Earlier quoted context omitted.
In TFA: "A quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000."
Would that mean 25 million adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000?
Yes.
Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
31–40 of 381 posts
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
In TFA: "A quarter of adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000."
Would that mean 25 million adults with health care debt owe more than $5,000?
Yes, assuming the 100m comprises of adults only, which is probably how they would have reported it.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#33Anyone interested in this topic who wishes to explore it in depth should read Marty Markary's 2019 book "The Price We Pay".
While slightly out-of-date due to legislation that has passed since then, the book does an excellent job of explaining a lot of the perverse incentives at all levels throughout the medical industry that contribute to the outrageously high cost of healthcare in the US. Worth a read.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#34Quoted post unavailable.
The source survey is a few links it but it does support the article in that 41% people said they owed money that they could not immediately pay off.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
high government transfers during the pandemic The government would like you to believe that, but a good chunk of the problem is supply-side, not demand-side.
Milton Friedman famously said: “Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, in the sense that it is and can be produced only by a more rapid increase in the quantity of money than in output.”
Well, he's wrong, given that output has been knocked about by a large number of non-monetary factors such as COVID, supply chain issues, the war with Russia, and (yet again) oil and gas.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#36I have issues with how they did their analysis. They count anyone who paid for medical services on a credit card and then is carrying that on their credit card balance month to month. Folks… that’s how many Americans pay for all goods and services and run their finances. The last time I checked, 60% of Americans carry a credit card balance from month to month. The findings in their report seem aligned to that.
I think people are reading too much into a poor analysis, created and reported on by institutions with an obvious agenda.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#37Quoted post unavailable.
If you truly think that the Democrats hold controlling majorities in the House and Senate, then you are quite misinformed.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are 48 Democrat Sentors and 2 Independents who caucus with the Democrats, one of whom has sought the Democratic nomination for President. That’s 50 votes, plus the Democratic VP to break any tie. While it might be correct to say the Democrats do not have a majority in the Senate, its not incorrect to say they do control the Senate.
In the context of voting for taxpayer funded healthcare, or any other broad population wide benefit program / tax increase, it would be inaccurate to label Manchin and Sinema as Democrats. Same as when Affordable Care Act was being molded, a couple of “Democrat” senators like Leiberman sank any chance a taxpayer funded option. Just like Manchin and Sinema sank Biden’s universal preschool/daycare and paid parental lea…
Eh, both Manchin and Sinema self-identify as democracts, which some argue is all you really need these days. More importantly to me, however, if we rely on actions and not words, they consciously elect to remain members of Democractic party ( as opposed to say.. being Republican, Independent, Green or whatever ).
For all practical reporting purposes, they are Democracts. The moment you apply 'but they voted for X', you can cast McConnel as a democract, because he greenlighted new gun deal.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#39Defining the problem so broadly makes it less likely that it will be solved. We already have high inflation in part because of high government transfers during the pandemic, and handing out money to 100M people with medical debt or student loan debt would aggravate this.
I find it odd that when talking about inflation or moral hazard people bring up money spent given to individuals but not about the trillions spent given to businesses. I think it is immoral for a country as wealthy as the United States to have so many people with medical debt. There should be universal, almost free healthcare. The moral imperative is far more important to me than considerations about inflation.
Reminds me of my joke policy that meets many people's stated goals yet would be universally unpopular: the government should fight inflation by confiscating money from billionaires and then destroying it.
Re: Sick and struggling to pay, 100M people in the U.S. live with medical debt
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the context of voting for taxpayer funded healthcare, or any other broad population wide benefit program / tax increase, it would be inaccurate to label Manchin and Sinema as Democrats. Same as when Affordable Care Act was being molded, a couple of “Democrat” senators like Leiberman sank any chance a taxpayer funded option. Just like Manchin and Sinema sank Biden’s universal preschool/daycare and paid parental lea…
Eh, both Manchin and Sinema self-identify as democracts, which some argue is all you really need these days. More importantly to me, however, if we rely on actions and not words, they consciously elect to remain members of Democractic party ( as opposed to say.. being Republican, Independent, Green or whatever ). For all practical reporting purposes, they are Democracts. The moment you apply 'but they voted for X', y…
Context matters. The original post I replied to was admonishing Democrats as a bloc for not trying to reform healthcare, specifically with a taxpayer funded option.
The reality is that Democrats, as a bloc, are the only ones to have even attempted taxpayer funded healthcare, and somewhat succeeded. Just because a couple people who label themselves Democrats, but do not vote with them does not make sense to blame Democrats as a whole for holding back progress in taxpayer funded healthcare, and ignore the 50 Republicans voting against it.
This is all ignoring the fact that in the context of taxpayer funded healthcare, you need 60 votes to do anything, so the measure for “control” of the Senate would be 60 votes.