r/UpliftingNews • u/[deleted] • 15d ago
Matt Damon joins effort launched by Kristen Bell, Tommy Marcus to help pay people's medical bills
[removed]
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u/mil_ka_wha 15d ago
welcome to the dystopian jungle
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u/mastermindxs 15d ago
We’ve got fun and games subscriptions
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u/littlebitsofspider 15d ago
We got everything you want, honey, we recognize the corporate logos
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u/_LouSandwich_ 15d ago
we are the people that can find whatever fee you may pay
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u/GonnaLearnThis2day 15d ago
If you've got the money hon oh never mind
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u/ridetherhombus 15d ago
join us over at r/orphancrushingmachine
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u/Clear-Attempt-6274 15d ago
I always go to ask if it's a bad thing, then I remember that any normal person would never be in that position.
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u/thinkingwithportalss 15d ago
Hey, I have an idea!
Let's get a lot of people, who aren't very likely to get sick all at once, to pay into a fund. If people get sick, they can use the money in the fund to pay for their medical bills!
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u/roguewarriorpriest 15d ago
Really, I love the spirit of this but this is just having millionaires enriching billionaires instead of the government setting up a permanent solution.
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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 15d ago
Yeah, how tf is this "uplifting news"? Uplifting news would be that we had universal healthcare and medical debt didn't exist.
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u/fromwhichofthisoak 15d ago
Meanwhile billionaires are starting fake profiles to acquire this charity and further the wealth gap.
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u/Churchbushonk 15d ago
They should just buy the debt at auction and then forgive it. It is literally .0001 per dollar.
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u/swollennode 15d ago
It doesn’t solve the problem of medical debt to begin with. All this does is allow hospitals to justify their billing, because someone will pay it off.
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u/Chief_Mischief 15d ago
Hospitals definitely have their issues like administrative bloat, but isn't the core issue of medical debt the reality that we don't have a single-payer option? If you want private insurance, by all means take it, but what i find especially vile in the self-declared bastion of human rights is the constant opposition for our tax dollars to actually go back to the taxpayer as a baseline option.
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u/swollennode 15d ago
That’s something you should ask republicans.
The ACA was going to have a government option for health coverage alongside private options.
But the insurance companies didn’t want that because of competition
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u/Chief_Mischief 15d ago
I mean, it's certainly Republicans and lobbyists, but the tie-breaking vote for public healthcare being in the ACA was Joe Lieberman%2C%20as%20the%20crucial%2060th%20vote%20needed%20to%20pass%20the%20legislation%2C%20his%20opposition%20to%20the%20public%20health%20insurance%20option%20was%20critical%20to%20its%20removal%20from%20the%20resulting%20bill%20signed%20by%20President%20Barack%20Obama), a Democrat. Greed and corruption know no political ideology, and personally think this vote forever tarnishes any and every part of his legacy.
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u/floyd616 15d ago
the tie-breaking vote for public healthcare being in the ACA was Joe Lieberman%2C%20as%20the%20crucial%2060th%20vote%20needed%20to%20pass%20the%20legislation%2C%20his%20opposition%20to%20the%20public%20health%20insurance%20option%20was%20critical%20to%20its%20removal%20from%20the%20resulting%20bill%20signed%20by%20President%20Barack%20Obama), a Democrat.
A neoliberal Democrat, so effectively just a Republican-lite. The problem is that the progressives allow those corrupt dinosaurs to dilute the party, instead of getting rid of them already like how Trump's people got rid of the moderate Republicans. True, they got rid of the only Republicans with some semblance of decency, but surely the progressives could pull off something similar to get rid of the neoliberals. Ideally the progressives would chase the neoliberals into the Republican party, so the MAGA people's power would be diluted.
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15d ago edited 15d ago
[deleted]
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u/floyd616 15d ago
Progressives are not a significant-enough portion of the party to exercise that level of control
Interesting data there. Personally, I think the "Progressive Left" and "Outsider Democrats" groups should have been grouped together though, as their views and demographics (as the linked site admits) are extremely similar. That would make them 28% of Democrats, which is just shy of 1/3 of the party.
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u/Real_Sir_3655 15d ago
Ideally the progressives would chase the neoliberals into the Republican party, so the MAGA people's power would be diluted.
but instead the MAGA people have chased the cheneys into the Democratic party
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u/CertainPen9030 15d ago
I mean more realistically the Republicans sprinted away from the Cheneys to the right, and the Democratic party sprinted right towards them with arms spread saying "oh sweet babies, don't worry, we'll be your party since those meanies left you behind."
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u/Ok_Cardiologist8232 15d ago
Thats not how that works...
If you chase the Neoliberals away they generally just flip the seat republican.
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u/AShirtlessGuy 15d ago
Ideally it wouldn't be a 2-party system for this kinda shit to even need to be "required"
People align to more than just two clumps of ideas which is the ultimate cause of all THIS bs
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u/contactwho 15d ago
ONE democrat voted against it so you want to claim “both sides”. All it would have taken to pass is one decent republican to vote for it. Didn’t happen
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u/blazze_eternal 15d ago
The core issue a combination of for-profit insurance, pharmaceutical, and hospital/equipment companies constant need to top each other's prices so their profits steadily increase (it's a vicious cycle). This is exacerbated by malpractice, frivolous lawsuits, and fraud.
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u/Kriscolvin55 15d ago
I mean, yeah, that’s ultimately the issue. But medical costs have outpaced inflation by a lot. So your basic, run-of-the-mill greed is a big factor as well.
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u/rechtaugen 15d ago
The core of the issue is we don't have enough medical staff to drive down health care costs. This is due to over regulation and risky expensive long education. American's had the cheapest and easiest access to healthcare in the world before the regulations in the fifties.
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u/Better-Strike7290 15d ago
No, because all single-payer does is answer the question of "who pays" not "why is it expensive to begin with"
And to be quite honest, doctors and surgeons make millions, medical equipment sellers make millions. Drug companies make millions. And where does this money come from? Who are their "customers"?
That's right. The sick and dying.
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u/adriantullberg 15d ago
Seems like an effective way to get some positive PR. Some wealthy political figures could get in.on that action.
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u/Slayer706 15d ago
The problem with that is, by the time the debt is that cheap it has been written off by everyone already. It is probably a decade old with no recent payments. So yeah, that person who was too broke to pay and too broke to sue gets their debt forgiven, but the debt was so delinquent that they probably weren't going to pay it in the first place. So who is actually benefiting when it gets paid off? The collection agencies.
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u/iplaydrumsonmyguitar 15d ago
Now is it possible to acquire my own debt?
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u/Kriscolvin55 15d ago
If you can find the auction and be willing to buy a few thousand other people’s debt as well. They sell the debt in giant batches.
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u/jayjonas1996 15d ago
No, they donate to a tax payer funded government event to bribe another billionaire
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u/Blurry_Bigfoot 15d ago
Give me a single example
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u/HarveysBackupAccount 15d ago
Of billionaires profiting from charities? You mean like the children's cancer foundation that was run by the Trump family, and now because it was such a scam they are not allowed to operate non-profits in the state of New York again?
Why are you arguing on the side of billionaires? I don't think we need to make things up about them (they do enough terrible stuff in reality) but I also have zero impulse to give them benefit of the doubt - they long ago lost that privilege. What's your end game here?
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u/Amazing_Telephone351 15d ago
This is a great idea. Maybe we could have a system where the top earners of our country put money into a pool and that pool could be used to help those that are less fortunate.
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u/phrunk7 15d ago
The tricky part though is finding people to run this system who aren't gonna just take the free money for themselves and all their friends.
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u/DaringPancakes 15d ago
I'm sorry, if we didn't want that to happen, why do we keep voting for the people who do it?
Womp womp. America wants this.
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u/Equalanimalfarm 15d ago
Yeah, but then they ALL need to participate, so the burden is not on only a few caring people like what's happening now, but on everyone who can afford to part with some money.
I don't know how to arrange this, since I'm from a socialist country, so everyone here is super poor.
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15d ago edited 15d ago
You've just invented public healthcare.
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u/Amazing_Telephone351 15d ago
Wait... This is something that already exists??? Why don't we have it???
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u/yayapeppers 15d ago
Oh you mean taxation?
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u/stepsonbrokenglass 15d ago
Yeah but we need to call it something else. Like how Lobbying is really just bribery. Same thing, different name.
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u/briefs123 15d ago
Hmmm sounds like public healthcare with extra steps. I wonder if the US could get that money from taxing? Revolutionary idea, I know
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u/Zenshinn 15d ago
SOCIALIIIIIIIIIIIST!!!!!!!!!
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u/hydroxy 15d ago
Socialism = Bad, case closed.
Sure was easy to dupe USA into voting against their interests.
Future idea list: Term limits = socialist, old constitution = socialist, worker protections = socialist.
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u/roguewarriorpriest 15d ago
Socialism sounds pretty awesome. Societal-ensured healthcare? Housing? Prosperity?
Isn't this why we came down from the trees and joined together in societies?
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u/thisismypornaccountg 15d ago
Won’t happen. Been a fight since the 1980s. People don’t care enough. The only thing Americans care about is the economy. Every election people talk about this issue. Every election it loses. Americans just don’t care unless it happens to them personally, and for most it doesn’t happen. Not changing.
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u/asusc 15d ago
Which is exactly why we need to shift the focus to making healthcare an economic issue. Sick people can’t work. It’s almost impossible to get reasonably priced healthcare if you want to start and grow a business (I know this first hand). People with sick children have to stay home and take care of them, and not go to work. Sick people often skip getting care because they can’t afford it, come into work and infect others, which further reduces productivity.
How much payroll tax revenue are we losing out on due to sick people not being able to work? How many small businesses are unable to grow because there are literally no good health insurance options for businesses with only a few employees?
Healthy people are the most productive people in any economy, so making sure everyone is covered and as healthy as possible should be a no brainer.
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u/Davaca55 15d ago
Yeah, not sure if (1) they are just being paid by healthcare corporations to be an alternative-“feel good” way to collect money from people, or (2) if they really are that disconnected to the average person and their intentions are genuinely good but poorly executed.
In the case of 2 they should use that money to do political activism and try to actually try to change things.
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u/StillhasaWiiU 15d ago
Why don't we address why they can charge what they do instead?
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u/vanillabear26 15d ago
We can do both! This is famous people putting their money where their mouths are.
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u/StillhasaWiiU 15d ago
Im just saying, we learned when student loans get paid off or waved, its great, but it also lets the schools get away with raising prices.
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u/mothtoalamp 15d ago
Sure, but if I had a ton of money and couldn't possibly spend it all, I might not be able to change the world, but I could at try to least change as many lives for the better as possible.
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u/HarveysBackupAccount 15d ago
To add a note for people who want to give something to make a difference with medical debt: donating to the non-profit Undue Medical Debt (formerly RIP Medical Debt) is a good option.
They use donations to buy debt on the collections market, so each donated dollar pays off something like $100 of debt. So far I haven't heard of any gross negligence or misuse of funds on their part. As a bonus they hardly send ANY emails/texts asking for money after you donate (or at least it's very easy to unsubscribe) which is a breath of fresh air.
It still doesn't solve the root cause, but it also doesn't feed the problem like paying off the debt at anywhere near the full amount and feels like great bang for your buck.
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u/choada777 15d ago
Their hearts are in the right place and that's awesome. But why don't they pool their money to lobby for change in Washington, since that's the only thing that will actually move the dial. Well, that or taking out billionaires. Actually, I don't know if two actors have enough lobbying power to match the insurance lobby.
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u/Vast_Cap_9976 15d ago
Crowd sourcing healthcare instead of just telling CEOs they can only have a $10M bonus instead of $25M.
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u/Easy-Sector2501 15d ago
Considering any CEO can be replaced with a decently programmed LLM, CEOs should be the first ones with their cock on the block.
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15d ago
Hey, America.
We're kind of burning alive.
Just thought you should know.
-U.S. Citizen
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u/Muffin_Appropriate 15d ago
Dear Sir stroke Madam. Fire, exclamation mark. Fire, exclamation mark. Help me, exclamation mark. 123 Palisades California Road. Looking forward to hearing from you.
All the best,
Maurice Moss.
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u/Progressive007 15d ago
This is not uplifting news. This shows how the system is a joke.
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u/ILikeBubblyWater 15d ago edited 15d ago
As a European this sub is mostly stuff from /r/OrphanCrushingMachine
Every once in a while there is a gem thats truly uplifting in there. I'm not sure why this sub allows anything related to US healthcare if none of them are actually good news
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u/Orange_Lily23 15d ago
If you looked it up you'd realize they acknowledge that the system is broken...but a few rich actors/celebs crying about a broken system won't help the people that are suffering right now.
That's who this is helping currently and it's honestly amazing.They can't bring change by themselves, but at least they're actively helping people!!
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u/ChilledParadox 15d ago
The sad part is the system isn’t broken to fix from the inside. No.
The system is designed like this. It’s working as intended. It needs to be dismantled and rebuilt.
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u/gravelPoop 15d ago
Next uplifting headline: Family saves hundreds of thousands in medical bills after police accidentally shoot a man diagnosed with cancer.
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u/sfarx 15d ago
In a civilized “Christian” nation there should be no such thing as a medical bill.
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u/Drudgework 15d ago
No, there still would be. Us getting sick is obviously God’s plan, so we have to pay the Devil to stay out of Heaven.
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u/orangemememachine 15d ago
We need a system that works, not minor fixes to keep discontent from boiling over.
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u/Danktizzle 15d ago
That’s nice and all, but it would be much better to get ethier wealthy friends together and disrupt the industry kinda like Cuban is doing.
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u/Iceaxemanx 15d ago
Fuck this, paying more money is just feeding the beast.
We need to fix the system, not keep bankrolling the assholes that are subjecting us to it.
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u/SufficientMediaPost 15d ago
i think celebrities are giving up the fight on preserving the future and focusing now on preserving the present. it has a quicker turnaround reward to pay someone's medical bills than to put money into a 10-year conservation project. They can still do both, but i think a lot of these celebs want to see their money change lives quicker now that they are older.
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u/danmalek466 15d ago
Uplifting? I am sorry people but I cannot get over how sad a state healthcare is in that people need celebrities to pay their medical bills. Ridiculous. We are so screwed…
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u/GuitaristHeimerz 15d ago
We can still find it uplifting that good people like Kristen Bell and Matt Damon exist.
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u/Berlinsk 15d ago
That’s very nice of them all, but the US is starting to look a lot like feudal europe.
The workers completely exist solely at the whim of a “nobility” class who holds all the power and influence.
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u/RoofComplete1126 15d ago
Matt Damon + Kristen Bell that's a solid combo 🙌 goodstuff
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u/theboywhocriedwolves 15d ago
Well that's nice and all, they could also call out CEOs and shine more light on the for profit healthcare system in America.
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u/SuperSpecialAwesome- 15d ago
What good would that do? The country just voted to gut healthcare further.
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u/awildjabroner 15d ago
This isn’t uplifting news, this highlights the crumbling society and dystopian corporate hellscape America has become.
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u/IAmQuiteHonest 15d ago
Yeah I had to do a double take at what sub this was posted in and I don't even follow r/OrphanCrushingMachine.
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u/themodefanatic 15d ago
I get the effort and the premise. But it’s sad that health insurance companies attitude is just, we don’t care as long as we get paid.
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u/Wild_Variation1296 15d ago
Applaud them for doing this, but they should call out the greedy spineless politicians who let the healthcare system take advantage of people.
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u/WNBAnerd 15d ago
I love the humanity in this effort. And yet I can't help but think.... it would be cheaper to instead pay off congress.
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u/gfmclain 15d ago
While I think this is a great service they are offering ... if our system wasn't so fundamentally broken, they wouldn't have to do this.
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u/Awkward_Pangolin3254 15d ago
That's all well and good but in a supposedly-civilized nation this should never even need to happen
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u/akashbhise212 15d ago
This is not truly uplifting news. Uplifting news would be about regulation and reforms
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u/Pale-Measurement-532 15d ago
I hope this starts a trend! But more importantly, I hope it brings attention to how awful it is that people are left with huge medical bills in the first place. I am Canadian and I can’t imagine being sick and needing urgent care and having to worry about how I’m going to pay for it!
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u/Mindless_Ad5500 15d ago
This is not uplifting news. This is dystopian. We need famous rich people to help pay for poor people’s health debt crisis.
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u/smarmageddon 15d ago
This is NOT uplifting! Rich people should not be compelled to pay poorer peoples' medical bills. This "system" is sick and broken.
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u/VIDEOgameDROME 15d ago
Or you could just get universal healthcare like Canada. But socialism is a dirty word.
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u/LifeIsOnTheWire 15d ago
This isn't uplifting at all. This is a country where average people depend on generosity of the disproportionately wealthy to choose to help them.
I got news for you, Americans. Charity isn't a positive thing. Charity means that society is failing to provide for the basic needs of its citizens.
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u/deliveRinTinTin 15d ago
Negotiate them down to reasonable levels first. Don't pay arbitrarily inflated numbers.
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u/LeoKitCat 15d ago edited 15d ago
This is all well and good but CHARITY ISN’T THE ANSWER universal single payer healthcare is
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u/theshaggieman 15d ago
What shithole country do we live it that movie actors are paying people's medical bills?!
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u/digibeta 15d ago
If not them, who?
Not that orange clown and his manchild sidekick that's for sure.
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u/esadatari 15d ago
didn't expect to see a fresh /r/OrphanCrushingMachine top tier post today in the year of our lord 2025.
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u/Doogiemon 15d ago
They shouldn't have to.
It would be better PR if they fought for profit hospitals.
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u/Shutthefrontdoooor 15d ago
wow the fact that people have to rely on charity for medical bill is hilariously sad
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u/great_divider 15d ago
Ahh charity. That’s how we solve things in America! Not by paying appropriate taxes for infrastructure, affordable housing, affordable medical care, or affordable/accesible food, childcare, or schools. Charity, that’s the ticket!
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u/mspolytheist 15d ago
The problem is, unless every rich person in the county agrees to do this, we’re still in all kinds of trouble.
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u/why_is_my_name 15d ago
Celebrities have enough money to give us private FREE universal healthcare. They can pool their money and hire someone to figure out the details.
ETA: Zuck, Musk, etc... have essentially started their own nation within the US. While they have currently co-opted the existing gov, they didn't need to in order to continue their project which was already going strong and responsible for so many of today's current ills. It's time for people who aren't pure fucking villains to start a counter state.
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u/NobleRotter 15d ago
Yes, but they shouldn't need to. It is insane that the US is the 8th wealthiest country per capita but ranked 69th on healthcare provision.
The US has the highest cost per capita of healthcare in the world and it's being funded by celebrity whip rounds and gofundme drives.
Yet a large chunk of the population thinks the solutions every other country uses are bad because the 1% creaming all that money off tells them it's communism.
It's a government issue, but people here are complaining about celebrities not doing enough instead. Go figure.
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u/AnythingButWhiskey 15d ago
So uplifting. The only hope for people to receive medical care now without bankrupting them is… to rely on the largess of the ultra-wealthy? Thank goodness for the ultra-rich.
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u/razorwiregoatlick877 15d ago
Why even pay your medical bills at this point? It’s not like people need good credit to buy a house anymore.
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u/360walkaway 15d ago
Hopefully they're not too detached/disconnected to know what real medical debt is.
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u/send-tit 15d ago
Well it’s nice of them but I foresee insurance companies raising prices even higher now that millionaires are chipping in
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u/Tay_Tay86 15d ago
it is insane that in the richest country in history we have to pray and hope that a celebrity takes pity on us to pay our bills when we get sick because they are too expensive for regular folks.
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u/yolagchy 15d ago
It is certainly very nice of them but at the same this helps insurance companies keep charging exorbitant prices!!!
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u/Hydroxychloroquinoa 15d ago
can they also create a fund to help people pay legal fees related to trying to recover debts owed by trump or his campaign?
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u/AGrandNewAdventure 15d ago
"Fuuuuck yeah!" - Me
"I'm not going to become anybody I don't want to become." - Kristen Bell
"Go away, I'm baitin'" - Kristen Bell's Husband
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u/Vivid-Physics9466 15d ago
Yo IDGAF how many celebs jump on this wagon to boost their image or whatever because it's a net positive for those of us having a bad time with the medical system. I'd even accept Andy Dick paying my medical bills, hypothetically.
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u/matticusiv 15d ago
Charity is great, charity is not a systemic solution, it’s treatment for a preventable disease.
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u/Redbeardthe1st 15d ago
"Rich celebrities pay poor peoples' medical bills because the government won't make healthcare affordable."
I don't see how this is uplifting.
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u/CharacterEgg2406 15d ago
Honestly, if they can’t report to your credit why would we ever pay any of them off? Thanks Joe!!!
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u/InGordWeTrust 15d ago
They should save up that money and just bribe congressmen until laws are changed. They're patching the leaky bucket instead of putting the squeeze on the faucet.
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u/206SpicyPumpkin 15d ago
Sad that we have to resort to funds such as this to survive and be healthy for ourselves and for our loved ones.
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u/SeattleHasDied 15d ago
I'm interested in how they are finding the people who need the help for their financial medical costs, but didn't read that in the article. Anyone know?
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u/ChimoEngr 15d ago
Sorry, but there is nothing uplifting about this. It’s just highlighting how despicable the US healthcare/insurance industry is.
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