I agree. A 18 year old young person is yet not an adult, in the sense of affording some of the needs of this society - college education, healthcare, home rent, etc. We were true Indians in our thinking, when it came to our children - we expected them to excel in school and college, but paid for their entire undergraduate education, room and board. We told our children that we need them to at least get a Master's education, but will only fund their undergraduate studies. We kept to our word. My son paid for his own way to graduate studies. My daughter decided to work after her under graduation and then paid her own way to enroll for a MBA after 5 years of working. I have a close friend, whose children are bad at studies and spent several years to finish their undergraduate studies. They still live with their parents. I do not approve of this, as they are over 25 years old and need to find their own way in this world.
Michael - No. My point of writing that example is that a system has to support different types of affordability. Actually the person who can pay $2000 gets top class care in India with excellent hospital and care systems. Actually the medical tourism from countries in the Gulf is a great way how doctors and hospitals support even taking care of a $5 patient.
Thank you for replying to my comment. You capture the essence of the problem in your statement - "The fundamental problem is multiple systems paying different amount for the same service and shifting costs from one to another." I have not understood why need to allow employability to be the factor that decides your insurance premiums. I am sure given your years of experience of leadership in designing healthcare plans, we can come up with better systems and surely enough companies and providers might have thought about it. What I meant by middle brokers are the vested interests, who do not want change and are somehow within the lifecycle of the medical system. Do we really need healthcare to be based on insurance? I am not experienced in this industry, but I retired early (at 60) and suddenly I pay more than $25000 a year for a couple insurance with sky high deductibles. We can do better.
Dick - Thank you very much for your thoughtful posts over the years. I have been reading all the HumbleDollar forum posts for over 3 years now and this is my first post. As a first generation immigrant to this wonderful country, I like a lot of things about this country, except for the costs for healthcare and education. You are being naive (I am not being arrogant, but using the term carefully) about the waste that is happening in our healthcare system. Just this week, I was looking at the claim paid by my Insurance company for a colonoscopy. The surgical center billed the insurance $8600 and the insurance company paid $640. Don't you think this is outrageous in both the sense of how much was claimed and how little was paid? The main people who are profiting from our healthcare system are the middle brokers. In India, where I grew up - you can get healthcare for as little as $5 or as much as $2000 and the quality of care is based on how much you can pay. I would rather prefer that than the thousands of people who cannot afford healthcare in our country.
Comments
Mark - My disapproval is not about staying with parents. It is about not finding your way in this world even at this age.
Post: Is there any point when a child needs financial help that you feel comfortable saying “not my problem?”
Link to comment from March 14, 2026
I agree. A 18 year old young person is yet not an adult, in the sense of affording some of the needs of this society - college education, healthcare, home rent, etc. We were true Indians in our thinking, when it came to our children - we expected them to excel in school and college, but paid for their entire undergraduate education, room and board. We told our children that we need them to at least get a Master's education, but will only fund their undergraduate studies. We kept to our word. My son paid for his own way to graduate studies. My daughter decided to work after her under graduation and then paid her own way to enroll for a MBA after 5 years of working. I have a close friend, whose children are bad at studies and spent several years to finish their undergraduate studies. They still live with their parents. I do not approve of this, as they are over 25 years old and need to find their own way in this world.
Post: Is there any point when a child needs financial help that you feel comfortable saying “not my problem?”
Link to comment from March 14, 2026
Michael - No. My point of writing that example is that a system has to support different types of affordability. Actually the person who can pay $2000 gets top class care in India with excellent hospital and care systems. Actually the medical tourism from countries in the Gulf is a great way how doctors and hospitals support even taking care of a $5 patient.
Post: No, it is not a scam
Link to comment from March 14, 2026
Thank you for replying to my comment. You capture the essence of the problem in your statement - "The fundamental problem is multiple systems paying different amount for the same service and shifting costs from one to another." I have not understood why need to allow employability to be the factor that decides your insurance premiums. I am sure given your years of experience of leadership in designing healthcare plans, we can come up with better systems and surely enough companies and providers might have thought about it. What I meant by middle brokers are the vested interests, who do not want change and are somehow within the lifecycle of the medical system. Do we really need healthcare to be based on insurance? I am not experienced in this industry, but I retired early (at 60) and suddenly I pay more than $25000 a year for a couple insurance with sky high deductibles. We can do better.
Post: No, it is not a scam
Link to comment from March 14, 2026
Dick - Thank you very much for your thoughtful posts over the years. I have been reading all the HumbleDollar forum posts for over 3 years now and this is my first post. As a first generation immigrant to this wonderful country, I like a lot of things about this country, except for the costs for healthcare and education. You are being naive (I am not being arrogant, but using the term carefully) about the waste that is happening in our healthcare system. Just this week, I was looking at the claim paid by my Insurance company for a colonoscopy. The surgical center billed the insurance $8600 and the insurance company paid $640. Don't you think this is outrageous in both the sense of how much was claimed and how little was paid? The main people who are profiting from our healthcare system are the middle brokers. In India, where I grew up - you can get healthcare for as little as $5 or as much as $2000 and the quality of care is based on how much you can pay. I would rather prefer that than the thousands of people who cannot afford healthcare in our country.
Post: No, it is not a scam
Link to comment from March 12, 2026