3 ms·

I don’t think it matter that the 28k are paid by the employer and not from the 60k salary. Perhaps this person could be making 88k instead? Also, while you’re

• oh_sigh 8y ago
  I agree. My point is that it is a misleading juxtaposition. I think most people who read that sentence would parse it as something like Americans income is 60k, and then after they pay for healthcare they have 32k or less left
  • arcticbull 8y ago
    It's really hard to make a direct comparison as in countries with socialized medicine, you don't really have co-pays, deductibles, caps, out-of-pocket maximums, etc. The implicit assumption you make is also that the average American gets their insurance through their employer -- they do, but that's not the whole picture. 55.7% of Americans get cover from employers, 16.2% from individual markets, 19.4% from Medicaid and 16.7% from Medicare. [1] After all, if people can't come up with $500 for emergencies, what's the chance they can come up with co-pays? This is measured in [2] and they conclude 41,000,000 Americans are underinsured. So they may not have 32K left, but they probably do have less than 60K left. In fact I'd imagine that the 55.7% who have employer-paid coverage probably make way more than the 44.3% who do not. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_coverage_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance_coverage_in_t... [2] http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/issue-brief/2017/oct/collins_underinsured_biennial_ib.pdf http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/files/publications/i...