I’ll Lose My Health Insurance Job if Bernie Becomes President. I’m Still Voting For Him

[Uncle Joe]

Reddit post goes viral after man explains why he’s voting himself out of a job.

A private health insurance employee is willing to make a short-term sacrifice in return for a long-term gain.

Joshua Hawken, a veteran and Reddit user, posted on the SandersForPresident subreddit titled “I will lose my job when Bernie becomes president. Still voting for him.” Hawken’s post was about how his job security as an employee of a private health insurance company will be threatened by a Sanders presidency. Hawken’s post quickly went viral, garnering nearly 3,000 upvotes in a matter of hours:

I’m an Air Force veteran and I’ve spent the last 5 years working for private insurance companies with most of that time dedicated to auditing previously paid claims so that we can take the money that was paid back due to… errors. I list hundreds of thousands of dollars in claims to be refunded every month. When Bernie becomes president and implements a Medicare-for-all single payer system my job will become null and void. I’m not mad though. In fact I’ve donated several times to him and he’s got my vote locked up. The private insurance business is a joke that doesn’t care one lick for any of their customers. The prices associated with private insurance will continue to soar in the future because private insurance companies simply do not have strong negotiating power with health care providers (i.e. doctors, hospitals, drug companies). Medicare has very high negotiating power with HCPs and Bernie’s system would be our best chance at having truly affordable health care.

Also when I lose my job because of the revolution I think I will just take the opportunity to go back to college since I should finally be able to afford it.

After a flurry of comments, Hawken added an addendum to his original post:

Wow! I’m glad to see so much positive feedback about this. Change on a national scale like what Bernie is proposing is going to be hard for a lot of people as change always is, but this revolution has given me such hope for us as a people and as a nation. Many of us will have to make short term sacrifices for long term benefits that will impact all of us. Bernie and this movement have turned me into a Patriot.

(snip)

http://usuncut.com/politics/ill-lose-my-health-insurance-job-if-bernie-becomes-president/

There is more on the link including a nice little commentary by Wendell Potter.

I was going to bed but I had to post this, now I'm going to bed.

Good night or morning everybody.

[Cali_Democrat]

1. He won't lose his job because there aren't enough votes in Congress for single payer

His job will be safe for the foreseeable future.

[Kall]

2. Hillary? Is that you?

Clinton 2016: Why Even Try?

It's not like there's an opportunity to elect a populist President with downballot coattails, but the issue front and centre on the ballot, exert pressure on Congress, use the Presidential podium to put pressure on Congress, or anything. I think we can agree keeping the President quietly tucked away and kicking the whole thing to Ben Nelson and Max Baucus to try to make the health care proposal worse and worse, and invite more public cynicism to the process, in an obviously futile effort to get Chuck Grassley to vote for it, which he was never going to do, is not the way to go about negotiating it.

[MANative]

8. ^^^^ This ^^^^^ n/t

[Skwmom]

3. There will still be plenty of paperwork involved with paying health CARE claims and plenty of jobs

under a national health program.

[2pooped2pop]

4. yep you will still have work though perhaps

govt employer. Perhaps better benefits?

[JDPriestly]

5. K&R. There will be plenty of work in the health care and insurance field even if we adopt single

payer insurance. We will still have insurance. Decisions will still have to be made about what to cover and what not to cover. And there will be more work in the service of delivering medical care especially for substance abuse and mental illness.

Taking profit out of health care delivery makes health care delivery better. I believe it will also make our health better.

[Stevepol]

6. This guy is a REAL Tea Party patriot!

The real Tea Party was NOT because of higher taxes.

The real Tea Party was because the government gave advantages to a big CORPORATION by allowing IT to undercut the prices of tea and thereby threaten the little guy and the economy.

The REAL Tea Party was ANTI-CORPORATE, not necessarily anti-government.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Cassiopeia]

7. "Private insurance companies simply do not have strong negotiating power with health care providers"

This is the fiction (complete bullshit lie) about our healthcare system and the ACA.

The fact is private insurance companies are working hand in hand with health care providers to drive costs up. This is the feature of the ACA.

The ACA limited the profit margin of insurance companies, woohoo! Therefore the only way the insurance companies can increase profits is by increasing the overall cost. 20% of $5k is better than 20% of $4k. However, they now have a guaranteed customer base due to requirements to get insured.

Collusion sets in. It already is and it will get far worse. (the TPP will double down on their abilities to collude for profit)

Did the ACA help? Sure, in the short term it has helped many, but the moderately healthy will pay in more and use the system less due to escalating costs. In the long term it will help the chronically ill only because they can't be dropped for profit reasons. Overall the insurance industry couldn't have ordered a better money press.

Single payer isn't a pie in the sky option we should dream about, it's the only thing that can save us.

[treestar]

9. he can afford to lose his job?

who says that? People can say anything on the internet. They should not always be believed at face value.

[catnhatnh]

10. How nice to see someone assume the title "Patriot"

meaning they will accept personal hardship to benefit the nation instead of meaning they will scare people by playing Rambo...