4 ms·
> what does one need that requires “millions of dollars” Stop working?
by woobar 3y ago
> what does one need that requires “millions of dollars”
Stop working?
- fnordpiglet 3y agoNot dying when you no longer have health insurance
- tambourine_man 3y agoMost countries are not like the US with its crazy health system.
- CydeWeys 3y agoYou still get better and prompter health care when you pay more money in pretty much every country.
- tambourine_man 3y agoLike most things, it depends. There’s no money you can pay to get a donated organ faster in most decent countries. There are treatments too expensive for even the best health plans and are only available through government sponsored systems. You couldn’t buy yourself a vaccine ahead of anyone else for any price during the covid peak, etc. Health is as much a collective issue as it is an individual one.
- coryrc 3y agoThose things are all available to the ultra-wealthy. For your last example: https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/03/how-rich-and-privileged-can-skip-the-line-for-covid19-vaccines/ https://www.statnews.com/2020/12/03/how-rich-and-privileged-...
- tambourine_man 3y agoThat's why I prefaced the statements with “most decent countries”, etc. The U.S. health care system doesn't qualify as decent for the richest country on earth in the XXI century, unfortunatly.
- CydeWeys 3y agoNo True Scotsman arguments aren't particularly interesting.
- tambourine_man 3y agoCanada, England, Brazil are far poorer and have way better health systems. I don’t understand how that’s a No True Scotsman fallacy.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoBrazilian health care system? Better than the USA? You gotta be kidding me.
- CydeWeys 3y agoThe US has the best healthcare in the world, period. It's just not cheap. Brazil isn't even remotely comparable.
- matheusmoreira 3y agoBrazilian healthcare isn't cheap either. It's just incredibly corrupt and eternally dependent on political will for funding. In the middle of the pandemic politicians got caught overpricing items like respirators and pocketing the difference. In the middle of the pandemic with everyone's eyes on them. Imagine the corruption that goes on in a normal day.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoThe best healthcare is available in the US, but it is not the best health care system. The system is awful in almost every possible dimension. And tying it to employment is one of the worst features.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoIn the US care, particularly specialist care, is both expensive and de facto rationed by lack of supply. Need a psychiatrist? No insurance accepted and a 3-6 month wait.
- dev_tty01 3y agoHmm, not true in my experience. Family members have insurance paid psychiatric care and got their first appointments within a couple of weeks. I get that this is variable in different areas and insurance plans, but you stated no insurance and 3-6 months wait as general facts. That is incorrect.
- fnordpiglet 3y agoDefinitely variable - I am in Seattle and this is the state of affairs. When I was in NYC the same or worse. In WA state there are effectively zero in patient beds to the extent people in crisis are warehoused in ERs or jail. Where are you? Not specifically about wait time, curious where you rank. My experience in WA and NY ranks 11 and 15 in the US, so most Americans fare worse: https://mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-access-care-data https://mhanational.org/issues/2022/mental-health-america-ac...
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- markdown 3y agoHe's an economic migrant in a country where you don't need health insurance. He won't die.
- tambourine_man 3y agoYou can with a lot less. But the problem is, after a while, you get addicted to working. Some kind of Stockholm syndrome in the wheels of capitalism.
- robocat 3y ago> Some kind of Stockholm syndrome in the wheels of capitalism. Status seeking is independent of economic system. I find “capitalism” has become a placeholder word for “emergent systems we don’t like”. After all, ≈50% of GDP is government spending which is closer to socialism than we might like to admit. The single biggest drive that seems to grease the wheels is our natural desire for status. For the middle class this often is shown by our property purchases - bidding against others until we can only just afford the repayments for a house in a nice neighbourhood. We then spend many working years trying to pay off the mortgage, and we often upgrade if we get more income. It appears most obvious when we look at other cultures, where the drive for status shows up in other ways. For example a truck owner in Northern Pakistan spending equivalent of 7 months of wages adding custom bling to his truck: https://youtu.be/1quNm7Ctd-Q?t=21m58s https://youtu.be/1quNm7Ctd-Q?t=21m58s although he justifies it “such decorations are good for business: shows the client I am doing well”.
- woobar 3y agoOnce we start talking about "a lot less" the options to not work become scarce. For instance, my estimate is that with the minimum number of millions ($2M) one can support a family while unemployed in the USA and pretty much the rest of the world. With 4% SWR such family will have $80K per year, which is more than the median household income. They will pay little taxes and will qualify for a subsidized ACA health plan. If you are talking about less than a million, you won't be able to support a family in US. It is possible in a 3rd world countries, but it is not always an option for a lot of people.