Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43 • Hacker News Board

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#91

Post by surewhynat » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:04 PM UTC

verylittlemeat wrote: post #58

sumofi wrote: post #3

Not having health insurance is not an excuse. In Germany you are required by law to have it.

They tried that in the US with Obama's mandate. You had a choice of getting of getting health insurance or paying a penalty roughly the same cost as getting the insurance. Trump getting rid of that mandate is one of the few things I'm grateful for in his presidency. No longer am I forced to pay for terrible insurance that had high copays and ridiculous deductibles. I'm a low income worker and in exchange for almost 7…

Who in this entire thread is saying anything about Obamacare?

Look at what other countries are doing, do you hear them having "obamacare?"

Stop comparing your current medical system to worse systems. Start comparing it to other, better systems. Look at Canada and the UK.

You would pay EVEN LESS than you do now.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#92

Post by twomoretime » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:19 PM UTC

moosey wrote: post #10

After this is over, the saddest possible outcome is if America returns to the same systems, having learned nothing. I don't expect it at all, but I've been more surprised in the past.

On the other hand, this is sort of a once in a lifetime (possibly once in an era) event and the reforms that would have made this easier to deal with aren't necessarily good for "regular" conditions...

Much like people's sudden views on UBI, especially those claiming that the upcoming stimulus is somehow proof that we need UBI or that it works - we're in a national emergency where hundreds of millions of livelihoods are threatened, any experiment we do now won't necessarily translate back to peacetime life.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#93

Post by matchbok » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:21 PM UTC

surewhynat wrote: post #77

adrr wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medicare for all doesn't give people a choice between private insurance or government insurance. It's a non-starter, i am happy with my insurance like tens of millions of people in the US. Government option gives us a choice proposed by the front runner. Everyone wants to compare us to Canada. Canada gives you a choice and 25% have private insurance. Edit: going to vote me down for just listing facts.

You're a parasite. You are exactly the problem, infecting American's minds with false information. This trolling over every other first world's country access to medical care is the problem in America. Canadian's always have a baseline AMAZING medical care system. 25% do not choose private insurance INSTEAD of this baseline system. There are private insurers that employers offer for things like Dental, Optometrist ac…

Parasite? Please, grow up dude. Reported your comment. People like are why the everyone hates bernie.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#94

Post by matchbok » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:23 PM UTC

xyst wrote: post #43

It’s a shame that the only candidate that wants to tear down this ridiculous health system is getting the boot by the party he is aligned with. The health system in the US is only accessible to those with money. It doesn’t have to be this way. I am not saying socialized healthcare will cure all ailments, but it would definitely be better than the current privatized system.

Simply not true, at all. He can kick and scream all he wants, but his plan would never pass Congress.

You don't get things done by doing it his way. Ever. It's terrifying how many people forget how HARD the ACA was.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#95

Post by Faark » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:25 PM UTC

t0mas88 wrote: post #26

tetromino_ wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany, does your health insurance cost >$600 per month for 1 person if your employer or government doesn't subsidize it (for example, if you are self-employed and earning more than minimum wage from it)? Because that's the case in the US.

Similar to Germany here: Insurance costs around € 100 per month per adult, kids under 18 are free. If you have a low income (below roughly 40k per year) you effectively pay less all the way down to zero (if your income is below about 14k per year), because the government pays part of your premium for you.

> 100€/month/adult

God I wish, it's about double that [0]: 162€ (health insurance) + 32€ (statutory nursing care insurance) for those making ~1k€/month or less. Not counting any gov support. Btw ~870€ seems to be the max, if you earn ~4700€/month or more.

And from what I remember there is a way to opt out of the public system and switch to private insurance, but this is kind of discouraged by being hard to switch back and requiring significant income in the first place.

> (german) https://www.tk.de/techniker/leistungen-und-mitgliedschaft/in...

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#96

Post by adrr » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

surewhynat wrote: post #80

adrr wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"About 27.6% of Canadians' healthcare is paid for through the private sector. This mostly goes towards services not covered or partially covered by Medicare, such as prescription drugs, dentistry and optometry. Some 75% of Canadians have some form of supplementary private health insurance; many of them receive it through their employers.[63]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Canada If a quarter of spending…

You know healthcare isn't just dental and eye exams right? Canada covers 100% of everything that isn't dental and eye exams. Also, your insulin shot doesn't cost $1000+ in Canada either. You're a troll, bolstering false information.

Doesn't cover prescription drugs.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#97

Post by captncraig » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:39 PM UTC

tc313 wrote: post #44

Krokku wrote: post #8

You could buy 0.018 Tomahawk missiles for that or treat 54 people for every Tomahawk missile fired. All of the Tomahawk missiles fired since 2001 would have provided 119.000 people with free Corona treatment. I am thinking that countries with free healthcare care more about keeping their own people healthy than dropping missiles and misery on other countries people.

While your point is valid, it also illustrates how the U.S. subsidizes European entitlement programs by implicitly reducing those countries’ defense spending. If the U.S. were to cut back on defense, European countries would have to cut back on social welfare programs.

There is no minimum number of missiles that must be produced no matter what. I think op was simply suggesting that fewer missiles total should be made across the board.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#98

Post by _bxg1 » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:40 PM UTC

Havoc wrote: post #21

alexhutcheson wrote: post #16

The face values on medical bills in the US are like a bizarre joke - to a first approximation, no one ever pays them. Everyone with insurance gets insurer-negotiated "discounts" to around ~10% of the listed cost. It's tougher for people without insurance - my understanding is that you can negotiate with the entity that sent you the bill to get significant reductions, but I don't have first-hand experience doing this.…

>Everyone with insurance gets insurer-negotiated "discounts" to around ~10% of the listed cost. That whole setup is downright cruel & evil. Pretty much guarantees the most vulnerable get fk'd.

The entire system just assumes you have insurance. Everything outside of that is a totally unpredictable financial wasteland that cannot be compared to a real marketplace in any sense. Except obviously, in reality, many people don't have insurance. This is why the whole of it is so perverse and broken.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#99

Post by GordonS » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:41 PM UTC

leftyted wrote: post #85

tpetry wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you trying to say europeans have money to spend on an almost fair medical system because they are spending far less money on military because the USA spends enough to „protect“ the europeans? Because that would sounds like a joke. Europe is spending less money in military because its not entering so many wars or conflicts.

The 30,000 US troops stationed in Germany and the existence of NATO are significant factors in European countries spending so little on defense.

This is a total fallacy - those troops being stationed in Germany does not mean Germany would station 30k of their own should the US troops leave.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#100

Post by leetcrew » Sat, Mar 21, 2020, 4:46 PM UTC

morelisp wrote: post #31

umvi wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Germany you are required by law to have it. Obama basically made this happen, but the net result was that all of healthy young adults (the kind that least needed insurance) were forced to start paying for insurance to subsidize the unhealthy older adults (or pay a penalty). So basically it was just a disguised tax targeting the young and healthy.

> the net result was that all of [low risk group] were forced to start paying for insurance to subsidize the [high risk group] This is literally insurance. Obama's plan failed because the public option was removed, employers and states refused to play along, and the Supreme Court undermined even the part you're complaining about. It was also not a great plan begin with, compared to European programs.

not really. most forms of insurance are not mandated by law and try to charge people something like the expected value of their claims over a certain period plus a profit margin. if health insurance were allowed to operate more like other kinds of insurance, healthy young people would pay a couple hundred bucks a year and old people would pay tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. an eighty year old buying health insurance is the equivalent of someone with five DUIs, multiple at-fault accidents, and a ferrari trying to purchase car insurance.