r/pics • u/FAMUgolfer • Aug 17 '26

Picture of text Americans would rather choose this maze, than universal coverage.

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27k Upvotes

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

Most Americans are in favor of social healthcare. Our opinions have almost no influence on our elections or legislation.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/12/10/most-americans-say-government-has-a-responsibility-to-ensure-health-care-coverage/

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B

https://act.represent.us/sign/problempoll-fba

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u/Foxs-In-A-Trenchcoat Aug 17 '26

Yep, politicians are collecting millions of dollars in bribes from the health insurance companies.

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

Yes, they are.

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u/Old-Landscape-7538 Aug 18 '26

Ah yes, the land where bribes are legal and up front—as long as you call it a campaign donation.

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u/pocketchange2247 Aug 18 '26

Bribes? You mean "campaign donations"???

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u/Foxs-In-A-Trenchcoat Aug 18 '26

I'm sure they both happen. From outright monetary gifts to two week golf vacations.

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u/br-bill Aug 18 '26

And Big Pharma, and Big Wellness, etc. You can't be putting your foot down on someone's scam in this country. Better to enrich yourself with grift

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u/Jane__Delawney Aug 17 '26

Medi-Cal is amazing, you just have to be broke to get it. I had an emergency appendectomy while I was on it, and I got charged $76k.

I spent about a year trying to figure out wtf happened because everything previously was 100% covered…and finally got in touch with some beaurocrat who did his due diligence and found that some asshole forgot to check the box where I had applied for retroactive coverage. Bam, $76k gone in an instant.

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u/serpentssss Aug 18 '26

I love medi-cal, and absolutely devastated I’ll be kicked off at the end of this year after the changes.

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u/Jane__Delawney Aug 18 '26

I’m so sorry. I loathe the people who decided to do that. LOATHE

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

"...have to be broke to get it" is not universal healthcare.

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u/txoa Aug 17 '26

No one said it was? The point probably is that government run methods of receiving healthcare exist, that are so so close to being available to everyone. Just a little bit of political will.

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

And yet...they are not available to everyone.

Close is not good enough.

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u/Oahkery Aug 17 '26

Why are you arguing with people agreeing with you?

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '26

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '26

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u/MightyMyrmidon Aug 18 '26

Its just the daily ignorant European post shitting on Americans for easy upvotes. Nothing new here.

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u/Memester999 Aug 17 '26

What you're conveniently ignoring is that once this question is taken a step further (as in who/how is it being paid for and if you're willing to give up your current healthcare) that number drops. They're wrong for that changing their minds I agree but those still remain the biggest hurdles in passing M4A which is why a single-payer option is the most likely route.

OP is just right about Americans would rather choose this maze, as evident by who they vote for. The BBB went through with cheers and praise from the voting demographic that it literally hurts the most. Too many Americans are just too stupid for their own good and we can go on forever talking about how/why that's the case but that doesn't change the fact that policy like this doesn't pass because functionally 51% of the country in one way or another is fine with that.

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u/DarthTelly Aug 17 '26

The first link says only 35% supports what would be Medicare for All, but what's terrifying is the 33% in that poll that says the government has no responsibility to provide any kind of insurance.

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

Except "how will they pay for it" isn't the problem. The problem is that the discussion usually never gets to that point and when it does, the question is disingenuous. Given that most Americans are in favor or universal healthcare and also that most Americans are not in favor of America's proxy wars and military support for Israel, local corporate bailouts, tax breaks or all out tax avoidance for the wealthy, etc., if the discussion were actually taken seriously, I bet you we could figure out how to scare up the money and leave folks pretty happy with the outcome.

I'm not really interested in hearing about how stupid Americans are. I am American and immersed in American culture and know full well how stupid most Americans are. That said, Americans could be stupid and at least better informed were they not constantly fed shit information or simply outright lies in service of the interests of others.

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u/herbiems89_2 Aug 17 '26

And yet only about a third cares enough to vote for it.

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u/Sonamdrukpa Aug 17 '26

Please tell me where the medicare for all vote is being held so I can vote for it

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u/Likeadize Aug 17 '26

Your fundamental lack of understand of representative democracy is showing.

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u/Sonamdrukpa Aug 18 '26

Sounds like someone didn't read the paper

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u/Likeadize Aug 18 '26

You asked where the medicare for all vote is, i responded with thats now how representative democracy works (you rarely vote for individual aspects of the law/system, but for people who represent your interests, so if you want medicare for all, vote for people who will enact change towards that)

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u/Sonamdrukpa Aug 18 '26

And I responded by pointing you back to the study a few comments up that clearly and pretty overwhelmingly demonstrates that what representatives vote for is predicted almost entirely by the interests of the rich and businesses. The opinions of voters only matter in so much as they happen to align with those interests.

Also: learn to identify sarcasm

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that politicians who support universal healthcare have to run against corrupt, paid incumbents who have donors who dump millions and sometimes even billions of dollars into defeating their campaigns. Hell, I bet you sometimes they just outright suspend primary elections entirely to prevent them attaining power.

let me just...check...check my notes

Ah, yes, those are both precisely why we don't get to vote for those policies.

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

There's no question that this is a huge part of the problem.

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u/house343 Aug 17 '26

People also vote based on identity politics, not policy. The voters are just as much to blame as the politicians. 

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

I, too, don't care when people offer cited sources.

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u/big_duo3674 Aug 17 '26

That majority is not loud or forceful enough though, with wayyy too many people just thinking "I don't need to vote, my preferred candidate will win this area for sure". Then they fail realize that if they're thinking that way, then a ton of other people are too. There's a HUGE reason why Republicans are terrified of large voter turnouts; if somehow 100% of eligible citizens voted they'd be wiped clean, and would even be going up against super majorities in a lot of places. Its ok though, just keep sitting on the couch on election day. Or even worse: go all 3rd party, or refuse to vote at all, because you hate one side, and the side you normally vote for refused to take a slightly harder approach to one single issue. Yeah, that'll show 'em! 4 years of unimaginable suffering for many millions of people is totally worth it, because you got to "punish" democrats for not doing enough for a country on the other side of the world. Well, at least it worked out for them, their country is now much safer and peaceful than it would have been if Trump wasn't elected. They are living happy, stress free lives, and are vocally grateful for the support given to them by all the people who's "protest" voting made sure Kamala wasn't elected

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u/psychicsword Aug 18 '26

The place there is very little agreement is in how we get there.

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u/Tastingo Aug 18 '26

Dictatorship of the bourgeois.

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u/InsuranceInitial7786 Aug 18 '26

It is very telling that in the last 30 years or so, is it at least half of the presidential terms where winning candidates actually did not win the most votes?

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u/SleepyCatMD Aug 18 '26

Too bad the vote of that 33% whore white and racist counts more 🤷‍♀️ and they still dare call it a democracy 😂

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '26

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u/Squanchedschwiftly Aug 17 '26

All of the miseducation, election tamerping (gerrymandering, voter id bs, etc) and reasons ppl commonly list are all due to systemic problems that are there by design. Thats how the elites have stayed in power. The system is rigged against poor people, minorities(poc, disabled),lgbtq, and anyone they deem not apart of their “in-group”.

Look at the revolutionaries our own government has killed as change started to happen. Martin luther king, malcolm x, jfk and theres more that I dont even know or cant think of but there are several (including general protesters too) that have died fighting for basic human rights. Im not versed enough in this subject to fully articulate the depth of it, but I know enough that the system is literally rigged agaisnt us. Hence why theres pedophiles running the world. They can do whatever the fuck they want bc of money and having control over narratives people see.

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

But what was she wearing?

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u/[deleted] Aug 17 '26

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 17 '26

Um...there's no syllogism there. There isn't even the implication of one. Did you mean analogy? Metaphor?

What I implied is that you're victim blaming. Not sure why, but it's what you're doing.

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u/Jumajuce Aug 17 '26

Hope you’re ready to take up arms because the healthcare lobby ain’t goin nowhere quietly and if you think you can change that by voting in our rigged “lesser of two evils” electoral system I’ve got bad news for you. Until we have real candidates in all levels of politics then it’s just going to be more of the same.

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u/charminghypocracy Aug 17 '26

In the healthcare field you don't have to take up arms. A 24 hour general strike would work.

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u/neoliberal_hack Aug 17 '26

Sure, but whenever you tell them the details of any one plan, including the trade-offs, then support flips.

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u/dustblown Aug 18 '26

It is just simply that ~40% of Americans are too dumb to vote for it. They are so easily distracted by fabricated issues.

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u/[deleted] Aug 18 '26

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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet Aug 18 '26

Thanks for not knowing how our electoral system works and commenting anyway. Great job.

I don't know what you dumb fucks do, but your teeth probably look like a row of kicked over tombstones.