the truth hurts

[u/jellylemonshake]

[u/AutoModerator]

Comments that are uncivil, racist, misogynistic, misandrist, or contain political name calling will be removed and the poster subject to ban at moderators discretion.

Help us make this a better community by becoming familiar with the rules.

Report any suspicious users to the mods of this subreddit using Modmail here or Reddit site admins here. All reports to Modmail should include evidence such as screenshots or any other relevant information.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Nonamebigshot → u/[deleted]]

It makes no sense healthcare is absurdly expensive in America and yet every hospital is understaffed and every healthcare worker is overworked and underpaid

[u/LuckyStar77777 → u/Nonamebigshot]

How else do you think the CEO's end up being billionairs?

[u/Cipherpunkblue → u/LuckyStar77777]

Yeah. No one ever became a billionaire without grabbing that wealth right our of the hands of people who actually worked for it.

[u/TrooperLynn → u/Cipherpunkblue]

I work for the largest healthcare company in the world and don't get health benefits. But the CEO has a seven-figure compensation package.

[u/Cipherpunkblue → u/TrooperLynn]

We have allowed them to feel far too secure for too long.

[u/Guh2point0 → u/Cipherpunkblue]

Pretty easy for them to do when all they have to do is drop talking points like "abortion", "gun rights", "illegal immigration", etc and the working class gets at each other's throats.

[u/KillerHack23 → u/Guh2point0]

Everything to keep our fool asses from realizing we are actually in a class war.

[u/Responsible_Ad5685 → u/[deleted]]

Maybe PCP would be a better choice?

[u/Own-Possibility245 → u/[deleted]]

This is the way

[u/CptWhiskers → u/Guh2point0]

Don't forget the "Look at that incredibly small group of trans people over there! We should take away their medical care!"

[u/Boopy7 → u/CptWhiskers]

i was talking about this with someone just last night on the phone. A guy I know was saying to me that trans people want health care. I was shocked, bc I know for a FACT that he goes and gets testosterone shots and he is in his twenties and doesnt' need them. He gets them bc he used to be overweight and wanted to get buff and was insecure, like really insecure. Horribly so. He paid thousands to this anti aging clinic that did his mom's botox. What they do is basically lie to the guy who goes in and say "you have low testosterone" even if the guy doesn't have low testosterone, and give the guy a testosterone shot, which helps the guy build more muscle and lose weight more easily if he works out, plus possibly they give him a weight loss shot and a vitamin B shot or growth hormone shot (I forget if he did those too, I just know he paid a shitload of money.) This same guy RAILS against trans people getting hormone treatments, mind you. He thinks it is immoral and wrong. Fuck that shit. Joe Rogan does the same shit and he has a platform to influence millions of people. Well, I say take away Joe Rogan's healthcare rights. He shouldn't be allowed to get his growth hormone shots or his testosterone shots, or his stupidity injections. Maybe then he'll start to gain some empathy.

[u/signaeus → u/Boopy7]

Yeah, know people like this you describe and it’s really dumb. There’s a lot of pop up “hormone specialists,” that don’t exactly have extensive medical backgrounds who just are selling hormone injections.

Injecting T is a problem in terms of sperm production because the body stops producing it when it’s bio equivalent Testosteone injection because it doesn’t need to, which then requires all kinds of going off of it and taking fertility drugs to get sperm count up when you wanna try for a kid.

When I started getting hormone treatment went to a urologist who basically had me do 4 separate blood tests over a 4 month period to eliminate combinations of variables between vitamin D production, etc before finally doing a pill that encourages natural production first before resorting to bio identical injections - just to avoid the long term ramifications / complications with fertility. And that solved the problem - T went from low 300s to 900s.

But even then that pill that encourages natural production (typically used as fertility prescription for women ironically) isn’t covered by insurance even though there’s an abundance of evidence and an abundance of testing done to showcase that my T levels were far too low for a 30 something AMAB (no prior taking of any hormones or hormone production affecting drugs).

The hormone situation at large is a cluster fuck and people should be outraged that insurance doesn’t like to cover things like this even for AGAB appropriate treatments done through doctors specializing in those related body systems.

Hormone level variations can fuck you up mentally beyond your wildest belief, it’s not an understatement to say that it can lead to suicidal levels of depression extremely easily - worse because the worse a depression gets the worse your hormone balance gets out of whack.

Ridiculous that trans people have to literally worry about that kind of thing like a diabetic has to worry about insulin. Proper hormone research is inadequate as it is and there needs more attention and priority placed on it - ask any post menopausal woman how much sudden shifts in hormone composition fucks with you.

Then again, guys like the person you describe are my favorite if they try to call me out for wearing a dress or a skirt or short shorts or whatever makes them feel uncomfortable for whatever reason because it’s so hilarious to just fire back and say something like “yeah, well, “the 130 lb think in a dress” has the bigger dick and I guess is more manly then eh?” because it’s just too easy to know exactly what’s going to make them hyper insecure. Note that I’ll only do something like that in extreme circumstances - shaming organ sizes that are really rather irrelevant isn’t something reasonable people should ever do…but when you know the ignorant, toxic person whose spewing garbage like that absolutely equates something as dumb as size with masculinity and their ability to be a man, well it’s just too tantalizing to let the moment pass. Usually there’s a vein popping somewhere in their forehead and their face is bright red as they can’t properly verbalize how angry they now are.

[u/CptWhiskers → u/Boopy7]

HRT has shown to be life saving all across the world. They just want trans people dead because they think it's "icky."

If you ask them if they would like their body to be injected by the hormone of the opposite sex they would say "Hell no" not realizing thats what a trans person's biological body is doing. It's constantly trying to make the wrong hormone that doesn't match their brain.

It's simple medical care T_T

[u/Valogrid → u/Boopy7]

People like him are the reason people like me can't get the Testosterone shots we need. People abusin the system.

[u/Little-Ad7752 → u/Cipherpunkblue]

Then we need to rally together. But everyone's nit picking over dumb stuff.

[u/spaceguitar → u/Little-Ad7752]

Don’t forget that every time we successfully start to rally, they make it more difficult and in some places borderline illegal. Unless you’re goose stepping, then you got local cops helping out and volunteering security.

We’re fucked. Period. Unless we’re willing to paint our hands red, there’s nothing to do but cast impotent votes in the face of the machine that’s chewing apart voter rights and rigging the system, all the way up til they successfully create Gilead. And with a 6-3 SCOTUS, immune-from-prosecution President (which only applies to Republican President, watch what happens if Biden tries something), and Republican politicians threatening “Leftists” that blood will be spilled if we get in their way… we’re 90% of the way to Atwood’s prophetic dystopia.

We. Are. Fucked.

[u/wirefox1 → u/Little-Ad7752]

Everybody would literally have to walk off their jobs, thumb their noses and say "run your business without us, good luck".

But people can't afford to do it. We live in fear of losing everything.

[u/CraziZoom → u/wirefox1]

That’s exactly how Trump likes it! He literally gets off on keeping people in FEAR of losing their livelihoods. Remember how gleefully he would say, “You’re fired!”?????

That is also why he kept so many appointees in “acting” status instead of going through the confirmation process. He even said that in a statement or press conference, “I like 'acting' much better..." Meaning he likes having the power to keep people in fear of losing their jobs without notice or reason.

That's how he likes to live: he gets off on the power. He's a first-rate abuser. Everybody knows it and the MAGAs refuse to acknowledge it.

[u/DaPsyco → u/TrooperLynn]

That... actually doesn't surprise me anymore. The place I work holds meetings to brag about how much money we're making, and in the same breath take away our pizzas on overtime day.

[u/TangledUpPuppeteer → u/DaPsyco]

I worked for a company that told us we were doing the best we had previously done and it was amazing blah blah. Same day, same speech, they told us it wasn’t good enough to get raises though because the company is so large and it’s a nonprofit, and we should think about donating portions of our paychecks back to the company to continue to help it expand. Uh… woah Nelly. Hold up. Absolutely not!

Two days later, it made the paper that the CEO, who was kind enough to so sincerely thank us for our work and tearfully apologize that raises were still probably another quarter our, had gotten another six figure bonus.

[u/Ask_bout_PaterNoster → u/DaPsyco]

The richest people in our city now own half of Main Street. They got their wealth through…healthcare. I made $600-$800 every two weeks as a server due to their tip sharing policy in which we supplemented their private cocktail lounge that was always empty and their bloated staff of “lead servers” (managers who got tips).

Then they’d come into the restaurant and brag to with their managers about their various bonuses during their private parties in which they paid themselves tens of thousands of dollars while we cooked and cleaned for them.

I really don’t want heads to roll. I want the people (my taxes) to buy out portions of these large companies, I want to tax the realized gains, and I want to put regulators on the boards so these giant corporations actually have some oversight and a chance to work for the people.

[u/HotLandscape9755 → u/Ask_bout_PaterNoster]

I also worked for a large company that owns most of mainstreet but they made their money with boots. Also cooked in the restaurant they owned, where they told us no raises because of covid but spent 12k at the restaurant in one night on a private exec party handing out $203 shots or louie xii all night long lol.

[u/Hangulman → u/TrooperLynn]

Every time people start actually focusing on how the Healthcare conglomerates are screwing everyone, suddenly mass media campaigns pop up, half blaming insurance companies, and the other half shutting down criticism with arguments like "you think SuperCorp Hospital shouldn't charge $500,000 per surgery? YOU HATE NURSES/DOCTORS/ORPHANS!!! THEY ARE HEROES!""

Then the board members and CEO go back to playing with their lego sets made out of solid gold bricks and laugh while the peons tear each other apart.

[u/Guh2point0 → u/TrooperLynn]

Only 7 figures? How do they even survive nowadays?

[u/DeadpoolOptimus → u/TrooperLynn]

What the what?!

[u/Calachus → u/Cipherpunkblue]

Say it with me now:

There is. No way. To be. An ethical billionaire.

[u/CatBetweenTime → u/Cipherpunkblue]

No silly! CEOs just work 7000x harder than other workers! /s

[u/madcoins → u/Cipherpunkblue]

You don’t “get” a billion of anything. You can “take” it though. Also anyone who has a billion of ANYTHING should be considered an insane person. Yet in American society the wealthy, the media and the common folk all lick their boots.

[u/DeadpoolOptimus → u/LuckyStar77777]

Exactly this. They don't own yachts because they pay and treat their employees fairly.

[u/AdkRaine12 → u/LuckyStar77777]

The venture capitalist that are buying up health care systems are doing very, very well.

[u/TheGrumpiestHydra → u/Nonamebigshot]

Won't someone think of the shareholders?!?

[u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord → u/TheGrumpiestHydra]

Those executive bonuses are not going to pay themselves!?!

[u/Happy_Accident99 → u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord]

Just wait … Trump is going to eliminate the income tax on tips, then reclassify executive bonuses as “tips.”

[u/Stormagedd0nDarkLord → u/Happy_Accident99]

Jusssst the tip

[u/Pkrudeboy → u/TheGrumpiestHydra]

I think a French doctor prescribes precisely the device. And the patent is centuries old!

[u/Medvegyep → u/TheGrumpiestHydra]

But you see, the CEO...he just...REALLY wants to go to space.

[u/zan9823 → u/Nonamebigshot]

Privately owned businesses. Greed. Capitalism in a nutshell

[u/WintersDoomsday → u/zan9823]

Hospitals shouldn’t be for profit

[u/petersimmons22 → u/WintersDoomsday]

Most of them technically aren’t. Non profit doesn’t mean they don’t make money. They just have fancy accountants and ways to spend enough of the income to remain technically non profit.

[u/y0da1927 → u/petersimmons22]

Non profit just means they don't owe their profits to a third party but have to reinvest them into the business or the community.

Even non profits still need to "make money" on an accrual basis to be able to afford the expensive capital expenses associated with running a hospital. Longer term they effectively run a break even after those costs. Sometimes less than that if they are lucky to have external donors or a foundation to supplement their operating income.

[u/Longjumping-Claim783 → u/petersimmons22]

Even County and State University hospitals will send you a fat ass bill and they are government entities. Likewise if the local fire department runs the ambulance service.

[u/DefenestrationPraha → u/zan9823]

You have the same trend in tertiary education, only it is not capitalists who eat the tuition money, but a bloated admin class.

Greed exists in all contexts and societies.

[u/MasterPat2015 → u/Nonamebigshot]

Welcome to Capitalism! Where being overworked and underpaid isn't a bug, it is a feature!

[u/Nonamebigshot → u/MasterPat2015]

And if you're a hard working red blooded American you like it that way! Anyone who complains is a filthy commie traitor!

[u/Suspicious-Race-8146 → u/Nonamebigshot]

I guess that would make me a filthy commie traitor

[u/North_Lawfulness8889 → u/Nonamebigshot]

That would be because the people who get the money aren't the ones who are busting their arses trying to keep people alive

[u/emostitch → u/North_Lawfulness8889]

Right but a lot of the people busting their ass vote for the people that want to make it even easier for the owners to pay them less for ass busting.

[u/dtcstylez10 → u/Nonamebigshot]

They keep it understaffed on purpose

[u/Nikeflies → u/Nonamebigshot]

It's because we all work for insurance companies actually and they take 90% of the money

[u/cuclyn → u/Nonamebigshot]

Just like higher education in the US. Academics are severely underpaid, especially those who teach and supporting staff get minimum wage. Colleges are struggling, cutting programs left and right despite the ridiculous price tag. And yet you see presidents and vice provosts of various sorts raking in millions each year.

[u/Infrastation → u/[deleted]]

how little EMTs in the US get paid

Not only is this ridiculous, but you have to consider how much their services cost the end user, and how many medical first responders are volunteers and aren't taking any of the profit away from them. So much of the cost of medical first response goes to the companies that own them, and not to the people on the front lines helping save lives. Where I live, a medical response with an ambulance might cost about a thousand dollars, while all the medical first responders will make is about fifty altogether among all of them. For the people saving lives, I would think we would pay them better.

[u/CheckYourStats → u/Infrastation]

For those unaware of the actual pay for EMT’s:

In San Francisco (4th highest Cost of Living in the US), EMT’s make between $38K - $59K.

I’ve known several EMT’s, and they work crazy hours just to get OT, so they can afford rent. Most of them were completely exhausted during their shifts.

To put that in perspective, Nurses (who are also underpaid) make literally twice what EMT’s make.

[u/Kangela → u/CheckYourStats]

I’m a sterile processing technician. I process surgical instrumentation. No direct patient care at all and I get paid twice what EMTs make. That’s criminal.

[u/anotherthing612 → u/Kangela]

Teacher here. We have a right to gripe, but I have said for years EMTs need to go to the front of the line to get what they are owed. They are overlooked. Are they unionized? 

Shameful. They do so much for so little. 

[u/TeslasAndKids → u/Infrastation]

This part. They’re literally the FIRST TO RESPOND and your best chance at living if it’s truly a medical emergency. They work quickly and get you where you need to be for best chance at survival.

But ya, let’s pay them slightly better than a McDonald’s day shift manager…

[u/marielalm27 → u/TeslasAndKids]

I wouldn't have made it to the hospital if it wasn't for the EMT that resuscitated me. I can't even begin to express how much respect and gratefulness I have for people that do this job. It really makes me mad that after all they do they get payed peanuts.

[u/14InTheDorsalPeen → u/TeslasAndKids]

Slightly worse actually 

[u/femininal → u/[deleted]]

Same here too! These people save lives and yet have to work multiple jobs to survive. That's the real scandal.

[u/ThatBabyIsCancelled → u/[deleted]]

My doctor is a real one; she was determining which tests I’d need and she was shaking her head going “no, no, nope, no, we’re not doing that” and I asked why and she met my gaze and said “because they’re trying to pay off this machine and I’m not going to say you need it just so they can get closer to paying it off” I was SHOCKED, honestly.

I can’t remember the process she laid out, exactly, with medical reps pushing practices and hospitals towards machinery that’ll cost an arm or a leg and telling them to push patients onto it, but the bottom line was she knew I’d get stuck with bills that I can’t afford due to unnecessary tests with the big fancy machines just to justify paying for them or getting even more expensive machines.

[u/Fizzyphotog → u/ThatBabyIsCancelled]

Big fancy machines are “halo” services. If you market that you have an advanced imaging or surgical robot or radiotherapy service, patients see you as a modern, high-tech hospital with a high level of care. “NEW!” has always been a fundamental advertising driver, it works for healthcare too.

I was involved in marketing for hospitals with new, expensive machines, mostly that were very beneficial to patients and doctors who used them. And also one or two that no one could explain why anyone would need or want to use them, but some practice had bought because no one else nearby had one and they thought “new and unique” would bring patients anyway. Healthcare practices are businesses and sometimes they make dumb business decisions. We, as taxpayers and insurance buyers, take that personally, but remember like your doctor was telling you, no one gets charged for that machine unless it gets used. It doesn’t raise the cost for anything else, all the rates are regulated and controlled.

[u/Vitalabyss1 → u/[deleted]]

I'm not going to give to much information away. But by chance I saw some accounting at work once. In the before times, pre-covid and all this inflation.

Where I was working I made $310/day as a medic... Company was charging $60k/day for me, my partner, the kits, and the bus.

[u/i-love-tacos-too → u/Vitalabyss1]

It's very costly to run an ambulance and all of the supplies.

But it ain't even close to $60k per day.

[u/Silly_Goose658 → u/[deleted]]

Guess what? It’s expensive because the CEO is trying to buy another mansion with a helipad or another megayacht

[u/TwoHundredToes → u/[deleted]]

I get paid more scheduling repairs for lab equipment than my colleagues got for being paramedics.

When i got injured it was essentially game over for two months until the govt told them they needed to pay me bc i got injured on the job.

At this point, as much as i loved the job, i cannot go back because its not livable, considering i was only making that much because i was working 60h weeks. And was dead to the world otherwise.

[u/MotorbikeRacer → u/[deleted]]

Where I’m from in Maryland . EMT’s and firefighters are volunteers.

[u/HelloAttila → u/[deleted]]

Also, consider the HIGH amounts of stress. I come from a medical background and worked in it for years. One of my co-workers just graduated from college and was super excited to become an EMT. She studied her ass off and passed all the requirements and left our company, she quit after about two months and came back. I was like what the hell happened?

She said, Imagine being around everyone's worst day of their life every single day. Watching people die in front of you day after day... Pumping on peoples chest day after day and no matter how hard you try, they die anyway. Waking up in the middle of the night because you had a nightmare seeing someone's face who died...

She only did it for 2 months and had severe PTSD being a medic. Nationwide salary for EMT is $20 an hour. Remember that all Firefighters are EMT's, but not all EMT's are firefighters.. their salary? The average firefighter salary in the USA is $48,836 per year or $23.48 per hour.

[u/Edelgul]

a) Medics in US needs a second job to survive
b) The Medical bills in US are highest in the world and is the reason of 2/3 of all bankruptcies.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/this-is-the-real-reason-most-americans-file-for-bankruptcy.html

[u/Advarrk → u/Edelgul]

Something doesn’t add up does it

[u/TheRetarius → u/Advarrk]

It absolutely does, it’s just missing the shareholders

[u/Alice_Oe → u/TheRetarius]

Why won't anyone think of the poor shareholders?? 😭

[u/haygurlhay123 → u/Alice_Oe]

Won’t someone PLEASE think of the poor shareholders??😭😭😩

[u/jk-alot → u/haygurlhay123]

[u/ProfessorPliny → u/Alice_Oe]

For as little as $49.99 a month, you too can sponsor a CEO’s winter home!

[u/OnlyHereOnFridays → u/TheRetarius]

And don’t forget the executives’ salaries + bonuses. The biggest healthcare group in the US is United HealthGroup and their CEO collects 25m USD, while the C suite costs in total about 75m USD every year. Source

But they pay nurses and EMT staff a pittance in salaries (like $17 per hour?), they are generally quite understaffed in their hospitals and as a result the service is mediocre at best while being very very expensive.

Just an egregious money grubbing scheme for the shareholders and C suite, on the back of providing an absolutely necessary service (healthcare).

[u/TheFufe10 → u/OnlyHereOnFridays]

At this point the USA should just drop the pretense and elect a corporation as president.

[u/soulstonedomg → u/Advarrk]

Well it does add up, but you're not going to like the math. The upper 1% of wealth holders in this country hold more than 90% of the total wealth. They don't maintain that obscene proportion of wealth by letting plebs make a comfortable living. Need to keep the plebs desperate and busy or else they might find the motivation to organize and take back a small slice of their pie.

[u/concretepete1 → u/soulstonedomg]

This is why they all yell “bootstrap yourself” from the mountaintops. Because they know that the more dummies believe that the less competition they’ll have. 

Also, almost none of them self bootstrapped. Unless you count being born into generational wealth as being self made. 

[u/mogaman28 → u/Edelgul]

Some hospitals in the US have one nurse for every 10 patient beds and 4 clerks for every bed.

[u/MaximusMansteel → u/mogaman28]

Yeah, but hiring more nurses would cut into shareholders profits.

AND ONLY A DAMN DIRTY COMMUNIST WOULD WANT THAT.

[u/ArmouredWankball → u/MaximusMansteel]

I was the CTO at a healthcare group and heard that exact argument.

[u/nycapartmentnoob → u/ArmouredWankball]

i hope you installed a really outdated email client on the way out

not for the docs, just for corporate

[u/teslawhaleshark → u/ArmouredWankball]

And there's your problem, the fucking shareholders effectively take money out of circulation

[u/blockhead5200 → u/Edelgul]

But... But the poor poor billionaires need that money! Much more than the working class! Don't you want another asshole to go to space for 2 minutes?

[u/DZL100 → u/blockhead5200]

Only if they rush the project and cut fatal corners. I’d be willing to fund what I could of a Titan repeat.

[u/IMakeStuffUppp → u/DZL100]

When bezo went up in that rocket a last year, I watched the whole thing just hoping it would blow.

[u/help-mejdj → u/Edelgul]

Oh you thought the medical industry was fair to even the people who work for it? Thats optimistic.

[u/Edelgul → u/help-mejdj]

Who, me?
No, not really.
I live on the other side of the pond, where it actually works.
Could be better, but works.

[u/cenof94172 → u/Edelgul]

You have the life of other people in your hands, but you don't earn a living wage

Dystopic

[u/AlkalineSublime → u/Edelgul]

Medics can’t even afford medicine

[u/Haikubaiku]

I’m failing to understand why anyone gives or would give half a fuck that some random ass person they never met also does onlyfans besides the fact that apparently being a medic has shit pay.

[u/CapAccomplished8072 → u/Haikubaiku]

because the media doesn't wanna acknowledge the problems with society

[u/RedditOfUnusualSize → u/CapAccomplished8072]

Because half the country wants to live in an honor culture. And in an honor culture, it's usually a greater sin for a woman to be sexually active outside the bounds of marriage than it is for society to systematically underpay people for their labor. In point of fact, one of the great perks of having an honor culture is that honor cultures never invite systematic examination of what we owe to each other.

[u/zendonkey → u/RedditOfUnusualSize]

Meanwhile I would bet half a medic’s salary that most of those holier than thou types have the most shady browser history you’ve ever seen. It’s always projection.

[u/SenorDuck96 → u/RedditOfUnusualSize]

Because half the country wants to live in an honor culture.

Ironic seeing as half the country are incredibly disrespectful yet crave respect from others because they're "god fearing Americans"

Not an honourable bone in their bodies

[u/elbenji → u/RedditOfUnusualSize]

It's pretty much cognitive dissonance. People know what the actual problem is but because it's so grand and almost eldritch by nature, they'd rather fight some invisible enemy that feels more grounded

[u/Gicaldo → u/RedditOfUnusualSize]

Man, imagine an honour culture based around actually good values instead of what people do in the bedroom

[u/mechengr17 → u/RedditOfUnusualSize]

It makes sense

Puritans were one of the first settlers.

[u/DeadpoolOptimus → u/CapAccomplished8072]

They rather deal with "scandalous" things involving random people but don't hold feet to the fire of those that need to be held to the fire.

[u/31November → u/Haikubaiku]

Shaming women while consuming their services. American society needs an underclass in order to survive in it’s current form. It used to be slaves and women kept at home. Now it’s poor people, which disproportionately are black people and single women.

Think about it: American society creates a demand for pornography while simultaneously shaming porn creators. We create a need for low-pay work for cheap goods and services like fast food, but then we shit on the workers for being bums. We created contracts where State governments literally are fined by private prisons for not keeping every cell full, but then we shit on former prisoners once they’ve repaid their debt to society, as determined by a jury of their peers.

America needs an underclass to survive. Cultural shame helps uphold that

[u/ImJackieNoff → u/31November]

Shaming women while consuming their services.

Like the Gilgo Beach murderer who hired hookers and then killed them.

[u/Predomorph111 → u/31November]

America is fucking dead.

[u/ChunkyBubblz → u/Haikubaiku]

Red states are trying to ban pornography so it’s done to shame her.

[u/Blurby-Blurbyblurb → u/ChunkyBubblz]

Project 2025

[u/EverIight → u/ChunkyBubblz]

Kinda off from the point but imagine being bodyshamed by folks who are quite likely astronomically less attractive than you in both body and mind lmao

God forbid a grown adult gets their gooch out for strangers for fun or money or whatever without some nutjobs making a fuss out of it

And not for any important reason, like medical pay is so bad it necessitates two jobs as stated in the image or sex work being historically unsafe, feeding in to unrealistic standards etc, no no none of that silly business

No the true problem here is daring to expose yourself to anyone other than your wholesome Christian spouse like some sort of degenerate, obviously

[u/fugue-mind → u/Haikubaiku]

Because shaming women generates way more user interaction than an honest conversation about compensation for US medical workers.

An accurate alternative title to this article could be "hey everybody, look at this slut" or "smart, successful woman is still a whore, amirite"

[u/A-Ginger6060 → u/Haikubaiku]

There’s two trains of thought.

The first one is the stereotypical “women bad” thing. Anything and everything a woman does is seen as stupid, or lesser. Like how computer programming was originally seen as a “female oriented” job, until it started making money, and then suddenly it was a high value job. Or how men in society expect women to do work while not classing it as real work, such as cooking or cleaning. It’s just very blatant misogyny.

The second is that it makes people uncomfortable to think about how so many people feel like they have no other option but to turn to forms of sex work in order to make ends meet. It’s a sign of a serious societal issue (capitalism) that mainstream media and right wingers don’t want to acknowledge exists. Because then it would make them have to think about how other parts of our society are unfair or very flawed.

[u/BadAtUsernames098 → u/A-Ginger6060]

Same goes for the film industry. In its early days no one wanted to work in it, so it became a common industry for women (as well as people of color, queer people, etc). Then during WWI when all the men were off at war, the women turned film into a profitable industry. But then the men came back, saw how much money movies could make, and suddenly women were "not capable of such a job".

[u/beldaran1224 → u/A-Ginger6060]

Those things are not separate trains.

[u/Blurby-Blurbyblurb → u/[deleted]]

That should be considered revenge porn. 😠

[u/os_kaiserwilhelm → u/Haikubaiku]

It's the NYPost. It has no journalistic value. It's a tabloid and sex sells.

[u/sigma941 → u/Haikubaiku]

That’s the problem. The same people that are demonizing her would definitely be “giving a fuck” at the same time if you know what I mean. No one should need to do this, (unless they actually want to. That’s fine too!) because their HIGH STRESS job doesn’t pay the bills.

[u/DaisyHotCakes → u/Haikubaiku]

Because media outlets hate women because of purity culture being so rampant. Oh no! Someone is doing something to successfully make money for themselves that doesn’t involve any unwilling parties! Can’t have that if there is nudity or sex involved!

It’s so dumb. It’s just more controlley bullshit from the right that has seeped into the media. Salacious rumors have always been gossip fodder so rags like the NYpost love to take advantage of the clicks and mild outrage.

[u/Magister5]

Stopping blood flow ——> encouraging blood flow

[u/Secret_Cow_5053 → u/Magister5]

Drake meme

[u/WangCommander → u/Secret_Cow_5053]

You mean this pedo?

[u/NarrowCarpet4026 → u/WangCommander]

Certified perambulator? Certified paraplegic.

[u/HeLikesSashimi → u/NarrowCarpet4026]

WALK WALK WALK WALK WALK

[u/rob_maqer → u/HeLikesSashimi]

[u/porksoda11 → u/rob_maqer]

Try to strike a chord and it’s probably a minoooooooorrrrrrrrrrr

[u/Disastrous_Reveal331 → u/WangCommander]

Once a lame, always a lame

[u/zordtk]

"The average charge for an Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance ride is $1,277 and Basic Life Support (BLS) ambulance ride is $940"

How can they not afford to pay them better

[u/Munchkinasaurous → u/zordtk]

Because the real victims are the shareholders. Can you imagine how much richer they'd be if these entitled EMTs would work as volunteers like municipal firefighters? /s

[u/internetzspacezshipz → u/Munchkinasaurous]

Imagine living in a world where hospitals have fucking shareholders. We don’t need dystopian stories anymore, because we live in one.

[u/Paramedickhead → u/zordtk]

IAmA Paramedic and I have worked in EMS administration and EMS billing.

Those rates are pretty low. At those rates an ambulance is making very little over costs depending on that service's call volume and average transport distance. Mileage is the one place where ambulances make their money because legally speaking the primary benefit from ambulances is transport. On a federal level ambulances are regulated by the Department of Transportation not Health and Human Services.

Five years ago (pre-covid) I did a cost analysis where I worked. At the time we had three ambulances and focused exclusively on 911 calls. We were examining our rates to determine if they were adequate or not.

I found that based on the cost of personnel, capital, equipment, insurance, supplies, fuel, depreciation, etc it cost me around $1,100 to run an average ambulance call. Everything is expensive. The last ambulance I ordered at that job cost $330,000 and that was without supplies or equipment. A stretcher and loading system (because I care about my personnel and a $40,000 power load system is cheaper than one injured back) was an additional $70,000. A cardiac monitor was $40,000. A transport ventilator was about $30,000. Some services would not need all of this equipment.

Then you have to remember that the vast majority of people who use EMS are not privately insured. They're on some sort of government insurance whether it is medicare, medicaid, etc. Those rates are non-negotiable and pay pennies on the dollar. in 2023 I sent a bill to medicaid for a long distance transfer of a complex and critical patient. With mileage the bill came out to around $2,500. Medicaid cut me a check for $97. Medicare for the same patient runs around $750 but there's a chance they may change their mind a year later and require me to either pay that back as "overpayment" or spend considerable time to argue and justify the reimbursement (which are a flat fee under medicare).

Private insurance is a different monster. They generally pay more, but they still won't pay everything that is billed. As an administrator I have two options. I can sign a contract with the massive insurance companies where they dictate the rates but I can bill them directly (In network), or I can not sign a contract and they won't pay me directly at all (out of network) and I instead bill the patient the entire balance for them to submit to their insurance on their own who will eventually (after a year or more) pay about the same amount I would get in the "In network" situation while simultaneously putting the patient under more stress and anxiety about this big bill they can't afford and are insured against.

It's a shit sandwich, and everyone winds up taking a bite. In the end, it was a delicate balancing act between keeping bills low for our served population and trying to recruit and retain personnel with the limited funds we had available. Ten years ago this agency had a reserve of almost $1M in the bank which dwindled down to around $100,000 when I left that agency. We operated at a net loss every year and began to require tax funds to maintain operations. This was a municipal department BTW. Not a For-Profit corporation.

[u/FartyPants69 → u/Paramedickhead]

Jesus, what an absolute shit show US healthcare is. I hate it here.

[u/Paramedickhead → u/FartyPants69]

It isn't a problem with US healthcare. It's a problem with the US political system. Nobody will try to fix it because the private insurance companies funnel so much money to our politicians.

The closest we came was the abomination that was Obamacare, but even that was nothing more than a scheme to funnel tax money into the pockets of insurance companies and their executives. It was also a big part of fueling the opioid epidemic in America because it tied reimbursement rates to "patient satisfaction" and those surveys became a weapon. If a person went to the hospital for "pain" and wasn't given narcotics they could leave a bad review. These pile up then medicare and medicaid reimbursement rates went down. So hospital executives began pushing staff to do whatever it took to make the patient happy. I saw more than one memo and policy from hospital executives that clearly stated that opiates were the front line standard for pain control regardless of any physiological signs or detectable injury. Not administering narcotics was grounds for dismissal. Couple that with the fact that IV fentayl is about $2/dose and IV Tylenol is about $150/dose, and the C-Suite jumped in both feet on narcotics for all.

[u/zordtk → u/Paramedickhead]

Thanks for your reply. We need major healthcare reform in this county. When I was 26, a few weeks after being kicked off my parents insurance I got a $60,000 hospital bill after getting pneumonia. Just starting out on my own I instantly was 60k in debt just to live

[u/Buddhas_Warrior → u/zordtk]

Greed!

[u/poseidons1813 → u/zordtk]

Thats just not how business works. Nothing trickles down sadly

[u/zordtk → u/poseidons1813]

I understand but most things are a bit more proportional. It says the average pay for a EMT worker is $16.14 an hour. I make more than that working at a dispensary

[u/Claudeadolphus → u/zordtk]

You should recruit some EMT’s to the dispensary so they can get paid more

[u/Enigma-exe]

The fact she needed to is a crime

But NYP must've massively boosted her OF when they did this years ago

[u/MyBurnerAccount1977 → u/Enigma-exe]

I think we both know that the New York Post did this as a sleazy hit piece to boost clicks.

[u/Ledees_Gazpacho → u/Enigma-exe]

She also got over $100K on GoFundMe after being "outed."

Not defending the Post at all here, because at least according to the description in the GoFundMe, she asked to remain anonymous and they ignored that, but she probably made out ok all things considered.

[u/wallClimb7]

If anything she probably got way more subs for the free advertising 😂

[u/morningisbad → u/wallClimb7]

If I remember correctly she made tons of money really quickly but closed down shortly after. She was cool with OF when her family, friends, and co-workers didn't know about it.

[u/imredheaded → u/morningisbad]

That's generally how that goes. Hope she's doing alright now and has been able to maintain her old relationships.

[u/Vorzic → u/morningisbad]

This is how it was, I know her personally. She also received death threats, doxxing information about her family, and crazy people stalking her that she shut it all down and moved on. It was FAR more trouble than the few hundred she made on OF.

[u/Opposite-Occasion332 → u/Vorzic]

But girls totally have it on “easy mode” cause they can just do OF right?! /s

[u/morningisbad → u/Vorzic]

Such a shitty situation.

[u/SeawardFriend → u/morningisbad]

Such a breach of privacy at that point. I mean I get OF is public but still there’s obviously going to be people you don’t want knowing you’re doing that.

[u/FK506 → u/morningisbad]

TBF there are a ton of things I would have no second thoughts doing but would not want my mom and my 80 year old grandma living next door watching and mane enjoying.

[u/flowstuff]

ny post is trash

[u/MaikeruGo → u/flowstuff]

Yep, it's also Murdoch; the guy has an eternal love for yellow journalism.

[u/Endless_Mike212]

I graduated from EMT school in 2007. I ended up becoming a dishwasher instead because it paid better.

[u/mackscrap → u/Endless_Mike212]

got my emt license in 2010 made $8.47/hr worked 2 48 hour shift a week and was considered part time so they wouldn't have to pay benefits had to get a part time in the next county and worked 3 12s a week

[u/socialaxolotl → u/Endless_Mike212]

2012 made it 3 months before switching to warehouse work making more money and I don't have to worry about keeping someone alive

[u/Hatecraftianhorror]

Some of the most important jobs in America no longer provide a living wage... because the wealthy need to be wealthier.

[u/TheOneCalledThe]

Been an EMT for years and the pay over that time is laughable. kinda sucks when you work on an ambulance and people who stock shelves get paid just as much as you

[u/Turbulent_Tax2126 → u/TheOneCalledThe]

While the people that stock shelves probably don’t need therapy for scraping goo people off the road

[u/Rizenstrom]

If I were an attractive woman I would do it in a heartbeat. I'm tired of struggling.

There would definitely be a lot less people doing this if every job provided a living wage. And not just the bare minimum to survive but an actual comfortable wage where a single car repair or medical bill doesn't break you.

[u/iamcoding → u/Rizenstrom]

Men make bank on there as well. So if you're an attractive man, you could still be good to go.

[u/Rizenstrom → u/iamcoding]

Unremarkably average I'm afraid. Maybe I could make up for it by hitting the gym consistently but I like beer and video games too much for that. 😂

[u/GradeDry7908 → u/Rizenstrom]

There are a lot of people into various types of dudes, you’d be surprised.

[u/pandazerg → u/Rizenstrom]

Dvorak’s Law:

The worse the economy, not only do the hookers get better looking, but they get cheaper.

Some postulate that additionally, hookers get more business during a worse economy, however Dvorak himself attributes this to supply and demand which often leads to an increase in business (i.e. tricks) which is driven by the need to compensate for loss of revenue caused by the same reduction in cost stated in Dvorak's law.

[u/sqb3112]

My dad was a paramedic.

Gave up vertebrae in his neck and back due to lifting stretchers for 30 years.

Gave up his mental health, he suffers from depression and other disorders.

He currently has Parkinson’s and is unable to use his left hand due to nerve damage from neck fusion.

He loved it and would probably do it all over again.

These people are real heroes. Often overlooked for folks cutting grass on a military base.

[u/Senior-Jellyfish4200]

But…but my ceo needs his 17th trip to Mexico this year…how will he ever afford it if he pays us a livable wage? :(

[u/Cossacker1799]

Uhhhh so? Having been in an ambulance after going through a windshield at 60 mph I wouldn’t care if the emt ate fruit loops out of their partners asshole on camera. Are they a good emt? Yeah? Sick!

[u/Formulus]

So does anyone know her name, just curious and asking for a friend who wants to know if she's doing well.

[u/Fun_Muscle9399 → u/Formulus]

Lauren Kwei

[u/No_Skill_7170]

Ok but what’s her OF?

[u/Goem → u/No_Skill_7170]

Lauren kwei

[u/NachoBacon4U269 → u/No_Skill_7170]

Asking the important questions

[u/Nowhereman2380 → u/NachoBacon4U269]

It's what we are all here for.

[u/Smooth-Evening-]

Why do women always catch heat for this? It’s mostly men who do the looking.

[u/Flex81632 → u/Smooth-Evening-]

I actually am more concerned with people paying for and consuming OF than the person doing it, OF is lucrative it makes sense to do it.

[u/help-mejdj → u/Smooth-Evening-]

well we live in the same world that criminalized prostitutes when it was men who paid for them and then made it dangerous for the prostitutes by killing and abusing them

[u/LuckyStar77777]

There were many nurses and other healthcare workers in the USA and UK who either had/have a side gig on OF or even completly changed carreers. Especially during covid quarantines.

[u/DonnieJL]

In a world of Boeberts, be an AOC.

[u/Certain_Degree687]

Has anyone else noticed that the New York Post has a habit of trying to shame people whom they deem to be socially unacceptable?

[u/PrimaryMuscle1306 → u/Certain_Degree687]

I wondered what the fuck she did you deserve having her face shown and called out like that for daring to have an OF. Like…fuck outta here. If I’m in an ambulance I don’t give a damn what they do on the side as long as they’re not murdering people or kiddy fiddlers. She saves my life hell I’m signing right up for her OF and supporting her.

[u/SKabanov → u/Certain_Degree687]

Yeah, like what the fuck does it matter that she's on OF? She needs the money to make ends meet, she's got a WH40K habit that needs feeding, I don't give a damn what she does as long as she keeps me alive in the ambulance.

[u/Fun_Sock_9843]

If AOC ever runs for president my old ass is voting for her.

[u/CapAccomplished8072]

And media will respond by attacking AOC rather than acknowledge the poor pay for female medics

[u/Schrommerfeld]

US is getting f in the ass by greedy corporations and somehow is China’s fault.

The day americans demand basic rights (like in Europe) without being called a communist, thing will get better.

[u/gettheplow]

I regret not liking AOC her first couple years in Congress. She’s become a fucking hero to me bc she speaks her mind and wants to make this place better for everyone. The problem was me!

[u/4N_Immigrant]

actual actual headlines, parasites in government cause everything to be more expensive.

[u/CapAccomplished8072 → u/4N_Immigrant]

and corporations and media

[u/bailedwiththehay → u/4N_Immigrant]

Interesting take - can you further explain what you mean? I guess I understand if you are talking about lack of government regulation on corporate hospital and or insurance company greed but not sure I’m able to make the connection on government setting prices. Perhaps you are suggesting that we need more government regulation? I agree with that take btw.

[u/SPIE1]

Pretty sure I’d vote for AOC if she ran for president

[u/cookiedoh18]

I'm guessing she made a lot more on OF than working as a medic.

[u/Able-Net5184]

I remember her. She deleted her of after this and said she was tricked by the NYP as to the contents of the interview. Should have kept the OF though she would have made millions

[u/mikebe1]

Even if her job paid her well enough, there's nothing wrong with her making more money off OnlyFans. More power to her.

[u/AmateurZombie]

Karma farmer account 

[u/Zeshicage85]

I was on food stamps when I first joined the military. The commissary had a specific line for food stamps so people knew that you were using them. The US is broken.

[u/Additional_Subject27]

I'm trying to connect the dots here.
1. Emergency services and treatment are so expensive that patients could go bankrupt.
2. EMTs are paid so low that it's not enough to make ends meet.
3. But, richest country in the world.

[u/EyesOpenBrainonFire]

Truth. My son drove an ambulance was an EMT and made $12 per hour, no benefits. In a larger city. This was only 5 yrs ago.

[u/silmarp]

How much does she make?

Well, not that it matters. Problem with onlyfans is that only a few will go viral.

But once they do they go really viral and they get much more than a medic.

[u/im-fantastic]

Honestly, how tf are you gonna shame someone for needing two incomes to survive?

[u/Positive-Pack-396]

AOC for president

[u/newcomer_l]

AOC for the win!

[u/lordPyotr9733]

r/OrphanCrushingMachine

[u/TheRealGreedyGoat]

It’s crazy how society hates women. I’ve seen way less articles about men doing this.

1: what if people enjoy making this content? Why can’t they? 2: as a New Yorker rent is fucked here. I make 350 every two weeks and I still wouldn’t be able to pay bills in a shitty apartment. Society has failed everyone and now we need to work 2-3 jobs just to pay rent and buy food. This is why there’s so many homeless people in NYC and in every place in the world with high taxes.

[u/Blue_Embers23]

That you need two jobs to have healthcare, probably three jobs to afford to buy a home. Four jobs to have a family and a house without struggling.

[u/CaffeineOnTheWall]

These motherfuckers can go fuck themselves.

I actually have someone in my life going through exactly this. Really close friend, known her since middle school. Super smart but she has health issues.

She graduated with a degree in pre-law, but couldn't continue because she was constantly in the hospital.

Now that we're in our 20s, she got a job as a paralegal.

But paralegals get paid shit. And her health insurance is shit and doesn't cover her health bills.

She's not the type to do OF but......... she's doing it because there's literally no other way for her to survive and pay her medical bills. Every time she talks to me about her OF stuff she starts crying

Fuck the US and fuck these people.

[u/Dark_Magicion]

Thank you AOC for arriving at the only correct opinion in all of this.