patrick.net

Compared to what?

It doesn't. If you want to compare the US to places like Singapore Hong Kong and Japan, we should do so with people of similar ethnic origin. In my state, New Jersey, Asian Americans live 5 years longer than people in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. It's much higher for most states. These are the countries with the highest life expectancy in the world. We fucking trounce the countries in life expectancy when we compare apples to apples. 5 years is a gigantic number!

TEOTWAWKI says

Compared to what?

We are doing better keeping people alive from Wuhan AIDS than virtually every Western European country with the exception of Germany.

None of our hospital or healthcare facilities have been overwhelmed.

Considering we have a high number of obese and sick people in our population, our healthcare system looks even better!

Why does americans have worse health? $ can buy food but staying healthy its person choice and american dont choose wisely.

Because budgets are in place to help the weapons industry keep you alive and shield you from every other country out there to get you.

Screw healthcare; you should be thankful you have a life.

It's not the healthcare itself. It's the price. Almost nothing has been done for cost containment.
Thing like this need to be done:

1. Lawsuit abuse needs to be eliminated. I'd go so far as to completely eliminate medical lawsuits and have the medical board actually do their fucking job and revoke licenses of bad doctors.
2. Let emergency rooms refuse to treat the uninsured.
3. Drug prices are an issue. Make doctors prescribe the oldest or cheapest one that could possibly work instead of defaulting to the most recent and most expensive drug for the treatment.
4. Unified claim form. It's possible to get all the insurance companies to use the same form / computer system and the same codes to streamline claims processing. This should make the billing end at the doctors office much easier.
5. More options for a nurse practitioner so that you can avoid an actual doctor as much as possible.
6. Emergency services regulated prices and mandatory in network prices.

I am sure that there is more...

The US healthcare industry just about the worst in the world in many ways:

- bills are unknowable in advance of treatment
- bills are deliberately obscure after treatment, not clearly stating what the costs are for
- costs are ridiculously high compared to all other countries, even for a single aspirin, nothing to do with "research"
- insurance is not portable across jobs and unemployment
- Medicare not allowed to negotiate drug prices
- extremely expensive emergency rooms forced to treat illegals and the indigent, passing costs on to the rest of us
- the supply of physicians is artificially limited by AMA lobbying

The cause is simply that our Congress has been corrupted by lobbying money. Congressmen get bribed by "campaign donations" to make sure the public continues to get fucked by the medical industry.

The best solution is to have publicly funded Congressional campaigns so that people can be elected even if they refuse to take the lobbyist bribes.

One reason we cannot have rational laws like public campaign finance is that we are much too divided by diversity to stand up to the forces keeping us enslaved to the medical lobbies among others.

Diversity is not a strength in any country. Diversity is a severe weakness, opening up the body politic to infection by lobbists.

A good response to the false and harmful religion of diversity is to stress unity as Americans instead. It doesn't matter what you came from. Anyone can become a good American. That just means putting America first, and downplaying our differences so that we can more effectively cooperate against those who are exploiting and killing us for profit.

NPR and the NY Times are among the most harmful propaganda sources seeking to divide and weaken us with "diversity" so that we an be exploited for profit.

Its not a perfect system.

Billing is a giant scam, but socializing the system is fucking stupid.

tovarichpeter says

Why does U.S. have such a bad healthcare system

They make up for it by having a great undertaking system.

A good response to the false and harmful religion of diversity is to stress unity as Americans instead.

E Pluribus Unum, the long time motto.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostakovitch says

Compared to the dead wasteland of Canada which murdered its citizens in 1966 with SOCIALIZED MEDICINE! and killed 10s of millions of innocent hockey fans?

I think you are confusing this with Moosehead Beer.

socal2 says

None of our hospital or healthcare facilities have been overwhelmed.

Wish more people would point this out. THIS was/is the reason for shutting down. Docs and nurses may be overwhelmed that people are dying and they can't do much, but it's not a good enough reason to shut everything down. Facilities themselves are not being overwhelmed in the US. Our unused emergency capacity is basically going unused 100%. Even with the drama shots in hospitals, everyone seemingly has PPE, masks, etc. A ton of this makes no sense.

One problem is that other countries "negotiate" drug prices.... like: "you don't get a patent unless you agree to $1 per pill in our country." Whereas, in the USA, we're paying 10x or even 100x and thus are the sole country paying the money that keeps the research going. Maybe we should just let research completely collapse and save all that money.

I think the way to go for the USA is to have a 3-track system:
• non-citizen: sent back to home country
• citizen not with private health insurance and not paying out of pocket: base-level care similar in cost to most 3rd world countries; "field hospitals" and dirt-cheap generic drugs; this might include shipping citizen over the USA border for care
• citizen with private health insurance and/or paying out of pocket: whatever the market will bare

I would make the counter argument that given the demographics, the US has the worst healthcare system except for every other one in the world.

Other then Sweden or some other 99% white country where the majority of the country buys into the social contract, what country has it better?

I don’t pay much for health insurance. My company covers most of the cost. But even if you account for the cost my company pays, it’s still much less then what you’d end up paying in taxes in a socialized system.

We have Medicare for old people. Medicaid for poor people. What’s wrong with asking the rest of the perfectly capable population to pay for their own healthcare?

“Oh the medical industry screws you on price without cost controls”. Any Econ 101 student will tell you supply meets demand. In other words, you get what you pay for. Hence Italians and Spaniards die in the streets because they don’t have enough beds in their very affordable hospitals.

In summary, it’s easy to say do X Y or Z to make healthcare better in the US. But we could be worse.

The healthcare system is why Trump is going to lose to Biden. Trump and the rest of the GOP have no healthcare plan. Biden will simply bring up Single Payer. There's been what 13 million unemployed in the last 3 weeks, another 6 million more coming up on Thursday's report and probably another 6 million the week after that. That's 25 million newly unemployed and if we factor in an extra 30% for spouse and/or child who was also covered under the job losers employee healthcare that's about 30 million who are now uninsured. This issue looks bleak for Trump. Add 30 million people to the uninsured roles, and who can pay for coverage out of pocket when you are out of a job? This single issue could cost the Republicans dearly.

socal2 says

TEOTWAWKI says

Compared to what?

We are doing better keeping people alive from Wuhan AIDS than virtually every Western European country with the exception of Germany.

None of our hospital or healthcare facilities have been overwhelmed.

Considering we have a high number of obese and sick people in our population, our healthcare system looks even better!

This is nonsense. NYS has a higher death rate than every Western European country. We just suppressed the virus spread before it reached high levels in our large area country.

Patrick says

NPR and the NY Times are among the most harmful propaganda sources seeking to divide and weaken us with "diversity" so that we an be exploited for profit.

I don't understand this at all. Celebrating diversity, is not the same as identity politics.

Celebrating diversity is not inconsistent with this at all.

Patrick says

It doesn't matter what you came from. Anyone can become a good American. That just means putting America first, and downplaying our differences so that we can more effectively cooperate against those who are exploiting and killing us for profit.

You seem extremely confused to me.

I saw posts in a thread not long ago where someone told a story of their youth dating a girl who was used to urban diversity, just seeing people of different ethnicities on a dalily basis (yeah AMERICANS), commented that it felt weird or something visiting an all white town he was from. . And the guy stopped the car and got angry at her. And you applauded that sentiment.

I've had the same experience, of living in and being comfortable in a very multi ethic neighborhood/city, then visiting my brother in an all white town. And yes it felt very different, and I didn't know that I preferred it. So ? There's nothing wrong with it at all. IT might be nothing more than just being used to that urban diversity.

IT's not so much that diversity is intrinsically good. But since people are people, and we are an ever more diverse country, why would anyone want to argue that diversity is bad.
People get totally Americanized, whether it takes a generation or three. It's inevitable. Resistance is futile.

I don't know what you think diversity is. When someone does one of those gene tests that identifies where they came from genetically, and they take some kind of pride or idenitfy with it somehow, there's nothing wrong with that. I know you have some pride in your Irish and Polish background. That doesn't prevent you from being an American.

If a corporation takes pride that it's employees are diverse, that's not bad. It's just where we are on the historical time line. Soon it will all be irrelevant. What you are feeling is a bit of turbulence and weirdness as whites become less dominant in this country. It's frightening to people that can't fathom that we're really all the same, in the ways that most - not at the level of the individual). And there are people who overdo the whole white supremacy thing, or competing for victim status. But that can't be equated with diversity diversity, it just has to do with the moment we are in.

All the victim BS and identity politics, I can do without that and agree about politically prioritizing what we have in common. But I don't see how that that contradicts diversity being a good aspect of this country.

He can answer for himself, but I don't think Patrick is saying diversity standing alone is a bad thing. It's the idea that we're forced, through media pressure, to diversify when all the signs point to the fact that we congregate with like type people. This holds true for all races and ethnicities.

This happened at my college. There were groups for Indians, Asians, Blacks, etc. A dude started a group for white people and was actually kicked out. Can't remember if it got news coverage at the time, so I don't have a link or anything. The KKK and white supremacist groups of the past don't help, but why can't white people even form a group anymore? The media and left preach diversity, yet allow and actively support segregation on campus' through their clubs, fraternities and other things. It's hypocrisy to the highest degree.

Ceffer says

tovarichpeter says

Why does U.S. have such a bad healthcare system

They make up for it by having a great undertaking system.

Not really. Funerals are grossly overpriced as well.

socal2 says

with the exception of Germany

If you have diabetes (or something else), catch wuhan aids then die the Germans count it as a diabetes death and not the virus. That's why their numbers are lower. They are open about the fact that they've been doing this.

marcus says

I've had the same experience, of living in and being comfortable in a very multi ethic neighborhood/city, then visiting my brother in an all white town. And yes it felt very different, and I didn't know that I preferred it. So ? There's nothing wrong with it at all. IT might be nothing more than just being used to that urban diversity.

This is getting embarrassing.

Literally every other nation on the planet is like this. I go anywhere in Mexico and what do I see? Mexicans. Every fucking where. I go to Nigeria and who do I see? Nothing but Nigerians. Very dark skinned black people. I go to the res in Montana and who do I see? injuns. Everywhere. If I go to Denmark, I’m gonna see blue eyed blondes, in Thailand Im gonna see Thai people.

If you truly felt off, I suggest reexamination of yoursef(not to mention go travel on your summers off...there’s a big world out there.)

HEYYOU says

Covid-19 doesn't give a shit about diversity. It kills without consideration of race,religion,politics,wealth,etc.
It makes no exceptions for scum RepCons.

Actually... it's killing mostly blacks in Chicago. #fakenews

https://www.wbez.org/stories/in-chicago-70-of-covid-19-deaths-are-black/dd3f295f-445e-4e38-b37f-a1503782b507

Edit/add on: 70% of the deaths are coming from something like 30% of the population. Hence my post about the '95 heat wave. There's a reason...

WookieMan says

He can answer for himself, but I don't think Patrick is saying diversity standing alone is a bad thing.

Diversity in itself does weaken national cohesion, but a strong shared identity can overcome this weakness.

That shared identity should simply be "American". Our grandparents knew this very well.

We should not "celebrate" diversity except in the sense that we can all become Americans wherever we come from.