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Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform

2013-09-03 · explainer · John · 5:26 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society (also: Economics) · mode: Advocacy & fundraising · tags: community lore

John argues that tying health insurance to big employers and denying coverage for pre-existing conditions keeps would-be entrepreneurs like Henry Reich and Hank from innovating, so publicly subsidized coverage and the ACA grow the economic "pizza".

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A brief defense of capitalism: the economy as a pizza that innovation and competition make bigger

  • ★★★ John returns to the subject of America's inefficient health care system to make a capitalist argument for reform, starting with a brief defense of capitalism. — 00:00:00 · capitalism, United States
  • ★★ John says that in the US the poorest 40% of Americans get less than 0.3% of the economic "pizza", which he calls problematic. — 00:00:00 · economic inequality, United States
  • ★★★ John: thanks to innovation and competition capitalism makes the pizza bigger over time, so even a constant percentage slice means more pizza; that is why people now have refrigerators. — 00:00:29 · capitalism
  • ★★ John concedes that innovation usually means more use of non-renewable resources and new damage to the ecosystem, then waves it off: "whatever, free pizza". (playful) — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John: the only way to get that growth is to make the world safe for innovation and competition, which also creates jobs; the US health care system is bad at facilitating this. — 00:00:29 · United States

00:00:58 — Employer-based insurance and pre-existing conditions make insurance hard to get outside big companies

  • ★★ John says most Americans get health insurance through their employers; the vast majority of companies with more than 50 employees offer health plans. — 00:00:58 · United States
  • ★ John says his family gets its health insurance through his wife's job. — 00:00:58 · Sarah Urist Green
  • ★★★ John says that outside big companies insurance can be hard to get at all, because insurers can deny coverage based on past health problems called pre-existing conditions. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Example: Henry Reich, the ACA under-26 rule, and MinutePhysics/MinuteEarth

  • ★★★ John: this causes irrational choices, as people stay at jobs with big companies or remain full-time students just to keep guaranteed health insurance. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ John says Henry Reich, losing insurance after college, considered physics graduate school to keep it; the ACA let him stay on his parents' insurance, so he could work at a tiny video company, leading to MinutePhysics and MinuteEarth. — 00:01:27
    • a number in question (doubtful): "2008" — check against the recording
  • ★★★ John says the Affordable Care Act entitles young people to stay on their parents' insurance until 26, and without that rule none of Henry's projects would have happened. — 00:01:56
  • ★★ John says MinutePhysics and MinuteEarth have been watched hundreds of millions of times, making viewers smarter and enlarging the pizza. — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — Example: Hank's ulcerative colitis, Montana catastrophic coverage, and the ventures and jobs it freed him to create

  • ★★★ John says Hank has ulcerative colitis, a chronic, very serious and extremely expensive illness, so no insurance company will ever choose to insure him. — 00:02:26 · Hank Green
  • ★★★ John says Montana's catastrophic coverage plan caps Hank's out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 a year; before that law Hank could get no insurance and risked a million-dollar bankrupting illness. — 00:02:26 · Montana, Hank Green
  • ★★★ John: freed from saving every dollar against bankruptcy, Hank could invest in DFTBA Records, VidCon, the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Crash Course, SciShow, the Foundation to Decrease World Suck and more; none could have happened without publicly subsidized health insurance. — 00:02:55 · Hank Green, Crash Course, DFTBA Records, Foundation to Decrease World Suck, SciShow, Sexplanations, Subbable, The Brain Scoop, VidCon, world suck
  • ★★ John says Hank's investments are responsible for dozens of jobs and a significant growth of the pizza. — 00:03:24 · Hank Green

00:03:53 — Careers should not be chosen for insurance; Henry denied coverage at 26; the choice shrinks the pizza

  • ★★★ John: career decisions should be about finding where your talents meet the world's needs, not where you can get health insurance. — 00:03:53
  • ★★ John says Henry recently turned 26, aged out of his parents' coverage and was turned down for insurance over tinnitus and tendinitis, though he is very healthy. — 00:03:53
  • ★★ John says that on January 1st, 2014, Henry will be eligible for coverage, like everyone else, through the Affordable Care Act. — 00:04:22
  • ★★★ John says the choice between career and health, lived by tens of millions of Americans, has inhibited innovation, prevented job creation and made the pizza smaller. — 00:04:22 · United States

00:04:52 — Conclusion: a fiscally conservative case, privileging entrepreneurs; thanks to Hank; sign-off and four-minute-rule aside

In the description and comments

  • ★ John recommends Henry Reich's YouTube channels, MinutePhysics and MinuteEarth. — video description
  • ★★ John says this is part two of a three- or possibly four-part series about health care reform and the Affordable Care Act. — video description

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Affordable Care Act · capitalism · Henry Reich · pre-existing condition · United States · universal health care

Also: People: Sarah Urist Green

Projects: Crash Course · DFTBA Records · Foundation to Decrease World Suck · SciShow · Sexplanations · Subbable · The Brain Scoop · VidCon

Works: 2D Glasses · MinuteEarth · The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Rituals: Four-minute rule

Concepts: economic growth · economic inequality · employer-sponsored health insurance · entrepreneurship · free market · Higgs boson · job lock · ulcerative colitis (concept)

Places: Montana

Policies: Montana state health insurance plan (unnamed)

Also centred on Affordable Care Act: Adorable Puppy Explains Health Care Bill · The Lowdown on the Shutdown · Applying for Health Insurance: Then and Now · Is Obamacare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later · Understanding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's Health Care Reform Proposals · Why Can't America Have a Grown-Up Healthcare Conversation?

Also centred on universal health care: Ranting and Giving Stuff Away · Health Care Overhaul Summarized Via MASSIVE PIG · Health Care Reform Thought Bubble · Health Care Reform: The Hank Factor · Adorable Puppy Explains Health Care Bill · I OWN WARNER CHILCOTT!

Replies to

Later videos replying to this one

Part of an exchange of 3 videos, 2013-08-20 – 2013-09-06.