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Imagine a world where being able to not have access to healthcare is a good thing.
by enkid 6y ago
Imagine a world where being able to not have access to healthcare is a good thing.
- IntelMiner 6y agoAmericans always say it should be "their choice" and I just feel like I'm staring at an incomplete jigsaw puzzle Like. It's your choice to...go bankrupt or die from a treatable illness? I don't know what they expect non-Americans to draw from that line of reasoning
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- infamia 6y agoBefore WWII, people in the U.S. bought catastrophic insurance and generally paid for their medical care out of pocket without much trouble. This kind of insurance was around $80/month or less in my state before Obamacare was implemented (it doubled after that). Before WWII, everyone simply paid for common Doctor visits and relied on their insurance for larger bills. After WWII, the US made gave employers tax incentives to provide insurance, which in hindsight was a huge mistake.
- bongobingo 6y agoIf you’re not American, it’s difficult to understand. However, insurance is an absolute scam in the US. You pay hundreds of dollars per month for the privilege of having to pay thousands of dollars before your insurance will start paying. For many families the monthly premiums could run over a thousand dollars, and the deductible could be $15,000. …or you could get some cheap catastrophic insurance, and pay cash for everything else. The cash price is generally less than half of the insurance price. Many people have done the math and concluded that they don’t need insurance.
- rovr138 6y agoThat’s also a VERY high premium AND deductible. Not saying it’s not out there, but they both are high.
- bongobingo 6y agoThe average premium for a family is over $1,000. The average family deductible is around $7,000. The numbers I quoted are high overall, but people absolutely pay those amounts. This topic of conversation is edge cases, anyway. The average person paying average costs wouldn’t likely be interested in going cash for healthcare.
- ceejayoz 6y agoHere in upstate New York, my insurer's Bronze plans run about $1100/month for a family (https://myportal.dfs.ny.gov/documents/538523/9578747/Excellus+Health+Plan_IND+ONX_Approved+Rate+Manual_EXHP-130053978.pdf/427e6254-4e75-45d4-85f7-e587f6e86dbb https://myportal.dfs.ny.gov/documents/538523/9578747/Excellu...). That gets you a $10k family deductible, and a $13,100 max out-of-pocket. https://www.nyhealthinsurer.com/insurance/pdfs/plans/1319 https://www.nyhealthinsurer.com/insurance/pdfs/plans/1319 I pay $2,200 a month for a family Platinum plan, in order to get $0 deductible and $4k/year max OOP. The true cost of healthcare is masked for most, via their employer coverage - quite a few people seem to genuinely believe theirs costs just $20/month because that's the portion they directly pay. It's quite the scam on the American public.
- rovr138 6y agoI know it gets high. I pay $700 something for my wife and I (the vast majority of that is including my wife). My main issue, and why I commented, it’s because they put a high monthly premium and a high deductible and usually when one’s goes up, the other one goes down. It’s framed as trying to explain it for someone outside of the US and I think it makes a poor job because it doesn’t explain that they picked máximums and didn’t explain how they usually relate and interact with each other. > For many families the monthly premiums could run over a thousand dollars, and the deductible could be $15,000
- enkid 6y agoI am American, and I understand how health insurance works, and the fact that people are put into a position where it doesn't make sense to buy health insurance is the problem, not that individuals make that choice.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- pjc50 6y agoI can understand not wanting to deal with insurers, especially American ones, but I can't understand accepting that that means either no healthcare or potentially catastrophic losses. You can never know that you're not going to need healthcare.
- bongobingo 6y agoWell you used to be able to buy decent catastrophic insurance to protect you from unlimited losses. ACA effectively killed that type of insurance.