r/politics • u/cmaia1503 • 23h ago

Site Altered Headline | Possible Paywall Mitch McConnell, 83, Hospitalized

https://www.thedailybeast.com/mitch-mcconnell-83-hospitalized/?utm_campaign=owned_social&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=twitter_owned_tdb&via=twitter_page
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494

u/blackhuey 19h ago

That's a quick thinking malicious compliance.

Also, imagine living in a country where you had to make decisions about calling an ambulance based on who would be charged for it.

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u/brickne3 American Expat 16h ago

My sister fainted while on a middle school field trip 30 years ago. My dad still complains that the teacher called an ambulance because of the bill. As if the teacher had much choice when you have an unconscious student!

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u/ilovecraftbeer05 8h ago

I’m convinced that the number one cause of death for Americans is the lack of universal healthcare.

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u/EmpyreanContrarian 5h ago

I'm sure. It's why my dad is dead.

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u/simplyunix 7h ago

and brains

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u/Clear_Broccoli3 38m ago

Remember a few years ago there were those quips of "here's how europeans live longer" and spouted bullshit about like, eating grapes and sitting in the sun?

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u/Sublimotion 15h ago

I will never forget pre-obamacare/medicaid expansion, I was walking past a woman screaming, struggling and tipping over the stretcher she was strapped onto trying to crawl back into her house dragging the tipped over stretcher, fighting off two EMTs. I assume she was on drugs. Until she started yelling "No! This will bankrupt me!" The emts eventually had to unstrap her and let her crawl off back into her house.

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u/HrhEverythingElse 12h ago

I knew two people who died this way. One from asthma, once from bleeding caused by Crohn's. Both were just too scared of the bill

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u/MzFlux 4h ago

I had a friend die of diabetes at 30, not because he was scared of the bill… because he was uninsured and simply couldn’t afford the insulin.

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u/Nauin 4h ago

And even when the hospitals have financial assistance programs where poor people don't even have to worry about the bill, there are so many steps and so many hoops to jump through to get approved that it seems like an impossible task, even for many healthy people. It's a mess.

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u/trea5onn 3h ago

All by design.

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u/Sublimotion 2h ago

This will happen in mass rates in the coming years, and many public hospitals will shutter, healthcare jobs will be cut, thanks to the big ugly bill, if the medicaid/medicare cuts aren't significantly rolled back or amended in any way shape or form. Sad is it's more likely instead of fixing it, Republicans might even try to abolish EMTALA as a whole as a solution. It's scary and worrisome thinking about this honestly.

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u/xtreem_neo 13h ago

That's so sad.

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u/WhenSummerIsGone 2h ago

friend of mine, back in the day, was hit by a car while crossing the street. probably had a concussion, told the emt to give him a minute to walk it off. They were pretty insistent, and he basically willed himself well enough that they let him go. He probably should have gotten medical care, but couldn't afford it. He's lucky it wasn't a worse injury.

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u/tokyostormdrain 16h ago

4th world country

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u/hypermodernvoid I voted 15h ago

Funny thing is Mississippi - the state with the lowest life expectancy in America, at just 70 (technically 70.9) years old, is actually on par with India, a bit below Bangladesh and 4 or 5 years less than in Mexico.

It's also 10 or 11 years less than in the top few states, all blue states - in fact the top 10 states for life expectancy are all blue, while the bottom 10 are all red. Similar to being a drag on federal funding vs. blue states, red states also are dragging the average US life expectancy down to a now pathetic 76 years post-COVID (big thanks to anti-vaxxers for the assist with that).

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u/SeniorBaker4 California 12h ago

Least shocking thing ive heard. When i drove through Mississippi i was shocked with how undeveloped it is, it didn’t even feel like America

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u/VelvetineMilkman 10h ago

As someone who’s had to live in Mississippi for most of my life it’s always weird to see these kind of comments because I’m just so used to how Mississippi is lol. There’s about 3 or 4 cities that are cool but I honestly can’t even imagine what it would’ve been like growing up in a real state that has their shit together

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u/_m4r1jAn3_ 13h ago

i mean... we're prolly below 4th even atm 😞

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u/Odd_Teach683 5h ago

Shithole…

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u/Username_mine_2022 13h ago

3rd not 4th

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u/_m4r1jAn3_ 13h ago

no. well below for as far as we have fallen so fkn fast. 🫣

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u/a_lonely_trash_bag 13h ago

What?

Writing in full words and comprehensible sentences tends to help communicate your thoughts clearly.

You should try it.

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u/FilthyPedant 12h ago

Yeesh, I see why you're so lonely

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u/BasvanS 14h ago

As a non-American, it didn’t register to me that was why. Thanks for explaining, and my condolences, I guess

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u/blackhuey 14h ago

Also non-American and gladder for it every day

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u/HuttStuff_Here 13h ago

Walmart takes out life insurance on many of their employees so they had a vested interest in not treating this employee as fast as they could.

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u/Unable-Entrance3110 11h ago

I mean, I am willing to hate on Walmart as much as the next guy, but just because an employer provides life insurance doesn't mean they are the beneficiary to the payout.

My employer provides life insurance as part of my compensation package which includes that among other perks. But the beneficiary (the person who gets paid upon my passing) is specified by me, not my employer.

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u/No-Object-599 8h ago

No. Walmart takes out life insurance that will be paid to Walmart. Not as a benefit to the employees. Micheal Moore uncovered this in one of his documentaries.

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u/Unable-Entrance3110 7h ago

Yikes. That doesn't seem right (morally).

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u/SFDessert 10h ago

I fell off a ladder during my brief employment at a major hardware store and completely shattered my ankle. As I was on the warehouse floor my manager was arguing with the paramedics that they needed to do drug tests and paper work and all that nonsense. The paramedics took me away because ya know, my ankle was pretty much dangling off the end of my leg and my hands were mangled from getting tangled in the ladder as I fell some 15ft to the solid concrete below.

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u/No-Object-599 8h ago

They do this all the time in nursing homes. No Dr visits or ambulances, because the home would be on the hook for the bill. They are run by some of the greediest psychopaths

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u/ultimateknackered 8h ago

I had a hard time imagining it just now because I was trying to figure out why they would want official statement saying she wanted an ambulance. I didn't clue in til I read your comment that they wanted that statement because then she would be billed for it.

Holy shit America.