“The collapse is caused mainly by debt and the economic crisis in Puerto Rico and historic privatization of the health care system there. Our research shows patients are waiting for six to eight months to get an appointment with a specialist. If that’s not a sign of collapse, I don’t know what is,” said Varas-Diaz.
Puerto Rico is just the canary in the coal mine. The entire US healthcare system is on the brink of collapse.
I’ve known people who’ve had to wait 6 to 8 months for a specialist and also, that privatization of health care thing.
Heard. And that’s for people with health insurance and the ability to pay deductibles / co-pays for care in the first place. Everyone else is kinda fucked.
Everyone else is kinda fucked.
Washington state has a great medicaid system. You’re insured if you make under a certain amount, it even covers basic dental. I think Illinois has something similar. I’m sure other states have similar things, but not all (looking at you southern states).
Medicare is Federally managed, Medicade is state-by-state. To qualify for Medicaid in most states you have to be at or near poverty levels of income - that’s around $11k to $15,000 a year maximum in order to qualify for it.
Don’t forget about the gap between qualifying for Medicaid and qualifying for marketplace subsidies. Expanded Medicaid covers that gap, but some states declined the federal money to cover it.
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Yep. It’s what’s gotten my father to pull his head out of his ass regarding public Healthcare. His last argument was longer wait times in Canada/UK, and the difference us pretty much gone. Broken doesn’t even begin to describe it.
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My buddy has* VA healthcare. The rest of us don’t even get to see a doctor, dentist or anything else.
Corrected.
It’s working as designed.
I live near a college town with a big medical center and lots of doctors graduating. Some of the specialists here are not taking new patients at all and there is no waiting list. Only alternative is to drive 50 miles to another city.
You’d think with the internet and all, that we could have better healthcare, not worse. Specialists could see you over zoom with a nurse taking all of your vitals in person. They’re just taking tests and talking to you, it’s not new science that way. You could even have 2 specialists seeing the same info and you could have them discuss it between themselves. Healthcare hasn’t been about health and healing for a very long time.
That is depressing. For the uninformed, myself included, since I didn’t realize the Mariana Islands were part of the US:
The United States currently administers three[8][12] territories in the Caribbean Sea and eleven in the Pacific Ocean.[note 3][note 4] Five territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) are permanently inhabited, unincorporated territories; the other nine are small islands, atolls, and reefs with no native (or permanent) population. Of the nine, only one is classified as an incorporated territory (Palmyra Atoll). Two additional territories (Bajo Nuevo Bank and Serranilla Bank) are claimed by the United States but administered by Colombia.[9][14][15] Historically, territories were created to administer newly acquired land, and most eventually attained statehood.[16][17] The most recent territories to become U.S. states were Alaska on January 3, 1959, and Hawaii on August 21, 1959.[18] The Republic of the Philippines, along with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau, which were administered as a U.N. trust territory, but sometimes grouped with U.S. territories — later became independent nations.[note 5]
If they pay taxes, they deserve statehood. If not, give them independence.
The age of colonialism is over. No taxation without representation, its kinda what we’re all about
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The, obviously immoral, institutionalized racism in America (I said OBVIOUSLY for those in the back) has also had, and still does have, geoplitical ramifications as well. Further compounding the issue is the media, on the rare event it does get reported, it’s almost always relegated to the back pages and never followed up on.
When the Nazi’s (for clarity, that is the anachronistic 20th century spelling used to describe the German wave; the current 21st centuries spelling is NatC’s - for Christian NATionalists, generally located in southeastern North America, tho not always, and not always just in the Americas).
I’m sorry, that aside aside; When the Nazi’s received criticism from the Roosevelt administration about their treatment of the Jews (which was, in fact, reported on extensively during the war, the only surprise was the efficiency and extensiveness of the Germans, today much appluaded, record keeping), the Nazi’s immediately clapped back with how America treats its black citizens. German officials spent a good amount of time in the mid 1930s, before any hostilities broke out in Europe, studying the souths Jim Crow laws for themselves so they could best implement their future aparteid state. Backed up with passport stamps and photographic evidence, Germany’s rebuff effectively humiliated American opinion off the world stage.
Not known for learning from their mistakes, America continued doing what it does best, convincing the working class that they’re the source of all their problems.
At the same time, the other never reported topic that America leads the world in, was amped up to 11. And that’s rewriting history thru domestic propaganda campaigns. America did so well at this, that early in the 21st century it once again tried it’s hand on the world’s moral stage…
And was quickly reminded by the Chinese, who’re deflecting their own allegations of crimes against humanity in their treatment of the Uyghers, that once again America’s institutionalized racism, as shown evident thru its prison system, is a “functioning” aparteid state against non-white and poor white Americans, and forged the way, and that China was merely doing what has been shown as acceptable.
…when the rule of law is so corrupted that it’s applied unequally, no one, rich or poor, respects the law. Those without the means to defend themselves may fear it, but no one respects it
is this is that place thats a state, but not a state because conservatives are racist assholes?
Man that’s a loaded question. Easiest answer is yes, however sprinkle additional infighting of political parties within.
I’m not great at Puerto Rican politics, but I think they voted not to join as a state themselves. I doubt the racists would let them in if they did anyway.
i thought i read something about them blocking any additional states as it would inevitably be a liberal leaning state…and we cant have that.
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Unfortunately the US gov’t has always seemed to enjoy taking federal tax dollars (except income tax, which Puerto Ricans do not pay) from Puerto Rico without having to spend money to provide services.
Six years ago it was hit hard by huricane Maria and last year, while still recovering from that, it was hit by Fiona.
Experts say the island’s economic crisis is rooted in twentieth-century legislation that encouraged Puerto Rico’s reliance on debt to fill federal funding gaps. It did this by giving bond investors higher returns and loosening borrowing limits. Since 1917, lenders to Puerto Rico have been exempt from local, state, and federal taxes—the so-called triple tax exemption—effectively boosting their profits and making the island a more attractive investment. The territory’s constitution also allows Puerto Rico to balance its budget with its debt, among other provisions that facilitate borrowing.
The debt problem accelerated after 1996, when the U.S. government began phasing out Internal Revenue Code Section 936. This provision had allowed American businesses to operate tax-free in Puerto Rico, which critics viewed as a windfall for wealthy corporations. Section 936’s repeal triggered a deterioration of Puerto Rico’s manufacturing sector, and the territorial government increasingly turned to debt to cover its spending.
Bruh they better not join the states. Puerto rico is a pretty chill place.
Dear god trying to read this article was cancer. The auto playing adds covered 80% of the screen.
ublock origin is pretty good.
Sad how we’re moving backwards just so stupid designers can justify their worthless existence.
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No worries, I was just explaining. It gets embarrassing lol.
Could you maybe add the above link to the body of your post, that way it doesn’t break rule 5 (:
But they told us that’s what socialism does!
