Corporate Democrats Using Insurance Industry Talking Points and Republican Fear Mongering to Defeat Medicare For All

No More Private Insurance

How often have democratic politicos from Obama to the current crop of “hold the line” democrats vying for the presidential nomination tried to convince democratic voters who should know better but sadly don’t that a national health insurance plan (aka single payer) would be a disaster especially for workers depriving them of the “joys” of employer-sponsored health insurance. That idiocy won’t work much longer. Scare tactics don’t hold a candle to evidence-based conclusions. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation report, all is not coming up roses in private insurance land. Workers are in desperate straits, the cost of health insurance rising faster than wages. Last year, half of covered workers (75 million) facing exorbitant out-of-pocket costs skipped doctors’ visits or failed to fill prescriptions. And those aren’t the only costs baked into their paychecks. Workers are responsible for almost one-third ($6,300) of the cost of premiums for family coverage plus $1,500–$5,000 to meet their deductibles on top of copays from $10-$40 for each doctor visit. A worker unlucky enough to land in the hospital faces additional outlays of hundreds of dollars. To complete the perfect storm, employer health care is not a shield against “surprise billing” which can tack on thousands to an employee health tab. Does that sound like irreplaceable health insurance to you? Just a little less crappy than other crappier options in the privatized U.S. health insurance system. Don’t believe the do-nothing democrats when they assure you that freedom and choice are the hallmarks of a private insurance industry. It’s no secret that the industry MO is ripping off customers in the name of profits. All the info is here in Corporate Democrats Using Insurance Industry Talking Points and Republican Fear Mongering to Defeat Medicare For All.

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The Verdict is in: Poor Women Aren’t Entitled to an Abortion

Keep Abortion Legal

Outrage is the emotion most Americans feel when they learn Medicaid, the federal insurance program for the poor, does not cover abortion. Actually no. Most Americans are dead set against “their” tax money being used for other peoples’ abortions. They have plenty of company in the three branches of government —legislative, executive and judicial. What’s going on? Americans celebrating themselves as paragons of generosity and kindness turning thumbs down on helping poor women who want to terminate a pregnancy. Want to have an abortion and can afford to pay for it? A June Marist poll found overwhelming support (77%). Yes to abortions for women who can afford them, but hell no to the government paying for them. How do we make sense of these seeming contradictions? The answer may lie in the widening income gap between the very rich and the rest of us. Read “The Verdict is in: Poor Women Aren’t Entitled to an Abortion and decide for yourself.

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Patients Lose When Corporate Looters Suck Billions of Your Dollars out of Healthcare — Is it Too Late to Stop Them?

Patients Over Profits

The corporate capture of Americans’ health care dollars is underway. Last year private equity firms spent a dizzying $63 billion gobbling up doctors’ practices, emergency rooms, surgical centers and more to corner the healthcare market. Patients, stuck with oversized premiums, unconscionable deductibles and rapacious copays, are subsidizing corporate larceny to the tune of $3.65 trillion (as of 2018). Free market bloodsuckers armed with $2.5 trillion of unspent cash from the ballooning stock market and Trump‘s tax cuts masquerading as tax policy, are licking their chops as they anticipate returns of 25% from the misery of Americans struggling to afford medical care. Why should you be concerned that free-market corporations and banksters are looking to monetize your health? For a possible answer, read “Patients Lose When Corporate Looters Suck Billions of Your Dollars Out of Healthcare.— Is It Too Late to Stop Them?

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