Why U.S. Healthcare Costs Are High...Dont Blame Burger King

[kevin 714]

I fricking pay 1,200 for just me. Kaiser.
Does not even include vision.



I did milk them for a lot of services this year though. 3 operations cost 600 bucks for me.

this is why I spend so much effort on healthy food. i cant afford to get sick

and soon, neither will most people

 

[Owensdad]

Healthcare in the US is expensive for two primary reasons:

1. Insured consumers are divorced from the cost of care; so they consume more, increasing demand and raising prices
2. It's expensive to provide care (provider's liability, cost of licensure, level of care, etc)

It's a feedback loop of bad incentives. Wait til the ACA hits, it magnifies these incentives in a morass of clusterfuckedness.

 

[AbsolutEnduser]

Step-dad in the UK just got his private health care quote back.

After 9 months in intensive care, after a triple-heart bypass resulted in a stroke. He's 82, smoked and drank all his life.

The renewal? Per month? After all that?



$120.

"That Britain must be communist and I bet you Brits don't have any private enterprise too
But do you have Freedoms?? Can you have car racing, nascar, moto racing ??? Huh huh ?" arty

....
I might be thinking of making life-changing decisions for our family due to this health insurance. We're already quite a bit out-of-pocket.

 

[Squidly McSmearstain]

He pretty much hit the nail on the head. I know a lot of people in the medical field and in the manufacturing department of Genentech. When they tell me the cost of certain medication or medical supplies, it never fails to astonish me.

Drug manufacturing costs are quite possibly the worst metric to use when trying to figure out drug pricing. The "cost" people are quoting you represent far less than a billionth of a percent of the cost incurred. Yes, that is billionth of a percent with a "b".

 

[santa]

Healthcare in the US is expensive for two primary reasons:

1. Insured consumers are divorced from the cost of care; so they consume more, increasing demand and raising prices
2. It's expensive to provide care (provider's liability, cost of licensure, level of care, etc)

It's a feedback loop of bad incentives. Wait til the ACA hits, it magnifies these incentives in a morass of clusterfuckedness.

1. Makes no sense, because the people in countries with universal healthcare are even more divorced from cost, yet it costs less over there.
2. Here you're saying "healthcare in the US is the expensive [because] it's expensive to provide care." Not a very deep analysis

 

[mlm]

Healthcare in the US is expensive for two primary reasons:

1. Insured consumers are divorced from the cost of care; so they consume more, increasing demand and raising prices
2. It's expensive to provide care (provider's liability, cost of licensure, level of care, etc)

It's a feedback loop of bad incentives. Wait til the ACA hits, it magnifies these incentives in a morass of clusterfuckedness.

Shift towards high deductible or savings account based plans has been in play for several years and hasn't slowed cost growth

Take a look at costs of cosmetic vs non-cosmetic surgery. Same exposure to facility, liability, and personnel costs yet the one you can shop around for is a fraction of the cost.

 

[Reli]

I fricking pay 1,200 for just me. Kaiser.

Huh? I don't get it.

 

[budman]

Huh? I don't get it.

I pay 1200 bux a month for my Kaiser insurance.
I pay 1000 a month for two kids and my wife with blue shield (Stanford access)

So it cost me 14.4 k for me and 12k for the other 3 members.

Add in dental and it more than 30k a year just for that. An amazing amount of money. Every year Kaiser has been going up and that is frustrating for sure.

Granted I am an old man, but how high can it go and how am I supposed to retire at some point.

 

[Archimedes]

Step-dad in the UK just got his private health care quote back.

After 9 months in intensive care, after a triple-heart bypass resulted in a stroke. He's 82, smoked and drank all his life.

The renewal? Per month? After all that?

$120.

And all he had to pay to get that was twice the effective income tax rate he would have paid in the U.S. during his lifetime.

There is no free lunch. You pay for it one way or another.

 

[Reli]

I pay 1200 bux a month for my Kaiser insurance.
I pay 1000 a month for two kids and my wife with blue shield (Stanford access)

So it cost me 14.4 k for me and 12k for the other 3 members.

Add in dental and it more than 30k a year just for that. An amazing amount of money. Every year Kaiser has been going up and that is frustrating for sure.

Granted I am an old man, but how high can it go and how am I supposed to retire at some point.

Wow.....that just seems unreal. How much was it when you started, and how long ago was that?

 

[SFSV650]

And all he had to pay to get that was twice the effective income tax rate he would have paid in the U.S. during his lifetime.

There is no free lunch. You pay for it one way or another.

Not necessarily, not below $250k/yr, and folks like Budman paying $30k/yr just for healthcare would probably come out ahead anyway.

 

[kevin 714]

And all he had to pay to get that was twice the effective income tax rate he would have paid in the U.S. during his lifetime.

There is no free lunch. You pay for it one way or another.

when you add up all the taxes and fees we pay, its about equal


when you combinje all the taxes, fees, state taxes etc etc amercians pay a shit load in taxes, and get very little for it

 

[budman]

Wow.....that just seems unreal. How much was it when you started, and how long ago was that?

Yes... moved to Kaiser about 15 years ago..

Originally 500 a month for wife and I and 4 kids. By the time it was just 4 of us total it was up to 900 month or so. A couple of years ago it was getting the point of craziness (2K a month) and the wife looked at other insurance options.

They were able to switch and save some money, but my pre-existing conditions kept me at Kaiser. I was denied coverage.

Knee, back and being completely

I will admit Kaiser has picked up their game and a once frustrated member is no longer so. I like the coverage now. I like the Doctors and staff too. Really very good people for the most part.

 

[afm199]

Yes... moved to Kaiser about 15 years ago..

Originally 500 a month for wife and I and 4 kids. By the time it was just 4 of us total it was up to 900 month or so. A couple of years ago it was getting the point of craziness (2K a month) and the wife looked at other insurance options.

They were able to switch and save some money, but my pre-existing conditions kept me at Kaiser. I was denied coverage.

Knee, back and being completely

I will admit Kaiser has picked up their game and a once frustrated member is no longer so. I like the coverage now. I like the Doctors and staff too. Really very good people for the most part.

Kaiser has been good to me. Though: When I started in 79, it cost $37 a month. When I left, a couple years ago the same plan was $1000 a month and closed because it gave too many benefits.

Yes, that was thirty seven a month in 1979.

 

[CockyRooster]

I've racked up over $250k of self inflicted medical expenses in the last 5 years and still pay about $300mo. with Blue Shield. So far I've come out ahead.

 

[russ69]

I've racked up over $250k of self inflicted medical expenses in the last 5 years and still pay about $300mo. with Blue Shield. So far I've come out ahead.

The whole idea of insurance is that you will pay more in premiums than they will pay out in claims. That is how insurance works. With your 250K claim it means it takes a lot of people paying a lot of bucks for the insurance company to break even. I think this is the true reason for expensive health care, basically health care is just plain expensive.

 

[CockyRooster]

Yes - thank all of you for paying the balance of my bills!


Actually, my bills were had I been uninsured were $250k, but the insurance company negotiated their payout to about $50k.

 

[afm199]

Yes - thank all of you for paying the balance of my bills!


Actually, my bills were had I been uninsured were $250k, but the insurance company negotiated their payout to about $50k.

This is how it works. I briefly had a $2k deductible and had to take an ambulance ride ( years ago). The charges were amazing. I negotiated with the hospital and paid much less. Basically my stance was "Hey I am paying cash and paying today. Don't be ridiculous.") I got about 30% knocked off. Funny thing was that ride was only $500. Today it would have been $5k.

 

[My900ss]

The whole idea of insurance is that you will pay more in premiums than they will pay out in claims. That is how insurance works. With your 250K claim it means it takes a lot of people paying a lot of bucks for the insurance company to break even. I think this is the true reason for expensive health care, basically health care is just plain expensive.

The idea is correct, however using the idea of collective bargaining the Insurance company can obtain the services for its member at a price lower than the individual. Which is one of the points made in the video posted by the OP. America pays to much for Health care because we do not have a unified voice on how we obtain and pay for services.

Thus Obama care in my opinion is bound to fail because it addresses the means to pay, ignoring how to control the costs.

 

[Reli]

Gotta wonder how much blame rests on the freeloaders who go to the ER or UC but never pay.