Democratic primary watch

[Nodack]

Yep. Have an insurance claim on your house for something? Get a quote for the repair. The repair quote will always be doubled if it is going to an insurance claim.

[3rdside]

He is in favor of Medicare for all but also allowing private insurance. I think that is the smart way to go. That is a major sticking point for many, especially Republicans. The UK has public healthcare 100% covered for life and they also have private insurance for those who want it. Pete is covering all the bases and making both sides happy.

That won't be sustainable. If it isn't a single payer, with everyone paying into it, it can't sustain itself.

There is a reason CEOs for health insurance companies make millions of dollars every year, and their C-suite team makes millions, and the next layer down, and so on. They make more money the based on taking in more revenue, and spending less of it on treating you. It is a scam. The longer we let that live, the harder it will be to overcome.

And yes, Pete is covering his bases to make all sides happy, knowing that it can't sustain itself. He is just saying what people want to hear.

Everyone pays into Englands health care system via taxes if I’m not mistaken. Isn’t that single payer? They can pay more if they want private.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_ca ... ed_Kingdom

Private medicine, where patients, or their insurers, pay for treatment in the UK is a niche market. Some is provided by NHS hospitals. Private providers also contract with the NHS, especially in England, to provide treatment for NHS patients, particularly in mental health and planned surgery.

Health care in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter, with England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each having their own systems of publicly funded healthcare, funded by and accountable to separate governments and parliaments, together with smaller private sector and voluntary provision. As a result of each country having different policies and priorities, a variety of differences now exist between these systems.[1][2]

Despite there being separate health services for each country, the performance of the National Health Service (NHS) across the UK can be measured for the purpose of making international comparisons. In a 2017 report by the Commonwealth Fund ranking developed-country healthcare systems, the United Kingdom was ranked the best healthcare system in the world overall and was ranked the best in the following categories: Care Process (i.e. effective, safe, coordinated, patient-oriented) and Equity.[3] The UK system was ranked the best in the world overall in the previous three reports by the Commonwealth Fund in 2007, 2010 and 2014.[4][5][6] The UK's palliative care has also been ranked as the best in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit.[7] On the other hand, in 2005-09 cancer survival rates lagged ten years behind the rest of Europe,[8] although survival rates continue to increase.[9][10]

Health care is so complicated that only 33 out of 34 developed nations have Universal Health Care.

The NHS is fine but I wouldn't call it great; it's more like pretty decent. . And that's just in London and bigger cities - in poorer areas it struggles a bit but that's probably to be expected. From what we hear France, Spain and Italy have the best heathcare.

As I've spent my fair share of time dealing with it (shoulder reconstructions, lifelong ENT issues, partially tore my achilles nearly a year ago playing full court basketball, I ain't 20 anymore! Nothing ever serious but enough that I find myself at Dr for something or other) I feel pretty well qualified to talk about it:

- Yes it's all free - physio's, specialists you name it, it's free. Every UK citizen pays it as a mandatory tax from their pay cheque, pro rata'd to income, like <$2k a year on average but you don't ever view it as another tax or anything, it's just what you do. With the specialists you have to wait for up to 3-6 months in some cases but if it's free, no bother.

- I've mainly had private health insurance via the companies I've worked for (all big companies have private packages) so if I need a specialist I'll get a NHS referral for free, then the company pays for the rest.

- When I haven't been working for whatever reason I've always paid for my own private healthcare; mainly because i'm a hospital snob which is understandable as I've been with private my whole life .. the thought of having a serious problem being dealt with by the NHS after you're used to private is a little off putting but not that bad I'm sure; probably like being used to flying business (which I have never done regularly) and having to go back to coach.

- My mum got breast cancer twice with no health insurance and she went through chemo on the NHS all completely free - they liked her and she felt like she got the best dr's and treatment the NHS could offer. Mum used to work as a project manager for the NHS as well and she used to hate the senior contractors; guys getting paid £2k a day to come in f*** things up and f*** off, as she used to say.

- Meaning huge financial inefficiencies still exist in other words - which is why they always continue to threaten to privatise it further even though they probably won't - but simple tech has started to help a bit from what I can tell.

I continue to feel bad for the USA - is nuts listening to what you guys have; a system costing twice the price for barely half the benefit most developed countries get; if there's ever an analogy why hard core capitalism is a broken model (or why 'socialism' works), it's that.

Anyway, that's a hell of a ramble..

[Nodack]

No ramble at all. Thanks for the first hand info!

I’m sure you can find plenty of Englanders who would find plenty to complain about in their health care but. if you had to choose between the NHS or the US, which one would you choose?

[3rdside]

Some people complain but secretly everyone loves it .. I know I do. It's just a little frustrating when things go wrong as tends / tended to happen.

Between here and the US for the less well off or uninsured it's a no brainer from what I can tell, UK wins hand down - if you get sick you're not going broke or going to die. The statistic about how many people who go broke from getting cancer in the US is appalling (like 40% of people?).

If you're privately insured they're probably similar I'd guess, but I don't know much about that.

[3rdside]

Over here it's first rate if you're insured - your choice of specialist, see them within a week, all covered by your company no questions asked and modern hospitals. And if you move companies preexisting conditions don't transfer over.

But I'm not exactly comfortable with the private health insurers when i pay for it by myself as it's like car insurance; you make a claim, you pay a one time premium and you get a restricted amount of cover depending on what your package is and then your premiums go up the next year and the issue is treated as a preexisting for at least two years thereafter, maybe more.

In this increasingly data heavy world, the thought that people's health will be able to be priced accordingly is worrying as it's scientific fascism (which, to conflate things a little, is why I'm a believer in European style capitalism - socialised capitalism - and not dog-eat-dog US capitalism; bad luck shouldn't determine if you live or die or go broke or not).

[Nodack]

Once again. Thank you for your input. Yes, illness is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US. Not even fathomable in the UK.

[Superbone]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

When Elizabeth was crafting her plan, she asked top experts - Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics; Betsey Stevenson, the former Chief Economist for the Obama Labor Department; and Simon Johnson, the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and a professor at MIT - to examine options for fully funding Medicare for All. They concluded that it can be done largely by asking private-sector employers to pay a little less than what they pay now for health care, and imposing new taxes on financial firms, giant corporations, and the top 1%. The bottom line: Experts agree we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance it.

[3rdside]

Once again. Thank you for your input. Yes, illness is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US. Not even fathomable in the UK.

All good, the NHS / healthcare / data / broken capitalism all pretty prominent topics for me.

One thing I've never understood about countries and companies is why they don't just benchmark?

Go to Spain and France where the healthcare is cheaper and better, see how they do it and adopt a version locally.

I mean if a PM or president or King said "We are going to deliver twice as good a product for half price" and show a viable way to do it, nothing should stop them ... but therein lies the problem I guess; politics (or at least politicians and their lobbyists) and national best interests aren't always aligned.

[Nodack]

You would think anyone wanting to improve our health care system would go to the top ten countries and study what works and doesn’t work and come up with a system that works for all Americans. The argument against that seems to be that all those countries are commie countries or all those countries aren’t as big as the US or they have super long waiting lists and therefore their system would fail here. The real reason is that the politicians were bought by the health care lobby imo and aren’t interested in actually doing anything about it.

Like Indy said those systems require everyone pay into it and we all share the costs as a tribe like the NHS. That’s how American car insurance works.

[Mori Chu]

What do y'all think about the rise of Bloomberg? He's doing much better in recent polls despite not appearing in the debates so far nor being eligible for delegates in Iowa and New Hampshire. He's putting hundreds of millions of dollars of his own fortune into tons of ads and media to help boost his unorthodox campaign. Do you like him? Who are your preferred candidates right now?

(My rough order, most to least wanted: Warren-Klobuchar-Bernie-Buttigieg-Biden-Bloomberg-other.)

[Indy]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

When Elizabeth was crafting her plan, she asked top experts - Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics; Betsey Stevenson, the former Chief Economist for the Obama Labor Department; and Simon Johnson, the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and a professor at MIT - to examine options for fully funding Medicare for All. They concluded that it can be done largely by asking private-sector employers to pay a little less than what they pay now for health care, and imposing new taxes on financial firms, giant corporations, and the top 1%. The bottom line: Experts agree we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance it.

This might seem like a silly question, but why do you say your health insurance company is good? Curious how you judge that.

[Superbone]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

When Elizabeth was crafting her plan, she asked top experts - Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics; Betsey Stevenson, the former Chief Economist for the Obama Labor Department; and Simon Johnson, the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and a professor at MIT - to examine options for fully funding Medicare for All. They concluded that it can be done largely by asking private-sector employers to pay a little less than what they pay now for health care, and imposing new taxes on financial firms, giant corporations, and the top 1%. The bottom line: Experts agree we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance it.

This might seem like a silly question, but why do you say your health insurance company is good? Curious how you judge that.

Not too much out of my pocket and I get great care. As simple as that.

ETA: It's not just about the health insurance company but my costs after my company pays their costs.

[3rdside]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

When Elizabeth was crafting her plan, she asked top experts - Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics; Betsey Stevenson, the former Chief Economist for the Obama Labor Department; and Simon Johnson, the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and a professor at MIT - to examine options for fully funding Medicare for All. They concluded that it can be done largely by asking private-sector employers to pay a little less than what they pay now for health care, and imposing new taxes on financial firms, giant corporations, and the top 1%. The bottom line: Experts agree we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance it.

This might seem like a silly question, but why do you say your health insurance company is good? Curious how you judge that.

Not too much out of my pocket and I get great care. As simple as that.

ETA: It's not just about the health insurance company but my costs after my company pays their costs.

Drug prices is the other thing - pretty much everything we buy is £9, I think the occasional harder core drug might be double or triple that but the vast majority is a straight £9, or like $12. Some people are entitled to free drugs, including those with cancer:

- Anyone aged under 16 or over 60
- Anyone aged 16-18 in full-time education
- Pregnant women or new mothers who have given birth in the past 12 months with a valid maternity exemption certificate
- Anyone who has a valid medical exemption certificate as a result of specific disease or disability (https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-cer ... rtificates)
- Certain people on a low income or receiving benefits
- People receiving specific pensions

[Indy]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

When Elizabeth was crafting her plan, she asked top experts - Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics; Betsey Stevenson, the former Chief Economist for the Obama Labor Department; and Simon Johnson, the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and a professor at MIT - to examine options for fully funding Medicare for All. They concluded that it can be done largely by asking private-sector employers to pay a little less than what they pay now for health care, and imposing new taxes on financial firms, giant corporations, and the top 1%. The bottom line: Experts agree we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance it.

This might seem like a silly question, but why do you say your health insurance company is good? Curious how you judge that.

Not too much out of my pocket and I get great care. As simple as that.

ETA: It's not just about the health insurance company but my costs after my company pays their costs.

Got it. Has it been pretty standard care, or have you had any major medical issue under the insurance? It seems this is where things go bad.

[Indy]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

When Elizabeth was crafting her plan, she asked top experts - Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics; Betsey Stevenson, the former Chief Economist for the Obama Labor Department; and Simon Johnson, the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and a professor at MIT - to examine options for fully funding Medicare for All. They concluded that it can be done largely by asking private-sector employers to pay a little less than what they pay now for health care, and imposing new taxes on financial firms, giant corporations, and the top 1%. The bottom line: Experts agree we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance it.

This might seem like a silly question, but why do you say your health insurance company is good? Curious how you judge that.

Not too much out of my pocket and I get great care. As simple as that.

ETA: It's not just about the health insurance company but my costs after my company pays their costs.

Drug prices is the other thing - pretty much everything we buy is £9, I think the occasional harder core drug might be double or triple that but the vast majority is a straight £9, or like $12. Some people are entitled to free drugs, including those with cancer:

- Anyone aged under 16 or over 60
- Anyone aged 16-18 in full-time education
- Pregnant women or new mothers who have given birth in the past 12 months with a valid maternity exemption certificate
- Anyone who has a valid medical exemption certificate as a result of specific disease or disability (https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/exemption-cer ... rtificates)
- Certain people on a low income or receiving benefits
- People receiving specific pensions

This is one of the 2 key ways to cut money out of healthcare. You aren't going to cut it out of the hospitals (already on crazy margins) or doctors (already paying too much in malpractice insurance) or even medical device makers (already operating on ~2-3% reduction in price each year).

[Superbone]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

When Elizabeth was crafting her plan, she asked top experts - Mark Zandi, the Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics; Betsey Stevenson, the former Chief Economist for the Obama Labor Department; and Simon Johnson, the former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and a professor at MIT - to examine options for fully funding Medicare for All. They concluded that it can be done largely by asking private-sector employers to pay a little less than what they pay now for health care, and imposing new taxes on financial firms, giant corporations, and the top 1%. The bottom line: Experts agree we don't need to raise taxes on the middle class by one penny to finance it.

This might seem like a silly question, but why do you say your health insurance company is good? Curious how you judge that.

Not too much out of my pocket and I get great care. As simple as that.

ETA: It's not just about the health insurance company but my costs after my company pays their costs.

Got it. Has it been pretty standard care, or have you had any major medical issue under the insurance? It seems this is where things go bad.

For the most part but I've had a couple major services like a prostatectomy and arthroscopic meniscus repair and while they were more expensive, they were quite reasonable.

[Superbone]

As far as drug prices, I usually pay a $10 co-pay per prescription.

[Indy]

My company sponsored health plan is very good. I am concerned that healthcare for all will increase my expenses and lower my healthcare quality. I brought this concern up to an Elizabeth Warren representative that contacted my via text. Her response:

This might seem like a silly question, but why do you say your health insurance company is good? Curious how you judge that.

Not too much out of my pocket and I get great care. As simple as that.

ETA: It's not just about the health insurance company but my costs after my company pays their costs.

Got it. Has it been pretty standard care, or have you had any major medical issue under the insurance? It seems this is where things go bad.

For the most part but I've had a couple major services like a prostatectomy and arthroscopic meniscus repair and while they were more expensive, they were quite reasonable.

That is good news. Sounds like great coverage your company buys.

[Mori Chu]

My wife says that if we have universal health care here in the US, there will be 6-month waits for any kind of care, and that if you don't have something serious, they won't see you. She says you'll wait 3 months with a broken arm with no care. She says she has friends in Canada who say that's how it works up there, and that they all come down here to get their medical care when it's something important because our system is better.

I'm almost certain that none of these claims are true, but I don't really have the facts and data to push back on it. Are there really long waits for care in countries that have universal health care?

[Indy]

My wife says that if we have universal health care here in the US, there will be 6-month waits for any kind of care, and that if you don't have something serious, they won't see you. She says you'll wait 3 months with a broken arm with no care. She says she has friends in Canada who say that's how it works up there, and that they all come down here to get their medical care when it's something important because our system is better.

I'm almost certain that none of these claims are true, but I don't really have the facts and data to push back on it. Are there really long waits for care in countries that have universal health care?

for specialist, if you don't also have private insurance, yes. But not like an oncology specialist. And for a broken arm, are you kidding?

I have close co-workers in Canada, UK, Germany and the Netherlands. They all have told me the same thing 3rd side said.