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Full title: 92% of American adults aren’t going to a doctor because they cannot afford it. The health insurance industry must be dissolved & all of its executives criminally prosecuted for murder, conspiracy, and treason.
this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
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People pay a fortune in premiums, then another fortune in deductibles, before they can even use their insurance. Most families never actually get to that point unless they are "lucky" enough to have a family member who gets sick or injured badly enough to meet the deductible. Then you can finally use your insurance for the rest of the year.
We paid for years, and got literally nothing out of it, until I fell off a roof and got a bad concussion, and a big enough bill that our deductible was met. That was in September, so for the next few months we went to every doctor we needed, got every test we'd been putting off, etc. It was the only time we got full use of our insurance, so we took advantage of it, after paying in tens of thousands of dollars for years.
Medicare 4 All would give us full use of our insurance on January 1 every year, without having to worry about any deductibles. It might cost a couple of hundred extra dollars in taxes, but you'll save $600 month in health insurance premium, and $4500 per year in deductibles, so you'll come out far ahead, and have actual health insurance.
Medicare for all will happen once enough Americans figure out that $2000/year in taxes is less than $8000/year in premiums. So it could take awhile.
As an outsider seeing the US from the internet, can I guess that you didnt get Medicare 4 All because people went :
"4 All? But like, not those people too, surely? Oh hell no. Something something socialism bad."
No, we didn't get it because our politicians are partly owned by the insurance companies.
The majority of people want Medicare for all and even more if you explain it without including the name.
We nearly had a public option in the Affordable Care Act, but then Democrats watered down their proposal before it ever went to up for an actual vote thanks to Lieberman. Which of course ended up making it a huge boon to the insurance companies, resulting in our current state of affairs.
The public option was never going to be in the final bill. It was there to be negotiated out for republican votes. When they refused to play ball, Lieberman had to play the part of the bad guy.
Lol, they had a super majority at the time. They never needed the Republican votes.
A large part of the democratic party identity at the time was bipartisanship. They used that as an excuse to water down any sort of public good legislation. It's why they started with a republican health insurance reform bill instead of single payer and it's why they ended up negotiating against themselves to drop the public option in the end.
I'm well aware. Still doesn't change the fact that it was a self-inflicted wound, and that they took out a public option when they didn't need to.
They needed to because they were lobbied to. The people's will only matters when it aligns with what the wealthy that are in power want. When you realize this policy begins to make more sense.
That's the meme, but I think it's more that insurance companies spend fortunes to ~~bribe~~ lobby for politicians to vote against it, not to mention fortunes in propaganda to push the narrative that universal healthcare is more expensive.
Universal healthcare is actually a bipartisan issue among the people. But as you expect, one side is really good at reframing terms to make it sound like It benefits the "non-deserving". The main "issue" over the decades is that everytime they try to creep this into making all insurance worse they get pushback.
So, kinda.
I didn't even get to use my insurance.
We met our deductible for a baby. A month before birth our company switched insurance providers. Back to zero. I'm still paying hospital bills 7 months later.
How did you see a doctor if you didn't make an appointment before September? It takes 4-5 months to see a doctor where I live. This country is such shit
How do you know you'll need a doctor in 4 months??!? How do the other people booking that far out know they'll need one? When you need a doctor, you need one soon, preferably today. Do you just book an appointment per week and cancel if you don't need it?
If it's an emergency - the er. If it's not an emergency - an "Urgent Care" type place. But not your actual Dr unless you plan months in advance.
Are we talking "no, sorry I can't get a chest infection right now, I need to schedule an appointment with the doctor firat, but I should be able to fit you in in 4 months or so"? I ask because I know the US healthcare system is bad, but I have difficulty judging how bad.
I feel like I answered this question in the post you are responding to?
If you have an urgent problem you go to urgent care. I had one, I went to urgent care after work, I got seen, got the prescription, and went home and got my pills.
If you say "hey I have this problem where my back hurts sometimes" then they'll schedule you for the next available appointment. Depending on how busy they are, yes that could be months out. You might try a different doctor if you can.