this post was submitted on 18 Mar 2026
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That president would be hated by big business, they could and would sink them. Also, half of the US is so far down the propaganda rabbithole that they either wouldn't believe that it's fixed or they would be convinced that it's bad that it was fixed (e.g. anti-vaccine people).
And finally, a US president is only legally allowed to have 2 terms (though Trump is definitely going for "dictator for life"), and it's not really possible to completely overhaul a healthcare system in a way that people will notice positively in their daily lives in just 4 years; so by the time when even the people who were always voting for the other side would notice that healthcare is good now, there's already a different person on the ballot.
Additionally, generally younger and healthier people are less impacted by healthcare prices. Since I moved to Japan, people will go to the doc to get diagnosis and treatment for a cold. In the US, I would avoid the doctor unless I thought it was serious, especially since over-the-counter meds were so cheap in the US. In Japan, the clinic route is often cheaper than self-diagnosing and going to the drugstore, but I still don't go to the doc if I think I just have a cold that's lasting a couple of days.
But aren't healthier people also paying for insurance currently? I mean you don't get insured once you get sick but before you get sick am I wrong. So, wouldn't healthier people also be happy about paying less for insurance? Don't younger people also have insurance?
Most people get insurance through their employer and most employers at least partially subsidize the cost. This doesn't show up on your paystub like a tax would so the only way you'd ever be aware of the true cost of your plan is if you got laid off and paid for continuation of benefits (COBRA).
It doesn't occur to most Americans that their paycheck might be higher if they had universal healthcare.
My paycheck stub now shows the subsidized amount - I can easily see how high the total is if I care to look. Is that not true for everyone now? I thought this also was part of ACA to improve transparency
In the US, healthcare costs are double-dipping - you pay a lot when you're healthy, and you also pay extra when you get treatment. But considering how absurdly expensive US healthcare is when you're not sick, even the regular costs would probably be cheaper if the system was properly fixed.
The US has a ton of different plans with different disadvantages. All, with the exception of maybe some for government and military (but correct me if I'm wrong here), have deductibles that must be met and out-of-pocket expenses ("co-pays") for various things. This means that people pay their insurance premiums on top of out-of-pocket expense for everything. The overall cost of things in the US is much higher than many other countries as well. Which plans are offered also depend a lot on many factors. I've been out of the US for too long to go much into depth on that.
Really much better put then i could, this.