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Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

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Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#61

Post by Aurornis »

mathiaspoint wrote: post #40
siliconc0w wrote: post #34

Our health system is so amazingly bad. Even if you have insurance, you roll the dice getting even basic care. Very easy to end up with hundreds or thousands of dollars in bills if your provider codes something wrong or your insurance denies payment. Much less an actual medical issue that requires repeated trips to a specialist, an expensive medication (even generic), or hospitalizations.

God forbid we touch Obamacare though.

Did everyone just forget what it was like before Obamacare? Apparently you didn’t know anyone excluded for pre-existing conditions

Obamacare also mandated coverage for basic care like your annual physical and many mental health conditions.

It’s not perfect, but I guess it’s been long enough that people are forgetting how bad the situation was before.

Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#62

Post by john01dav »

mathiaspoint wrote: post #40
siliconc0w wrote: post #34

Our health system is so amazingly bad. Even if you have insurance, you roll the dice getting even basic care. Very easy to end up with hundreds or thousands of dollars in bills if your provider codes something wrong or your insurance denies payment. Much less an actual medical issue that requires repeated trips to a specialist, an expensive medication (even generic), or hospitalizations.

God forbid we touch Obamacare though.

The only credible plays to modify obamacare since it was enacted were trying to make it worse. I'd be very happy to see it replaced with something better, like medicare for all.

Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#63

Post by Aurornis »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #60
mathiaspoint wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

God forbid we touch Obamacare though.

The ACA was a huge compromise and didn’t really do anything to tackle why American healthcare costs are so high. I can see it being washed away for a plan that is actually better, and that isn’t going back to the way things were before it.

> I can see it being washed away for a plan that is actually better

Looking at today’s administration I can’t see this happening at all. The most likely outcome from this government is to wash it away and bring back all the problems from before without improving anything.

Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#65

Post by scottiebarnes »

aeblyve wrote: post #16
whatamidoingyo wrote: post #4

Protip: look for an Asian market in your area for food. I get an entire shopping cart full of food for $60-100 and that lasts for ~2 weeks. When I go to Publix (or any other grocery store), I get like 2-3 bags for $60... Discovering the Asian market has been one of the best financial things to happen to me. Although I'm not really sure how their prices are so low. If someone could answer, that would be awesome!

I would love to learn more about the unit economics of groceries. How is it that a small grocery store can sometimes provide things (much) more cheaply than a megacorporation? [0] If the latter was functioning well in a competitive market, I would expect their play to be on lower margins but higher volume. [0] Mostly I'm referring to offal TBF, which I think most firms are happy to make any money on at all.

A lot of manual labor and optimization on the marginal things.

Ex: Raspberries start to get funky. Bad ones get picked out, good ones get regrouped into a new tray package. Ripe avocados with limited shelf life? Go into deep cold refrigerator overnight, back out the next day. Discount deal on volume, on everything ("2 for $X"). Cash only. etc.

Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#66

Post by hombre_fatal »

t1234s wrote: post #18

In the US insurance (of all types: car, house, health) is a major expense and only getting worse.

Vehicles in general.

In Houston, I share a car with my girlfriend since I work from home. But some days I don't feel very independent when I want to run an errand while she's at work.

I'll look up the price of a used Corolla and think about all the additional expenses, and I'm immediately disabused of the idea.

Instead, I decided to book some motorcycle lessons so I can use a $3000 moto. But then I need to pay for life insurance!

Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#67

Post by orwin »

In my country healthcare is not an issue still, and in the countryside where I live housing costs are 'low enough'. But food cost used to be something only students or long term unemployed had to worry about somewhat. Now minimum wage workers and elderly have the same issues I had as a student, and I can't imagine how I would do as a student or as an unemployed. Bank of MomAndDad are probably the only way out. Social mobility should be t it's lowest in decades if I had to guess.

Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#68

Post by bombcar »

Aurornis wrote: post #58
bombcar wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a "middle class dip" where one spouse working barely makes enough to cover the increased costs from child care and other incidentals (like eating out more often). The poor either have a non-working spouse or get subsidized child care, and the rich don't know what a banana costs.

Many of my parent friends have gone through the debate about having the lesser-earning parent quit work for a few years to care for children or to pay for daycare. In the long run remaining employed generally comes out ahead due to the continued career growth and employment. The one friend who quit their job now regrets a little because the expensive early childcare years were over quickly and now they’re trying to g…

The resume gap issue is why many never return (which may be a better life overall, hard to say, life isn't only financial decisions).

One option is to keep working at reduced hours/ad hoc, if such is available.

Re: Food, housing, & health care costs are a source of major stress for many people

#69

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Aurornis wrote: post #63
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ACA was a huge compromise and didn’t really do anything to tackle why American healthcare costs are so high. I can see it being washed away for a plan that is actually better, and that isn’t going back to the way things were before it.

> I can see it being washed away for a plan that is actually better Looking at today’s administration I can’t see this happening at all. The most likely outcome from this government is to wash it away and bring back all the problems from before without improving anything.

Yes, I don’t expect anything to happen during this administration, but who knows, maybe things will become broken enough later that something will actually happen in my lifetime.
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