The moral question is simpler than the paperwork makes it sound:
Should sickness be treated as a human need, or as a business opportunity?
From where I sit, a society that lets people die because treatment was not profitable has not merely made a bad policy choice. It has trained itself to see suffering as acceptable loss.
Healthcare should not require a GoFundMe, a lawyer, or a miracle.
It should be part of how a humane society practices mercy.
The modern American family didn't just naturally drift toward screens—it was subjected to a coordinated, structural override. The Left used educational policy to isolate the child from the parents, and the Right deregulated the tech industry to sell that isolated child to the highest bidder. The result is an $11 billion annual harvest of the adolescent retina. We traded the American living room for a digital Skinner box. Read the full structural breakdown of how state policy and Big Tech domesticated our kids:https://triggledger.substack.com/p/captive-audience-the-unregulated?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8gc1qf
Excellent article, As a doctor, I believe part of the uphill battle will be from my colleagues (Surgeon Specialists in my case)who argue that salaries will plummet and to resist. Also "Not for profit" hospitals with highly paid CEO's will have to redo the chargemaster $20 tylenol tablets. Much necessary work to do
I’ve heard the argument that I can’t choose the doctor or hospital that I need or want. Well try seeing an out of network doctor or hospital. Tell me how that works out.
Back in the 1970s and early 80s my children and I were on Medicaid. My children had regular checkups and immunizations because of that program. I only had two problems while on it and they involved my youngest child. He was not only born with Down Syndrome, but also with bilateral strabismus (crossed eyes). I had taken him to the eye doctor about the strabismus, and I was told the surgery to correct it would be considered COSMETIC. About two and a half years later, they included a pediatric eye surgeon. This doctor knew immediately that my child had been seeing double for 5 years of his life. He would close one eye so he would only see one image at a time. That was on a Tuesday. My son was in eye surgery on Thursday. On Friday morning, when he woke up, he appeared to be surprised...he was only seeing one image while both of his eyes were open. I will never forget his expression of wonder. The glasses that were first prescribed were too strong and Medicaid wouldn't replace them...only once a year for children's eyewear prescriptions. I had to pay out of pocket for the new glasses, but it was worth it, in my opinion. Medicaid WORKS and I worked as a contract nurse in Tricare family clinics, and I know how well that worked as well. Some mornings or afternoons I had to make appointments. There were no problems getting access to whichever services these family members needed. IT WORKS!
I worked on a cancer info line. Universal health care as experienced by the citizens I spoke to (from few different countries )… was a mixed blessing … Poorer Canadian Provence’s patients don’t get the cutting edge therapies or even what we in the US have access to. Mind you we might have to get a second mortgage to afford them. Anyway in Canada, the UK the NHS … care in France … health care is better in some ways and worse in others.
But don’t you think Insurance companies should be reigned in before we scrap our health care system!!!
To "rein in" the for-profit health insurance industry you would have to make so many changes--all of which would be fought tooth and nail--that it would be much less work just to let everyone onto Medicare.
For all intents and purposes we don't have a "healthcare system". We have a threadbare patchwork of systems for payment and care that don't cover everyone and leave the people they do cover a risk of penury. So yeah, not really seeing any need to "rein it in" before trying something new.
Great article Qasim. As a healthcare professional, I long for the day the US wakes up and gets its collective head out of its a$$. We need universal single payer healthcare.
Just a couple corrections. Health insurance companies are not “healthcare corporations.” They do not provide care.
Also, in the 3rd (I think) section, there’s a math error. It says: “…and the daunting reality of another 680,000 preventable deaths and 500,000 medical bankruptcies over the next decade…”
I think it should read 5 million medical bankruptcies (500,000 per year x 10 years).
The sinister problems of healthcare in the US have worsened under the Trump administration. Medicaid is being eliminated and reduced for millions of Americans. Medicaid eligibility is associated with the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), the calculations of which have been dishonest, flawed, and erroneous for decades. Under the Trump administration, Federal Health and Human Services Agency has made it much more dishonest and corrupt. Following link is to an article I wrote about this. I sent copies of it to two democratic senators from Arizona, without receiving a response.
Structural problems and flaws of Federal Poverty Level (FPL), Medicare, and Medicaid in the US. Dishonest, inaccurate, and absurd calculations of FPL for one person households in 2026.
By Fazal Rahman, Ph.D.* Updated February 11, 2026
Not to refute and expose falsehoods and injustices is to abet them and collaborate and collude with them
You are absolutely right. The Right always uses the bad boogey man, Socialism, to scare (? confusing with communism) and defeat politicians who mention "universal health care" or "Medicare for All" or "health care is a human right." That's because medicine became a money-making business. As a nurse, I can tell you that denying care, saves the corporation money, ... but we all end up paying more in the long run -- instead of preventative care or seeing a family doctor, people end up going to the E.R., a much more expensive place, meant for trauma, not ordinary care.
Money, the root of all evil, .... IS. The emphasis on money, rather than JOY in life, selflessness, which brings joy, has weakened our country, more than I can describe. We just passed the anniversary of D-Day, and the memory of those who gave their all for others, ...... and Ivanka's announcement that she & Jared bought an Albanian island, a wildlife refuge, to develop (destroy as a result). Albania, a poor nation, fell for the lure and grift of $$$. The animals and world, will lose. Look at the contrast of D-Day and Ivanka. Who do we want to be?
All your points are good and accurate, and I will use them.
The right is never afraid of socialism when they look to DC for FEMA to step in right away. They didn't think twice about that socialism when it paid big banks, so they wouldn't crash after they used all kinds of deception on their customers. The right (farmers) didn't call it socialism when they get bailed out after bad pandemic policies ruined sales NOR tariffs and REALLY bad deals with China that caused them to get their soybeans from Brazil, rather than American farmers.
Oh, you're right!, and that's the point!!! Repubs running for office "use" that word to scare people, but the gov't programs we have, like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, are revered BY THE PEOPLE. Hypocrisy, at its finest, ... to protect capitalists. The farmers LOVED being bailed out, ... and still do.
Thank you so much for this beautifully presented debunking, Qasim! I'm saving this so I can refer back to it at need. Our country needs so many more thinkers like you—people who look at things from the human perspective rather than the liberal or conservative one—and I'm glad I can help support you.
I'd be very interested in your thoughts on a mostly-hypothetical question, if you have any you'd like to share: if you had the chance to address a politically neutral Congress comprising only working-class legislators with no tie to either major party, what kinds of laws would you urge them to pass, in order to improve the state of health care in America?
I do think the definition of "elective surgery " should be narrowed to those which are actually optional. 5 years ago, I had a necessary aortic valve replacement. Medicaid challenged the necessity of it because I wasn't yet completely disabled and dying. It was designated "elective ". Fortunately, my cardiologist pushed back, making the case that the surgery would prevent irreversible disability. If you're going to be disabled without it, it shouldn't be categorized as elective like a BBL.
A medical professional explained to me that an "elective" procedure just meant one that wasn't an emergency. Any medical procedure that can be scheduled in advance is "elective", even ones that are NOT optional and have to be done sooner rather than later. But if Medicaid really meant your heart surgery was optional rather than disagreeing with your doctor about how urgently it needed to be done then that's disgusting.
Thank you for that last instruction. I didn't want to be the bad guy in this discussion:
It's the GATS treaty that Clinton signed into law, after Bush laid the groundwork: the multinational corporations can sue a country for loss of profits under this treaty. It's a WTO treaty; and the British are signatories as well. There's a "ratchet" clause that says a country can only privatize, never socialize, a medical system.
When I took Noam Chomsky's course a few years ago through the U of Arizona, I asked him about this. His answer was that, to get universal health care, it would take millions of us in the street. BUT! The US has broken nearly every other treaty its ever made, so, why not?
Do you mind checking this out? I would so appreciate it.
Also, John PIlger did a doc about the NHS and what's happening to it, called The Dirty War on the NHS. Highly recommend it.
I currently live in Ireland, having moved from the USA a few years ago. People here tend not to be very happy with the Irish public healthcare system, and indeed it has its problems but I believe it still works better than it does in the States, especially if one also pays extra for private insurance, whose monthly premiums are considerably cheaper than their American equivalent. Prescription drugs also cost a fraction of what they cost in the US. But yes, I agree with this article 100%.
The moral question is simpler than the paperwork makes it sound:
Should sickness be treated as a human need, or as a business opportunity?
From where I sit, a society that lets people die because treatment was not profitable has not merely made a bad policy choice. It has trained itself to see suffering as acceptable loss.
Healthcare should not require a GoFundMe, a lawyer, or a miracle.
It should be part of how a humane society practices mercy.
The modern American family didn't just naturally drift toward screens—it was subjected to a coordinated, structural override. The Left used educational policy to isolate the child from the parents, and the Right deregulated the tech industry to sell that isolated child to the highest bidder. The result is an $11 billion annual harvest of the adolescent retina. We traded the American living room for a digital Skinner box. Read the full structural breakdown of how state policy and Big Tech domesticated our kids:https://triggledger.substack.com/p/captive-audience-the-unregulated?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=8gc1qf
Excellent article, As a doctor, I believe part of the uphill battle will be from my colleagues (Surgeon Specialists in my case)who argue that salaries will plummet and to resist. Also "Not for profit" hospitals with highly paid CEO's will have to redo the chargemaster $20 tylenol tablets. Much necessary work to do
I’ve heard the argument that I can’t choose the doctor or hospital that I need or want. Well try seeing an out of network doctor or hospital. Tell me how that works out.
Back in the 1970s and early 80s my children and I were on Medicaid. My children had regular checkups and immunizations because of that program. I only had two problems while on it and they involved my youngest child. He was not only born with Down Syndrome, but also with bilateral strabismus (crossed eyes). I had taken him to the eye doctor about the strabismus, and I was told the surgery to correct it would be considered COSMETIC. About two and a half years later, they included a pediatric eye surgeon. This doctor knew immediately that my child had been seeing double for 5 years of his life. He would close one eye so he would only see one image at a time. That was on a Tuesday. My son was in eye surgery on Thursday. On Friday morning, when he woke up, he appeared to be surprised...he was only seeing one image while both of his eyes were open. I will never forget his expression of wonder. The glasses that were first prescribed were too strong and Medicaid wouldn't replace them...only once a year for children's eyewear prescriptions. I had to pay out of pocket for the new glasses, but it was worth it, in my opinion. Medicaid WORKS and I worked as a contract nurse in Tricare family clinics, and I know how well that worked as well. Some mornings or afternoons I had to make appointments. There were no problems getting access to whichever services these family members needed. IT WORKS!
Can we post information on how this will help our veterans since their coverage has been inconsistent and biased for decades??
I worked on a cancer info line. Universal health care as experienced by the citizens I spoke to (from few different countries )… was a mixed blessing … Poorer Canadian Provence’s patients don’t get the cutting edge therapies or even what we in the US have access to. Mind you we might have to get a second mortgage to afford them. Anyway in Canada, the UK the NHS … care in France … health care is better in some ways and worse in others.
But don’t you think Insurance companies should be reigned in before we scrap our health care system!!!
To "rein in" the for-profit health insurance industry you would have to make so many changes--all of which would be fought tooth and nail--that it would be much less work just to let everyone onto Medicare.
For all intents and purposes we don't have a "healthcare system". We have a threadbare patchwork of systems for payment and care that don't cover everyone and leave the people they do cover a risk of penury. So yeah, not really seeing any need to "rein it in" before trying something new.
Great article Qasim. As a healthcare professional, I long for the day the US wakes up and gets its collective head out of its a$$. We need universal single payer healthcare.
Just a couple corrections. Health insurance companies are not “healthcare corporations.” They do not provide care.
Also, in the 3rd (I think) section, there’s a math error. It says: “…and the daunting reality of another 680,000 preventable deaths and 500,000 medical bankruptcies over the next decade…”
I think it should read 5 million medical bankruptcies (500,000 per year x 10 years).
Thanks for all you do! Stay the course brother! 👊
The sinister problems of healthcare in the US have worsened under the Trump administration. Medicaid is being eliminated and reduced for millions of Americans. Medicaid eligibility is associated with the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), the calculations of which have been dishonest, flawed, and erroneous for decades. Under the Trump administration, Federal Health and Human Services Agency has made it much more dishonest and corrupt. Following link is to an article I wrote about this. I sent copies of it to two democratic senators from Arizona, without receiving a response.
Structural problems and flaws of Federal Poverty Level (FPL), Medicare, and Medicaid in the US. Dishonest, inaccurate, and absurd calculations of FPL for one person households in 2026.
By Fazal Rahman, Ph.D.* Updated February 11, 2026
Not to refute and expose falsehoods and injustices is to abet them and collaborate and collude with them
https://imperialismandthethirdworld.wordpress.com/2026/02/11/structural-problems-and-flaws-of-federal-poverty-level-medicare-and-medicaid-in-the-us-2/
You are absolutely right. The Right always uses the bad boogey man, Socialism, to scare (? confusing with communism) and defeat politicians who mention "universal health care" or "Medicare for All" or "health care is a human right." That's because medicine became a money-making business. As a nurse, I can tell you that denying care, saves the corporation money, ... but we all end up paying more in the long run -- instead of preventative care or seeing a family doctor, people end up going to the E.R., a much more expensive place, meant for trauma, not ordinary care.
Money, the root of all evil, .... IS. The emphasis on money, rather than JOY in life, selflessness, which brings joy, has weakened our country, more than I can describe. We just passed the anniversary of D-Day, and the memory of those who gave their all for others, ...... and Ivanka's announcement that she & Jared bought an Albanian island, a wildlife refuge, to develop (destroy as a result). Albania, a poor nation, fell for the lure and grift of $$$. The animals and world, will lose. Look at the contrast of D-Day and Ivanka. Who do we want to be?
All your points are good and accurate, and I will use them.
The right is never afraid of socialism when they look to DC for FEMA to step in right away. They didn't think twice about that socialism when it paid big banks, so they wouldn't crash after they used all kinds of deception on their customers. The right (farmers) didn't call it socialism when they get bailed out after bad pandemic policies ruined sales NOR tariffs and REALLY bad deals with China that caused them to get their soybeans from Brazil, rather than American farmers.
Oh, you're right!, and that's the point!!! Repubs running for office "use" that word to scare people, but the gov't programs we have, like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, are revered BY THE PEOPLE. Hypocrisy, at its finest, ... to protect capitalists. The farmers LOVED being bailed out, ... and still do.
The United States is navigating a complex political moment.
Election races in California and Los Angeles are drawing national attention, with vote counts and campaign dynamics shaping the political landscape.
At the same time, immigration and border-security debates continue in Congress, reflecting ongoing divisions over enforcement and policy direction.
Beyond domestic issues, the U.S. remains actively engaged in Middle East security matters, highlighting its continued global responsibilities.
This moment reflects a broader reality:
Domestic politics and global strategy are now deeply connected.
Decisions made at home increasingly influence actions abroad and vice versa.
In this environment, governance requires balance:
Between elections and execution.
Between security and policy.
Between domestic priorities and global commitments.
Because in today’s world, leadership is no longer single-dimensional. it is interconnected.
This resonates completely with my lived experience of forty years as a primary care family physician 🧑⚕️
Thank you so much for this beautifully presented debunking, Qasim! I'm saving this so I can refer back to it at need. Our country needs so many more thinkers like you—people who look at things from the human perspective rather than the liberal or conservative one—and I'm glad I can help support you.
I'd be very interested in your thoughts on a mostly-hypothetical question, if you have any you'd like to share: if you had the chance to address a politically neutral Congress comprising only working-class legislators with no tie to either major party, what kinds of laws would you urge them to pass, in order to improve the state of health care in America?
Great post.
I do think the definition of "elective surgery " should be narrowed to those which are actually optional. 5 years ago, I had a necessary aortic valve replacement. Medicaid challenged the necessity of it because I wasn't yet completely disabled and dying. It was designated "elective ". Fortunately, my cardiologist pushed back, making the case that the surgery would prevent irreversible disability. If you're going to be disabled without it, it shouldn't be categorized as elective like a BBL.
A medical professional explained to me that an "elective" procedure just meant one that wasn't an emergency. Any medical procedure that can be scheduled in advance is "elective", even ones that are NOT optional and have to be done sooner rather than later. But if Medicaid really meant your heart surgery was optional rather than disagreeing with your doctor about how urgently it needed to be done then that's disgusting.
Thank you for that last instruction. I didn't want to be the bad guy in this discussion:
It's the GATS treaty that Clinton signed into law, after Bush laid the groundwork: the multinational corporations can sue a country for loss of profits under this treaty. It's a WTO treaty; and the British are signatories as well. There's a "ratchet" clause that says a country can only privatize, never socialize, a medical system.
When I took Noam Chomsky's course a few years ago through the U of Arizona, I asked him about this. His answer was that, to get universal health care, it would take millions of us in the street. BUT! The US has broken nearly every other treaty its ever made, so, why not?
Do you mind checking this out? I would so appreciate it.
Also, John PIlger did a doc about the NHS and what's happening to it, called The Dirty War on the NHS. Highly recommend it.
Thank you for what you do!
I currently live in Ireland, having moved from the USA a few years ago. People here tend not to be very happy with the Irish public healthcare system, and indeed it has its problems but I believe it still works better than it does in the States, especially if one also pays extra for private insurance, whose monthly premiums are considerably cheaper than their American equivalent. Prescription drugs also cost a fraction of what they cost in the US. But yes, I agree with this article 100%.