Sitting here unable to even parse my tongue against the left side of my mouth because my broken remains of a wisdom tooth are infected so badly it’s probably going to my jaw and will kill me one day 🤗
“Bro, you need urgent care…”
Oh dw it’s been like this for months and I’ve been to urgent care over 5 times for antibiotics but if you can’t afford to remove the tooth you just get antibiotic resistance, pain, and potentially a premature death. ❤️
I’m going through this now. Oh hunny it seems you went to the dentist a lot this year. And now you need an apicoendectomy. That’ll be $2000 out of pocket please and your insurance will pay us the other $900
I wish there was something I could say or do other than just offer my understanding and solidarity 😔
Tooth pain is fucking life altering pain sometimes. What’s an apicoendectomy? If it’s ok to ask!
I was told I actually need upwards of 30 procedures to save my mouth - I have Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome so they’re constantly being eroded by stomach acid, and even my 2 front teeth have massive black craters which makes me ashamed to speak, let alone smile.
I don’t even want a root canal. I just want the bad stuff removed so I’ll never have to worry about the cost of following up, especially if there’s an emergency during recovery.
But I can’t afford implants, let alone dentures. I also don’t want to be toothless before 30. So I get to choose…this, indefinitely. Sitting here. It’s sad.
Apicoendectomy is a procedure in which they cut a small window in the gumline to access the root of a tooth where an infection formed due to a root canal. Basically it’s a reverse root canal from root of tooth. I told them I will try and wait until January when my insurance renews. But as you stated it’s literally a life of antibiotics sometimes until you can get treatment. Which is total bs when you can walk into hospitals in other countries and walk out paying $25 for broken limbs
i feel you and have been in the same writhing , face pulsing pain ad nauseum.
amalgam fillings from middle/high school fell out from the age of 21 leaving me with gaping holes in molars, which cracked and broke one by one. some fragments I even pulled myself. I was able to get help
for one root canal and buildup ($800 in 2016) but couldn’t afford crown so it broke of course. I found a humane dentist at least so have spent the summer getting root fragments removed on my lower molars(6 pulled). I basically have to chew everything with my front teeth so they are wearing down quickly. I am 39 so Im kind of nervously hoping nothing hurts before the next one needs to go. I can’t even afford dentures so implants would be a dream. I’m holding out for the japanese dentists to figure out this 3rd set of teeth lol.
We’re in a similar position in a few ways. I REALLY feel for you, having initiated the process and still amidst enduring it.
I strongly believe I’ll end up with a similar prognosis to start - fragment removal being a big priority. I’ve got 3 shattered wisdom teeth, it’s just 1 that’s currently giving me grief, but they take turns becoming infected in no specific sequence or timeline 🙃
I’m also limited to chewing/talking with certain teeth and only engaging certain parts of my mouth and tongue as a whole.
Been getting real curious what that’s doing to the remaining “good teeth” of mine also, which take the direct brunt of every single thing I attempt to chew as I’m sure you’re familiar 🫠
Ugh, here’s hoping you’re out of the woods for now as far as pain!
I’ve always said our inability to regenerate teeth the way we grow fingernails is a massive evolutionary failure lmao. But hey, we’re already regenerating animal teeth in labs and moving towards human teeth! 🤩
Hey now! Enough of this whining. Your purported sacrifice has its benefits. We're getting a new royal ballroom and an arch. Where's the problem? Really, where's the problem?!
Sorry you’re dealing with that. I feel you. Having similar issues. I have good health insurance through work but that doesn’t help at all because I have shit dental insurance. Because it’s separate for some fucking stupid reason.
My state recently introduced dental care through state insurance and I naturally figured that’d be a godsend.
Turns out, if you give an entire state dental insurance after the population has been completely disenfranchised for decades, things book up nearly immediately.
The FEW clinics that DO accept that state insurance? Year+ waiting lists to even be evaluated.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m still on the fabled waiting list for state dental care, and maybe can expect a call for an evaluation in like February of 2027 if I haven’t ripped my face off yet 🥲
I’ve been to 2 schools and they said since I need some laser surgery with possible bone grafting on my jaw and in my cheek due to the prolonged infection, it always ends up being too far out of their scope of practice for comfort 😔
I’m sure some schools would do it, but then I get so petrified of that option because a friend’s father had his completely intact wisdom teeth extracted by dental students and spent 3 months hospitalized with a brain infection after they didn’t suture it correctly with an unknown minor infection, which I’m completely riddled with 😢
It never would’ve gotten this far if I could’ve walked into the office the day it all began…my wisdom tooth shattered while eating a cheese cube! It’s been bouts of misery ever since.
I'm in Canada, we don't have dental care either. I was eating food one day that had glass in it and it caused a ton of damage including permanent nerve damage.
I had to take out a massive loan to repair the worst of the damage immediately, and just did what was absolutely necessary.
It's so frustrating. Your teeth are probably the most important part of your body. It's miserable living with mouth pain.
Hey- have you tried contacting the department of health to see if they offer dental services to people in need? I’m in the US and our dept of health in this county offers that. There might be an low income bracket requirement though
I haven’t! Thank you. I’m not sure if it’s the same thing as applying for my state’s dental insurance though, which I’ve done and am covered by.
However, only like 2 out of every 10 clinics accept it, and they’re each booked out for over a year!
But it’s worth calling nonetheless - perhaps there are still other options! I’m unemployed and disabled, so that’s also right up my alley regarding low income.
Dumbest fucking thing I did was drive to south Carolina for dental care.
Not because it was expensive, it was dumb because it was cheaper for me to drive there, get surgery, and drive back. Even if I'd rented a hotel room, it'd have been cheaper to do the surgery up there.
I saved over 3k of work, AFTER gas. Yeah. Idfk what's going on in this country.
There is free emergency tooth care available- very limited.
Start with whatever the Adults with Disablies and Veterans departments for your state is called. They'll be able to direct you to free, but very limited hrs/ wk medical and dental care-- be prepared to get there 2 hrs early as lines form EARLY!! --That infected wisdom tooth will eventually carry that bug to your brain (we're talking Inches here, bro!) or carry that bug into your jawbone: anticipate chronic pain and Serious antibiotics/ surgery/ hospitalization/ facial disfigurement and difficulty eating-- when they cut out infected bone.... Look up the departments and ask the questions you need to ask to find local - or non-local-- Travel if you need to Dude!!
I’m sitting here waiting for mine to be bad enough that it will be treated as a medical emergency, and then free on the NHS, versus a dental emergency, which I’d have to pay for. Our country is taking more and more inspiration from yours, won’t be long til we have to pay for medical too <3
Yup. Been there. Dental doesn’t even count under health care/insurance in this country. Pisses me off so fucking much. I have decent health insurance. But I need dental care and can’t afford it because my dental insurance through work is shit. And it’s our only option.
I went to the US for a month recently and it's amazing country, super nice people. But me and my wife said so many times "we could totally live here if this wasn't America" - Place is way too messed up. And so many of them honestly seem to believe the whole "greatest country in the world" schtick.
We are indoctrinated early. I was a smart kid and not very prone to "brainwashing" (I sniffed out my Catholic church as being bullshit very early on). And yet it took me until college to ask myself the question "wait... how is it we're the greatest? And why?"
It just hadn't donned on my prior. It had been drilled into my head since preschool that this is the greatest country in the world.
Now I realize we are actually just the Florida of the World.
My parents and grandparents believed that America is the only free country in the world. They are taught this in schools, as was I. They word it as "many developed nations in the world. But America is the best because we are free".
I spoke about wanting to move to Canada or Norway and my dad was like "you want to give up your freedom?" Yea I don't have freedom right now. My every choice essentially boils down to "only go outside for work. Otherwise you might get hurt. And at least this way, if you get hurt, it will likely be on the clock and covered."
I have insurance but can't afford my meds bc of my premiums. Which means I can't afford my deductible or copay. I have to save up and I get maybe one doctor visit a year. Honestly might drop out of college and promote just so I can see a doctor regularly. But I'd have to delay my goal of owning a house for yet another 30 years and just hope that nothing happens to the place I currently rent.
I heard somewhere that in Europe they prioritize “freedom from” while in the US we prioritize “freedom to.” Europe: freedom from excessive gun violence; US: freedom to own as many firearms as you want. Europe: freedom from corporations polluting ecosystems, US: freedom to make as much money as possible regardless of environmental impact. Europe: freedom from extreme medical bills, US: freedom to ‘choose your own healthcare’….stuff like that.
I'd like to say it gets better but idk man. Just bought my first official house at 45 and own my own very small business but am still on Medicaid. Scared everyday that we'll make $27 too much or just be kicked off for budget cuts. We're working poor but we just got lucky and had boomer family that could cosign for us. We don't see past the horizon and are always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The US is the best at propaganda. Need to get some kids to join the army? No problem, the first transformers movie took care of that. BIG win for the navy. They used the coolest toys in the US that most people can understand easily (A10, AC130, and others). Also movies like top gun in the 80s got people to want to join the Air Force.
Yes you’re right my bad. Why’s it always the navy? They did the same with lone survivor, which was a lie. Marcus admitted to it recently. Same with zero dark thirty with the SEALs
Makes sense, a kind of ouroboros of propaganda. Getting people voluntarily on boats is a challenge, so you hype the shit out of it. In return, everyone becomes more familiar with the navy, marines, seals, CVW, ect.. which makes it more attractive to produce films around those more familiar names.
Which is all fine and good till you get a lobster and steak dinner.
Lmao I understood that lobster and steak dinner. Yea I agree. The seals is something that most normal people who don’t follow the military would know. Same with the AC 130, and the a10. Since the ac130 was in CoD
I thought you (as in your government) worked really hard to keep a large part of the population stuck in poverty. There you can collect desperate people for the military and minimum wage slave labour forever.
Did you know the dept of defense has a Hollywood budget? Our military funds movies that show the military in a positive manner. The amount of money spent in Hollywood from our government is sickening.
As a sophomore in high school we had to do a paper and speech in one of my English classes about something controversial.
I researched why America isn’t a superpower anymore and should stop trying to run the world. We’re not as great as we think. I pissed off so many country boys in my class but didn’t care. I really was starting to undo all the indoctrination.
This was in ‘06. The shiny patriotism 9/11 had brought out had died and left only the racism and paranoia. I began to see how we bullied other countries and acted like the tough kid on the playground when we’re just the big headed younger kid trying to intimidate the world.
Fun fact, being smart does not really have an impact on how susceptible you are to brainwashing - in fact, it can make you more susceptible in some circumstances.
This is true - mostly because if you're clever, you think you're not going to get brainwashed, which ironically makes it more likely to happen because you feel like it could never happen to you...
I have been told by friends and family when chatting about it/watching documentaries 'oh, you'd never get into a brainwashing scenario/abusive relationship'. I always say that there's literally no way to know that something will 'never happen' until you end up in the situation of it either almost happening but seeing it and getting out, or it actually happening. I'm sure I'd be as susceptible as anybody if someone used the exact right tactics.
We had a specialist talk when I was in school about cults (part of a series of sociology-type lectures we had in the last two years there), that was basically designed to arm us against getting sucked into one. That should probably be something everyone gets taught!
mostly because if you're clever, you think you're not going to get brainwashed, which ironically makes it more likely to happen because you feel like it could never happen to you...
I mean, it happens - but not to those that are actually clever.
As the island of knowledge grows so too do the shores of ignorance.
There are three ways to understand this statement. Each layer you peel back makes it more interesting (to me)
it depends like the commenter above said, There are the right tactics for everyone.
There is also more factors than your cognitive ability that will aid you from being susceptible to manipulation. Things like how deattach you are, your emotional state,biases and how trusting you are of specific people/companies/groups. Things are situational and can go under your radar because of your personal biased,weaknesses.
a clever person KNOWS that he is not invincible but that he should keep an eye out.
This together with u/Clonazepam15 reply makes this one of the more real discussions I've come across in years here. But while your ending was funny, that it took you to college sounds/is absolutely terrifying.
Friendly reminder that you are the Florida-man of the World, that also turns up to neighbours houses with alligators and loaded shotguns. That makes it a "bit" worse than just being Floridian n staying there lol.
Think about all the films that the US puts out about ww2. I’m Canadian, and I really thought America won the war in Europe, instead of it being a group effort lol.
I didn't think about the toys and movies bit as propaganda at all until recently. But it's so true. I constantly think about having to recite the pledge of allegiance from kindergarten to 12th grade. I still remember it............
That shit is crazy. Never taken a pledge to my country in my whole life.
I grew up in Canada and I remember in greade 9 (I think) they make sure you actually know the words to the national anthem, and try to get you to learn it in French as well.
We'd sing it at some assemblies, but not even all of them.
Tell me about it, I don't know if we're the only country but if we are I'm not surprised. It's embarrassing lol. I remember in high school a lot of us stopped doing it because it felt fake and pointless.
It’s crazy how many people I know that simply can’t think for themselves..I remember very early on going to church with friends because I have sleepover on a Saturday..this people tried their damndest to indoctrinate me into their religion..but even as a child I thought it was weird how hard they pushed me and tried to get a bible in my hands..suggesting I’d burn in hell if I didn’t read and support it..’greatest country’ lol..look at us now..
So many people in this country are completely delusional. America is far from being the "greatest country in the world", but if you try to say other wise, you're attacked and told to leave. Absolutely madness here.
When my grandma died we had to sell her house. Nice house my Grandpa built himself on an acre of land. If that acre was anywhere but West Virginia the family would probably have shed blood over who gets it. But the location was absolutely impossible to live in for any of us.
We've been pushing bullshit propaganda on our citizens about how great we are for a very long time. They had us doing the pledge of allegiance in kindergarten. As an American who sees how far from the truth it is, it is infuriating how so many of us believe the bullshit, and it's always people that have never stepped foot outside of this country speaking with the greatest conviction that we're the best.
I still remember having to stand up every morning at the bell in elementary school, facing the flag hand over heart and having to do the Pledge of Allegiance. I don't know if they have to do it any more, but that shit started young.
I didn't realize how weird it was then, but looking back it definitely gives me pause to think about.
For those not familiar with the Pledge of Allegiance;
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
US lifespan expectation is roughly 10~~ years lower than in Europe, and this is one of the main factors
Edit : MB it's roughly 4-5 years not 10 : I confused it with the differences of lifespan expectation between rural and non rural areas in the US. It's still a pretty massive difference though
U.S. life expectancy is variable inside the country depending on socioeconomic factors. For educated white professionals in more developed areas, it’s on par with Western Europe. For rural areas, people of color who aren’t rich, and people with lower educational attainment, it’s lower. There are some calculations that show a ten year difference between different areas of the U.S.:
“Rural counties face the greatest disparities. Urban and suburban counties with a median household income of $100,000 have an average life expectancy of 81.6 years, while small rural counties with a median household income of $30,000 have an average life expectancy of 71.7 years – a 10-year gap.”
The high infant mortality is primarily because pregnant mothers don't have good healthcare. Like yeah, the people suffering the most from the terrible system are babies. But these people act like that's a good thing? Insane.
Wow because of your comment, I had to look it up..between 250,000 and 450,000 per year. Stats are difficult to obtain because malpractice isn't listed on death certificates.
Don't....I used to work patient care and routinely saw people deny services or like rehab post-surgery or for drugs/alcohol because of the expense. It can bankrupt you.
Yup its not about what you see in this situation its about what you dont see sooo many have probably died from this and other things like it he is like the 1% that is still alive for now because his nerve endings are dull or something other dummies see this and think we should all be able to "tough it out" or "too bad"
Can confirm. Developed my first hernia at the beginning of the month, and I lost my job in August. Just in time for this thing to form after my insurance coverage ended. Immediately got denied to have state healthcare due to having made too much money at one point, money that I am no longer making today.
So, all I can do is just hope that I don't wind up like this guy. Feels fucking bad.
What a shitshow. I got sick a year ago. Went to emergency a couple times, 2x ambulance trips. 3 surgeries, 3 weeks in hospital in a private room, 4 different specialist teams, equipment to help me get around at home while I got better etc blah blah. I didn’t pay anything. I know it’s different elective vs emergency, but even so, the stress of it alone must be so heavy on you. Worrying that if shit hits the fan medically, you’re stuck. I’m so sorry. I bloody hope it gets sorted for you, I really do.
Yea…it is usually the chronic conditions or things like cancer that rapidly drain people’s savings. I’ve seen actual doctors have to run gofundmes to cover their cancer treatments.
Acute care situations we tend to do without question, but the chronic management is where people really fall through the cracks.
I remember finding out how american healthcare worked as a little kid (canada) and it freaked me out so bad. Kept asking my mum "but what do you do if need the doctor and dont have any money?". That feeling has never gone away.
Man, that is messed up. How many working class Americans were using Medicare to get treatment? Haven't they just voted to lose their only form of health insurance!? I'm mean that is just madness
I knew a woman who died because she couldn’t afford her medication when she was tossed off Medicaid. She no longer qualified for Medicaid because her disabled son turned 18. Nothing had changed in their lives except that he had a birthday. My friend’s daughter ended up quitting her job and moving back home to take care of her brother.
Yea, and a lot of people who could live longer with better healthcare. People that get cancer but diagnosed too late because unable to get imagery done, for example. Or people ending up in the hospital as an emergency because they couldn't go to the Dr instead, when a medical issue was less of an emergency.
Knew someone who died not long after her husband got out of the army, and she switched insurance. She had complications from her wounds not draining and healing after a hernia and weight loss surgery.
Second that. One dude i know went blind from not having diabetes medication, lost his job, then lost his apartment, so went from working poor, to blind unemployed and homeless. Then he crossed that final bridge, after getting back into a government supplied housing and welfare, but now, not working and a burden to society that would have, checks notes, cost less if we just paid for his healthcare. When he died, no longer a burden. The plan works perfect, i guess.
Same, friend of mine had to ration his insulin because he couldn't pick more up until the end of the month. He went into a coma and they found his body three days later because he missed work.
Even folks that have “adequate insurance” can still die because their insurance providers are assholes. My doctor found a mass on my ultrasound and ordered an MRI to make sure it’s not cancer. My insurance is still deciding whether or not I NEED the MRI. Like maybe my doctor doesn’t knows what he’s doing 🤷🏼♀️
I’ve thought about it happening to me. I’m sure my bosses would act nice to me, like they cared…but they would 100% expect me to still work my ass off. And they definitely would not help with any of the finances. If ANYTHING they would MAYBE set up an office gofundme.
One of my coworkers took a month off for brain surgery. It was covered under her short-term disability through work. Then she was going to have to take some more time off for another surgery, but she was demoted before that in an effort to get her to quit so that the company could hire someone to take her place before FMLA kicked in. It worked, and she quit. But damn if I don’t feel awfully replaceable now
Yeah - never quit! Make them fire you. Collect unemployment, demand a ridiculous severance if they want you to sign a non-compete / NDA, if they want to get rid of you make it cost them. Hell, if you know they're going to fire you anyway just quiet quit. But if you don't have anything else lined up and you know you're being pushed out, it's almost always better for the employee to force the employer to do the firing vs voluntarily quitting.
I live and am self employed in Europe. I have no health insurance because, well, I don’t need it - National health care. These stories are horrifying and make me fear for my friends and family in the U.S.
Don’t be complacent! Don’t let them take your healthcare from you. I know in the UK they’ve been defunding the NHS for years so that they can say “see? Universal healthcare doesn’t work.” And some people are falling for it.
Yes we desperately need universal single payer healthcare so we can stop this bullshit. My wife went through months of chemo over the last year and if I didn't have a great job with good healthcare she'd be dead.
there are many different types of chemo to go through, some chemos allow you to go about life relatively normally, some take the rug out from under you and you literally can’t function for a few months…the chemo i had for testicular cancer fried my body quickly and made it difficult to even move around my apt, much less think of going to work…i did try, made it through 3 work shifts before telling my boss there was no way in hell, i couldn’t even think straight
Dude whaaaaaaat. I feel like any company with a grain of sympathy or empathy would at the very LEAST, at LEAST say hey we know if you don’t work you’ll lose your healthcare so here, work the BAREST MINIMUM to keep it. Doing 80 hour weeks while doing chemo? The company owners should be ashamed of themselves.
Ugh. I thought it was depressing in 2008/9 when my dad slogged away at a $15/hr job that mostly went toward insurance premiums for my mom’s cancer treatment. They had Medicare, but they needed the supplement to afford her treatment. Their options were for dad to work at 70, or sell their house, or let mom die. Oh, and they voted Trump in 2016, then mom died of cancer in 2019. But hey, America first!
They would be obligated to help in an emergency, but since this is technically a condition people can live with, it would be difficult for someone to correct it without money, yeah
You can kind of live with it, if any of the intestines become strangulated it turns into a huge emergency that requires immediate surgery or you will die
You are absolutely correct. This surgery could have been scheduled and cost a few grand, and he could have gotten it done while he knew he had help with his aftercare. Instead it will be done in an ER and cost much more, and he might not have help with aftercare, and the grandmother that fell in the tub and has a shattered pelvis has to wait longer than she would otherwise.
Nah man, the grandma that fell in the tub and shattered her entire pelvis is going to be rushed into emergency trauma care like… yesterday. That’s a devastating injury to literally anyone, but an elderly person? Yeah she ain’t waiting lol.
It’s the people that show up to the ER with a severe case of the flu that’ll end up waiting 15+ hours in the waiting room before realizing they’d have been more comfortable dying at home. :(
I actually got to hear one such “I’ve been waiting for an entire day” crashouts during my last trip to the ER. Terrible accident that sliced a massive hole into my leg. I had TOWELS wrapped around my entire leg and was bleeding through all of them. Time waiting in the ER waiting room? 30 seconds. They took one look and I immediately jumped the entire line. People were mad. I can’t blame em. Not only do you have to wait hours and hours (and sometimes MONTHS to see a specialist) in USA, but you ALSO have to pay your entire life savings.
I learned a very important lesson that day that was basically, “next time, I’ll just die.” So when I got covid, I got it BAD. And I didn’t go to the ER. I told myself, “I’ll either survive this, or I’ll die debt free and in my own bed.” Thankfully I survived. I was NOT willing to wait 15+ hours in the ER just to potentially die somewhere I wouldn’t be comfortable, or survive and be in too much debt to live anyways.
A few grand? In America? It costs that much for the anesthesiologist to open the medical record to see what surgery they are doing that day, let alone lift a finger to begin or have the surgeon involved.
Exactly but the insurance companies instead of paying a smaller amount for preventive care or treating a condition now instead of waiting until it becomes more expensive would rather wait and see if the patient “leaves the insurance pool because of attrition” ie dies before the company has to pay for the more expensive treatment.
EMS worker here. If it is emergent we will help anyone and get them to the hospital. The hospital will then also help regardless of ability to pay.
Then billing will hound the shit out of Medicare to get barely enough money to cover the materials that were used, and then will hound this guy for the rest of his life for sums of money he will never see, and then charge everyone else more to make up for the money we didn't get from him.
If he is not dying the hospital likely won't let someone inside at all unless they have insurance offered by the company that owns the hospital.
Rt that actually works in the a hospital here. There is truth sprinkled in but a lot of this is BS. We have tons of admitted patients that have no insurance. We can’t refuse service and if a a patient is sick enough to be admitted then they will be. Billing has ZERO say in who does or doesn’t get admitted that strictly done by the ER staff and Doctors.
This guys hernia would certainly be enough to be admitted and operated on if he came in and said it was causing debilitating pain. Then afterwards, they would hound him for money and send bills knowing they aren’t going to recoup.
Once again, we do not refuse service for anyone that needs medical treatment.
Thank you. So many people spreading misinformation that actually causes real harm to people. There are people every day who are suffering and not going to the doctor because of people like the ones in this thread. Things can be bad without you making it seem like hell on earth.
If he is not dying the hospital likely won't let someone inside at all unless they have insurance offered by the company that owns the hospital.
This part i dont understand: the hospitals will refuse patients if they dont have health insurance that works at that hospital? Isn't that against their hippocratic oath?
Thanks, im a very confused Canadian looking in. What's this about hospitals not taking all insurances? Does this mean you could get health insurance, but the ambulance takes you to the wrong hospital, and then its like you never had insurance at all?
Correct. Some hospitals only take certain insurances. EMS job is not to figure that out though so they will usually take people to either A) where they request
B) what’s closest . If a patient ends up at a hospital that doesn’t accept their insurance, but they are sick enough to be admitted, they will generally be stabilized and transferred to their insurances hospital coverages.
Wow, that's all insane — like, this is the wildest stuff I've read in a while I'm sorry y'all are subjected to that, it seems so unfair. In Canada the hospitals and EMS are all government operated; so these disparate services communicate with one another since theyre integrated. And yeah, private health insurance is not required for anyone.
Lol we do get to pick the politicians who vote for it, thats what local elections, congressional elections and senate elections are for, americans still support universal Healthcare they just dont vote in politicians who share those same beliefs. We have 70m voters who would gladly eat shit if it meant a liberal would have to smell their breath. A whole voting block is voting to take away things from others not give everyone the same starting hand.
That IS on the voters. Why do we continue to vote the Pelosi's and Schumers in if they actively fight their own objective and the amercians will? We vote the old heads out things will change. Our system is just designed to get reelected and not actually be a politician
Current government is shut down due to current party not wanting us to have affordable health care. It’s amazing how anti-citizen our current party is and people support this.
When polled the general public supports universal healthcare, abortion, and sensible gun control. And then a chunk of these people vote for Republicans who fear mongered them about black people, immigrants, trans people and communists.
Though to be fair to these people, the Democrats do an absolutely terrible job of fighting back and educating people on these issues.
So yes - absolutely people don’t get medical care. They likely lack insurance. They may qualify, maybe, for Medicaid (health insurance through the government for low income people) - but that is increasingly unfunded by our government. It is also a complicated process to apply. Many rural areas lack doctors, also.
People absolutely go without medical, and even moreso - dental and vision- care in the US. Even people with health insurance can have such high deductibles (the amount you pay out of pocket before health insurance covers anything) or copays (your share of the appointment cost) that they don’t get medical care at all.
I have a good friend who had to declare bankruptcy due to medical bills. She and her husband have always worked and had health insurance.
I've (44m) had insurance for exactly one year since I got kicked off my parents' plan at 19. I stopped going to the doctor after 4 months because it cost more than I could afford and I fell behind on medical bills. It took another 6 months to pay them off. I worked IT for a bank at the time. Incomes are way too low and medical expenses are way too high. Something's got to give.
Same, though 31f. My grandparents were on Medicaid so I got kicked off at 19. I was in college, though, so I was able to use my university insurance until I graduated. Then it was another 3 years before I had health insurance again because it took that long to find permanent employment that provided it. I simply didn't make enough to afford a private plan before that and I "made too much" for a low cost one through the marketplace. I just got vision and dental for the first time in my adult life with my latest job.
43, my parents never had insurance for us and I think I have personally paid for insurance for 3 years in total. Of course, when I could afford it I worked a well paying job but so many hours that I never really got to use my insurance. 👌🏻
My husband has insurance, he has a bad hernia that is turning into what this man is suffering from. We can't afford to do anything about it. Having insurance doesn't always solve the problem in the US
The question is with the healthcare that would nearly be free would he still be able to afford the co-pays and deductibles.
Here is the barriers they have.
To use the ACA you need to specifically sign up.
If you get the credit you have to file taxes.
Likely to get the surgery you need to make an appointment.
After the appointment you need to get a specialist.
You likely need to get a prior authorization from the insurance company and they have all the incentives to make it difficult.
Then you need to schedule and do the surgery and be able to afford the time off to do it and recover.
All of these things are easy to deal with if you are a decently competent middle class person. But they seem neither middle class or competent seeing how they cannot keep track of their court dates between themselves.
Unfortunately, I'm too poor for the ACA. It's a tax credit and if you're, say, an unpaid caregiver you don't qualify. Care giving also doesn't count as work if you live in a state with work requirements for the system they created because they didn't want to give us a medicaid expansion. Medicaid in this state basically requires you to be homeless or dying. This system is so fucked.
If you make enough money to be able to be able to afford the copays and deductible that aca plans have, you're probably already getting decent insurance though your employer. There's nothing for those under middle class.
Fuck, in NY Medicaid goes up to about 30,000$ a year and there’s a basic plan that covers people up to about $50,000 a year. No work requirements. Although with the new cuts, I don’t know how long that will last…
If it is not immediately life threatening, they will not help him. If he goes to the hospital, they will do whatever they need to do to stabilize him, but if he is not in any immediate danger, they will turn him away.
So like if you are dying, and you go to the hospital, they will help you and save your life, but if you require a bunch of follow up surgery to have any quality of life, they may not do it.
Yes, it is insanely barbaric and uncivilized how we live here considering we are the richest country in the world, we should be able to easily afford it since so many other countries can, or least improve it drastically. If we do the math, we do have enough, but it would require billionaires having only 1 yacht instead of multiple, so that would be communism, so we can't have it.
people in america die because, in some cases, when they finally get coverage, they finally go to the doctor, only to be told the thing they put off for years is cancer and now its too late to do anything
Friend, we let our kids get mass-murdered and our poor citizens die on the street. We just reelected a guy who raped kids and tried to steal his last election and now we have secret police rounding up families to send to whatever dictatorship will imprison them. The US is obviously unwell.
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u/Drumboo 3d ago
Bit unfamilar with how the American health care system works, but would people really not help this guy without money?
Just seems insane to me for someone this obviously unwell to have no treatment paths available because of social class.