Interpret improvements as you like. For me it’s any large scale reforms or legislative packages designed to improve the country for all or see to the material interests of the majority without overly benefiting the elite.
Any big consumer protection, environmental, infrastructure, or other legislation from Clinton onwards that materially improved the lives of all?
Obamacare and the medicaid expansion comes to my mind. It has obviously improved people’s lives but considering how broken the healthcare system remains, and that it was written by the insurance industry to undermine single-payer, it seems to me a mitigated win at best.
Gay marriage and marijuana legalisation but that was the courts and the states although i’m sure the federal government could’ve stood in the way had they chosen to.
I’ve only live here since the 2010s so that’s all I can think of.
The inflation reduction act is probably the most significant piece of climate change policy in American history and is expected to bring emissions to a little under half 2005 levels.
Also, I think it capped insulin prices at $35 a month? That was the hope anyway.
I’ll be paying 380 ish bucks for insulin this coming month, only using my “good, professional job” type insurance to cover some of the cost. It’s around 200/mo. Cheaper to buy from Walmart directly without insurance than it is to process it through it at my required pharmacy. I don’t know if the insulin caps have taken effect, or if I don’t qualify, all I know is I’m getting screwed because I’m alive and want to stay that way.
The rest of the policy seems cool, but won’t be if it pans out like the insulin crap.
Goddamn, America you never cease to find new ways to disappoint me.
It seems to vary state by state, though also for anyone on medicaid/medicare. You might be screwed by that professional job insurance!
I dunno if it helps but some googling took me to this diabetes resource Which seemed pretty good. Might be worth checking as this seems like stuff you have to look into vs having it happen automatically because why not screw us one more time?
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Not all of us! But yeah… idk what some of are thinking
Not even MOST of us. Trump lost the popular vote in both Presidential elections he was in.
Someone tried to explain this to me once. They said that the original formulas for insulin are really cheap, it’s just the manufacturers have all agreed to only make the expensive formulas to maximize profits since it’s not in their best interest otherwise.
One time my parents tried to tell me they shouldn’t have to pay for insulin for “fat people” and the nurse educator in me went on a fifteen minute rant about how insulin dependent diabetics are actually the ones who get it genetically in childhood and finished the rant by asking why they’re advocating for the deaths of impoverished children. Not that fat people deserve to die or be sick either but come ON if you’re not willing to do the research yourself then just listen to what the experts say? Everybody in America these days wants to do 0 research and just walk out into the world to convince people that lavender oil will cure their cancer.
Not that you are wrong about the rest of yoiur comment, but not only tupe 1 diabetics need insulin, type 2 diabetics often become insulin dependent too, especially with poor adherance to interventions (bad diet, no excercise).
Yeah but when you’re arguing with your conservative parents and you happen to have been dealt the “for the children” card, you play that one at every opportunity. I’ve had much more luck with the argument that punishing people they view as morally inferior often results in harming innocents which is absolutely true and the reason punitive justice is (imo) morally wrong. It’s the same reason I don’t believe in the death penalty; if you find out a guy is completely innocent of some terrible crime he’s in the middle of serving a life sentence for, you can give him his missing salary and let him go, but you can’t bring him back to life.
The insulin thing was a separate attempt in the inflation reduction act, it had nothing to do with the infrastructure bill.
It only applies to Medicare recipients … which is better than nothing I suppose.
The $35/month in the IRA goes into effect for Medicare part jan 1st. So at the moment, it has not kicked in and you apprently do not qualify.
However, it spurred the biggest insulin producers to cap insulin prices to $35 for most everyone, including people on private insurance, starting Jan 1st.. This is undoubtedly to prevent regulation forcing them to reduce prices, but it will likely stick due to that threat.
So congrats, you should be saving $165/month starting in a few days.
Here in Sweden insulin is free. Although we have universal healthcare most medical things cost a little, up to about $230/year then any medication or procedure is free.
Insulin, and related equipment and so on, doesn’t even cost a little for the patient here and is completely free. It does of course cost our government and taxpayers money, our government pays about $0.09 per person per day for insulin.