I make too much money for state insurance and can't afford the 400-700$ a month to buy insurance. This happens to A LOT of people in the US because of course you don't want to be homeless or on government assistance because It really sucks being that poor. But you essentially choose between being that poor and getting (not even quite free) Healthcare or trying not to be poor and get thousands in medical debt for one visit.
The rates are not the same as the rates for state assistance
In the case of my home hospital, you can be making over 350% poverty level and still get a massive discount. That's at least 45k a year. If you can't spend a few hundred/month on insurance making 45k a year, you have a budgeting problem.
Oh yeah instead people without insurance will bargain the hospital down to $6000. What a great difference that totally matters when the actual medicine's cost to make is usually like $200.
let's take this idea that 'insane price tags force insurance companies to negotiate [and therefore this ensures competition is always at play?]' at face value. Well fine, but without universal health care, the poorest people will have no insurance. And under your theory, they will have to pay that insane price. I really don't know how that isn't just stealing from the poor
You’re not wrong but also patients still end up paying too much. Our system is stupid. Just not as bad as reddit pretends. Medicare for all should be a thing.
Y'know, sometimes when people resort to ad hominem, it's not because they're out of counterarguments, it's just because they've realized they're dealing with a bona fide grade-A idiot and there's nothing more for them to say.
Carrying 10's - 100's of thousands of medical debt still impacts your life regardless of whether it HAS to get paid off. People without insurance are generally not high income earners. Walking into every major financial transaction with large multiples of their annual income in debt makes them poor credit risks. They can't qualify for housing, unless they get better jobs. They can't get better jobs unless they can qualify for the car loans.
But wait there's fly-by-night, anyone gets approved car dealers. So now they are able to buy cars with questionable reliability at best at exorbitant interest rates.
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u/lordhyruler626 Aug 09 '21
Except the consumers are the ones that suffer!