"They don't give you a choice in the hospital. 'If you leave, you'll die,' they told me. I didn't feel like dying," an Alaskan in medical debt said. "I don't think anyone should have to go into financial ruin to live."
I see military bros wear shirts that incorrectly quote Ronald Regan, “Freedom is a fragile thing and it's never more than one generation away from extinction.” That’s from a speech on socialized medicine (arguing against it). I doubt they understand that.
Wonder if I can count on them to stand up and project my right to go bankrupt for my health? What do you mean you don’t know who Regan is? 😱 /s
It works in the US, too. I've gotten great care at the VA (no, seriously... they have a bad reputation, and the infrastructure is ghetto as fuck, but the actual quality of care is great).
There's also the USPHS, but honestly I've never actually met someone who joined or seen one of their facilities... I think they mostly do humanitarian stuff overseas?
Point being, we have the framework for it already. I could see the VA expanding it's mission/coverage to spouses/families of vets, and use that as the baby step into coverage for everyone. Fun bonus: state law can suck a dick on federal facilities, so all the rednecks can write as much misogynistic legislation as they want locally, but Susie's rights suddenly return the second she steps into federal property, even if it's a hospital in the middle of Y'all Quaeda territory.
How about we just nationalize all health insurance and then all medical stuff is just to orchestrated and backstopped by the government. I wonder what we could call such a system where a single entity orchestrates paying for everything across an industry with inelastic demand…