https://khn.org/news/article/diagnosis-debt-investigation-10…
100 Million People in America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt
In the past five years, more than half of U.S. adults report they’ve gone into debt because of medical or dental bills, the KFF poll found.
In some cases, people are not seen by their doctors due to outstanding bills.
We need medical debt relief as much as student debt relief.
And most of the medical debt is a result of wanton price gouging (e.g., a hospital charging someone ten times the Medicare rate for a procedure.) It’s completely disgraceful.
intercst
It’s completely disgraceful.
intercst
No comment of medical debt though I’m in the process of having cataract surgery organized for at least one eye … possibly two. They like to catch them early on we old furts before it becomes nasty. The eye exam that found both of them (I suspect one of them for awhile) cost $45 but I get 80% of that back from my retired fed healthcare insurance.
What is disgraceful is that my Fiber provider cranked up their monthly bundle price by C$66 with no notice. It goes from C$155 to $222.54 effective immediately. Must be that inflation thing Eh! }};-@
We have just two providers here in Nova Scotia so switching would probable end in the other fellow matching the increase. Might do it anyway as I actually own shares in the other fellow with a ~6% dividend.
Tim
And most of the medical debt is a result of wanton price gouging (e.g., a hospital charging someone ten times the Medicare rate for a procedure.) It’s completely disgraceful.
Part of it also has to do with our extremely screwed up billing practices.
Medical billing is the only billing I am aware of where you don’t want to get paid what you billed. Insurance companies have a maximum they will pay for each medical code. Bill them less and they’ll happily pay you less. So if you get paid what you billed, you’re probably leaving money on the table. Hence, billing 10x Medicare.
We used to give individuals a generous sliding scale to avoid getting caught up in this game.
America has the best medical system in the world if you’re wealthy. If you’re middle class or poor, not so much.
I would prefer a single payer system (and don’t get me started on not being able to negotiate drug prices).
But I enjoy life too much to hold my breath waiting for it.
AW
I would prefer a single payer system (and don’t get me started on not being able to negotiate drug prices).
But I enjoy life too much to hold my breath waiting for it.
AW
Chuckle, haven’t you been told that we Canucks are dying like flies waiting for care? }};-D
Of course somehow we manage to live longer than Americans and don’t go broke standing in line at the pharmacy.
Tim
I would prefer a single payer system (and don’t get me started on not being able to negotiate drug prices).
A single payer system would be very profitable…for heavy industries, financials other than health insurance, and add to government receipts. There would be a massively uplifting economic synergism.
It is very possible this becomes a central economic matter in our economic maximization beyond 2025.
Younger Americans are thinking about building an economic powerhouse.
Of course somehow we manage to live longer than Americans
The interesting thing is that Canadians that move to the USA and live there their entire lives also live longer than the average American. So it is quite possible that the healthcare system isn’t what is determining this outcome.
MarkR: “The interesting thing is that Canadians that move to the USA and live there their entire lives also live longer than the average American. So it is quite possible that the healthcare system isn’t what is determining this outcome.”
Would you happen to have a source for that? I’m not questioning it but I do have a family (daughter, SIL and three grandsons) living in the Bay area (Orinda) who might be interested? All of them are very fit and her employer’s Healthcare coverage is “the Best”.
Of course there is always more than one factor for longevity. When smoking first became targeted due to health concerns and medical costs taxes on cigarettes rose dramatically and places where you could smoke legally declined.
From 1997 to 2010, according to the Non-Smokers Rights Association, the average cost of a carton of cigarettes in Canada rose by 122% to $89.98. Warnings on packages have gotten much more direct and graphic and in many cases, cigarettes cannot be displayed in stores. Smokers are finding there are more restrictions on where they can puff. Massive amounts have been spent on education. The Canadian Centre for Substance Abuse estimates that tobacco cost the country $17.1 billion in 2002 and the Heart and Stroke Foundation notes there are over 37,000 needless deaths per year from tobacco
Availability and ownership of guns vastly different stats. It wasn’t that we couldn’t own guns, more that is was very inconvenient to follow the rules of gun ownership especially if there were children in the household. I got rid of mine when the alternative was to build a lockable cabinet to hold them. With military posting ~ every four years it simply wasn’t worth it. Almost nobody I know owns private guns anymore.
I’m sure there are others?
Tim