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The vast majority of people who have so-called "good" health coverage in the US are paying one to three orders of magnitude more for it, compared to the price o

The vast majority of people who have so-called "good" health coverage in the US are paying one to three orders of magnitude more for it, compared to the price of private health insurance in countries with a public health system. The best thing that could happen to people who currently have private health insurance and wish to keep it is that a public health system appears, forcing the private health insurance oligopoly to actually be competitive.

sokoloff 4y ago
> vast majority of people who have so-called "good" health coverage in the US are paying one to three orders of magnitude more for it, compared to the price of private health insurance in countries with a public health system. I pay (employer plus employee amounts) just under $20K/year for a family of four. I doubt anyone in the “vast majority” is paying over $50K/yr. Three orders of magnitude less than that is $50/yr. How can anyone, anywhere provide meaningful private health insurance for an individual (let alone a family of four) for $50/yr?!
- sdiacom 4y ago
  Six hundred euros a year gets you a no-copay plan for one person, all emergencies included. This is the top of the line, the most expensive individual plan available at this insurer. A regular no-frills, some-copay insurance plan would probably cost around one to two hundred euros a year. So, yeah, two-ish orders of magnitude.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  You pay $20k per year in premiums for a family of four to avoid paying more than the out of pocket maximum in a calendar year, and to have to an agent negotiate prices and appropriate services with the healthcare seller. The likely amounts owed below your out of pocket maximum also have to be incorporated. Also, my gold metal level BCBS network PPO plan is near $30k per year for a family of 4, so $20k seems like it might be sacrificing quantity/quality of in network providers.
  - sokoloff 4y ago
    Ours is a BCBS-MA plan, but where the company is self-insured financially (BCSC makes their profit on the administration side, but not on the risk side [or maybe not as much on the risk side; I'm not sure]).

sokoloff 4y ago

> vast majority of people who have so-called "good" health coverage in the US are paying one to three orders of magnitude more for it, compared to the price of private health insurance in countries with a public health system. I pay (employer plus employee amounts) just under $20K/year for a family of four. I doubt anyone in the “vast majority” is paying over $50K/yr. Three orders of magnitude less than that is $50/yr. How can anyone, anywhere provide meaningful private health insurance for an individual (let alone a family of four) for $50/yr?!

sdiacom 4y ago
Six hundred euros a year gets you a no-copay plan for one person, all emergencies included. This is the top of the line, the most expensive individual plan available at this insurer. A regular no-frills, some-copay insurance plan would probably cost around one to two hundred euros a year. So, yeah, two-ish orders of magnitude.
lotsofpulp 4y ago
You pay $20k per year in premiums for a family of four to avoid paying more than the out of pocket maximum in a calendar year, and to have to an agent negotiate prices and appropriate services with the healthcare seller. The likely amounts owed below your out of pocket maximum also have to be incorporated. Also, my gold metal level BCBS network PPO plan is near $30k per year for a family of 4, so $20k seems like it might be sacrificing quantity/quality of in network providers.
- sokoloff 4y ago
  Ours is a BCBS-MA plan, but where the company is self-insured financially (BCSC makes their profit on the administration side, but not on the risk side [or maybe not as much on the risk side; I'm not sure]).