I can’t tell you where or how to activate to help solve this. There are politicians, groups, and activists pushing for this in so many ways. I can tell you when, though.
World hunger, homelessness, disease research, poverty, healthcare, student debt… There are so many better ways to spend 44 billion dollars than making twitter safe for hate speech and false information.
“[F]or a long time, polls have shown favorable attitudes toward universal health care, sometimes very strong support. In the late Reagan years, about 70 percent of the population thought that guaranteed health care should be in the Constitution, and 40 percent thought it already was—the Constitution taken to be the repository of all that is obviously right. There have been referenda showing high support for universal health care—until the business propaganda offensive begins, warning of the heavy if not astronomical tax burden, much as what we have seen recently. Then popular support fades.
"As usual, there is an element of truth to the propaganda. Taxes will go up, but total expenses should sharply decline, as the record of comparable countries shows. How much? There are some suggestive estimates. One of the world’s leading medical journals, The Lancet (UK), recently published a study estimating that universal health care in the US ‘is likely to lead to a 13% savings in national health-care expenditure, equivalent to more than US$450 billion annually (based on the value of the US$ in 2017).’ The study continues:
The entire system could be funded with less financial outlay than is currently incurred by employers and households paying for health-care premiums combined with existing government allocations. This shift to single payer health care would provide the greatest relief to lower-income households. Furthermore, we estimate that ensure health-care access for all Americans would save more than 68,000 lives and 1.73 million life-years every year, compared with the status quo.
"But it would raise taxes. And it seems that many Americans would prefer to spend more money as long as it doesn’t go to taxes (incidentally killing tens of thousands of people annually). That’s a telling indication of the state of American democracy, and of the force of the doctrinal system crafted by business power and its intellectual servants. The neoliberal assault has intensified this pathological element of the national culture, but the roots go much deeper and are illustrated in many ways, a topic very much worth pursuing.”
–Noam Chomsky, “Ventilator Shortage Exposes the Cruelty of Neoliberal Capitalism,'” in The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic and the Urgent Need for Social Change (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2021), 291-292
“[C]ontrary to common belief, the US does have universal health care. It’s called ‘emergency rooms.’ If you can drag yourself to one, they’ll take care of you, often with superb care—and often a hefty bill. It’s the most cruel and expensive form of universal care known, but at least it’s there.”
–Noam Chomsky, “COVID-19 Has Exposed the US under Trump as a 'Failed State,'” in The Precipice: Neoliberalism, the Pandemic and the Urgent Need for Social Change (Chicago: Haymarket Books, 2021), 264
I can’t tell you where or how to activate to help solve this. There are politicians, groups, and activists pushing for this in so many ways. I can tell you when, though.
You may have noticed how I recently had a burst of activity on this blog, after a year+ of hiatus. The Shrink is chronically ill with an invisible disability. I’ve been having a really bad flair-up of symptoms, and the medications I was on previously were no longer working for me. Recently, however, a new drug came out that treats my specific condition. I was given the opportunity to try it, and it is a godsend, and doesn’t even seem to have any side effects. The doctor increased my dosage to the max recommended amount, because we were going to see if I could be weaned off the other drugs I’m taking.
Y’all, at this level of the medication, I was finally functional again. I was going out for evening events, I joined an aerial gym (and actually ENJOYED exercising, what the actual fuck), I started updating the blog again… my life was finally back on track after almost two years of being stalled out.
And then my insurance company noticed just how much this drug was costing them, and now refuse to cover it entirely. You see, my condition is considered a rare disease. And this new miracle drug is considered an orphan drug – there are so few people that this medication will benefit that the company charges out the ass for it. If I were to pay out of pocket for this medication, it would cost me about $12,000 USD a month. That’s $144,000 USD a year.
I am not asking for donations. While I do have a significant amount of followers, unless I’ve got a billionaire secretly following me, I do not have any illusions about being able to get that kind of money on a regular basis from the kindness of strangers alone.
But there is one thing you can do for me, Shrinky-dinks. If you are in the US and able to vote, I am begging you to please consider voting for Bernie Sanders. With universal healthcare, I would actually be able to get the medications that make me functional.
Note - if you are currently 17, but will be 18 by the time of the presidential elections, you may still be eligible to vote in the primaries in certain states!
Thanks for listening, guys. I appreciate it. My life is literally depending on this.
