Americans spend more time living with diseases than rest of world, study shows
American Medical Association finds people in US are sick for an average of 12.4 years, an increase from figure in 2000
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I have reasonable insurance and the reason people "spend more time living with disease" is that the annual cost of not doing that is a couple of thousand.
The minute I hit a doctor for anything other than a cold, I expect it to cost me $1000, and if it turns out to be serious, I expect to spend out-of-pocket maxes, or $3000-5000.
So basically, the cost of 'going to the doctor' needs to be assumed to be at least $3000.
So uh, I don't go for any actual issues unless I'm prepared to spend that much.
This system is fucking stupid and designed to both discourage you from visiting and when you finally break down and go, to empty your pockets.
...but hey, if you can find cooperative doctors, they'll happily refer you to endless specialists and such so you can at least maximize the thousands of dollars you've spent? (This is still stupid.)
This, for sure. Last year I had to get some x-rays and because they weren’t sure insurance would cover it, I saw something like $1600 USD out of pocket. Eventually I got $900 or so back, but it was months later. And this was on top of lab/blood work that only has limited coverage under preventative care, and often costs additional out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of dollars.
Oh and dental coverage being entirely separate, without full coverage, so I pay every few years between $600 and $800 for deep cleaning (periodontal disease, and that cost is with insurance).
And my CPAP stuff being terribly covered only through DMEs that upcharge for hardware and mask equipment to the point since 2017 I’ve paid out of pocket cash or via HSA to get what I need online because that’s cheaper and less hassle.
I can afford it these days and do the needful, but all this stuff is way more complicated and expensive than most can deal with.
So basically, the cost of ‘going to the doctor’ needs to be assumed to be at least $3000.
And that's after you've already paid multiple thousands of dollars per year in premiums (remember: you pay for the whole premium, including the "employer portion" which would've been extra salary if the employer didn't have to pay it on your behalf).
While I agree, I wouldn't expect my salary to grow to include the health insurance costs; that'd totally end up just being rolled into taxes to pay for the/a universal option and not be money I suddenly got paid.
But yes, it's $3000 after the ~$6000 for the insurance, so let's say the cost of being insured with insurance that covers anything at all in the US is, basically, $10,000 a year.
that'd totally end up just being rolled into taxes
That'd partially get rolled into your taxes. Without the need to extract profit -- and even more importantly, without the ridiculous inefficiency of having all the insurance middlemen -- the taxes needed to provide the same quality of service would be vastly cheaper than what we're paying now.
I'm certainly not an economist, a politician, or in healthcare but I'd be surprised if you could actually build a working healthcare system for less than we spend now even if you took out the profit motive.
You need to rebuild rural hospitals, hire more doctors and nurses, build clinics and staff them in underserved (read: poor) areas, and basically spend an awful lot of time and money to fix the broken mess that the insurance companies have caused.
I mean you COULD just change who pays the people and places that exist now, but that's not really.... fixing anything.
Perhaps it's me, but I'd be fine paying what I'm paying similar amounts for an actually funded and working healthcare system, if it covers everyone. Just need to tap into the AMERICA #1 bullshit somehow, and get the uh, poorly informed, on board and do it. Again not a politician or political strategist so that's someone else's problem, but I won't complain about paying for it.
I'd be surprised if you could actually build a working healthcare system for less than we spend now even if you took out the profit motive.
It's so hard that only every other first-world country has managed it.
At a minimum $10,000 a year. The COBRA option I was given to continue my health insurance after leaving my previous employer, was $1,500 per month, so $18,000 per year, and that was on the low cost end for relatively crappy coverage. I've seen them cost $2k-$3k per month. Of course, that's just to have the insurance and doesn't include copays, deductibles, or out of pocket costs.
I'm not disagreeing with you at all; I'm just always astounded by how much we have to pay to receive so little.
They know how these porcesses work and they design each one to fuck us.
This is business 101, health insurance is just a tip of the iceberg.
At what point is it gonna be enough? Now or in 25 years?
Parasite jhave gotten away with this shot for at least a generation if not two... They are getting brazen.
The adjuster reminded us all that we are docile dogs according status quo.
