Live data from Hacker News

The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

aaronstannard.com

201–210 of 431 posts

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#201
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of money the US Government pays just for that 40% should be enough to cover all 100%. We know this is possible because it happens in other countries, which have shorter waits and more coverage since that talking point keeps being brought up despite collapsing in the face of reality.

The quality of health care in the US is significantly higher than anywhere else in the world. Whether that quality is necessarily (or good) is debatable, but we are getting something for the money. You also are just completely wrong in your main point. We cannot provide the same efficacy of healthcare as we are now for 60% less. We are the richest country in the world, labor costs more here than other places.

> The quality of health care in the US is significantly higher than anywhere else in the world.

Source, backup your claims.

Health outcomes are WORSE than most other developed countries and that's the only statistic that matters here

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay about that much for a family of 2.

How?

Verizon unlimited plans will be about that after taxes and fees for two lines.

Add in phones being financed and you’re easily over $200/mo direct with a carrier.

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#203
Many countries have financial incentives provided to its citizens to have children. Requiring half of a citizens median salary to be given to a faceless middleman to provide this service seems untenable. I cannot imagine a society that does this would be able to survive.

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#204
post #183

The first sentence is your answer. The third word even. The healthcare market. MARKET Healthcare shouldn't be a market. That's why you're paying $40k.

"Healthcare shouldn't be a market. That's why you're paying $40k." I see your drill down to fundamental issues and I raise you: Pregnancy is not a sickness. Hospitals are for sick people. If we reserved hospital birth for women and children with actual medical problems we would allocate resources much more judiciously. An added benefit: not exposing otherwise healthy (and capable) women to an almost universally disem…

Yes but hospitals are an essential part of Enumeration At Birth.

Government loves anything that assists its people-tracking machinery. It will never ever ever discourage pregnant women from doing something that would make reliable Enumeration At Birth more difficult.

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#205
post #183

The first sentence is your answer. The third word even. The healthcare market. MARKET Healthcare shouldn't be a market. That's why you're paying $40k.

"Healthcare shouldn't be a market. That's why you're paying $40k." I see your drill down to fundamental issues and I raise you: Pregnancy is not a sickness. Hospitals are for sick people. If we reserved hospital birth for women and children with actual medical problems we would allocate resources much more judiciously. An added benefit: not exposing otherwise healthy (and capable) women to an almost universally disem…

Pregnancy can turn bad (10% of first-time pregnancy, might be higher in country with high obesity rates). In that case, the faster you are with the anaesthetic and the C-section, the better. Also, hygiene. Also, ombilical cords around the newborn necks. Also, the maternities in my country are great (the one we have left at least).

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#206

A lot of this is an issue of insurance no longer being "insurance" in the classical sense. Insurance covers all sorts of things, my HSA pays for all sorts of things that I never would have even considered, and while that sounds great, it helps to drive up costs. It's somewhat counter-intuitive, but if you dropped all government funding of healthcare tomorrow, healthcare plans would get cheaper. It'd also be total cha…

> but if you dropped all government funding of healthcare tomorrow, healthcare plans would get cheaper. I doubt it. Hospitals charge $15 for a single pill of Tylenol because they know insurance will pay for it, and that includes private insurance. The best thing we could do is ditch the private healthcare industry to the extent that the rest of the first world has and cover everyone with government plans. Those plans…

> Hospitals charge $15 for a single pill of Tylenol because they know insurance will pay for it

It’s more they know insurance won’t pay for it, and negotiate discounts based off the “retail” price. Although at this point it’s gotten so ridiculously convoluted and cross-subsidized that I doubt even the insurance company or hospital knows what the actual paid amount for a Tylenol will end up being until months after the fact.

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#207
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is the healthcare cost is insane. You will go through $40k after a good injury that may need a major surgery or few smaller surgeries. Average cost for hip replacement is $40k. I've had a sports hernia and the bill was about $30k.

> I've had a sports hernia and the bill was about $30k. And what the OP is pointing out is that if your injury is $30K, insurance covers nothing , because the premium + deductible is $40K.

> And what the OP is pointing out is that if your injury is $30K, insurance covers nothing, because the premium + deductible is $40K.

The point of insurance is to mitigate risk. If you think you have enough money to cover your risk, there's no reason to buy insurance.

The sleight of hand here is first complaining that you did not incur enough hazards to offset the risk premium and then citing this as a reason the risk premiums should not exist. Where is the story of the family being weighed down by bills? Or of not getting physical therapy after an injury and having permanent, income-reducing disabilities?

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#208

A lot of this is an issue of insurance no longer being "insurance" in the classical sense. Insurance covers all sorts of things, my HSA pays for all sorts of things that I never would have even considered, and while that sounds great, it helps to drive up costs. It's somewhat counter-intuitive, but if you dropped all government funding of healthcare tomorrow, healthcare plans would get cheaper. It'd also be total cha…

Christian healthcare sharers do precisely this. By restricting services and the population addressed (your pastor or priest must sign off on your application), everything's extremely affordable. In particular, as we don't drink, do drugs, use contraceptives etc. we don't pay for coverage of them or their side effects. Obesity's also less of an issue. There's also the trick of telling the hospital you'll pay "in cash"…

So are you still allowed real wine at communion then? A bottle of beer after working on your car all day? I know some christians who preach "100% dry", others are more relaxed. Some are fine with contraceptives (including many Pentecostals, which is how I was raised), quite a few overweight people, etc. And they're just as christian as you are.

It sounds like you're going for the "unlikely to need it" plans, which go broke when you actually get sick..

Re: The healthcare market is taxing reproduction out of existence

#209

Related: Car Seats as Contraception https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/731812 > We estimate that these laws [mandating safety seats] prevented fatalities of 57 children in car crashes in 2017 but reduced total births by 8,000 that year and have decreased the total by 145,000 since 1980.

It’s not the car seats that are the contraception, it is the cars themselves.

What does that mean? Plenty of people have been conceived in the backseat, and some in the front. But seriously, what are you talking about?
Post reply on HN