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It really depends on what kind of job you have. If you’ve worked hard and have a good job (like most people on HN), your health insurance likely means that you
by xienze 8y ago
It really depends on what kind of job you have. If you’ve worked hard and have a good job (like most people on HN), your health insurance likely means that you don’t have to pay a lot out of pocket. In my case for example, I have a family of four covered with a very, very good plan for $300 a month and $5k max out of pocket. Household income is north of $200k in a low cost of living area. So my max theoretical out of pocket costs of $8600 per year means in the worst possible scenario less than 5% of my paycheck goes to healthcare. Ain’t no way in hell a socialized healthcare system in this country will take as much or less out of my ass every year. And that’s not even getting into concerns that the quality of care won’t be as good (we have the VA as an example of what we can look forward to).
That’s why there’s a lot of resistance to socialized healthcare in this country. The rich will be fine, the poor will benefit massively, and the middle class will take it in the rear, as usual.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoThere’s a couple costs missing from your analysis. One is the individual’s cost of being dependent on staying in the good graces of large employers. Second, the societal cost of large employers having a competitive advantage due to being able to offer taxpayer subsidized healthcare at lower prices. In the short term, your calculations are correct, for yourself. In the long term, you’re continuously losing negotiating power. And all of that ignores the biggest cost, which is living in a society where we blatantly don’t care about other citizens and their families being destroyed by health issues. The middle class thinks they have a lot to lose, but they’ve already lost it and are hanging on by a thread.