• @iAvicenna
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    -110 months ago

    I am not entirely sure Americans are really partial towards free healthcare

    • @EnderMB
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      410 months ago

      I’m British, and it’s a cornerstone of our society. While the Tories have been trying to grind it down for over a decade, I still believe that if the NHS were scrapped we’d see full-scale, national riots.

      Sadly, I agree. While the president does not get to dictate this, I always maintain that you get the politicians you deserve. There aren’t enough widespread calls for nationalised healthcare in America…so why would Biden do it to appease a small percentage of people? If you actually wanted it, you’d promote a career politician that focuses on this movement.

      • @iAvicenna
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        -310 months ago

        I also live in Britain. Unfortunately, a crippled free healthcare cannot be commended too much too. I have heard of people having to wait months for their second appointment after a cancer diagnosis.

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          I mean its not much better right now in the 'states. My wife had to wait months to see a numerologist after 3 concussions in as many months at work, and became severely depressed from the near constant migraines and everything else that comes with such a situation. My sister in law suffers from severe Trigeminal Neuralgia which for her is only treatable with a minor surgery every 2-8 years. This disorder has a reputation for resulting in significantly more deaths by suicide than any other cause. She has to wait months to get her arguably life-saving surgery every time its come up (and that’s been twice in the time that I’ve known her)

          • @iAvicenna
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            110 months ago

            sorry to hear that having to pay insurance for crappy healthcare is a nightmare indeed. nevertheless what is happening in the US or UK both boils down the same thing, bad political decisions from people who are mostly after personal gains.

    • Cowbee [he/him]
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      310 months ago

      The majority of Americans support it, its generally only the wealthy who oppose it because they would pay more in taxation and can’t cut in line.

      • @iAvicenna
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        110 months ago

        Don’t the average american right wing voters think free healthcare and taxing the rich is (evil) communism?

        • @[email protected]
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          310 months ago

          The demographic you’re referring to is a portion of conservatives that’s hard to specifically categorize, some of them are libertarians that hate government involvement while some are MAGA followers that can’t think for themselves. The portion that dislikes free healthcare because of evil communism is also the group that thought the ACA and Obamacare are different things. When the Republicans tried to kill the ACA a few years ago it had majority support from conservatives until it whiplashed the opposite way, there were interviews on TV where people were complaining about Obamacare and saying that th Republican ACA was a great plan, the interviewer would then tell them they’re the same and they didn’t believe it. This campaign of embarrassing people probably actually saved the ACA.

          The real reason Conservatives dislike free healthcare is a misguided belief that the government is inefficient or incapable. In reality Medicare is far more cost efficient than the majority of private insurance. Likewise reports that you have to wait in free healthcare countries really don’t matter because we have to wait for healthcare too, both systems are triage based. If you have a broken leg you might have to wait at the ER, but if you’re having a heart attack you’re going to get immediate care. If you try to schedule a routine dental visit you may have to wait several weeks, but if you had an accident and knocked out all your teeth you’re likely going to the front of the line.

          https://youtu.be/sx2scvIFGjE?si=2jGK8Bqwiu7S0GSh

          https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/07/upshot/one-third-dont-know-obamacare-and-affordable-care-act-are-the-same.html

          https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/09/29/increasing-share-of-americans-favor-a-single-government-program-to-provide-health-care-coverage/

          https://www.reddit.com/r/AskConservatives/comments/yoyj63/why_are_conservatives_against_universal/

        • Cowbee [he/him]
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          110 months ago

          American conservatives are a minority that only have political pull thanks to gerrymandering and the electoral college, most Americans are Liberals or Neoliberals as opposed to fascists. Even then, single payer Healthcare polls surprisingly well, though not a majority of conservatives support it.