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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

#91

Post by fzeroracer »

pxmpxm wrote: post #61
fzeroracer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Off the top of my head maternity/neonatal/family planning type of benefits are mandatory for obamacare compliant plans. That essentially outlawed all the affordable young adult catastrophic plans.

What you're, essentially, advocating for is a massive increase in premiums for families so that people without children can get a tax cut. Which would objectively benefit me, but would be incredibly disastrous for American society in general which is already struggling with insane family care costs. I would really hope you could see why the second order effects on such a change would be a bad idea.

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

#92

Post by runako »

czhu12 wrote: post #49

One thing that I’ve been trying to understand about this discourse: Is the sum of the increase in costs some people are now paying greater than the subsidies that previously existed? In other words: was there always a massive bill to be paid here, but it was just previously socialized and hidden in the form of taxes/ public debt? Or does the act of subsidizing it actually decrease the total?

There's a third piece too, which is that insurers are ramping price much faster than inflation. Our (unsubsidized) premiums increased 20% year-over-year, after also increasing faster than the rate of inflation the last few years.

Since premiums never decrease, one can pretty easily plot out that in the next ~decade we will see family premiums larger than the median salary. The economics of all this are going to get very weird in the near future.

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

#94

Post by deepthaw »

Insanity wrote: post #77
cubefox wrote: post #54

It should be mentioned that the US has very high wages, and even when subtracting substantial health care insurance cost, the income likely remains higher than what people earn in most other countries.

You should go tell that to the waiters who are working for tips. Reads a bit like you’re in a bubble. I have friends in the States who work in education, construction, and hospitality. I similarly have friends working in those fields in EU. I’d say the ones in EU are better off _and_ don’t worry about healthcare. Not to mention you get actual vacation time in Europe and a higher standard of living generally.

yes, but the people in europe aren't free(tm) /s

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

#95

Post by runako »

dboreham wrote: post #79
runako wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick summary: the US does not have anything approaching a modern healthcare system. (And likely will not for quite some time due to a set of structural factors.) Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act or ACA) was an attempt to expand coverage and slow the rate of increase of costs. It did the former but less well with the latter. One other thing the ACA did is stop the scourge of scam insurers. This is a thing where peo…

Quick note that for people aged 65 and over the US does have a healthcare system somewhat like other developed nations.

Given that older people tend to be some of the main cost drivers in healthcare, it's sort of silly that we cover them and then refuse to allow younger (cheaper) people to opt in to the same system & perhaps defray costs that way.

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

#96

Post by disdi »

deepthaw wrote: post #94
Insanity wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should go tell that to the waiters who are working for tips. Reads a bit like you’re in a bubble. I have friends in the States who work in education, construction, and hospitality. I similarly have friends working in those fields in EU. I’d say the ones in EU are better off _and_ don’t worry about healthcare. Not to mention you get actual vacation time in Europe and a higher standard of living generally.

yes, but the people in europe aren't free(tm) /s

how exactly ?

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

#97

Post by [deleted] »

tirant wrote: post #64
Avicebron wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excuse me, but how in the world were you able to afford 1200/month, you know that's like cheap rent right?

That’s absolutely not an exception. I’m in Germany, and for a family of four, the public healthcare system, covering my wife and my two kids costs us around 2,200€ per month. The company pays half. A switch to a private insurance would lower the costs around half.

[deleted]

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

#98

Post by nradov »

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?

If you want to understand where the money is actually going then this Peter Attia Drive podcast episode with Dr. Saum Sutaria is the best high level overview that I've heard. Seriously it's worth listening to and will clear up a lot of the misconceptions that many people have.

https://peterattiamd.com/saumsutaria/

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

#99

Post by jdlshore »

frogperson wrote: post #68
runako wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is misleading. Health insurance premiums cost about as much as buying a new car every year. Healthcare is generally on top of those premium payments.

Yep, you and your employer pay $3500/month for the premium. Then you as an individual have a $12k to $15k per year deductible before the insurance even kicks in.

That’s grossly exaggerated. Individual deductibles are limited by law to ~$6500 even on the worst plans. And no one is paying $3500 per month for individual coverage on one of those plans. The actual rates depend on age and zip code, but I’d be very surprised if they’re that high anywhere.

To see the actual costs for yourself, go to healthcare.gov. The “bronze” plans are the ones with high deductibles. If you’re young and healthy, a high-deductible plan combined with an HSA is a very good idea.

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

#100

Post by BrenBarn »

jameslk wrote: post #53

At what point does it become a better financial decision to do telehealth and medical procedures completely in a different country? Can you be health insured outside of the country you live?

People do do that in some limited cases, but it's often impractical. Two common cases are a) there is a need for urgent/emergency care; or b) the patient is generally frail and infirm. In these cases it can be impossible or impractical to arrange for treatment outside the US. That's leaving aside the logistical difficulty of arranging it (plus the costs for travel, etc. associated with carrying out the plan).
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