Leopards Ate My Face

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He's not really gonna get rid of the ACA right? (i.redd.it)

submitted 6 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 106 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (27 children)

The Affordable Care Act, the US public marketplace for private insurance. Ignorantly referred to by conservatives as socialism.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 6 days ago (18 children)

Not even close to socialism or affordable. Currently paying $2400 a month on an ACA plan because my employer's benefits don't cover the services my disabled child requires.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 6 days ago (17 children)

Jfc, that's my mortgage at least 4 times over. Any money spent on your kid is well spent, but it's horrible that you must sacrifice that much.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Do you have a 2000 year mortgage? Or do you live in hell?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Wales, so close enough.

25 years, 6 years in.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Referring to the place you live as hell while having free healthcare and a $600 mortgage on a 3 bedroom house has demoralized every American who read your comment.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

Tongue in cheek, of course.

The free healthcare has nosedived over the last 2 decades. It's still free, but wait times for everything are insane unless you are actively dying. People can wait years for routine procedures & treatments. A regular GP appointment is weeks, unless you snag an 'emergency' appointment by phoning in at 8am sharp and beating everyone else doing the same.

If you need an ambulance and aren't having a cardiac episode or similar - good luck and hope someone can drive your ass to hospital. Wait times are hours at minimum. A long time to be writhing around in (non life threatening!) pain.

Yes it is free. Unfortunately it is underfunded and overworked.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Let me guess... the right wing in your country works to keep it that way to legitimize their case for privatizing healthcare?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

It's a nickel & dimed hot potato that neither side wants to take the hit on now. Our 'left' (Labour) has moved right enough now that it is unrecognisable from the party that Blair led in the 90s. It took unprecedented levels of corruption, cronyism and flat out fraud from the previous Tory run government to change the winds - and honestly it's the same wind with a slightly more palatable odour.

Brexit did the service no favours. We used to be able to tap an increasing array of medical talent from the EU, which promptly plateaued then stagnated after the vote. Now we have more and more locums and agency staff that cost a bomb to keep up. Ironically, we are now seeing an marked increase of African and Asian staffers, which the racist idiots that voted Leave abhor.

https://ukandeu.ac.uk/what-has-brexit-meant-for-the-nhs/

Another major question is how Brexit affects the NHS workforce. New nurses arriving from the EU and EFTA states slowed to near zero immediately and dental recruitment entered a prolonged slowdown, exacerbated in both cases by a new language testing regime.

As with funding, both the politics and the actual impact of this were based on a longstanding problem caused by domestic short-termism: many key staff groups were in serious shortage seven years ago, and many still are. The reaction of successive governments has been to repeatedly reform visa rules to enable a very high rate of recruitment from Africa and Asia.

While I have no issues with the nationalities of the people there to make me well, it has led to shortcomings such as the Nigerian nurse scandal.

Along with the many, many strikes that have occurred - the argument for privatisation sadly becomes stronger. I'm actually on our work's healthcare plan as an employee benefit, something I have never experienced before. It's very nice for me, but it shows that my company does not trust the public system to ensure my continued fitness for work.