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It's surprising the article leaves out medical expenses. There's this one mention: The same 2017 survey found 27 percent skipping medical treatments because th

by apo 8y ago

It's surprising the article leaves out medical expenses. There's this one mention: The same 2017 survey found 27 percent skipping medical treatments because they can’t afford them. In the end, I suspect that medical costs driven to astronomical levels by retirees is what will do the most financial damage to millennials.

dv_dt 8y ago
Medical costs in the US are driven by the only healthcare system in the first-world that puts profit at the center instead of people.
- EADGBE 8y ago
  I'm sure the largest generation in retirement entering late-life doesn't help with the situation. Provides ripe opportunity for jacking up health care costs on age 50+ ailments/treatments.
  - dv_dt 8y ago
    It doesn't but other nations such as Japan have a much older shifted demographic and their costs are much better managed. All other first world nations have better cost and overall performance outcomes in their healthcare than the US. None of them allow private companies to dictate drug and procedure prices. The US dedicates 50% more of it's GDP to healthcare than Japan does, despite having more favorable demographics for need of services by age. (see fig 2 [1]) [1] https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Country-Note-JAPAN-OECD-Health-Statistics-2015.pdf https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Country-Note-JAPAN-O...
- thucydidesofusa 8y ago
  That doesn't seem entirely true. Costs are still elevated in not-for-profit care centers.
- wycs 8y ago
  I think full deregulation of healthcare would be superior to universal healthcare. But universal health care is clearly superior to American style almost fascistic corporate/government rent seeking.
  - dv_dt 8y ago
    Every other modern nation has universal healthcare with gov't set prices and some mix of public and private provision of health care. They average half our costs and better overall performance. Where is there a single instance of a working healthcare system with fully deregulated healthcare? The free market solution is not a panacea for all kinds for all markets - particularly ones where there are inherent limiting information and choice constraints.
    - anonymous5133 8y ago
      But the usa invents most of the new drugs, treatments, diagnostic equipment and so on which i dont think would exist without scientists and companies being motivated by profit.
      - chc 8y ago
        Does the US actually invent more of that stuff per capita? It's easy to produce more stuff than European countries when you have more people than the UK, Spain, France, Germany and Italy combined. (I'm not saying we don't — I honestly don't know. But I've seen a lot of cases like that, where it's easy to miss that one group isn't actually more productive, just larger.)
      - dv_dt 8y ago
        The setting of prices and banning of medical advertisement of drugs would eliminate the need for massive marketing budgets which exceed the R&D budgets for the drug industry. Of the R&D budgets spent by private companies, much of it is spent on patent extending repackaging exercises instead of fundamental research. And the OP still hasn't named one nation with fully deregulated healthcare while there are 30-40 OECD nations running much better performing healthcare systems with properly placed gov't controls while the US without is a complete outlier in the data. I don't want to be caustic, but the national data say so much more than hopes for a free market solution in the area of healthcare.
verylongaccount 8y ago
Medical costs are insane, even with insurance. My wife had a serious illness and our out of pocket expenses were around $300K over the course of 3-4 years. That doesn't count the lost wages from leaving her job. We could absorb it only because of the ridiculous compensation I've been lucky enough to get during the last few years.
- samsonradu 8y ago
  May I ask if you have considered getting treatment in another country? To what degree did you anticipate these costs throughout those years?
JumpCrisscross 8y ago
> medical costs driven to astronomical levels by retirees is what will do the most financial damage to millennials Until millennials start voting. At that point, we'll probably see Social Security and Medicare funds re-purposed for a universal basic income.

by apo 8y ago

dv_dt 8y ago

Medical costs in the US are driven by the only healthcare system in the first-world that puts profit at the center instead of people.

EADGBE 8y ago
I'm sure the largest generation in retirement entering late-life doesn't help with the situation. Provides ripe opportunity for jacking up health care costs on age 50+ ailments/treatments.
- dv_dt 8y ago
  It doesn't but other nations such as Japan have a much older shifted demographic and their costs are much better managed. All other first world nations have better cost and overall performance outcomes in their healthcare than the US. None of them allow private companies to dictate drug and procedure prices. The US dedicates 50% more of it's GDP to healthcare than Japan does, despite having more favorable demographics for need of services by age. (see fig 2 [1]) [1] https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Country-Note-JAPAN-OECD-Health-Statistics-2015.pdf https://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/Country-Note-JAPAN-O...
thucydidesofusa 8y ago
That doesn't seem entirely true. Costs are still elevated in not-for-profit care centers.
wycs 8y ago
I think full deregulation of healthcare would be superior to universal healthcare. But universal health care is clearly superior to American style almost fascistic corporate/government rent seeking.
- dv_dt 8y ago
  Every other modern nation has universal healthcare with gov't set prices and some mix of public and private provision of health care. They average half our costs and better overall performance. Where is there a single instance of a working healthcare system with fully deregulated healthcare? The free market solution is not a panacea for all kinds for all markets - particularly ones where there are inherent limiting information and choice constraints.
  - anonymous5133 8y ago
    But the usa invents most of the new drugs, treatments, diagnostic equipment and so on which i dont think would exist without scientists and companies being motivated by profit.
    - chc 8y ago
      Does the US actually invent more of that stuff per capita? It's easy to produce more stuff than European countries when you have more people than the UK, Spain, France, Germany and Italy combined. (I'm not saying we don't — I honestly don't know. But I've seen a lot of cases like that, where it's easy to miss that one group isn't actually more productive, just larger.)
    - dv_dt 8y ago
      The setting of prices and banning of medical advertisement of drugs would eliminate the need for massive marketing budgets which exceed the R&D budgets for the drug industry. Of the R&D budgets spent by private companies, much of it is spent on patent extending repackaging exercises instead of fundamental research. And the OP still hasn't named one nation with fully deregulated healthcare while there are 30-40 OECD nations running much better performing healthcare systems with properly placed gov't controls while the US without is a complete outlier in the data. I don't want to be caustic, but the national data say so much more than hopes for a free market solution in the area of healthcare.

verylongaccount 8y ago

Medical costs are insane, even with insurance. My wife had a serious illness and our out of pocket expenses were around $300K over the course of 3-4 years. That doesn't count the lost wages from leaving her job. We could absorb it only because of the ridiculous compensation I've been lucky enough to get during the last few years.

samsonradu 8y ago
May I ask if you have considered getting treatment in another country? To what degree did you anticipate these costs throughout those years?

JumpCrisscross 8y ago

> medical costs driven to astronomical levels by retirees is what will do the most financial damage to millennials Until millennials start voting. At that point, we'll probably see Social Security and Medicare funds re-purposed for a universal basic income.