For all the discussion about the fate of our democracy the fact is that there are specific issues that are going to matter (a lot) to voters. Practical stuff that affects their daily lives and finances and a big one is, as it has been election after election health care access and costs.
Yes, more Americans are insured than ever before, and there have been reforms that have helped countless Americans. The system however is still a mess. And conservatives haven’t let go of their “the market will handle it” mantra. Even with Health Care. The “Market?” Shopping around for health care insurance or specific medical care? The first one, just choosing a plan is complicated as hell and even educated people have to work like hell to compare plans and figure out what’s best for them and their budget. And still many get it wrong and face financial hardships if not ruin. As for the second, if you’re inured or violently ill all of a sudden, especially if you aren’t home/near your regular doctor’s office (or it’s after hours) “shopping around for the lowest price/best deal” is a ridiculous notion!
Yet that’s exactly what conservatives say, INSIST in fact is the solution to the health care crisis (yes, it’s still a crisis) in this, the wealthiest country on earth. Shopping for a health care plan is bad enough, but shopping for specific services like emergency care? Or even standard preventative measures simply isn’t practical. Conservatives claim the “invisible hand of the market” will soothe people’s health care needs. I call bullshit.
Look, there’s already a ton of Trump in the news this week and it’s only Monday. The rest of the week won’t get any better. Even President Joe Biden today, in the early stages of kicking off in earnest the 2024 campaign talked about the very real danger of Trump and MAGA. Yes, Democracy IS on the ballot. If Trump gets the nomination (almost certain) and wins in November it’s over. His saying he’d be “Dictator” for one day (the first) made me instantly think if D-Day was “The Longest Day” Trump’s “one day” dictatorship will make that like the blink of an eye. One day my ass. It WILL be the longest of f**king days. So I get it. Voters need to be reminded of this terrible truth over and over. However, a big part of why Joe Biden was elected in 2020 was he was able to balance his “Soul of the Nation” message with an ability to connect with voters on what he (accurately) called “Kitchen Table Issues.” Like Health Care.
(For the record, I get my own health care via the Veteran’s administration and have for almost two decades. It every bit as good, better in fact than health care I got via the private insurance system via employers. And WAY less of a hassle administratively and co-pays are much, much lower. So I’M lucky. Hundreds of millions of American’s are not)
I saw an article earlier today from CNBC that illustrates my point as to why “the market” ain’t what it’s cracked up to be when it comes to health care. Conservatives say if people would just shop around they would save money, the system would save money and everything would be hunky-dory. Again, I call bullshit. The writer of the article details the experience of getting what’s become a common preventative care test we all are familiar with. A Colonoscopy. I don’t know how many are performed every day around the country but it’s got to be many tens of thousands. So are numerous other preventative diagnostic procedures but let’s focus on just this one.
The writer (Ryan Ermey) decided even though he was younger than the age where doctors and even insurance plans say periodic colonoscopies normally should begin it was prudent for him to have one. His doctor (for reasons not articulated) said he should. Being outside the age range where he knew his insurance would cover all or most of the cost he decided to check it out. To get an “out of pocket” price he could expect to pay. Again, this is someone who is educated and not only diligent but a business reporter. From his insurer to his doctor to various clinics the guidance he got about how much he’d personally have to shell out was about as clear as mud. So he had to hope for the best:
How did I step foot into a surgical center not knowing what the bill would be? It wasn’t for lack of trying. I asked the doctor if the procedure was covered, and he said yes. But my insurance company said I’d be on the hook for a percentage of the cost since I was under 45.
I called the clinic to ask what the full price was, and they told me to call my insurance company. My insurer told me to get in touch with the clinic’s billing department. Billing said they’d call me back. They didn’t. By the time the day of my colonoscopy arrived, I threw my hands up.
The doctor had told me I absolutely needed it. I would just have to eat the cost, whatever it was.
No one wanted to give this guy an answer. Now, there ARE billing codes for damned near every medical test and procedure one can imagine, IF someone with access to the system a) wants to bother looking it up, and b) is willing to share the information. A colonoscopy is a common enough procedure and costs enough that each person this guy contacted could have looked up the cost and told him. In particular his insurer should have been able to, if he told them places he might have the procedure done could have looked up whatever price they’d charge and what the patient’s share of the cost would be. Call me cynical but maybe the insurer (and other links in the chain) wanted to wait and see how much they could screw someone else in the system, or ultimately the patient out of.
And again I note this is a commonly done procedure. So are mammograms and pap smears. Or tests a Primary Care physician suggests. For example for several years I was urged to get tested for sleep apnea. Eventually I did and sure enough I need a CPAP but the issue is that it requires a night in a sleep clinic and the “fun” of getting all hooked up so they can monitor you. As I mentioned earlier for me the cost wasn’t an issue as I knew I wouldn’t be billed at all. But for someone with private insurance who lives in or close to an urban area where their are choices trying to find which one will cost the least out of pocket after seeing whether and how much their insurance will pay is a nightmare.
Other countries, by which I mean every other developed country on the face of this earth don’t have this problem. Because they’ve all got some form of true, actual NATIONAL health care!
By all measures President Biden should be cruising to re-election. But there are a lot, a LOT of people who aren’t feeling good about the economy or the state of their lives and living expenses. There are various issues that will come up during this election year. Some, the environment for example are important and the bulk of voters know it but it, like some other important issues is abstract. Even inflation is rather abstract to many people. Seeing the rate has fallen doesn’t register with them. Increase rents or mortgage costs DO. So do prices at the gas pump, and the costs of items they buy every trip to the grocery store. Let’s be honest. Price gouging took place during the pandemic and there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that much of that will ever get back anywhere close to what it was before COVID.
Especially big ticket items like rent/mortgage rates. Or health insurance costs!
Kitchen table issues. It’s clear that promoting “Bidenomics” hasn’t done what the administration hoped it would. Touting the stock market like Trump did? Nope. That’s another one of those abstract things since most people/families don’t own stock. They DO know what they pay at the gas pump. They know what they pay at the grocery store. They know what they pay for housing. And they know what they pay in health care insurance premiums every month. AND they worry (and with reason) that despite having health care coverage something might happens that wrecks them financially. From the linked article:
When the bill came in the mail, I breathed a sigh of relief: $50. But it could have been much worse. The internet is full of horror stories of seemingly routine procedures running patients thousands of dollars and crippling their financial plans.
The thing is, he never should have had to put in the time and effort, nor go through the stress of waiting and hoping he’d have to pay ten times (or more) than what he did. “Shopping” for health care like conservatives say is the answer to all this? When even a business reporter tries to do due diligence and get a straight answer about the cost of a common diagnostic procedure and can’t there’s a huge problem. So yes, the President and us too need to keep talking about the fate of Democracy being on the ballot this fall. But he (and we) must do what it takes to get through to people, to connect with them on those old-fashioned Kitchen Table issues.
And let’s remember the 147 gop insurrectionists have free coverage so they could care less about the rest of us.
Let’s also not forget how certain “conservatives” get upset at the idea that “the market” might want to have plans that include “contraceptives for women” or “HIV medications” and demand that they not be forced to participate in a plan that “violates” their “deeply held religious convictions.” (And the notoriously “conservative” Fifth Circuit has backed these nuts, ruling that such services and drugs cannot be included in plans that the plaintiffs were “forced” to participate in.)
con xtian ‘pubes’ “deeply held religious convictions” have the depth of a puddle of spit.