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> There should also be some reasonable government provided safety net

There is, it's called Medicaid.



That's not really a solution. You have to be broke to use Medicaid. They expect you to fully drain all your assets first.

I shouldn't have to sell my house to get medical care.


Either wrong or a lie. You are not expected to "fully drain all your assets." Your primary residency is completely excluded from means testing unless you don't intend to return to it or it's above an very high threshold - most of the country it's about 2.5-3x the median home price and it is higher in HCOL states.


I'd give you that, but in exchange, you'll have to agree that, if I'm renting, I shouldn't have to sell any financial assets less than, say, the median value of a house where I am.


They said reasonable, not "endlessly-patched-up nonsense that conservatives want to gut at every turn"


I feel like "Medicaid could be better" is a statement everyone can agree on, but my point stands that the meme that US healthcare is some Mad Max apocalyptic wasteland where you're completely on your own and left to die in the street is categorically false.

Not a single person in the US is denied healthcare based on inability to pay.


> Not a single person in the US is denied healthcare based on inability to pay.

This is not true. Emergency rooms are required to take you in and stabilize your situation even if you can't pay. Everything else is not available if you can't pay.

Think of something like cancer, which an emergency room can't treat since it develops over time. You will indeed be left to die on the streets if you don't have the money or coverage from somewhere.


> Not a single person in the US is denied healthcare based on inability to pay.

Yes, because that's the law. Then they hand you an exorbitant bill on the way out, which you can't pay. Then you get hounded by collections. Then your credit score tanks. etc. etc. etc.

Not everything is a direct line, the end result is the same.




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