Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP

Rest In Peace John Morphet. A beautiful soul died last week. He was depressed and sick and the place he turned to for help did not treat him as it was an out of network hospital for his insurance. He committed suicide 2 days later. #SinglePayer might have saved him

@DrDiGiorgio @BaseCampApache Patient would have more freedom to pick who they want to see and go to the hospital if their choosing

@adesantisb @BaseCampApache There are ways to address all that without giving up your freedom to get the doctor you want: offlabelideas.com/p/universal-he…

Spending too much for food and rent? If we just raise your taxes and force everyone to get food and housing from the government, you’ll save money! Everyone realizes this argument is ridiculous for food and housing. So why do we think it will work for healthcare?

@DrDiGiorgio Think of it more like grub hub or any number of delivery service services versus United States post office and charter schools getting public funding vs the public school system.

@adesantisb When has government consistently provided a private good at higher quality than the market? USPS vs UPS/fedex? Public school vs private?

Our profession continues to provide that high-quality product. Government pays for it. Honestly, it’s not ideal and I hate the thought of the negotiations that will have to happen to make sure we get paid adequately. However, our current payer environment does not work at all. We can borrow from other nations universal financing plans that works better.

So how do people who make less than 60 K a year fund leukemia, treatment? ICU level care? Neonatal care for a premie? There are illnesses and physical conditions that would put somebody making 200 K a year into medical bankruptcy. Through our lifetime 80%, of us will hardly spend any money relative to the other 20% who will spend a lot. None of us can predict if we will be that unlucky 20%. This is why pooling our resources together makes sense. Additionally Single Payer cuts out profiteering middle, improves access to preventative care and removes the financial obstacles to earlier and more effective (and cheaper) outpatient illness management.

@BaseCampApache Exactly. Except not realizing they lose freedom and access when someone else makes the purchasing decisions on their behalf.

I am not at all for tax dollars going to for-profit insurance, nor am I a fan of the auto pen. However, I’m sure you know someone who benefited from tax subsidize insurance for the Medicaid expansion when they couldn’t get it at a reasonable price through their employer or their employer didn’t offer it. Also, I’m fairly sure our current president hasn’t personally signed every single item that comes with his signature. We need to stop vilifying and fighting one another, and start working toward common sense solutions for the average person and for the benefit of our collective well-being.

@adesantisb @Rightmemer1 @MiltonFriedmanW Because we had Obama and Auto Pen as Presidents

“You cannot simultaneously have a welfare state and free immigration.” — Milton Friedman

@chellie_griff @AllhaveLied @MiltonFriedmanW Webster dictionary definitions may differ with your assessment.

@adesantisb @AllhaveLied @MiltonFriedmanW Most liberals are communists

@ByersNorm66677 @MiltonFriedmanW Budgetary constraints! Not vegetarian.

@adesantisb @MiltonFriedmanW Welfare technically up to the states. There is no real constitutional authority for it. As such the feds give states money and tell them how it must be spent. They should have required extreme anti fraud and waste measures.

States will sometimes fall victim to vegetarian constraints, politics, and occasionally racism, classism etc. Federal legislation protects those who cannot advocate for themselves. Reading the biographies of Alexander Hamilton and Franklin D Roosevelt made me realize how important it is for a strong federal government when it comes to some aspects of a successful national efforts. Outdated and onerous regulations needs to be evaluated and eliminated if they are unable to show their intended effect. However, we should all avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I’m all for routing out fraud and elimination of toxic charity. That said, we need a lot more attention to holding corporations accountable for a livable wage, national infrastructure improvements, public schools and professional education, safe neighborhoods, public transportation, transitioning to Green energy, and moving to a universal healthcare financing in this country. These efforts would benefit all taxpayers, regardless of income or political persuasion or race. Why do we always seem to have unlimited amounts of money to wage wars in foreign countries and not put the necessary money into structural reform?

@adesantisb @elonmusk The United States has spent more money on Welfare over the past 40 years than on the entire Military Budget over the last 160 years combined…. The USA spends more than a Trillion dollars on Social Security alone Every year.. That is the US budget for WWII every Four Years...

💯

Ever hear of this quote? “ the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. When there’s a profit motive involved, and a relative lack of accountability, results tend to go sideways. Human relationships, accountability, morality, and context matters. I’m not sure AI can replicate that on a large and longitudinal scale.

Yes

I don’t disagree with that statement, but tell me, why do you think that is? When nothing makes sense, I follow the dollars. From a systemic point of view, who benefits the most? Tyson chicken, or your government representative? Let’s figure out who exactly killed that border bill. Our president had the speaker of the house pull it, but who put the pressure on them? How about all of us regardless of political persuasion, get behind the campaign finance reform movement. Getting big money out of politics would take care of a lot of problems.

This proposal is fairly reasonable, however it does change the responsibilities from the federal government onto the citizens. One should be able to trust that people in their country are legally here. Unfortunately the federal government has abdicated their duties for far too long.

@livingDUO @aubetony @MiltonFriedmanW Do you mean the concept of Democratic rule of law or putting a McDonald’s in every neighborhood? Why don’t we leave other countries alone, esp if they have a poor civil rights record.

@adesantisb @aubetony @MiltonFriedmanW It seems like it’d be better to export the American way of life to other countries rather than import other country’s citizens into America huh? It sure seems like it would be better for a whole lot more people, both in America and abroad.

Extending the subsidies as a short term fix. We need a long-term solution. Your #MedicareForAll Bill and the house is an elegant piece of legislation that cuts out profiteering, spreads Risk to everyone, and covers everyone. It’s public funding with private delivery of care and allows for cash opt out for those DPC doctors and patients who choose to do so.

Thanks to Trump and Republicans’ refusal to extend the ACA subsidies, ACA premiums are up 58% this year, leading 5 million Americans to forgo health care coverage altogether. In the richest country in the world, no one should worry about being able to afford a trip to the doctor.

I really can. I personally have taken care of many of these families for decades. These are hard working good people, just like my ancestors. They add value. I want the illegal crossings to end too, but I also want to see a more efficient timely and humane treatment of guest workers and those who want to become permanent citizens. I also want to see the ultra wealthy stop blaming poor desperate people who are coming from broken societies for what’s wrong in this country.

@adesantisb @MiltonFriedmanW My parents were immigrants. But they were the the immigrants that worked hard and refused to take a handout from the government even though we struggled. Can you say the same of today’s immigrants?

I’d like to respond to people who have more than 200 followers and actually put their picture up along with their posts so thank you for that. Tell me, where is the outrage at the companies and corporations hiring illegal immigrants? Construction? Food service and food production? Janitorial services? In-home services? It’s not hard to understand why the border hasn’t been closed yet. These companies have enormous clout politically and they’re getting away with hiring illegal immigrants. They don’t have to pay them much, don’t have to give them benefits, and don’t pay employer taxes. I say we “cut off the head of the snake” and start finding and fining them 20% of their net worth.

@adesantisb @MiltonFriedmanW Immigration as an act of entrepreneurship is positive. Welfare is the culprit.

We’re paying for all the uninsured and underinsured. We’re also then paying for our ticket to avoid medical bankruptcy through employer sponsored insurance. Taxpayers in this country are getting hosed while people making enormous amounts of money find tax loopholes, and corporate welfare is rampant in our food and energy industries. Don’t even get me started on the profiteering going on in healthcare. You’re angry at the wrong group of people.

@adesantisb @elonmusk Immigrants can go to a hospital in any state and get free healthcare. It raises the price of healtcare for Americans. Americans pay for them via taxes

It’s not the first generation and it’s the second and third that really makes a difference in the long run. My father’s parents never learned to speak English despite coming to this country as teenagers. Now, generations, later there are teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, etc and we are fully American. My ancestors came from extreme poverty. They were isolated and persecuted in Philadelphia at the turn of the 20th century. I see the same hard-working spirit in the immigrant populations where I work. The next generation is full of hope and dreams and taking advantage of high school to college pathways. We have to support humans who are here for a safer and more prosperous existence, not vilify them.

@KingTaiwo_ @adesantisb @MiltonFriedmanW Not everyone that comes to the country are actual immigrants, either. Setting legality aside, if a community rolls into your country, refuses to assimilate and demands that you change to accommodate them, they are invaders.

I work in a clinic that sees mostly immigrant families and I can tell you that nearly all are hard-working peaceful folks. Most of them work seven days a week at two or three jobs. Their families are intact. They go to church and they are highly invested in their children’s education. Unless you know these folks intimately, you cannot make a judgment call. What’s your direct experience?

@adesantisb @MiltonFriedmanW As a grandchild of immigrants, you should've know to differentiate between good hard working immigrants and the parasitic ones with incompatible culture.

@aubetony @MiltonFriedmanW Interesting chart. Any ability to tell whether that’s per capita data or just net?

@adesantisb @MiltonFriedmanW Have you seen this chart? Countries used to have immigrants from Europe, which were great. But Middle East & Africa immigration both ruins the economy and the safety of the host country This is why Europe has so much rape and violence, and a trash economy now