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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

#31

Post by Calvin02 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #13
geerlingguy wrote: post #5

I was paying around $1200/month last year (a little under that with subsidy). This year I'm paying $2100/month for a family of five, on a roughly equivalent plan. Except, none of the options in my state allow me to visit the PCP I switched to this year (since none of the plans last year covered my PCP from the year before). So I guess I'm on a primary care physician merry go round :D I am at least able to have my mai…

I'm so, so sorry to hear this. Can you share which state you're in?

My man, this is the Raspberry Pi guy, Jeff Greeling. He lives in St. Louis, MO.

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

#32

Post by mbrubeck »

pxmpxm wrote: post #17
fzeroracer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it definitely did not always cost $2k a month.

Bronze plans with $5-6k deductibles have always ran more than what people paid for rent. Healthcare is the one thing that's outpaced inflation in higher education.

So first you say it has always cost this much, but in the next breath you say that its cost has outpaced a high rate of inflation. Mathematically, these can't both be true.

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

#33

Post by Retric »

pxmpxm wrote: post #17
fzeroracer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it definitely did not always cost $2k a month.

Bronze plans with $5-6k deductibles have always ran more than what people paid for rent. Healthcare is the one thing that's outpaced inflation in higher education.

Very good unsubsidized health insurance wasn’t anywhere close to 2k/month inflation adjusted the last time I used COBRA to continue my employer’s insurance after getting laid off.

The underlying issue is inflation adjusted healthcare related spending increased 6x per person since 1970. Some of that is an increase in quality, but middleman are a huge factor.

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

#34

Post by nradov »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #15
pxmpxm wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always cost ~$2k a month, the only difference is the previous administration thought everyone else should be "temporarily" paying for her plan. I feel like we need a perpetual PSA here that moving money from person A to person B obviously doesn't make anything cheaper.

> the previous administration thought everyone should be "temporarily" paying for her plan. Moving money from person A to person B obviously doesn't make anything cheaper No, but it means I can't pay for a first-class ticket while someone else survives. I'll take that deal.

I support subsidies to help low-income citizens who legitimately can't afford health insurance, but some of the temporary ACA subsidies passed in 2021 were ridiculous. They were handing out cash to early retirees as young as age 55 with incomes over 400% of the poverty line.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/17/aca-enhanced-subsidy-lapse-g...

I don't want my tax dollars wasted on subsidizing them. Give the money to someone who actually needs it.

(Of course the real problem is healthcare costs accelerating out of control. Insurance subsidies won't fix that problem. In fact they make it worse by encouraging healthcare providers and drug companies to raise prices even faster.)

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

#35

Post by fzeroracer »

pxmpxm wrote: post #29
mulderc wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you been on an ACA bronze plan? I wouldn’t consider it a Cadillac plan nor did I find it covering lots of unnecessary things.

Bronze plan is shitty catastrophic insurance at like 5x the actuarial cost to try to fund risk pool and all the mandated benefits thst the o/p alluded to

Can you explain what these mandated benefits you think shouldn't be covered?

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

#36

Post by dashundchen »

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.

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

#37

Post by p0w3n3d »

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".

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

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

#38

Post by loeg »

geerlingguy wrote: post #5

I was paying around $1200/month last year (a little under that with subsidy). This year I'm paying $2100/month for a family of five, on a roughly equivalent plan. Except, none of the options in my state allow me to visit the PCP I switched to this year (since none of the plans last year covered my PCP from the year before). So I guess I'm on a primary care physician merry go round :D I am at least able to have my mai…

> But I can't imagine what people have to sacrifice to keep any kind of coverage (with high deductible and horrible coinsurance and prescription drug coverage) for their families if they don't have a decent income :(

These increases are specifically a lapse in subsidies for high earners -- those with a "decent income." People under 400% of Federal Poverty Level still qualify for the subsidies. And it's a relatively recent policy change to roll back; we didn't have this subsidy from 2010-2020.

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

#39

Post by teaearlgraycold »

Calvin02 wrote: post #31
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm so, so sorry to hear this. Can you share which state you're in?

My man, this is the Raspberry Pi guy, Jeff Greeling. He lives in St. Louis, MO.

He is a god, and we mere mortals.

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

#40

Post by SpicyLemonZest »

buckle8017 wrote: post #8

[flagged]

Which are the specific things you think most people don't need coverage for? Prior to the ACA, it was pretty common to hear stories of people not on employer plans who were shocked to discover a coverage gap they have. Most people don't have much expertise in evaluating healthcare coverage and deciding which services they might need.
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