The US Is Quite Literally in a Neoliberal Death Spiral. We Need Medicare for All

[justaprogressive]

The neoliberalist house organ notes that “some people, observing billionaires’ interest in longevity-promoting startups, worry that the benefits will be captured mainly by the rich, leading to a class of long-lived Übermenschen lording it over short-lived ordinary folk.”

Stuff and nonsense, scoffs the British mag. It reassures us that “technologies have a record of spreading, and cheapening as they do so.” That will come as news to poor people of the United States, whose lives are growing shorter and shorter.

Live to 120? There are counties in the United States where you’re beating the odds if you make it past 70. The majorities in these counties may be White, Black, or Native American. But each suffers from poverty, a shortage of healthcare options, and a needlessly complex insurance system. while racism, ageism, and regional animosities compound the mortality crisis.

The system’s complexity is largely an artifact of for-profit insurance, for-profit pharmaceuticals, and, increasingly, for-profit medical offices. The Post tells us of one chronic-disease sufferer:

[link:https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/life-expectancy-medicare-for-all|

[Diamond_Dog]

1. As long as the uninformed keep electing Republicans

there will be no political will to improve health and welfare of the people.

GOP puts profits before people. And spreads the rugged individualism crap.

[Duncanpup]

3. Truth☝️

[Bluethroughu]

2. Patients, doctors, and nurses hate this system because they are getting

Ripped off.

Hospitals, insurance companies, and CEOs love it.

[Magoo48]

4. Yes, we do need Medicare for all, with absolutely to participation by insurance leeches.

[orthoclad]

5. WaPo had several excellent articles on US life expectancy recently

I was stunned.

One article compared the US to other countries. The other article took a deep dive into domestic patterns of mortality. There was about SIX YEARS of difference in lifespan across US States.

Not only does the US now rank behind Ecuador in life expectancy, there was a near-vertical nosedive in the annual curve. The US, richest country in history, leads the world in covid deaths. We have lost THREE TIMES as many people to covid as we lost in all of WWII.

For the first time ever, the State of Alabama LOST population. Covid mortality.

When the antivax movement was jumpstarted by the Right, I was puzzled: why were they killing off their voters, their constituency? Then I realized that they don't think the popular vote counts much anymore. They are terrorizing poor and non-white voters with arrests and jail time. They are terrorizing honest election workers into quitting. Gerrymandering works. They're expert at manipulating the weird, damnable Electoral College. The Right doesn't think votes count for much.

And now there's these stats showing that they don't think life counts for much, either. Unless you're rich.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/american-life-expectancy-dropping/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/life-expectancy-calculator-compare-states-countries/

Long reads, but really worth it. An issue of life or death.

[delisen]

6. Medicare for All is a tone deaf slogan

1. The slogan Medicare for All is confusing. It does not distinguish between original Medicare and Medicare Advantage which is operated by the same iprivate insurers the author rails against and which has been eating up original Medicare and exploding the Medicare budget.

2. The term “neoliberal” is also problematic. It is a term from academic economics theory and when many Americans hear it they think it is a criticism of liberal and social programs and adds to the success of right wing propaganda about our very much needed social programs being bad.

Common Dreams was badly taken in by Russian propaganda about Clinton during the 2016 election cycle. The seemed to have given that up some time after but I now I wonder where they will be this election cycle.

[Beastly Boy]

8. So is "neoliberal".

The issues the article is addressing do not quite relate directly to neoliberalism, not quite literally or otherwise, and are not quite a death spiral.

They merely critique quite serious flaws in America's health care model, which include, but are not limited by, the examples given in the article.

And, of course, no matter how you look at it, one cannot possibly conclude on the basis of this article, that Medicare for All is the thing we need to address this problem.

[slightlv]

9. I agree, the terms are confusing...

they were confusing to me... at least, one of them were to me.

I was, and am, behind the term "Medicare for All"... even though I am on Medicare Advantage. I got tricked into MA. I strive to keep others from being tricked into it. If someone thinks its best for them, I'm not going to say "no"... but I do want them to be informed. I don't want them to be tricked into it like I was. I want them to have all the facts.

But the term "NeoLiberalism" has got to go. "Neo" means "new." (at least, to me it always meant that) So, I thought it meant a new form of liberalism. ha! New one on me. It actually was more aligned with libertarianism. Just give me plain old liberalism. Or keep is simple and make it progressivism.

You want to stay where you are: put it in "N-eutral"
You want to go backward: Put it in "R-everse"
You want to go forward: Put in "D-rive"

[Elessar Zappa]

10. A better source would be nice.

Common Dreams helped in the election of Donald Trump by bashing Hillary endlessly.

[Martin68]

11. A "Neoliberal Death Spiral?" What the fuck does that mean? This OP certainly provides no definition

of what constitutes a "death spiral" or concrete examples that might explain what it means. "There are counties in the United States...?" Give me a break! That would be due to red state Republicans denying medicare and medicaid to their own constituents even when it is being given away by the federal government. Make no mistake. I believe single payer is the only logical form of equitable health care. But this kind of silly rhetoric does more harm than good. Sounds like the lurid cover of a comic book or the National Enquirer. Use of the fuzzy term "neoliberal " is highly suspect in any context. There is nothing liberal, neo or otherwise, about for-profit insurance, for-profit pharmaceuticals, or for-profit medical offices.

[FakeNoose]

12. I always read "neoliberal" as a new, hip way of saying "libertarian"

Ya know?

Kind of like the way they use "woke" to mean something else that indicates a particular skin color.