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'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

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Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#201

Post by Jordan-117 »

dogemaster2028 wrote: post #43
p0w3n3d wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guy from Poland here. What happened to ObamaCare? I thought you got finally a primary healthcare for all?

Obamacare failed at reducing costs. It mostly focused on insurance expansion and in consumer protections, not on dealing with hospital, drug, and provider pricing structures that actually drive the spending in the US healthcare system.

The ACA had its most effective cost-control mechanisms stripped by its political opponents. Sen. Lieberman (a turncoat Dem who had campaigned for John McCain) forced the removal of the public option, which would have helped hold prices down through competition. The Supreme Court struck the requirement for states to participate in Medicaid expansion, which limited the benefits for millions in a swath of conservative states. And Republicans in Congress removed the individual mandate, which enabled healthy people to go without coverage, raising prices for everyone else.

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#203

Post by jswelker »

johnnienaked wrote: post #120
rimbo789 wrote: post #67

Nationalize health care. Doctors should work for the government, hospitals should be owned by the government; for profit health care is a scam.

Your taxes would double, and don't even bother trying to say they wouldn't literally every country with public health care pays twice as much as we do in tax

Even if my taxes doubled, it would be less than just the premiums on my current family health coverage.

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#204

Post by tempodox »

duxup wrote: post #3

>Allen is herself a casualty. While she used to pay $487.50 a month, her new healthcare plan, with reduced coverage, has monthly premiums of $1,967.50. Brutal. Meanwhile the White House calls it all "fake news".

> Meanwhile the White House calls it all "fake news".

The truth is a lie and only government lies are the truth. Orwell would be so proud.

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#205

Post by ryandrake »

Ekaros wrote: post #172
johnnienaked wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your taxes would double, and don't even bother trying to say they wouldn't literally every country with public health care pays twice as much as we do in tax

Does it really matter if cost is in "insurance" or in tax? Wouldn't overall lower total be better?

Some people would rather pay $4000/mo to an insurance company than $2000/mo in taxes. I don't get it, either but here we are.

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#206

Post by ChicagoDave »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #143
ChicagoDave wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Before 1985, there was no for-profit healthcare. Worked pretty good.

> Before 1985, there was no for-profit healthcare Wait, what changed in 1985?

HMO laws allowed for-profit healthcare insurance. Groups of doctors banded together and carved out exclusive contracts to sets of hospitals and providers.

Before this I recall seeing $7 taken out of my paycheck and there were no deductibles or copays. Meds were $5.

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#207

Post by mritterhoff »

robocat wrote: post #162
nradov wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes to both. High costs were previously partly hidden by subsidies for some consumers purchasing individual or family policies on state ACA exchanges, and now many of them will be forced to pay something closer to the true market price. But just like with college tuition, when the government throws money at a problem that ends up causing costs to explode without permanently improving affordability.

> true market price There can be no market clearing price, because healthcare demand is unlimited. In some countries supply is rationed by using different means such as waiting lists, budgets for funding, or even corruption (I witnessed this in Cuba).

> because healthcare demand is unlimited.

How's that? Beyond some level of care I suspect demand drops of a cliff. No one goes to the doctor for the fun of it.

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#208

Post by choeger »

jjav wrote: post #196
choeger wrote: post #47

Where does all that money go to, though? Is there a rich caste of doctors or pharmaceutical shareholders that don't need to work and live off these dividends? Or is the system so inefficient that most people in it aren't contributing to actual health care?

> Where does all that money go to, though? Nearly all of it goes to grifters who hang on to the system but don't contribute anything. The obvious ones are all the insurance company employees who don't provide any healthcare, just push paperwork to try to find ways to deny coverage. And all the oberpaid administrators, and of course those multi-million bonuses to all executives involved need to be paid somehow. If tha…

> But I get billed $500 for that visit.

That does not match your earlier statement about administrators or health insurance, though. Or does your primary care doctor work in a big hospital that takes a 400% margin?

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#209

Post by mritterhoff »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #175
johnnienaked wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay $120/mo. I don't understand. Are you including the employer paid share in this calculation?

You are lucky to have employer-provided health care.

Seems 48.6% of US employees had employer-provided health care in 2023. Lower than I would have thought.

https://www.kff.org/state-health-policy-data/state-indicator...

Re: 'A full-blown crisis': Americans brace for a surge in healthcare costs

#210

Post by zdragnar »

dashundchen wrote: post #36
buckle8017 wrote: post #8

[flagged]

What did the ACA require that shouldn't be part of healthcare in one the wealthiest countries in the world? Annual check ups? Cancer screenings? Maternity care? Basic mental health? Forcing the insurance companies to accept patients with preexisting conditions? These services should be available to everyone. If a developed country cannot provide these things to its citizens it's a failing state in my book.

It would be significantly cheaper for my wife and I to have a catastrophic-coverage-only plan, but those are now illegal. Between premiums and deductibles, I think we will have to spend north of $30,000 next year before we break even and insurance actually benefits us in any way whatsoever.

You can get telehealth appointments for many things for pretty cheap via companies like GoodRx, and screenings through dedicated groups as well. My last telehealth visit (and likely my last ever) through my PCP's network charged me+my insurance $300 for a 5 minute phone call to renew a prescription I've been on for years.

ACA just solidified the health system as a quasi-private government organization with its own tax system. We could do so much better, but we're hamstrung by a feckless congress.

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