3 ms·

> Silver plans are eligible for Cost Sharing Reduction (reducing deductibles to $500-1,000), and pay for doctor’s visits before deductibles kick in You’re righ

> Silver plans are eligible for Cost Sharing Reduction (reducing deductibles to $500-1,000), and pay for doctor’s visits before deductibles kick in You’re right about the deductible - after doing the math I saw that youd qualify for the 150->400% bracket of the federal poverty level. But can you afford 3 weeks pay for that $750 deductible? On top of other stuff? > You are out of touch if you think $250 per month is a “rice and beans” food budget for a single person I didn't say it was only rice and beans, but a cheap diet consisting of the cheapest carbs. The USDA has it around $180 as the absolute cheapest per person. Your money wizard person lives in the cheapest area of the country. I'll bet they have a stocked kitchen as well so they never need to buy spices. https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/media/file/CostofFoodMay2020.pdf https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/media/fil... > In central Illinois Having been thru Normal/Bloomington and Champaign, it’s extremely reasonable in price as rentals are dirt cheap, as long as you’re going to aldi. $1-2 well drinks aren’t a thing in a lot of the country. Coffee isn’t a dollar since the 90s. Your original example was between DC and baltimore. Things aren't so cheap there. Oh, and I forgot about the actual premium cost of the silver plan, which is around $200 per month. Sorry, but you're going into debt or homelessness the second your hours get cut. You have no stability. The smallest thing going wrong will ruin you. Have you seen the absolute hordes of people going into just APPLY for section 8? https://youtu.be/Q5ocjZ9GatA?t=140 https://youtu.be/Q5ocjZ9GatA?t=140

rayiner 6y ago
> You’re right about the deductible. But can you afford 3 weeks pay for that deductible, and then your car breaks down because you can’t afford to maintain it? What percentage of people suffer both an adverse health event in their 20s or 30s and a car maintenance event in the same year? I don't understand these types of arguments: you can't establish whether something is a "living wage" or not by reference to worst case scenarios achieved by piling on conjecture upon conjecture. Again, in France the minimum wage works out to $10/hour, and they have 20-30% co-insurance if someone has an adverse health event, and outside Paris most people have cars. It still works out fine for almost everyone. > The USDA has it around $210 as the absolute minimum per person. Your money wizard person lives in the cheapest area of the country. The USDA food budget is used as the basis for SNAP benefits, so it has to accommodate costs in high-COL areas. It is, in fact, designed to allow a healthy, balanced diet that most people can follow and is not an "absolute minimum" number. The person I linked to is not some wizard: https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/how-save-money-groceries-usda-food-plans https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/how-save-money-grocerie.... Regardless, the point is that $250 is not a rice-and-beans diet, like you claimed. This guy is eating lean meats, fruits and vegetables within the sub-$200 USDA Thrifty budget. > While Trader Joe's stocks no shortage of reasonably priced pre-packaged indulgences, I stuck to my health-conscious diet of fruits, vegetables, eggs, and lean meats. For $39.68 I bought more than enough for the week.
- fzeroracer 6y ago
  Note that the co-insurance framing doesn't work out in your favor, because in France the costs for medical procedures or emergencies is far, far cheaper than the US. An emergency room visit might cost you around €10 while in the US visiting the emergency room is likely to bankrupt you. Hell, it would likely put a big shock in my finances and I actually have good health insurance right now. You can't compare co-insurance costs like you are because it's apples to oranges. Do you want to know how much it cost me to get my dental work done in the US versus how much it costs in France?
- taurath 6y ago
  I feel like we're talking past each other here and you're not really responding to the crux of my arguments that its difficult to live so I'm not going to spend any more effort refuting yours.
  - AndrewKemendo 6y ago
    I'm not the guy you've been debating but...It's always hard to live no matter where you are if you're on the edge of poverty.
Izkata 6y ago
$250/month sounds about right for me for food+drink for a month, shopping at Jewel in Chicago, just getting whatever I want without caring about the price (based on about $300/month in total spent at Jewel, which includes cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc).

rayiner 6y ago

> You’re right about the deductible. But can you afford 3 weeks pay for that deductible, and then your car breaks down because you can’t afford to maintain it? What percentage of people suffer both an adverse health event in their 20s or 30s and a car maintenance event in the same year? I don't understand these types of arguments: you can't establish whether something is a "living wage" or not by reference to worst case scenarios achieved by piling on conjecture upon conjecture. Again, in France the minimum wage works out to $10/hour, and they have 20-30% co-insurance if someone has an adverse health event, and outside Paris most people have cars. It still works out fine for almost everyone. > The USDA has it around $210 as the absolute minimum per person. Your money wizard person lives in the cheapest area of the country. The USDA food budget is used as the basis for SNAP benefits, so it has to accommodate costs in high-COL areas. It is, in fact, designed to allow a healthy, balanced diet that most people can follow and is not an "absolute minimum" number. The person I linked to is not some wizard: https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/how-save-money-groceries-usda-food-plans https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/how-save-money-grocerie.... Regardless, the point is that $250 is not a rice-and-beans diet, like you claimed. This guy is eating lean meats, fruits and vegetables within the sub-$200 USDA Thrifty budget. > While Trader Joe's stocks no shortage of reasonably priced pre-packaged indulgences, I stuck to my health-conscious diet of fruits, vegetables, eggs, and lean meats. For $39.68 I bought more than enough for the week.

fzeroracer 6y ago
Note that the co-insurance framing doesn't work out in your favor, because in France the costs for medical procedures or emergencies is far, far cheaper than the US. An emergency room visit might cost you around €10 while in the US visiting the emergency room is likely to bankrupt you. Hell, it would likely put a big shock in my finances and I actually have good health insurance right now. You can't compare co-insurance costs like you are because it's apples to oranges. Do you want to know how much it cost me to get my dental work done in the US versus how much it costs in France?
taurath 6y ago
I feel like we're talking past each other here and you're not really responding to the crux of my arguments that its difficult to live so I'm not going to spend any more effort refuting yours.
- AndrewKemendo 6y ago
  I'm not the guy you've been debating but...It's always hard to live no matter where you are if you're on the edge of poverty.

Izkata 6y ago

$250/month sounds about right for me for food+drink for a month, shopping at Jewel in Chicago, just getting whatever I want without caring about the price (based on about $300/month in total spent at Jewel, which includes cleaning supplies, toiletries, etc).