers. Average monthly premium is somewhere around $250. If a person’s income is too low relative to the premium, the government gives them a cash subsidy to help.

@QuixoticSoul Ok. That is last bit clears it up a bit. Because if your income is too low it doesn't really solve the problem unless you have a subsidy or voucher. Just my take but to me it would be simpler for the government to pay the insurance company for a basic plan directly but *shrug*

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow Maybe it’s easier to organize that way, especially as some people would be getting a partial subsidy.

@Powderflask Nor should you or I pay theirs either.

@stratosranger So when are you cutting a cheque to pay for your education and for the infrastructure you use everyday?

@PicturesOfABetterTomorrow It's called income tax, gas tax, school tax, property tax....