Update

Update: Not watching the news, been very reflective since I last came here and wrote. I am still seeing heated debates between progressives about “Whose a real Progressive, and who isn't.” Of which I am not a real progressive anymore apparently. I am seeing people screaming the world's on fire, and yes, yes it is. I see the more “moderate” wing of the Democratic Party pointing fingers at progressives, blaming people who didn't vote for Clinton for Trump, I see Congress still cannot get anything passed, even with a GOP controlled House and Senate. I see constant Tweets from our so-called president, that are insane (seriously, someone needs to take his internet access away), and I hear the rumors.

Honestly, I feel like I am listening to Time on a constant loop, its a great song and if you've never heard it, you should find it on YouTube and listen to it. Ultimately, we've nothing but time, until we run out of it, and that is our current situation. A Conservative controlled government isn't the end for the majority of us, all we have to do is wait it out, the damage that is done was in the processes of being done well before this moment, and all its doing now is prolonging the inevitable. Eventually we're going to figure it out, but learning never comes without a few lumps.

We are getting those lumps now, and while many do not realize it, some of us have been waiting for the blows to come, and waiting for others to get on the same page. The truth is, there are no “Real Progressives,” just as there are no “Real Liberals,” or “Real Conservatives.” There are real people, with real problems, and ideals as to what will set things right in the world. The problem is the “reals” seem to have come to the conclusion that their ideals are the only way to do things, they isolate themselves from other ideals that conflict with their own thoughts, and we are all guilty.

The PPACA is a problem, well parts of it are. It was an imperfect solution to a major problem, the real solution was, and still is, a Single Payer Option (or a full blown Single Payer System). Well, its the solution in my mind. It works until we start to privatize it, don't take my word for it, look at all the countries that have it, and what happens when they start selling it off to the highest bidder. But as I was saying, the PPACA has a lot of problems, it fails to address many problems that are causing our healthcare issues at the moment.

Take this as an example, there is a company that owns over seventy (70) hospitals in twenty-two (22) states, their sole goal is to make as much profit as possible, even if it means double dipping? Yeah, a local doctor at the hospital just plead guilty for double billing Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance companies (who are no angels). Now, you might be thinking that this was a single instance, and it might well be, the single instance that someone got caught doing it. But ~name redacted~, also has a habit of taking students and using them as doctors, and billing as if they were actually doctors. I have heard the rumors and seen it first hand on multiple occasions. There were no controls to stop hospitals from overcharging, or even keep costs in control. When these things happen, the insurance companies don't make profit, so they in turn raise rates or remove their services. The PPACA does nothing to stop these practices.

Remember, insurance companies are in it for the profit, because lets be honest, life is precious on that nearly every political ideology can agree, and most of us will do anything we can to preserve our own life. But what else does the PPACA not do? It doesn't really give us a choice in the matter. Sure we can pick from several different plans, but we have to find a way to get health insurance, or face severe penalties. Certainly we can choose to get the cheapest plan we can afford, but then we get saddled with high co-pays, which some cannot afford. There is nothing like having insurance, and no ability to actually use it.

So what is the answer, repeal and replace or at least repeal? That is hardly an answer to the problems with the PPACA, as we've yet to see a fully fleshed out replacement for the current plan. I could see repealing portions of it, say the mandate, but not because people shouldn't have insurance, but because it actually harms people. Because they don't want to face stiff penalties, they are going to get whatever they can, and do without. Of course, some have decided to take the penalties, but they might well suffer more because they are dependent on getting a tax return. But a complete repeal would cost a lot of people what they've managed to get, not all states are backwards like where I am. They were able to get on government healthcare. A lot of people who couldn't afford healthcare currently can, but many of us are getting eaten alive by costs.

Look, like it or not a Single Payer style system is our best bet on ensuring everyone has access to healthcare. I've seen the arguments made that one does not have a right to service, and that is not really an answer as to why we shouldn't have access to healthcare. In a single payer system, doctors and their facilities are still paid for their services, but its not coming from a for profit company. What it can do is curb companies like ~name redacted~ from making an insane profit from providing care. The government can put stringent standards on the staff of these hospitals, and ultimately hold them accountable. Oh, and there are some things you are going to need to hear, and you aren't going to like it.

Anything that happens to you in a hospital, or doctors office is considered good practice, or malpractice in the eyes of the law. In a recent court case, involving a decedent who was physically assaulted in a hospital (among other things), a defense attorney used the rape of a patient by a doctor as a defense to dismiss a case on the Statutes of Limitation. Basically Defense stated that a woman who was raped by a doctor was unable to sue because the “statutes of limitation had run” because the rape was ultimately malpractice. And as of today, I have not heard the courts ruling on the matter, but chances are the ruling will come down for the defense. That is right ladies and gentlemen, good folk of the United States, the moment you step foot into your doctors office or a hospital, anything that happens to you can be considered malpractice, which means, in some states, you'd have to acquire a “Certificate of Merit,” just to have the right for justice, and be warned, you only have a short period to enter a lawsuit.

Now, why did I bring this up? There are more issues surrounding the healthcare debate than just affordability of medical insurance, or an inability to get medical care. We have hospitals abusing the system as much as we have insurance companies doing the same. Until we are able to put both in check these problems will persist, and how do we stop it? A single payer system would help, at least insuring that people are getting necessary medical treatment and are taking prescribed medications. But we are going to need to take another step, and its one that some are not going to like, and that is to make medical care not-for-profit. I can hear it now, doctors will be living in their parents basements.... No, they won't. Not-for-profit doesn't mean that medical care is free, and doctors are slaves. It means that hospitals can only charge for their costs. Basically, they charge enough to cover their expenses (equipment, utilities, medications, and payroll for staff), and at the end of the year, they've made no profit. The sum of their intake has been used to pay for their expenses and upgrades. Now, there are creative accounting methods that can be employed to show no profit, but when its found, those responsible should be punished severely.

But lets be honest here, moving back to a not-for-profit system won't happen. Moving to a place where a person being raped by a doctor is malpractice, won't happen. A single payer system won't happen. And why won't it happen? Because our government has been bought by companies which are concerned about whats best for business, and what is best for business? Profit. It is profitable to label everything that happens in a hospital as potential malpractice, its easier to fight that case than it is to fight a rape or murder charge. It is more profitable to label everything as malpractice. It is easier to say that expenses are high, that is why a bag of IV Fluid costs $800, and extremely profitable (given it only costs a few dollars to make). And the single payer system won't happen because of the large amounts of money standing against it, you have a multi-billion dollar industry preying on the rightful belief that life is sacred and precious and should be protected at all costs. Where it fails is that so many people have their fingers in the pie, so much in our world is about money.