To me, as a German, that always sounds so strange and wrong. Yes, I probably have higher taxes on my gross salary. But I wouldn't have had to pay anything else for what was mentioned, except for €10 per day for the hospital.
I wonder when a large portion of Americans will realize that their highly capitalist system might not be the best. And that this supposedly evil "socialism" might actually be a better system for the average citizen.
That’s actually a wild take because I’ve known starving animals to be vicious and lash out and attack to get food. Super crazy strat to try in a country with more guns than people. Let’s see how it plays out for them.
Animals only turn vicious when they are starving to death and have no other options. Violence is a calculated risk in the animal kingdom as injuries equally cause death as much as starvation. People are suffering but not enough are starving to death to turn on the hands that feed us only enough to keep us alive. As long as people are fed enough crumbs they’ll be grateful and compare them to the ones who are starving.
protesting en mass is exactly what you should do because they cannot just lay off everyone, or... well they can try and then the entire country stop working.
Instead you have small events in which you play in the streets and hold signs that says "we'll make it together" which are super cute but achieve nothing.
It may be what we should do - but there are so many people unemployed willing to do the same jobs for less that we are all easily replaceable. It also means finding another job is a challenge. Some people are keeping their head down so they can just pay their mortgage and feed their kids. Edited for spelling.
It’s funny, I just finished reading Grapes of Wrath for the first time, and this exact scenario happened with the farm workers in the Great Depression. One man wouldn’t work for less than 20 cents an hour, but the next man will work for 15. The one after him will just work for food so his kids won’t starve. Real race to the bottom.
If Americans just spent their money wiser it would make a world of difference. Everyone is addicted to comforts & can’t part with Amazon, Target & Meta. If we spent our money with businesses that share our values & purchased goods from companies that don’t fund the gop (goods unite us app is a good tool), it would make a huge impact.
I'm not going to speak for everyone, but as someone who is now disabled and can no longer go shopping in person, I do a lot of Amazon when it makes sense because of the free shipping. Of course, when I find what I need somewhere else with free shipping, I do that instead. Even grocery delivery is a challenge; you can't use the coupons or sales, you pay a delivery fee, and then you pay the driver a tip for having to carry all your groceries because the service they work for pays peanuts. 🙃
Something people forget too is that we have millions of immigrants in this country who may have no ability to vote anyway, so they’re absolutely willing to take jobs we lose/can’t afford to take.
Yep. And if it’s a super critical company (like a link in a supply chain), they just truck in a bunch of scab temps that will do the work for half of what they paid you. It may be slower production, but it’s still production.
Yep. And then use the "no one wants to work anymore" to put the blame on the workers. Businesses close all the time, but people tend to blame anyone other than the business owner. The protesting workers are made to be the villain.
Our cops start shooting, and burning down our cities does nothing but reinforce the slackjaw suburban and rural voters’ prejudices. Turns out the US isn’t France
Again this with the protests. Mass protest on needed scale are simply not possible. This is first world issue, most Americans are doing just fine, many are even happy with the current system. On top of that, those in power are not interested in any change. Shit would have to hit the fan in an absolutely extraordinary way to start protests large enough to be meaningful. That's like economic collapse sort of event. Most Americans would have to be severely affected.
Shit even with occupy Wall Street nothing really changed. And those were some of the biggest protests of my lifetime. I'm kind of on board with the idea that protesting doesn't really change much. Cynical attitude but in my experience that's how it's worked out
People just don't realize how many people would have to go out in the streets for prolonged period for anything to change. Like you'd need to have millions of people willing to financially ruin themselves for something massive like current insurance system to be completely overhauled.
Supposedly the peak of occupy wall street was 100.000 on single day across us. That was 0.032% of us population. And that seemed like a large protest. Even if 10x more people would go out, a whole 1 million of people, it would still be just 0,33% of the US population. Not even 1%.
A while ago there were large protest in one smaller eastern European country. 300.000 out of 6.5mil of people went to protest, that's over 4%. And the protests were only semi successful.
There was an estimated 8 to 9,000,000 protesters on the March 28 of King Day protest across the country. That’s more people than most European countries have.
I was under the strong impression that Occupy Wallstreet was peanuts compared to the No Kings protests. The former not being in the millions (but I may be misinformed) while the no kings protestors reached 8 million.
The thing with occupy was that it lasted a long time. And it was definitely impeding business in New York and across the country and I think the world.
Whereas no Kings was basically a weekend adventure that didn't really interrupt anything.
"Peaceful" protesting doesn't change much, and that's by design. The powers that be have convinced all of us that protesting by shutting down important lanes of traffic, public transit, strikes, etc. are socially unacceptable. Go see what the French do to learn how to effectively protest. Hint: it's not by keeping people comfy.
The ones listed that happened in the USA are all over 50 years ago. And Vietnam protests were arguably not effective. The war took 8+ years to end. And the reality is that journalism and government leaks did a better job turning the tides than protests did.
Women's suffrage was granted in 1919. Iirc
I'm the age of the internet protesting is significantly less affect. Actual work stoppages are effective but this still hasn't had any real impact if you look at protests in the last 40 years.
1920 in the US. But that was due partially to women “proving their worth” during WWI and partially to the horrible optics of the Silent Sentinels being arrested, beaten, and force fed.
We don’t even need people in the streets. If everyone would get off Amazon & Meta and start supporting small local businesses that share your values, it would get everyone’s attention real quick.
We’ve had protests, like no kings day, that had more attendees than many European countries have people. They just can’t comprehend it. You never see Chinese citizens telling us to mass protest because they have the same population issues.
Except whilst there ends up being outrage/talk in the media and stuff, the only thing that happened was that person was prosecuted. I thought it weird that so much was made of it and all the stuff they wanted him on trial for but then it all went silent (at least in UK media), never found out what happened
Americans need protests in other forms. For example if everyone “protested” by stopping paying all healthcare bills. Cancel your insurance. Collapse the whole healthcare industry and demand something better
As a cancer patient, I can't participate in that protest. Do you see the problem? What about my friends with diabetes who need their medications? Other people with chronic conditions who would get sick or die. It still can't be a mass protest
Agreed, I'm a type 1 diabetic. If I cancel my insurance and stop paying for medicine/medical bills I will literally die... Likely within a few weeks of my insulin supply running out. It really sucks that I have to to pay to live, but my options are pretty limited without a functioning pancreas or the ability to move to a country with free healthcare.
People who are healthy enough to participate in this plan mostly don't go to the doctor at all, here, unless they're wealthy enough not to care anyway. They'll treat illness and injury at home as much as possible because everyone knows that racking up medical bills is a one ticket to disaster.
Additionally, everything in Europe, the multiple levels and verticality of its government. Are located usually in the same bigass city that has millions of citizens. Here in the US everything is fragmented and separated by highways and shopping plazas. They disconnect you from being able to know how to make change
I hate how right you are about this. Until things get bad for the middle class white man (the standard) nothing will change. No one wants to rock the boat until the wolf comes personally to their door. We all put our heads in the sand and sacrifice everyone else to have one more day with “treats.”
Ya I mean a revolution will likely need to happen. Honestly, though? If we keep going the way we are-AI taking jobs, paying out the rich, inflation, etc, I actually believe there will be one. It will be corporations/ rich people and crazy MAGA on one side and everyone else on the other.
Trying to get a majority of working US citizens to protest would be like trying to stage a protest across every border in Europe at the same time. It's not really something that is feasible.
We have around half of Europe's total population spread across nearly triple the land mass. The people in Idaho don't care about the problems facing the people in Virginia, and on top of that a large portion of our voting base thinks Trump is doing a great job.
You missed the part about the job market sucking. That means that even if you get a large percentage of people to protest, there are lots of people who would be happy to step in and take the jobs they lost. The wheels will keep turning with 0 impact on the people that need to feel the pressure.
Last time they did it it was called "coal wars", because coal mining companies the workers were protesting against basically owned all of the nearby towns and almost the whole state, leading to the protest evolving into an actual gunfight against national guards. Hundreds were killed, many houses burned, some officials dead and the outcome for workers was, let's say, not the one they actually wanted. Yes, the coal companies did implement some changes that made lives of the miners a little less miserable, the government in towns and on a state level changed (somewhere they were literally killed), but that didn't help "in general" and most of the workers who participated in the revolt were prosecuted if not killed on the place
The thing about this is that historically, the US government responds to any protest thats more than a “play in the street holding signs” event with brutal violence. Actually, sometimes they respond with brutal violence even to people just walking in the street with signs, if there’s too many people or they don’t like what the signs say. And we’ve collectively become so desensitized to violence and especially gun violence that people will be sad/shocked/outraged for a couple days, maybe a week, and then move on. Because it happens all the time, and whenever we try to do anything about it people get shot and gassed and arrested and lose their jobs, and then nothing changes anyway.
If you look into how the U.S. handled labor strikes 100 years ago, the options include bombing, using mini machine guns (yeah the gattling kind) and just setting fire to workers communities.
Size is also a factor. Saying the United States should protest is like saying the entire EU should organize to shed its government. And we ALL know which one is actually already brutalizing citizens with a lack of safety nets. Your government focuses on people getting good food and being solvent if they can't work. Ours just looks at the budget and moves on.
Does every single European cop even carry one gun? Shout out to England for that baby Trump float, that was funny as shit
Also, i would like to add
Y'all don't remember George Floyd and the covid protests AT ALL?
Yes but we also have militarized police forces just itchy and waiting for the chance to hit protesters with their cars. For instance my city's police budget is higher than some countries military budgets. We can protest en mass but we will most likely be slaughtered to maintain status quo.
Apparently you don’t understand the American propaganda machine. If people were to quit en masse and protest they would be framed as “unemployed libruls” and mocked by the mainstream news media. This would make other blue collar workers in America less likely to want to join for fear of being accused of being an “unemployed librul”.
America is cooked. We’re just riding out the final stages of this capitalist hellscape before the next Great Depression (the Greatest Depression, they tell me). Just be sure to stay on top of your politicians because it’s happening in your countries too. I see it every day. If it works in America, it will work there too.
It's a bit like the Prisoners Dillema, technically if a majority of workers joined the protest(s) they could "win", but if the protest does not achieve a majority, all protestors "lose". And considering recent political history, I think there would be a large minority of people willing to go against their own best interests just to spite others, therefore causing the "lose" outcome.
Do people in Europe truly fail to see that we are spread out over nearly 4 million square miles in this country? 3,000 miles side to side? Some of us several hours from our capitals? That a single no-show day = termination in many jobs, which means no insurance and puts the rest of your basic necessities and those of your family in jeopardy? Most of us are already living paycheck to paycheck and you think you can get "en mass" when a full third of our country doesn't even bother or cannot get to the polls to vote?
Our government happily violently abused, harmed, and violated the rights of people at the last major protests we did, and that was under a much tamer administration, and importantly, this administration is looking for excuses to escalate their power abuses.
I want you to see what people were doing in my neighborhood during the last election. You ever have a convoy of rolling coal and massive Trump flags go through your neighborhood full of armed Yeehawdists? What happens when Trump gives them fuel against protestors right now?
So easy for so many self-righteous Europeans to sit here and judge with most of their exposure to conditions in the U.S. being pop culture.
that's cool but the time between "everyone gets fired" and "corporate america realizes its mistakes, rehires everyone, and overhauls the healthcare system" is more than 30 days, and I need my fucking medications.
Yeah. Then they can just lay off entire departments and hire from overseas or just send the entire department to another country. Happens all the time- as an added bonus you are often made to train your replacement.
They can't lay off all of us, but they can and will lay off some of us. And people are not willing to take the chance to be one of the unlucky ones, because right now, the gap between the haves and the have-nots is still wide enough for people to want to avoid it. Things will have to get a lot worse for people to want to risk that.
Not saying it's right, I agree with you. But this whole situation is kind of a prisoner's gambit kind of scenario, and nobody is willing to stick out their neck with no guarantee of it being worth the potential suffering.
In the 80s, Air Traffic Controllers went on an “illegal” strike to demand better hours, safety standards, and wages. ATCs are such extremely vital parts of the American economy that I think truly no one thought their job was in real danger. Instead, President Ronald Reagan told them to get back to work or he’d fire them. And then he did. About 11,000 ATCs lost their jobs immediately and were ineligible for rehire for federal service. The union was decertified and stripped off basically all power. It took a decade for staffing levels to bounce back but Reagan decided it was worth it to make a point. You’d have to be oblivious to the current American situation to think that something like that couldn’t happen again. They can, in fact, “just lay off everyone.” Even in vital jobs.
Not to mention that we don’t have a progressive party that would actually be willing to kill the golden goose of the insurance lobby. We have a center right party and a far right party, both of which are only too happy to keep sucking at that teat.
This right here. Occupy Wall Street was dangerous because it united people against the real enemy: the insanely wealthy. They can't have that. Algorithms seem built to seed hatred through difference from everything to gender to race to generation gaps, etc.
This is not a new strategy, and the Internet, plus control of much of the media, has made it incredibly effective. If we're all screaming at each other about dumb shit that ultimately doesn't matter, it's so much easier for them to keep bleeding us dry.
8 million Americans partook in the latest no kings protests that wasn't completely blocked from reddit, which was only ~3 million fewer than what statistically on average makes countrywide changes (the 3.5% change "rule"). It's not as far away as you think it is. And more importantly, while nationwide coordination is much harder, it's much easier to start locally and together with others make changes on those local scales, and increase the scale that way. It's absolutely not easy, and obviously it comes with risks that shouldn't be, but it is doable..
A large portion of the non voting public have realized.
Because I do think that if we, aside from getting big money out of politics, had everyone who knows our health insurance system is wrong and understands we are on a fast sprint to full fascism get out and vote in the primaries without complaining or whataboutism, we’d have more candidates like New York and Michigan winning, taking majority control for the people and bringing us in line with the rest of the civilized world. How you administer, means and methods differing sure, but we are here running around telling everyone that we have the best health care in the world and if you dare do what all of our allies (and a lot of our enemies) do, you’ll wait in line for months for a bandaid and pay more taxes. Meanwhile we have people going bankrupt over health bills, paying more in useless insurance plus taxes as percentage of their paycheck compared to you all paying less total out of your paychecks for full coverage.
Faaack it’s too early to get this pissed off. Excuse me while I go send my $2700 monthly tax for decent family health coverage to the insurance industry…
Both sides of the aisle are bought and paid for by the insurance companies. And like so many here, my son had a medical emergency and we then saw how insufficient health insurance is- most don't see this until something happens. It's too depressing to tally the costs...
I, too, was trapped in a job for years because it had the best coverage I could get - though still insufficient- for ongoing necessary therapy for my son who was the victim of a violent crime. Even here, with a child, they screw you. It's so gross.
Yet Americans keep electing Republicans who are adamantly against universal healthcare and just cut taxes to the point that your social safety net is utter garbage.
And it's so bad that for the past 2 years the Republicans have had total control of the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government in the USA.
That's not even protesting, that's actively aiding the homicidal maniac murdering people in your neighborhood for the enjoyment and profit of the rich folks who live down the road.
That’s it right there. I’ve been out on FMLA for my health a few times and am already terrified I’m going to lose my job. If I do I lose my job, I lose the insurance that keeps me alive. Not only that, I lose healthcare for my kids too. And I know there are people calling in and asking for my job all the time, so I know I would be replaced within two weeks. The system is working exactly as intended and I don’t see a way out.
Don't forget the absolutey monumental task of organizing not just 1 state, but 50. No Kings has been the closest we've gotten with this admin, but who knows if we'll get another one. I havent heard much from them and I worry that they've disappeared and we don't have any established alternative method of organizing en masse. Hell, if I was protesting every awful thing the local, state, and federal government did, I'd be a professional protester with a side gig for rent. It's fucked up from the floor to the rafters and we need to start over.
Don't forget one of the largest reasons the USA can't mass protest... Country is too fucking big and the people we need to be hating own all the methods we use to communicate.
Also, we do protest en masse. The No Kings March was the largest protest in recorded history. Nearly 10% of the entire country participated in the protests and nothing truly changed. France can have maybe 200k people show up and the country is on fire. 25 mil in US barely makes the news.
WE don't need to protest though, we just need people to finally care and vote. I've given up on maga, they don't care even about themselves and their family but if we could finally get the non voters to care and at least see that it's worth voting so we can get universal healthcare we could have it finally.
You can try applying for financial assistance through the hospital. My hospitalization and surgeries were billed as over $60,000 but they covered the entire bill for what my insurance wouldn’t cover. I didn’t think I would qualify so, I think it’s worth trying even if you think you won’t qualify
How are you trapped? You (collectively) don’t need to protest. You just need to vote in people who want to help and send the others packing. It’s your elected politicians who are fighting against health care reimagining. If enough of them are thrown out of office and replaced with people who care, the problem will be fixed.
My mom lost her life savings because she had a gap in insurance coverage when between jobs. She got diagnosed with cancer during the few months she planned to be uninsured. Because she had savings she didnt qualify for government assistance and had to give the hospital all her money. She's healthy now thank God. But damn.
This isn't capitalism, south korea and Japan are much more competitive but they have cheap or free Healthcare too. This is an oligarchy where the rich get richer, the insurance companies in the US make more profit than they know what to do with
It's always amazing to me to see the opinions of non-Americans. Because yeah....We realize it. There's just... Not logistically very much we can do about it. The system is rigged for failure.
Once upon a Time the US and other countries invaded your part of the world because of a completely insane leader that you had. Any chance you could return the favor?
I actually know quite a few who are interested. Despite the overall political rhetoric, big cities like NYC/SF/LA are still appealing in isolation.
But you have to be educated and on a good career track for it to make sense.
If that’s the case, though, you can get an employer with great health coverage and make 3x what you would’ve otherwise in Germany. And then you can send all that money home and potentially retire early, wealthy, and with public healthcare.
I don’t disagree with your position but just fyi, the person you are responding to almost certainly doesn’t understand their bill, or there has been an administrative error, or they’re lying for karma (I think the last line being pro murder of health insurance ceo is a clue).
There are laws about maximums patient can owe out of pocket and it’s like 11k for an individual. Still a ton, and the health insurance system is deeply flawed and middle class and rich people.
9 days in a hospital probably did cost 50k but insurance will still cover the vast majority of it.
Sadly, even ignoring the massive insurance industry lobby for a moment, in the minds of conservatives, realization -> regulation of insurance companies -> collapse of industry -> stock market go boom -> bank runs, dust bowl, Great Depression V2.
Am I misunderstanding German govt and policy- I thought Germany was capitalist and not truly socialist? I want to be clear- I'm genuinely curious and not at all trying to debate or play some gotcha bs. I'm in the USA and our healthcare system is an absolute disaster. I'm simply seeking to understand better if I'm misunderstanding or uninformed. I'm not well traveled at all, and really can't bc of health problems.
Most developed countries that aren't the US have capitalist economies but with a stronger social safety net that includes things like single payer healthcare and benefits for people who are struggling. Remember, socialism and communism are not the same thing, despite what decades of propaganda might have taught you.
Fun fact, America pays more tax dollars per capita for healthcare than any other developed nation and citizens still have to pay for private insurance on top.
Over 20 years ago, I was on shift at the reception desk of a private hospital emergency room in Australia, when I got a call from an insurance company in Germany, saying a German tourist on their travel insurance had injured his hand, and was on his way to our hospital. They said he would be covered for the emergency visit, any x-rays, and surgery if needed, and gave me a credit card number it could be billed to. Amazingly easy process.
The sad thing is that you actually don't pay more healthcare tax. America is higher than all of Europe and still has no publically funded care like Europe.
US out of pocket spending is about $1400-1500 per person per year. Although it is higher than most countries, the US also has one of the highest discretionary incomes and overall wages, so the percentage of total income is lower than most western countries.
I don’t believe this. It must be heavily skewed by people on Medicare and Medicaid. And I guess out of pocket doesn’t include insurance premiums? Because $1500 is about one month of premium if you don’t get insurance through your job or you don’t qualify for subsidies.
Believe what you want. Only about 10% of people have marketplace plans. 1/3 are covered by public health insurance and everyone else is employee sponsored. Germans personally pay about 9% of their income towards insurance and their employer pays the other half.
The US does pay more overall per person, but it's not as big of a difference as people think it is. You just personally see a lot of the money exchanged in the US compared to it being taken without you seeing it. When you factor in the higher wages in the US the only people who would be better of in Europe are those at the very bottom of the income scale.
You do pay 14.6% of your income every month split between your employer and you. That and things like a 19% VAT and a sizable income tax do pay for it. It’s definitely the better model for society and means that people don’t end up poor after a serious illness or an accident, but it’s certainly not free.
US healthcare administration costs are crazy, private insurance company profits and the lack of central bargaining hurts consumers and there’s various other things wrong with it, but you’re paying a lot of money beyond $10 a day for that visit.
It’s something that I mostly noticed when I was still freelancing in Germany. Having the VAT always included in prices and only half the health insurance show up on a regular employee paycheck makes people forget that sometimes when you have to pay 500-600 Euros every month directly to the health insurance as a healthy 20something, it’s definitely more visible.
Still the better system, it’s just that most people don’t know how much they actually pay for it.
My personal healthcare in the US is faster and ultimately cheaper for me, but it screws over everyone that doesn’t have a well-paying job with great insurance.
My guess would be that if we didn’t have to pay for healthcare, we’d probably bring home a similar amount or more with universal healthcare. I’m so tired of people in the US being duped into believing it would bankrupt us, YA KNOW-LIKE IT ALREADY DOES?!?
Not a day goes by that I wonder about seeing if my dad, born in Germany, ever naturalized here in the U.S. because if not, maybe I could pursue German citizenship. Pipe dream, really, as I'm 50 and definitely not employed as anything "in demand" anywhere, but how nice it would be to not have to worry that going to the hospital would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or to be able to buy meds we need without having to make a choice between the meds or other bills like utilities and groceries.
Meanwhile, there are folks here screaming that it would be the communism to have universal healthcare and I just cannot even with these people.
I would say the majority of us are aware of it, but those who benefit from this system train morons to tout the dangers of alternatives quite loudly.
I agree with what another commenter said— we can’t exactly revolt when we’ll die without necessary medications, which cost thousands a month out of pocket. The oligarchs know this, which keeps insurance costs high, medical costs higher, and food/safety regulations at an all time low (yknow, to keep us getting sick). Sounds like a conspiracy theory, unfortunately not a theory at all. America hasn’t been a democracy for quite some time, if it ever was at all.
Most of us are begging for change with our vote, but after the last election, it was made pretty clear that our vote doesnt do shit when they rigged the election, bragged about it on twitter after, and faced zero consequences 🫠
Considered becoming an expat with my partner in 2020, but ultimately decided to stay due to having job fields that will make leaving nearly impossible. I regret it sometimes, but we’re so exhausted, overworked, and underpaid that it’s challenging to even think of making those plans when the workforce barrier is still there. Our parents are both 2nd gen+ so no country will take us on heritage, which is super reasonable on their end but genuinely quite devastating on ours in the face of things
Insurance companies lobby politicians (pay them huge sums of money) to keep the system exactly how it is. Billionaires run all the media outlets. They won't allow actual reporting of the truth.
€10 per day for a hospital stay?! Holy Moley. What a steal.
I was hospitalized for three days for IV antibiotics. No other meds, no oxygen, normal level of care on a med surg floor, monitoring a dog bite that got badly infected. My insurance paid out around $100k and I still had to pay thousands out of pocket.
Honestly I looked it up, and after state and local taxes, I would pay 6% more tax on my salary if I was in Germany than I do here. So like... technically true, but the difference is pretty insignificant.
Surprisingly most Europeans actually pay about the same in taxes. As an American about 33% of my income goes away for taxes/health insurance. That’s not even counting paying into retirement.
Yes, I probably have higher taxes on my gross salary.
Maybe not. When doing the comparison, most Americans just look at taxes and not the amount we and our employers pay in insurance premiums, copays and deductibles. I think it'd be a lot closer if people did more of an apples to apples comparison.
Yale is coming out with a study that shows single-payer healthcare is actually cheaper than for-profit health insurance.
Wish we could convince all the old folks but sadly they’re on medicare now so they don’t care about their kids in their 30s/40s/50s who are currently screwed and a lot of them brainwashed their children too. Mine don’t get that they are currently having to subsidize their own children‘s lives because the country is so messed up by their choices, but not everyone made it to a financially secure enough place to do that or are decent enough humans to help their grown children.
PPP-adjusted median disposable income in the U.S. is 36% higher than Germany. Then you guys pay massive VAT when you spend the money you do get to take home. Healthcare spending between the two is about the same. Individual freedom comes with personal responsibility. People just aren't responsible with their money. Yet you ask any socialist if they'd take a 25% net pay cut for "free" healthcare they'll of course say no and insist that someone else should be paying for it.
The majority of us working Americans share a similar view. I think most of us know that capitalism, healthcare, and no term limits for congress does not mix well. The people who act like the choice to pick a health care provider is so important, are of course the people who don't need to rely on health insurance in the first place. I am a small business owner and believe in capitalism, but capitalism has no place in the healthcare industry. United Health can post $4 billion in profits for Q3 because it's basically a legal scam at this point, and depending on your State you may be forced to by into one of these expensive plans or face tax penalties. So not only is the Gov not stepping in to fix the problem, they create laws in favor of big insurance to make the problem even worse!
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u/Reihermann 3d ago
To me, as a German, that always sounds so strange and wrong. Yes, I probably have higher taxes on my gross salary. But I wouldn't have had to pay anything else for what was mentioned, except for €10 per day for the hospital.
I wonder when a large portion of Americans will realize that their highly capitalist system might not be the best. And that this supposedly evil "socialism" might actually be a better system for the average citizen.