I’d like to know other non-US citizen’s opinions on your health care system are when you read a story like this. I know there are worse places in the world to receive health care, and better. What runs through your heads when you have a medical emergency?

A little background on my question:

My son was having trouble breathing after having a cold for a couple of days and we needed to stop and take the time to see if our insurance would be accepted at the closest emergency room so we didn’t end up with a huge bill (like 2000$-5000$). This was a pretty involved ~10 minute process of logging into our insurance carrier, and unsuccessfully finding the answer there. Then calling the hospital and having them tell us to look it up by scrolling through some links using the local search tool on their website. This gave me some serious pause, what if it was a real emergency, like the kind where you have no time to call and see if the closest hospital takes your insurance.

  • oDDmON@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I pray there comes a time when the people decide what their taxes are spent on. Could be done using a simple form, with a dozen or so broad categories to choose from, submitted with your tax return.

    I bet the results would shock the shit out of the politicians.

    • SoylentBlake@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      I’d like to just start with having to send a check every two weeks instead of allowing them to just deduct it.

      Make people physically pay their tax, that’s how you get engagement. And they know that, which is why it’s NOT like that.

      • Honytawk
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        9 months ago

        The only thing that would do is make people hate taxes.

        Americans already don’t include taxes on their prices in shops in order to make the consumer mad at politicians because of “how much tax they have to pay”, while it is just a ploy by the corporations to lower the taxes so they can improve their profit.

        Society needs money in order to exist. Taxes are the best solution to pay for the stuff no ordinary individual would want to spend money on. Like road repair, firefighters, huge healthcare costs, …

        • SoylentBlake@lemm.ee
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          9 months ago

          I am not against taxation. Tho, I am against taxation when my government doesn’t represent me; and until I see studies, and enacted legislation that show public support influences policy than I will continue my position that our government has been coopted by an unfriendly occupying force. It’s as if at the macro level, we’re quartering the soldiers of our own oppression.

          I hate throwing good money after bad, absolutely. And where do you live that spends money on their roads? Firefighters are famously and shamefully volunteer services and health care…that’s an institutionalized shell game to grift your life saving away from you. You didn’t think they’d let you keep that did you? Back to work, prole.