3 ms·

What happens to the typical person’s healthcare costs when some people who consume extremely expensive treatments” just don’t pay”? What is the equilibrium here

What happens to the typical person’s healthcare costs when some people who consume extremely expensive treatments” just don’t pay”? What is the equilibrium here?

flangola7 3y ago
Most likely nothing, medical expenses are no where near at-cost like they should be. Even assuming that they go up, you can't expect anyone not to "consume" medical care. I'm not going to deny someone treatment because it might cost me a few more pennies or dollars, that would be comically villainous. The equilibrium would be treating medical care as a public good just like highways or firefighting, but insurance companies and hospital-owning equity firms actively expend resources to prevent that.
- jojobas 3y ago
  If they were at cost, nobody would invest in healthcare and you'd die undiagnosed of something as trivial as pneumonia. Also firefighters will charge you for a callout.
  - jalk 3y ago
    Doesn’t that depend on the city you live in?
qgin 3y ago
The economics of the system are so convoluted I'm not sure if anyone can answer. There is no equilibrium. But maybe finding the breaking point would push us to untangle the perverse economics of our current system and do what every other developed country in the world does (and spends less money doing, all total)
atdrummond 3y ago
Not sure but none of the medical care I’ve received should actually be expensive. Every medicine I’ve ever been prescribed is generic, every emergency procedure would have been covered by state funds had I not paid. The fact that very few institutions pursue me at all for these supposedly owed funds tells me none of them are close to teetering on the brink of insolvency. As someone who as also had healthcare in single payer (the NHS) and presently pays both the government (Estonia) and private insurance (Estonia and US), I have zero problem paying for the general upkeep of the country’s medical system. I simply refuse to believe that because some life saving care was “out of network” the cost to treat me actually ballooned from thousands to millions. It’s an artifact of a system that’s not designed for uninsured/underinsured participants.
WeylandYutani 3y ago
The idea in socialised medicine is that we all share the burden- each to their own ability. Like any other income based tax.

What happens to the typical person’s healthcare costs when some people who consume extremely expensive treatments” just don’t pay”? What is the equilibrium here?

flangola7 3y ago

Most likely nothing, medical expenses are no where near at-cost like they should be. Even assuming that they go up, you can't expect anyone not to "consume" medical care. I'm not going to deny someone treatment because it might cost me a few more pennies or dollars, that would be comically villainous. The equilibrium would be treating medical care as a public good just like highways or firefighting, but insurance companies and hospital-owning equity firms actively expend resources to prevent that.

jojobas 3y ago
If they were at cost, nobody would invest in healthcare and you'd die undiagnosed of something as trivial as pneumonia. Also firefighters will charge you for a callout.
- jalk 3y ago
  Doesn’t that depend on the city you live in?

qgin 3y ago

The economics of the system are so convoluted I'm not sure if anyone can answer. There is no equilibrium. But maybe finding the breaking point would push us to untangle the perverse economics of our current system and do what every other developed country in the world does (and spends less money doing, all total)

atdrummond 3y ago

Not sure but none of the medical care I’ve received should actually be expensive. Every medicine I’ve ever been prescribed is generic, every emergency procedure would have been covered by state funds had I not paid. The fact that very few institutions pursue me at all for these supposedly owed funds tells me none of them are close to teetering on the brink of insolvency. As someone who as also had healthcare in single payer (the NHS) and presently pays both the government (Estonia) and private insurance (Estonia and US), I have zero problem paying for the general upkeep of the country’s medical system. I simply refuse to believe that because some life saving care was “out of network” the cost to treat me actually ballooned from thousands to millions. It’s an artifact of a system that’s not designed for uninsured/underinsured participants.

WeylandYutani 3y ago

The idea in socialised medicine is that we all share the burden- each to their own ability. Like any other income based tax.