"People who don't need to use their health insurance generally approve of it."

Wow! Such insight!

americans are generally happy with their health insurance, unless they're sick, which is when they need the health insurance, so it's almost like people who have not yet had to actually deal with their health insurance company beyond sending them money every month are happy with their health insurance because they assume this thing they're paying for is going to cover them when they time comes that they need it

NPR is such fucking horse shit. i still remember during covid the "two sides of the minimum wage debate" on NPR were side 1. nepobaby who inherited a chain of grocery stores who says raising wages is bad, and side 2. an 'economist' who says raising wages is bad. the two sides of the debate.

"Those who do not move, do not notice their chains."

Now, this is not exactly the same as what Rosa Luxemburg was talking about, but I sure don't feel like I'm twisting and misrepresenting the quote by using it in this context.

i used to think that both npr and pbs were rational and balanced; but it's become clear that they're not ever i since expanded my feed to outside the united states and independently financed sources like "democracy now" during the election.

now it's bone chilling for me to see that we're so thoroughly propagandized that there's no longer a need to hide it from americans; it's blatantly an out-in-the-open secret that works simply because americans don't read, so they'll never learn from the people who came and tried before them; only our oligarchs have that needful knowledge and they no longer have to bother hiding that education from us.

A couple major problems with surveys about health insurance in the US:

‘1.) The questions usually do not distinguish between “happy with my health insurance” and “happy TO HAVE health insurance”. Losing your health insurance is a huge way to make workers feel their situation is precarious, so usually folks are just relieved to have it.

‘2.) They usually include Medicare as “health insurance”. Medicare has incredibly high satisfaction rates, and it’s also a de facto universal healthcare program, so of course people love it. But it skews the results pretty bad because Medicare is much closer to universal healthcare than it is an insurance program.----

“The more someone uses this product, the less they like the product”

That’s an abysmal product then

I very distinctly remember the last time i listened to NPR in 2016 was when they did a segment on health care plan differences between hillary and bernie; lied through their teeth about how bernies plan was bad etc etc. Haven't listened to NPR since.

The language of this is so detached. Imagine saying this out loud to someone going through chemo who's being kicked out of a rehab center by their insurance while they are struggling to regain the use of their atrophied legs.

“Don’t you know that Americans LIKE giving their money away to private corporations for literally no reason?”

I literally have to use direct primary care (pay a subscription fee out of pocket to a doctor) on top of my health insurance because there is no PCP that isn't a NP with availability anywhere within 150 miles.

My sister is a doctor in a major city and the average wait time is two years to see a doctor with her insurance plan.

The have and have-nots in healthcare are determined if they can afford concierge medicine or direct primary care.

And who can afford to min-max their health and not need to fall back on insurance to keep them from dying? Rich people, the very same bougie rich pmc assholes that read NPR.

This is similar to polls about sentiments about police. People who interact with police have negative views, and people who never have to interact with police are generally positive about cops.

News just in people who don't need to use their health insurance happier with it

just don't get sick, ez (I am pre-existing condition maxxing)

there's a distinction here that I haven't fully articulated yet, between people being (relatively) ok with the constant monthly fees and debt, but not ok with being ripped off or not getting their money's worth

what do with this thought?

god this framing is as old as the healthcare debate itself and its always been deceptive. What Americans who are insured like is the fact that they're insured because we all know how much it sucks to be uninsured, and of course the more time you spend dealing with your insurance the more likely you are to have to fight them over every single little thing and the more likely you are to realize that even being insured sucks shit in this country.

Our healthcare is great until you try to use it.

national propaganda radio is doing propaganda? damn thats wild

Death to America

turns out needing healthcare really radicalises you if your country has no healthcare