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As I review social media the angst over health care costs and insurance is apparent. Americans don’t like premiums, out of pocket costs, insurance companies or anyone interfering with their health care. Most people have no clue about the relationship between premiums, deductibles and out of pocket costs. One goes down the others must go up.
Americans want any and all services paid without question and they want it all “free.”
That’s quite a wish list. Oh yes, they also don’t want anything remotely looking like socialized medicine which some call Medicare.
I always found it amazing how money spent on health care is always viewed as very different than the same amount of money spent on just about anything else. I learned this well from decades managing health plans and dealing with people.
Just think of the tens of thousands of fans spending small fortunes to attend the World Cup matches. It’s $250 just to take the train from NYC a few miles to the NJ stadium. Fugatabout what they spend on tickets, etc.
Then I imagine their reaction if a pharmacist told them the Rx copay was $250. The Rx may save their life, but it’s unaffordable. The soccer match gives then pleasure and is affordable even if it is on credit.
I don’t have an answer, I don’t know what Americans want or expect possible when paying for healthcare. However, I suspect what people may want is to hide all costs in taxes so when it comes to receiving healthcare, it will be “free” like in other countries. Good luck getting anyone to admit that though.
FYI The average net profit margin for health insurance companies 5-6% – among the lowest industry and if you took the compensation of the CEO of the largest insurer and allocated it to policyholders premiums it equals less than a dollar each.
So, any ideas? What do we Americans want when it comes to paying for our healthcare?
“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.” — P.J. O’Rourke, American political satirist and author
It’s interesting nobody has mentioned the massive amount of dollars spent on advertising new, expensive drugs. I believe the U.S. is the only country which allows advertising for prescription drugs. The same drugs sold in the U.S. for big dollars are a lot cheaper in other countries.
Harry, you’ve hit on one of my pet peeves, I hate those commercials. I truly don’t know how the cost impacts prices. I do know there are many other factors that cause the discrepancy among prices.
Richard? Your thoughts?
What do I want? I want America to be a country where nobody goes bankrupt or has to sell their home because of medical bills.
I want America to be a country where everybody has access to basic health care, where you don’t meet families whose 5-year-olds haven’t had a medical checkup since they were born because they don’t have insurance or there aren’t any doctors around.
I want America to be one of the safest countries in the world to give birth. Not ranked 54th in infant mortality behind places like Latvia and Serbia. Not three or five or ten times the maternal mortality rate of other developed nations.
And I don’t want anybody to tell me we can’t afford it when we spend more on national defense than the next six countries in the world combined, while having no enemies on our borders.