The situation is dire. Millions of people in the United States are months away from losing their health care. On January 1, dramatic changes to Medicaid outlined in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, or OBBA, will take effect, impacting who is eligible for Medicaid. The new law excludes some groups completely (like most immigrants), introduces “community engagement” requirements (defined as 80 hours a month of work, volunteering, or school) for most people (apart from the elderly, children, and pregnant women), and requires renewals twice a year (as opposed to yearly). Some people have been impacted already (Nebraska implemented its changes on May 1 and began disenrolling people this month), and some will be kicked off their health care in October, when some previously qualified immigrants are made ineligible for Medicaid.
Though 92 percent of people should remain eligible for Medicaid coverage (through either a qualifying exemption or meeting the community engagement requirements), millions will still end up losing care.
Should be MediCAID for all.
Medicare was originally suppose to cover everyone when it was planned by FDR’s admin.
It’s mathematically possible to have basic necessities for all with a combination of tax increases and lowering the military budget to $100 billion a year.
A combination of tax increases on capital gains, inheritances, incomes (particularly heavier taxation on net worth over $10 million) and VAT would raise effective tax rates to 35-50% for most households, provide education, food, housing assistance, childcare and universal healthcare (with total power over rates and medication pricing), while creating enough of a budget surplus to slowly pay down the national debt and close the budget deficit.
Note that nearly everyone would benefit from this, as the reduced expense of necessities would offset the extra paid in taxes, and most households would end up ahead.
And that’s not even getting into reforming a controlled private/public pension system, which would be included in all of this. Along with workers rights reforms and mandatory distribution of corporate shares to employees. Let’s also talk about private/public coop to rapidly build high-density, green, multi-family housing to drastically increase housing supply to affordable levels.
Of course all of this would be…. Socialism.
Didn’t you even once think of the poor billionaires?
The irony is they would still be obscenely rich under such a system.
Discovering what Medicare really means is depressing as fuck. We need single payer, insurance must die.
Discovering what Medicare really means is depressing as fuck.
Why?
It costs hundreds of dollars per month, 20% per visit. Unless you want to roll the dice with no out of pocket max, you’ll still have to deal with networks and a 17% denial rate. It’s still insurance and, as such, does nothing to prevent the vicious cycle of exorbitant overcharging in the healthcare industry.
Health insurance in America is designed to extract as much wealth as possible, actual care is an afterthought. We need single payer, or at least a HEAVILY regulated multi-payer system. We need to simply take care of people when they are sick and to stop the artificially inflated prices. Medicare doesn’t go far enough.
A strong nation would implement medical care for all as a way to all its citizens and visitors. That way when people get sick, they can also get better and return to work.
Medical, dental, and vision covered entirely for everyone. Heal people so they can do work they want to. It’s not that hard. Look around the world and it’s easy to see.
