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Medicare for All Would Be $40 Trillion Cheaper Than Our Shitty For-Profit System | Common Dreams
(www.commondreams.org)
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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I've said it online probably 8000 times, but just in case somehow some Americans are still not aware:
You ALREADY pay a higher portion of your tax receipts into your healthcare system than any nation on planet earth, this includes the 30 or so that provide unequivocal full coverage for every one of their citizens from cradle to grave.
Then on top of this you are paying for the privilege of being insured so you can then pay your doctor.
The entire private medical apparatus of the United States is made of completely superfluous money that never had to be spent there at all, tens of billions, trillions of dollars.
Most of the rest of the planet provides far more for far less money. Every modern industrialized nation (and a few not so modern not so industrialized nation's) manage to provide world class healthcare that outstrips the US system in nearly every metric, to all citizens, for free, for ever, without one red cent of payment
I've been paying ~200 a month for "Healthcare" for the past 5 years.
Total benefits paid out... $0 dollars. I went to a Dr. for a pinched nerve in my shoulder. In-person exam, a round of steroids and a prescription for a large dose of acetaminophen ran me about $260 out of pocket, insurance covered exactly 0 dollars.
I've sent them 12,000 dollars and they've fucking nickled-and-dimed me for physical pain that was affecting my health (couldn't sleep or focus for about a week before I relented and saw a Dr.)
BTW, I have what is considered to be "good insurance" in the US.
The vast majority of Americans still don't understand they should be adding all of their health care costs, including the company portion of premiums which cuts into their take home pay, into their comparison to taxes in other countries. A huge portion of American still buy into the 'government death panels' bullshit while ignoring the fact that for profit companies are death panels.
They also don't understand that every other country has better health outcomes and that the stories of long waits are either lies or cherry picked from rural locations and in the US many people never get care or have even longer wait times in rural areas.
Americans are mostly morons who believe anything that makes it sound like the US is better and ignore all the evidence that shows that is wrong.
Source: am American and have talked to many Americans.
They talk about there being lines for stuff all the time without ever fathoming what the lack of lines for things signifies in America.
There is no lack of lines in America. That's something only people that haven't ever actually used any of the healthcare system would believe.
Emergency Rooms regularly have multiple hour long waits for everything other than literal life or death emergencies arriving via ambulance. Urgent care facilities often have similar waits and have to send people to the ER that need more care than they can provide.
This is a result primarily of facilities operating at bare minimum staffing at all times to minimize costs (maximize profits).