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Americans spend more time living with diseases than rest of world, study shows
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2024
309 points (99.0% liked)
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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.)
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.
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.