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  • Jonah Aragonjonah@neat.computer
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:11 PM

    I think American healthcare is not a priority change because the *majority* of Americans already (individually) receive the same or better healthcare than in most European/etc. countries from both a financial and quality perspective.

    I mean yes everyone would be wayyyy better off financially with more efficient universal healthcare, instead of just comparable, and it would also be way more equitable. But equity doesn’t matter for most voters unfortunately, and the finances are simply not a pressing issue for most voters either in the same way daily price changes like fuel and groceries are.

    Like even if the USA could save $5,000/person/year on healthcare, I think people don’t really conceptually think about theoretical gains like that when consumer purchasing power is already 2nd in the world. An extra $2K-$5K in people’s hands wouldn’t be bringing most people in the country up to a useful standard of living, it would just make the gap in spending power compared to other countries laughably wider in a way that probably seems impossible.

    So it is basically a tyranny of the majority situation for the people who do actually lack access to care. Healthcare is not really a big motivator for people to go out and vote 🙃

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Replies

  • Jonah Aragonjonah@neat.computer
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:20 PM

    But hopefully the right people can get in power just with a different platform and change it anyways. An extra $2K-5K in my pocket would certainly be nice lmao

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  • Isaac Watson :verified_gay:ibwatson@mstdn.party
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:18 PM

    @jonah This is one of those hard truths that people don’t really like to accept or talk about. And I think this coupled with the entrenched profit systems in the medical industry are the biggest hurdles against socializing healthcare

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  • Jonah Aragonjonah@neat.computer
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:23 PM

    @ibwatson it’s just a kind of weird/frustrating argument I have with people in other countries that the fact is that in the current system I *personally* would be significantly worse off moving to their country, and the same is also true of *most* Americans.

    It’s a bad system where people who are worse off basically shoulder this burden, but most people are only going to think about themselves, and for those people there doesn’t appear to be a big reason to change the system even in cases where they’d technically benefit. Because life is already pretty great, until the sticker shock of gas or something comes along lol

    And I do feel like a lot of people in other countries don’t seem to want to accept that actually a lot of Americans kinda have it really really good

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  • Doug Webbdouginamug@mastodon.xyz
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:32 PM

    @jonah @ibwatson thanks for being so candid.

    Are you saying the quality of care for people with health insurance is (very) good?

    For me, the few times I saw fundraisers for insulin, sometimes unsuccessful, burned themselves into my mind.

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  • Jonah Aragonjonah@neat.computer
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:44 PM

    @douginamug @ibwatson basically, yes.

    And additionally, that the higher wages and lower taxes in America (more than) make up for the cost of insurance.

    I get the impression that a lot of Europeans believe they just have healthcare better than Americans, but for most Americans this doesn't seem to be true financially.

    A higher percentage of Europeans likely receive quality healthcare than a higher percentage of Americans, but most Europeans don't have it better than most Americans.

    Those are two very different things, and the latter fact is why most Americans don't appear to really care about this problem.

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  • pstpst@tldr.nettime.org
    Nov 7, 2026, 5:47 PM

    @jonah @douginamug @ibwatson
    American doctors seem to test more thoroughly and are much more inquisitive than European doctors who always seen feel they have to minimize the financial cost as well as take care of the patient. And here in the Netherlands, many specialist aren't really interested in patient outcomed, if a few standard tests do not show anything, it is back home and take care of yourself. No critical thinking or an out of the box approach and a slight disdain for patients.
    So how to get the American quality in a European system?

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  • m3t00🌎🇺🇦m3t00@mstdn.plus
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:42 PM

    @jonah

    depends. insurance coverage for certain ailments is lacking and they tend to not care if something kills you, as long as it costs them less. profit motives need to take a back seat to basic humanity. the tallest buildings in most cities are owned by greedy insurance companies.

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  • Jonah Aragonjonah@neat.computer
    Nov 7, 2026, 4:57 PM

    @m3t00 I absolutely don't disagree regarding profits, but statistically for acute conditions the United States does have better outcomes on average essentially across the board.

    The United States falling behind on average life expectancy or deaths from treatable causes per 100,000 being higher indicates a lack of widespread access to healthcare.

    However, the better outcomes for healthcare received indicates that quality of the actual care tends to be the same, or better, or faster; and the very high consumer spending power indicates to me that people are not really hurting for money here.

    18.7% 30-day mortality rate after admission for brain stroke in America compared to 22.7% in Europe, 5.2% versus 5.5% for heart attack, and 4.5% versus 6.9% for blood clot
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  • m3t00🌎🇺🇦m3t00@mstdn.plus
    Nov 7, 2026, 5:18 PM

    @jonah

    quality health care providers with good educations make the difference. dealing with insurance red-tape, documentation, makes their job much more tedious and doesn't contribute to health care. I'd like to see medical groups cut out the middle-men and offer care while collecting the premiums directly from people. insurance has it's places. just not in general health care. let the providers buy insurance to cover extraordinary expenses.

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  • m3t00🌎🇺🇦m3t00@mstdn.plus
    Nov 7, 2026, 5:19 PM

    @jonah

    I'm in the process of getting a dental implant that my insurance won't pay. I can afford to get a new tooth. Some less fortunate friends are walking around with missing teeth.

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  • Jonah Aragonjonah@neat.computer
    Nov 7, 2026, 10:18 PM

    @m3t00 it is actually insane that dental is not healthcare, that is something that really needs to be fixed

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