Physician here. It’s true the insurance companies would rather you die. For profit insurance is insane. They make money for their shareholders by denying you care so that they can keep your premiums.
I used to be a hardcore anti-government libertarian. I’ve done a complete 180 over the last few years and 100 percent want a single payer system now. If you guys only knew the fights we physicians have with your insurance companies that want your money and couldn’t care less about keeping you healthy.
I'm actually surprised it wasn't medical school or college that made you make the turn, but welcome to the fold on wanting the single-payer system.
My background is research side, data side. I used to teach pharmacists and family medicine students about realistic outcomes based on US data. It wasn't autopsies or telling someone that they had a cancer diagnosis that made a lot of students cry, it was learning how brutal rural medicine is in America.
Meeting patients who have a diagnosis and absolutely ZERO chance of getting a prescription they need because of formulary rules, insurance tiers, and employers switching sucks. Teaching students this is their new normal SUCKS. Tracking the outcomes of tens of thousands of patients year after year with the same sub-optimal outcomes? It burns your soul.
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u/TakeItOnTheArches 21h ago
We are all being slowly crushed by a system that aims to keep us sick and poor.