CEO murder reveals simmering anger with American health care system

Those people generally have really good insurance

That’s one of the key issues of tying health insurance to employment: it creates a backwards system where the affluent pay basically nothing for care and those who make little pay a great deal

There’s a weird curve at the bottom because of government services like Medicaid, with these you also pay very little to nothing, but in most states you have to basically be destitute to qualify

It’s one of the most frustrating things about being someone who takes insurance as a career. The people I see who make $30-40k or less? They have 4-10,000 deductibles and pay 10-30% coinsurance after, on top of hundreds of dollars of premiums coming out of their check (that percentage wise take up a huge chunk of each pay). Their out of pocket max is also very high so their medical spending has to be pretty crazy to get to the point where they just don’t have to pay anymore

But the people who make 100k? 150? 200+? They almost always have nice PPOs. They pay $5-30 per visit. They have lower out of pocket max (though tbf still fairly high, it’s insurance) so their copays can go away (but this is uncommon, tbf). They pay more out of their check but not as much as you’d think because it’s usually more heavily subsidized by their employer (“nicer benefits for essential staff”) and given their substantially higher income it’s often much less percentage wise of their net earnings.

So someone says “go see a therapist”. If you’re making 40k a year with avg benefits that might mean you’re now on the hook for $120 a week for weeks or months (or more!) because of your high deductible plan, until you finally hit that deductible. If you’re young and healthy and don’t utilize much you may never hit it just going to therapy. Even if you do you’re still on the hook for 12-36 dollars a meeting after that. Meanwhile the 150k a year tech bro or banker goes and pays $10 a week.

It’s not always like this of course. Sometimes low earners get bad PPOs with high copays that feel criminal ($75 per meeting). Sometimes high earners do high deductible plans because they realize the accounting makes more sense for their medical spending. Or sometimes they work for a company that cheaps out on benefits even though it pays a few people very lucrative salaries. Etc

But it’s also one of the hard issues to solve as a result. In an ideal world the people who have more resources would pay more and the people who have less would pay less. The sliding scale payment system where the wealthy subsidize those who have less. But people are greedy and don’t want to give away their money. And guess who has more political power and also tends to vote more?

The people surprised are those that have special policies like government officials that are given preferential treatment with minimal out of pocket costs for almost everything.

Or those that have never been sick enough to have a claim that was expensive enough to get denied automatically by the insurance company.

Right? Obvious news everywhere lately. Who is it that is that out of touch?

The public response makes this news, honestly. And if you aren't online and seeing it, the anger might surprise you. Murders aren't usually celebrated.

Honestly? I'll take the coverage however we can get it. I am a frequent NPR listener, and some of their more niche programs are covering this with sincerity. Let's keep the conversation going.

Interesting...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited_hangout

I didn't know the term but exactly my thought. Focus on limited area.

I wish there was no cause for insurance at all. Cremation should be free and a component of end of life care. The fact that dental and vision aren't a part of Healthcare is actually absurd. Auto insurance should be inexpensive and all about property.

I call it "American health extortion".

The gangster who will smash up your store if you don't pay for "insurance" is actually offering "extortion" , because he's creating the problem he's supposedly insuring against. In America, the insanely high cost of medical care, compared to any other developed country, is being created (by lobbying legislators, backroom price negotiations, etc) and maintained by the companies selling the "insurance" against it.

It's extortion, not insurance. At least call it what it is.

While I empathize with your comment, I found a certain irony as I was just reading another News discussion where someone mentioned that Democrats often call themselves leftists.

Source

I think people can still be surprised by how widespread the resentment is. Things are so polarized and there’s so much focus on dividing us into warring factions, it can be hard to believe that there's common ground on anything. Especially when there's so many other experiences we all shared that didn't lead to a similar understanding.

I think we all knew we were pissed off, but we didn't necessarily realize so many other people were too, especially people we don't like and don't agree with about anything else. I don't think it's simmering, though. I think we're at a rolling boil.

“We had no idea things sucked so bad!” 😱

Tune in tomorrow when we discover trump’s an unredeemable idiot.

Its at least a rolling boil