11 ms·

That last sentence is interesting. The state of things is that a few lawmakers, mostly Democrats, support a national ID, but then most Republicans and a bunch o

That last sentence is interesting. The state of things is that a few lawmakers, mostly Democrats, support a national ID, but then most Republicans and a bunch of other Democrats strongly oppose it. It's semi-bipartisan to hate the idea of national ID. Meanwhile Republicans are very into requiring ID to vote, and a free Federal ID is a great way to allow for that while also solving a bunch of other problems that amount to a bunch of extra work, risk, and stress for normal people, but there's no way they'll join the (AFAIK) minority of Democrats supporting it to get it through, because they like ID to vote but hate, like, good, efficient ID systems, at the same time. Opposition's mostly fear of government misuse, with overlap with a minority of people really certain it's a sign of the end times and marks us as servants of the Devil or something (I guess it's not when it's in other countries, or maybe those people are all servants of the Devil now, IDK). Democrats fear Republicans will use it to target minorities or set up rules effectively non-personing parts of the citizenry by denying them IDs, after they're (the IDs) made super-important. Republicans are afraid they'll be used to round up guns or track militia members or something. Basically a bunch of people on both sides are afraid of it, so it's a dead issue.

evan_ 6y ago
I think people outside of the US have a lot of difficulty imagining that conditions within the US could actually be as bad as they are. I think a lot of people within the US do as well.
- spanhandler 6y ago
  Tell me about it. I'm shopping for non-employer family health coverage right now and I bet if people in the rest of the OECD knew what that looked like here they'd lobby the UN to send peacekeepers and relief aid. Country's great for making money, and also great at taking a bunch of it with little to show in return. And inconveniencing you for the privilege. Five figures a year for another five figures of risk exposure, and none of it even applies except at about (optimistically) 1/3 of providers in one state—wrong hospital a mile from your house, you're uninsured. Travel out of state and get in a car wreck without getting some kind of travel insurance ahead of time which'll probably also find a way not to pay in the fine print anyway, like you're going to f#cking Colombia, you're uninsured. Ugh. This friggin' country. (for those outside the US, you can translate "you're uninsured" to "you are definitely going bankrupt if you actually need a hospital for anything. If you're very lucky you'll still manage to get sufficient care before they realize you have no money left. And then if you also lose your job as a result of the health issue it gets really bad but at least you might get government insurance then, after it's too late to save you from permanent poverty.") [EDIT] oh, and yes, that's about as good as it gets in my state—that's not, like, the worst option, that's ~ every option. Almost every insurance provider has left the individual (i.e. non-employer-provided) market, leaving bottom-feeders who've figured out new ways to deliver nearly-useless coverage while technically complying with the ACA, plus a few "non-compliant" coverage options that, aside from being crap (but at least cheap crap, instead of expensive crap) expose you to tax liabilities, if the Feds ever decide to start enforcing those again.
  - evan_ 6y ago
    I would only add that, regardless of the severity of your condition, if a hospital discovers that you will be unable to pay they will simply send you home untreated.
    - spanhandler 6y ago
      Yep. An ER has to make sure you're not actively, immediately dying but after that you're cut loose and they don't have to do a thing. Good luck with that cancer or whatever. Plus if they do anything I'm sure they still send debt collectors after you even if they know you don't have money. Knowing hospitals you'd end up with five debts from different companies from one uninsured post-heart-attack stabilization in one room at one ER. This also makes it nearly impossible to actually know you're covered for anything—one of those entities might not "take" your insurance, and now all that money you paid is useless and you're screwed anyway. Navigating US healthcare feels like performing voodoo magic and tea-leaf-reading with some combination of your physical and financial health on the line, trying to balance it so if something goes wrong both are only badly harmed rather than catastrophically harmed. [EDIT] on the plus side if you start off poor there's a decent chance the government does cover your health care, though it makes sure to make maintaining that super stressful—it's just that it's all set up so the health care system eventually gets a huge chunk of everyone's money, if they have any, and often all of the money, sooner or later. May not apply to the super rich but otherwise you're either poor and covered, or not-poor-but-not-rich and hoping you get the right roll on the dice so the healthcare system doesn't find a way to take all your money. And it is in all cases incredibly stressful even when you're not sick.
- refurb 6y ago
  If you get all your information from the media, you'd think it was the end of the world. Hint - it's not.

evan_ 6y ago

I think people outside of the US have a lot of difficulty imagining that conditions within the US could actually be as bad as they are. I think a lot of people within the US do as well.

spanhandler 6y ago
Tell me about it. I'm shopping for non-employer family health coverage right now and I bet if people in the rest of the OECD knew what that looked like here they'd lobby the UN to send peacekeepers and relief aid. Country's great for making money, and also great at taking a bunch of it with little to show in return. And inconveniencing you for the privilege. Five figures a year for another five figures of risk exposure, and none of it even applies except at about (optimistically) 1/3 of providers in one state—wrong hospital a mile from your house, you're uninsured. Travel out of state and get in a car wreck without getting some kind of travel insurance ahead of time which'll probably also find a way not to pay in the fine print anyway, like you're going to f#cking Colombia, you're uninsured. Ugh. This friggin' country. (for those outside the US, you can translate "you're uninsured" to "you are definitely going bankrupt if you actually need a hospital for anything. If you're very lucky you'll still manage to get sufficient care before they realize you have no money left. And then if you also lose your job as a result of the health issue it gets really bad but at least you might get government insurance then, after it's too late to save you from permanent poverty.") [EDIT] oh, and yes, that's about as good as it gets in my state—that's not, like, the worst option, that's ~ every option. Almost every insurance provider has left the individual (i.e. non-employer-provided) market, leaving bottom-feeders who've figured out new ways to deliver nearly-useless coverage while technically complying with the ACA, plus a few "non-compliant" coverage options that, aside from being crap (but at least cheap crap, instead of expensive crap) expose you to tax liabilities, if the Feds ever decide to start enforcing those again.
- evan_ 6y ago
  I would only add that, regardless of the severity of your condition, if a hospital discovers that you will be unable to pay they will simply send you home untreated.
  - spanhandler 6y ago
    Yep. An ER has to make sure you're not actively, immediately dying but after that you're cut loose and they don't have to do a thing. Good luck with that cancer or whatever. Plus if they do anything I'm sure they still send debt collectors after you even if they know you don't have money. Knowing hospitals you'd end up with five debts from different companies from one uninsured post-heart-attack stabilization in one room at one ER. This also makes it nearly impossible to actually know you're covered for anything—one of those entities might not "take" your insurance, and now all that money you paid is useless and you're screwed anyway. Navigating US healthcare feels like performing voodoo magic and tea-leaf-reading with some combination of your physical and financial health on the line, trying to balance it so if something goes wrong both are only badly harmed rather than catastrophically harmed. [EDIT] on the plus side if you start off poor there's a decent chance the government does cover your health care, though it makes sure to make maintaining that super stressful—it's just that it's all set up so the health care system eventually gets a huge chunk of everyone's money, if they have any, and often all of the money, sooner or later. May not apply to the super rich but otherwise you're either poor and covered, or not-poor-but-not-rich and hoping you get the right roll on the dice so the healthcare system doesn't find a way to take all your money. And it is in all cases incredibly stressful even when you're not sick.
refurb 6y ago
If you get all your information from the media, you'd think it was the end of the world. Hint - it's not.