Here in the states when we say "medical insurance shouldn't exist" what we mean is "the medical insurance industry shouldn't exist"

Basically the cluster fuck of insurance companies we have now shouldn't exist, we should just have a single payer type system where medical expenses are paid for through our tax dollars. In its current state it's a nightmare to deal with.

A lot of private insurance in the US amounts to paying a couple hundred monthly to have the insurance and then they deny payment for basically anything and everything. So you pay them to pay out of pocket anyway.

Just got state insurance which covers everything, but very few offices accept it.

So yeah. Insurance in the US is super fucked up and people go without healthcare, even if they have insurance because they simply can't afford it.

I do pay for my medical expenses out of pocket, because I can’t keep insurance long enough to ensure consistent cate.

I’ll give an example. Back in 21 I signed up for medicaid because I was poor enough to qualify. I get an email from my psychiatrist’s office “We can no longer treat you at this office because of your new medicaid status. We are not allowed to treat people on medicaid.” I asked, and they’re not even allowed to treat me if I pay out of pocket.

This is a new medicaid rule. Now if you’re on medicaid you can only see medicaid-approved providers.

So I canceled my medicaid. And I continue to pay out of pocket.

I’ve tried using other government-assisted programs before, with disastrous results. I’ve been kicked off the rolls before, at random, and I’ve had to go through the crash involved in stopping my medication, because while these government programs are helpful, they’re also buggy as fuck and can’t be relied upon.

Yeah I guess the kind of Single Payer model I prefer can be conceptualised as "insurance." But it feels more like health care is taxpayer funded. The similarity to insurance is just details for the detail nerds.