221–230 of 539 posts
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Genuine question, what is the link between a tier-2 visa in the UK, and the subject of the story. Thanks.
GP is implying that us Americans all want to flee our country for his just for their "perfect" healthcare system.
NHS isn’t perfect. But its cost structure is miles more navigable and we’ve found wait times better.
The entire health insurance industry makes ~$25B in profits a year, correct? That doesn't seem overly large considering it is the entire insurance industry.
That's not large at all. It's about $7 per citizen.
The problem with health insurers isn't their profits (though that's a popular political talking point), but rather it is the part they've played in creating/enabling all the inefficiency in the current bureaucracy.
Our healthcare system is so wildly (and increasingly) inefficient, I don't doubt there will be a breaking point when politicians will finally be forced to nationalize it. Let it keep getting worse. Let them see the bed they're making.
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That doesn't necessarily follow. Whether or not it gets cheaper or more expensive depends on how likely the new people are to get sick compared to the other people in the pool. Adding a bunch of sick people raises the costs for everyone, adding a bunch of healthy, young people (and making them pay) lowers the costs for everyone else. I agree that at this point, we'd be far better off with a single payer system, but i…
> Adding a bunch of sick people raises the costs for everyone Sick people without health insurance still get healthcare. They just don't pay, go bankrupt, probably cost the system way more than if they had preventative care paid for. Then they get a medical bankruptcy, the hospital eats the cost but raises prices on everyone else to stay afloat. Now, they might have a higher mortality rate and so end up not costing a…
The total cost of the whole system is lower per capita when everyone participates, but the cost to certain participants is much higher, depending on what the system looked like before.
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> An entire generation is draining their savings to keep up with premium costs. Knock on wood but, myself and pretty much everybody I know has insurance covered ~75% through our full time employers. I think my portion of my insurance is about... $100/mo? I've never had to use it way/shape/form in the past... 5-10 years. Isn't the truth that the most unhealthy people are what drives health care costs? It'd be interest…
Yeah, I really wonder where that $10,000/person figure comes from when you remove obesity and smoking related illnesses, so, the two highest and most preventable causes of death in this country. I always believed you should be able to qualify for lower costs (or be charged higher) depending on how you take care of yourself. Annual physical fitness test. I'm a little sick and tired of paying high premiums for people t…
Better hope you never get in a car accident or similar accident or get diagnosed with cancer or a chronic condition.
Congratulations for being in perfect health and not needing any sort of medical care. There are plenty of people who don't smoke and aren't obese and can still be bankrupt by standard medical treatments.
I would bet money (let's say the value of my annual insurance premiums) that if the two of us took a physical fitness test or compared overall "health" in areas that are more controllable (weigh, cholesterol, body fat percentage, amount of exercise, and other indicators like smoking/drug/alcohol use), I would be considered healthier than you.
But I have an endocrine condition that requires very expensive medication and annual tests that cost a lot of money.
You're selfish, and that's fine. But the second you ever actually need health care, I hope you remember how quickly you dismiss "people who don't take care of themselves."
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MFA is a single-payer option but there are plenty of multi-payer healthcare systems in the world which achieve universal coverage and contain costs. Germany would be the prime example, but see also Switzerland and France.
I like single payer, but I haven't had the luxury of living under either system of universal care. I think in the US we have different issues than face Germany/Switzerland/France, and for the US to contain costs my opinion is we would have to rip private insurance out completely. Our main Government provided system (Medicare for the elderly) is a combination of government and private, and to put that system in perspe…
The Bismarck model like Germany with multiple payers, but they are non-profit and pricing is regulated. Doctors and hospitals are private, and there is still supplemental private insurance. Financing is a combination of employer and taxes, where the government takes over the employer portion if the person is unemployed. This is sorta what the U.S. has for those with employer subsidized health care except for the insurers being for-profit and unregulated pricing.
The Beveridge model like in the U.K. financed through taxes and where the government provides care. This is so-called socialized medicine. In the U.S. we have this system for veterans in the form of the V.A.
The national health insurance model, with private doctors and hospitals but the government is a single-payer. Canada. Medicare.
And lastly, out-of-pocket.
We use all of these in the U.S. and it's insane.
We could in theory adopt a Bismarck system. Force the insurers to be non-profit. Make everyone work off Medicare pricing. Supposedly existing Medicare pricing is too low. Fine, let the doctors and hospitals negotiate that with Medicare. Allow supplemental insurance for those who want it.
MFA polls badly when you ask Americans what if they had to give up their current insurance. But I think this is misleading. Of course it's going to poll poorly if you ask someone to give something up. That's basic loss aversion. Turn the question on its head and ask a bunch of 65+ year olds how they'd feel about giving up Medicare in return for their Medicare withholdings back to buy their own private insurance. Guessing that wouldn't poll too well.
I don't think MFA is necessarily the best option. Americans value choice. But it seems to be the universal care option with the most political momentum right now. I'll take it. But I'd be happy with a Bismarck-type system too.
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> so they need to charge a lot... why? - I honestly don't know. Does anybody else know the answer to this? > Doctor's are paid too much... why? Are US doctors paid too much when compared to say... Japanese doctors? European doctors?
In many cases US doctors make 2x (or more if you're a specialist) than their European counterparts. The outcomes are not materially better in most cases. (Also, I'm just picking on one small reason for healthcare costs, the point is that is just one of many)
That sounds outrageous but isn't the same for software engineers as well?
Senior level software engineers in (not San Francisco/New York/Los Angeles) can easily make $80k - $160k.
Yep, and what people don't always realize is that because employer health plans get more expensive every year for employers, it negatively impacts wage growth. You are paying for it even if you don't necessarily feel it.
This is really important. Pulled from the underlying study[1], employers cover 82%/70% (individual/family) of the cost of healthcare. Those numbers are down just slightly from 86%/73% in 2019. Or, put another way, employers have borne 69%/80% of the cost of healthcare increases. You complain because your individual plan has gone up by $986 in 20 years? Your employer's cost has gone up $4,005 . Oh, and that's with cut…