Author Topic: Hypocritical response to COVID?  (Read 1670 times)

ItsALongStory

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Hypocritical response to COVID?
« on: April 04, 2020, 10:41:29 AM »
hi all,

I've been thinking about the response from our various forms of government to this crisis, I think it's very interesting to see consensus around ensuring the cost of testing and now treatment for COVID isn't to be charged to the individual. This seems pretty hypocritical from much of the politicians who are totally against universal heath care. You can't really be against universal health care except for when it impacts the economy in my view. This medical bailout seems to set a wrong precedent that might encourage more people to take out catastrophic healthcare plans vs comprehensive ones since these pandemics are government backed anyway. it might also encourage insurance companies to start writing pandemic exclusions into their policies.

I guess my question is how other perceive this and if anyone has sort of changed their mind on the concept of universal health care given the current situation. Are you concerned about the sustainability of healthcare post-COVID as this might signal to many people that extreme scenarios such as pandemics are government secured anyway?

Edit: Removed a statement that misrepresented my perspective here, hope this makes for a more useful discussion.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2020, 11:04:54 AM by ItsALongStory »

Sailor Sam

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Re: Hypocritical response to COVID?
« Reply #1 on: April 04, 2020, 10:50:40 AM »
Huh. You’ve taken an extreme humanitarian and economic crisis, and reduced it to having to pay for someone’s medical care.

I’m impressed, my man. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not impressed in a good way, but impressment happened. Though, spirit of honesty, I legitimacy made audible laughing nosies over ‘these pandemics.’ So you provided some dark amusement inside the horror.

ItsALongStory

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Re: Hypocritical response to COVID?
« Reply #2 on: April 04, 2020, 11:03:34 AM »
That's not what I intended my point to be, so let me clarify my initial post.

I would vote for significant taxes increases if that additional tax goes to providing healthcare for all.

firestarter2018

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Re: Hypocritical response to COVID?
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2020, 11:24:57 AM »
I don't know about hypocritical, but I do think this experience is going to force us to re-examine our health care system and hopefully address its massive pain points. For example, many MANY hospital systems are going to lose billions of dollars in revenue due to COVID-19, and will very likely require massive bailouts to keep running. American health care is still generally fee-for-service and hospitals make their money largely through elective surgeries and procedures. Now that elective surgeries and most outpatient services are canceled/postponed across the board, many hospitals are looking at their books and planning for layoffs.  The integrated systems like Kaiser that have a global budget will do better, but lots of COVID-related stays (ICU) are extremely lengthy and costly, so they may have to tap into their reserves to keep afloat.

On the flip side, while insurance companies won't be having to pay out as much $$ in covered services that were canceled/postponed, they could be facing huge enrollment losses as people lose their jobs and their insurance (while the Exchange is available, many of the unemployed won't be able to afford coverage) - not to mention losing employer accounts when those employers go belly-up. So premiums may go up next year in a big way. And this with the GOP still trying to kill the ACA!  I think we're in for a significant reset when this is all over, and maybe it will spur legislation to get us at least a few steps closer to universal healthcare. I'd love to see automatic enrollment into an Exchange policy with subsidies automatically applied when someone loses their job -- wishful thinking, but removing the bureaucracy of signing up for a new policy would be huge.

All politicians support universal healthcare for the elderly -- I'm hoping this crisis will help the stubborn among them see that it's extremely beneficial for all Americans, *especially* in situations just like this where the economy tanking + communicable disease = a perfect storm.

Kris

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Re: Hypocritical response to COVID?
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2020, 11:41:33 AM »
I’m really hoping this crisis will provoke a national realization of what a horribly bad idea it is to tie health insurance to employment.

However, what I see of the American population as a whole doesn’t give me much hope of many of them connecting the dots and demanding change from our elected officials.

mozar

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Re: Hypocritical response to COVID?
« Reply #5 on: April 04, 2020, 01:06:38 PM »

They don't see themselves as hypocritical when they temporarily switch to letting people have better access to healthcare. They know it would look bad to their constituents if they were against free testing during a pandemic. But they'll go back to putting profits over people as soon as this is over, don't worry.
It's not that people don't realize that having health care tied to employment is a bad idea. It's that employers spend millions of dollars on lobbying to keep it that way to keep their tax breaks.

Insurance companies already have pandemic exclusions because policies only cover what is explicitly covered. There are already several ongoing lawsuits against insurance companies right now because they won't cover business losses.

Buffaloski Boris

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Re: Hypocritical response to COVID?
« Reply #6 on: April 04, 2020, 02:01:11 PM »
I don't know about hypocrisy, but the trend is towards single payer/socialized medicine.  So folks over 65 are on a single payer system due to medicare. Kids under 18 are under VCHIP. Folks under certain income levels are under medicaid. Other folks under another set of income limits are under ACA. And now those who get COVID are covered as well.

So at what point do we acknowledge that we're already largely under a single payer system and call it what it is? And we might even start saving some money on it.   

Morning Glory

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Re: Hypocritical response to COVID?
« Reply #7 on: April 04, 2020, 03:41:42 PM »
I don't know about hypocrisy, but the trend is towards single payer/socialized medicine.  So folks over 65 are on a single payer system due to medicare. Kids under 18 are under VCHIP. Folks under certain income levels are under medicaid. Other folks under another set of income limits are under ACA. And now those who get COVID are covered as well.

So at what point do we acknowledge that we're already largely under a single payer system and call it what it is? And we might even start saving some money on it.   

Don't forget ESRD Medicare: socialized medicine for one part of your body!!! (Phosphate binders not included).

 I think Texas has special pregnancy Medicaid too, that ends six weeks after the baby is born whether you are still having complications or not.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!