I didn’t downvote you above, idk why anyone would, I didn’t think you were being rude or anything.
I understand where you’re coming from, and I don’t disagree that the ACA helped a lot of people. But it also left a lot of people out in the cold, and after over a decade of being told we should be happy we have it when it doesn’t help us… It gets old, it’s not what we were promised, and it hasn’t been improved on, only ever on the chopping block.
A lot of my resentment comes from my disgust and utter disappointment with the DNC, which you can find plenty of examples of in my comment history (I did vote for Harris, begrudgingly, for harm reduction).
I don’t remember every number, but that’s another big part of the problem: I have an associates degree and have worked mostly blue collar jobs outside of the military. I’m not stupid, but I also don’t have the energy or bandwidth to be a sudo-expert in everything society expects us to be: health insurance, retirement accounts, investing, budgeting, the law, etc.
I’m not a health insurance guru, I shouldn’t need a degree in health coverage to work my way through these government websites and try to decipher all the jargon and legalese and what they mean by this and that. I understand there are services to assist people, but I’ve never had luck with my state outside of the DMV (and that’s a nightmare too), and they’re usually only offered during working hours with varying wait times.
And then not to add, I need to work, so when I do qualify for the state’s insurance, I have it for a month at most because I can’t afford to not work much longer than that. So it’s dealing with every headache above, for assistance that you’ll have to give up in a few weeks.
Again, I agree and am glad the ACA is helping people, but it’s not the Progressive-Win that people online like to parade it around as. I was frustrated earlier (lots of that going around lately) and took some of it out on you, so for that, I apologize.
I have only a little bit of knowledge of Tricare, but everyone I know that has it loves it. I’d be on board for that for everyone too. Does this mean you were in the military? I’m really beyond my knowledge now, but does that mean you would have VA health coverage (which I know has its own flaws)?
As for Tricare: it’s amazing. You show up, and if the doctor says you need this med, you get that med, and it’s free. If the doctor says you need a specialist, you’re referred to the specialist. There’s no middleman insurer bullshit who have a doctor who’s going to “thoroughly” review your claim and medical history in 7 minutes and deny you. And it’s free, it’s paid for via our taxes, when you leave the doctor/pharmacy/hospital, there’s no bill. No letter 8 months later saying you owe $9k cause the anesthesiologist was out of network, none of that.
I have access to the VA, but not all veterans do. You need to be rated a certain disability percentage (I think it’s a minimum of 30%-60%) to have access to all VA healthcare, otherwise, you can really only be seen for your service connected disabilities. I am fortunate that I do qualify based on my percentage.
But like you said, there are downsides: many VA facilities are understaffed, under budgeted, and overburdened. The staff do great work for the most part, but they’re approach can be more… Institutional. For example, I have depression, but I don’t go to the VA for mental health and pay for a private therapist instead because I hate the VA mental health approach. They seemed entirely focused on you just not killing yourself: take this pill so you won’t kill yourself, try this job so you won’t kill yourself, here’s a group to meet with so you won’t kill yourself, we’re committing you so you don’t kill yourself, have you thought about killing yourself with all of this talk about killing yourself? Like, I have suicidal thoughts and a lot of veterans commit suicide so it’s kinda their big PR focus, but for fuck’s sake, it just bugs me…
There were no real decorations, just stone beige walls with maybe a plant here or there. You can’t get at the root causes of the issue or build a rapport and a history with a therapist whose sole goal is to just keep you alive and make sure the meds are still working during a 30 minute appointment every 4+ months. All via telehealth (my therapist at least paints the walls behind her desk and has plants and it’s bright and welcoming), so imagine how depressing it would feel in person. And that’s not the individual doctor’s fault, it’s the VA not being staffed and funded properly with probably anti-fun decoration policies.
The VA also doesn’t cover everything: I have VA healthcare, but I don’t have access to their dental care because I’m not rated a high enough percentage and/or lack a dental disability. It’s also not health insurance, so outside of certain ER visits, if you go to a private doctor without a VA referral, you’re paying out of pocket.
So the VA is like the ACA: it helps a lot of people, but it’s definitely nowhere near what we need. Tricare should be the end goal, single payer, and we shouldn’t accept less than that next time (I’m assuming Trump and the GOP are going to repeal it finally, and I don’t want excuses from the Dems next time that we have to reintroduce it as it is now and build from there).
I didn’t downvote you above, idk why anyone would, I didn’t think you were being rude or anything.
I understand where you’re coming from, and I don’t disagree that the ACA helped a lot of people. But it also left a lot of people out in the cold, and after over a decade of being told we should be happy we have it when it doesn’t help us… It gets old, it’s not what we were promised, and it hasn’t been improved on, only ever on the chopping block.
A lot of my resentment comes from my disgust and utter disappointment with the DNC, which you can find plenty of examples of in my comment history (I did vote for Harris, begrudgingly, for harm reduction).
I don’t remember every number, but that’s another big part of the problem: I have an associates degree and have worked mostly blue collar jobs outside of the military. I’m not stupid, but I also don’t have the energy or bandwidth to be a sudo-expert in everything society expects us to be: health insurance, retirement accounts, investing, budgeting, the law, etc.
I’m not a health insurance guru, I shouldn’t need a degree in health coverage to work my way through these government websites and try to decipher all the jargon and legalese and what they mean by this and that. I understand there are services to assist people, but I’ve never had luck with my state outside of the DMV (and that’s a nightmare too), and they’re usually only offered during working hours with varying wait times.
And then not to add, I need to work, so when I do qualify for the state’s insurance, I have it for a month at most because I can’t afford to not work much longer than that. So it’s dealing with every headache above, for assistance that you’ll have to give up in a few weeks.
Again, I agree and am glad the ACA is helping people, but it’s not the Progressive-Win that people online like to parade it around as. I was frustrated earlier (lots of that going around lately) and took some of it out on you, so for that, I apologize.
As for Tricare: it’s amazing. You show up, and if the doctor says you need this med, you get that med, and it’s free. If the doctor says you need a specialist, you’re referred to the specialist. There’s no middleman insurer bullshit who have a doctor who’s going to “thoroughly” review your claim and medical history in 7 minutes and deny you. And it’s free, it’s paid for via our taxes, when you leave the doctor/pharmacy/hospital, there’s no bill. No letter 8 months later saying you owe $9k cause the anesthesiologist was out of network, none of that.
I have access to the VA, but not all veterans do. You need to be rated a certain disability percentage (I think it’s a minimum of 30%-60%) to have access to all VA healthcare, otherwise, you can really only be seen for your service connected disabilities. I am fortunate that I do qualify based on my percentage.
But like you said, there are downsides: many VA facilities are understaffed, under budgeted, and overburdened. The staff do great work for the most part, but they’re approach can be more… Institutional. For example, I have depression, but I don’t go to the VA for mental health and pay for a private therapist instead because I hate the VA mental health approach. They seemed entirely focused on you just not killing yourself: take this pill so you won’t kill yourself, try this job so you won’t kill yourself, here’s a group to meet with so you won’t kill yourself, we’re committing you so you don’t kill yourself, have you thought about killing yourself with all of this talk about killing yourself? Like, I have suicidal thoughts and a lot of veterans commit suicide so it’s kinda their big PR focus, but for fuck’s sake, it just bugs me…
There were no real decorations, just stone beige walls with maybe a plant here or there. You can’t get at the root causes of the issue or build a rapport and a history with a therapist whose sole goal is to just keep you alive and make sure the meds are still working during a 30 minute appointment every 4+ months. All via telehealth (my therapist at least paints the walls behind her desk and has plants and it’s bright and welcoming), so imagine how depressing it would feel in person. And that’s not the individual doctor’s fault, it’s the VA not being staffed and funded properly with probably anti-fun decoration policies.
The VA also doesn’t cover everything: I have VA healthcare, but I don’t have access to their dental care because I’m not rated a high enough percentage and/or lack a dental disability. It’s also not health insurance, so outside of certain ER visits, if you go to a private doctor without a VA referral, you’re paying out of pocket.
So the VA is like the ACA: it helps a lot of people, but it’s definitely nowhere near what we need. Tricare should be the end goal, single payer, and we shouldn’t accept less than that next time (I’m assuming Trump and the GOP are going to repeal it finally, and I don’t want excuses from the Dems next time that we have to reintroduce it as it is now and build from there).