The US doesn’t have universal health care — but these states (almost) do

MicroWave@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 88 points – The US doesn’t have universal health care — but these states (almost) do
vox.com

Ten states have uninsured rates below 5 percent. What are they doing right?

Universal health care remains an unrealized dream for the United States. But in some parts of the country, the dream has drawn closer to a reality in the 13 years since the Affordable Care Act passed.

Overall, the number of uninsured Americans has fallen from 46.5 million in 2010, the year President Barack Obama signed his signature health care law, to about 26 million today. The US health system still has plenty of flaws — beyond the 8 percent of the population who are uninsured, far higher than in peer countries, many of the people who technically have health insurance still find it difficult to cover their share of their medical bills. Nevertheless, more people enjoy some financial protection against health care expenses than in any previous period in US history.

15

"Everybody has health insurance" is not universal health care. I have health insurance and thousands of dollars of medical debt. And it's good insurance.

I’m sorry to hear about your situation. This article focuses more on efforts to reduce the number of uninsured people and is aware of what you’re saying about costs:

…many of the people who technically have health insurance still find it difficult to cover their share of their medical bills. Nevertheless, more people enjoy some financial protection against health care expenses than in any previous period in US history.

That's great and I'm glad to hear it. It still isn't universal healthcare by any means. Universal healthcare means removing profit motive from the system.

Yeah the article seems to draw the definition from this:

The United States is the only wealthy industrialized nation without universal health coverage, a crucial component to ensuring quality health care for all without financial burden that causes delay or avoidance of necessary medical care.

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M19-2415

You are wrong. "Universal health care" has nothing to do with removing profit motive. It just means everyone has access to health care, be that through public or private (ie profit-driven) insurance.

I think you're meaning to say "single payer" health care, which is where the government spends a portion of tax revenue to pay for health care for everyone.

It just means everyone has access to health care, be that through public or private (ie profit-driven) insurance.

Yes, with the additional qualification that it does not cause financial hardship. The US does not have this.

More fun to mention 11 “states” at a 5.1% uninsured cutoff, because number 11 is Peurto Rico -- a US territory that you might expect to be less developed. Since people are forced to run javascript to see the list, I’ll copy it here up to the 6% point:

  1. Massachusetts
  2. District of Columbia
  3. Hawaii
  4. Vermont
  5. Iowa (what’s a red state doing here?)
  6. Rhode Island
  7. Minnesota
  8. New Hampshire
  9. Michigan
  10. New York
  11. Puerto Rico
  12. Connecticut
  13. Pennsylvania
  14. Wisconsin
  15. Kentucky (what’s a red state doing here?)
  16. Delaware
  17. Ohio (what’s a red state doing here? OH will worsen over time; to be fair they only recently became solidly red)
  18. West Virginia
    …

(22) California (6.5%.. worse than we might expect for CA)
…

(52) Texas ← ha! Of course Texass is last. 16.6% uninsured in the most notable red state showing us how to take care of people

The general pattern is expected.. the bottom of the list is mostly red states.

It's almost like Democrats tend to work to get Healthcare for people, and Republicans tend not to. Weird, I was told all political parties are the same.

I'll also point out Iowa and Ohio are more purplish states, both voted for Obama twice. Ohio still has a democratic senator.

Kentucky also has a democratic governor that ran on expanding Medicaid access.

https://www.wlky.com/article/kentucky-expanded-medicaid-health-coverage-adults-andy-beshear-governor/41726057

Republicans tend to work to get more money for insurance and healthcare companies and tell the uninsured to get fucked.

Kentucky is there because of Kynect. When the ACA passed, Kentucky was one of the few red states to create our own state insurance exchange instead of relying on the federal exchange (which in hindsight, is a really fucking funny thing for the other red states to do. I thought they hated relying on the federal government?). At the time, it was lauded as a prime example of how to create and run such an exchange. And despite Bevin dismantling it when he was elected, our current governor made sure to restart it.

Also, because our governor at the time was a Democrat (Steve Beshear, the father of our current governor) Kentucky took the Medicaid expansion. So we had the money to cover the extra enrollees.

Yeah Massachusetts hardly surprises. They've had a fantastic healthcare program in effect for over a decade. Crazy what you can accomplish when you mass millions of people under a non-profit public entity payer...

Fun fact, Obamacare was modeled on Massachusetts. And you'll never believe who championed it: Republican governor Mitt Romney.

Glad the number has dropped a lot since then. Hopefully it can continue.