These companies have lost their fucking minds. I pay over $200 a month for insurance through my job. Recently I had to go in and get blood work done for a condition I have, and was charged over $200 for the office visit and lab work. When I called to figure out why it wasn’t just a $30 copay like my card states, I was told that due to my high-deductible plan, I’m responsible for all costs until the deductible is reached, and only then will my copays start.
When the fuck did this change? Now I’m responsible for the full cost of an office visit with a regular doctor at the rate of $200+ ON TOP of premiums, costs of service, Rx costs, etc. This isn’t even for a serious condition, I can’t even imagine what it would cost if regular visits were needed. I won’t be paying these bills as medical debt under $500 isn’t reported in my state.
What can we do? How do we push back against them killing us like this? All these insurance companies have been reporting record profits since the pandemic, and before, while we’re paying $1000s month for even the most basic of healthcare services. Meanwhile the liberals continue to dangle the idea of universal health care like a carrot every few years to sway votes.
We should all be far more pissed off at them squeezing profits from us at for sake of our health, but where do we even start to push back in any effective way?
The reason why the healthcare system is parasitic is because it is controlled by the bourgeoisie and so it serves their interests. We must control it or create an alternative and protect it from the state. As per always the creation of proletarian power starts with unionization and organizing a radical proletarian political party. This is the work to be done to counteract, change, or create conditions.
This is why we see so many unionization efforts underway, from Marxists to anarcho syndicalists, to the preexisting labor bureau/aristocratic unions expanding and striking. This conversation has already been had. It’s a race to unionize.
A similar race is taking place in the political sphere however this race is much more competitive than the union race. This is because there are many ‘false prophets’, wolves in sheeps clothings operating so as to sabotage our class’ efforts towards liberation.
Digressing, the work is already being carried out, our task is to continue this work and intensify it by building our organizations and thus our class’ potential power. For this power to be realized and utilized it must be guided in a revolutionary manner.