Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick

Re:Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick by cannonedhamster on Sunday March 17, 2019 @10:43PM (#19418334)

Uh..no..I'm not sure where you're getting your facts but no this is completely false. Most Americans have either Medicare/Medicaid, or various levels of employer sponsored healthcare, most of which are really poor or push large burdens on their employees. I have fully paid for healthcare through my employer and I STILL have a $5000 max out of pocket that I have to cover before insurance fully covers me. To put that in perspective that's an entire month's income in a country where most people live paycheck to paycheck.

Oh and the cherry on top of that is that in the US you can literally be fired for getting a prolonged medical illness, such as, oh say, cancer, which impacts nearly every single American. It's totally legal, which then takes your wonderful healthcare and removes it right when you need it most and can least afford to lose it. Another fun fact is that it's really hard for most people to work when getting prolonged medical care, which means, again you can't really pay for the bills you are getting.

If you think quality is great, then you're lucky. US hospitals can flat out refuse to treat you properly if you're "lucky" enough to go to a Christian based hospital, which will deny care unless life threatening, in some states this nears the majority of hospitals.

So no, most people who go bankrupt from medical bills in America HAVE health insurance. You're living in a fantasy bubble I suggest you step out of before you get a huge shock. I sincerely hope you never have to experience this first hand because it's absolutely hell for those who have to go through it.

Sources: Average US Income: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United...

Catholic Healthcare: https://www.forbes.com/sites/judystone/2016/05/07/health-car...

Healthcare bankruptcies: https://www.cnbc.com/id/100840148 Rebuttal: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/643000-bankruptcies-in-the... https://www.studyfinds.org/two-thirds-of-all-american-bankru...

Edit: I don't mean to suggest US healthcare providers are poor, it's generally the best in the world if you live in the east coast, Texas, or west coast the south and midwest generally have poorer coverage with the exception of cities. We basically have the best healthcare that you can afford, the problem is that most people can't afford it.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick by s_y_n_t_a_x on Monday March 18, 2019 @03:36AM (#19419274)

Over 71% of people are happy with their employer coverage, as am I. I also chose a high deductible of $5000, but I have a $0 monthly premium. If I chose a $50 premium, I would pay $500 deductible. And that's only for major expenses. Drugs and checkups don't need the deductible. Yes, there's reforms needed, but it's not the apocalyptic picture people paint.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick by speedplane on Monday March 18, 2019 @03:45AM (#19419306)

> Over 71% of people are happy with their employer coverage

That statistic is not terribly revealing, as I suspect that the vast majority of those 71% are relatively healthy/young people. I'd like to know the percentage of people who have had significant health events in the past 12 months that are happy with their coverage.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick by s_y_n_t_a_x on Tuesday March 19, 2019 @07:27PM (#19437255)

It usually takes a few months for employer coverage to kick in. And most people stay at their jobs for well over a couple of years. I'm sure most of those people have had to use their insurance in their period of time of working at their job. I find it harder to believe the opposite.

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Re:Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick by speedplane on Wednesday March 20, 2019 @01:12AM (#19439198)

> I'm sure most of those people have had to use their insurance in their period of time of working at their job. I find it harder to believe the opposite.

Using your insurance for regular doctor appointments or the occasional flu or bronchitis is quite different from realizing you have a serious chronic condition, or require a major surgery. You don't buy insurance for regular needs, you buy it for the unforeseen serious ones. These are rare, but it's here where the quality of insurance really matters.

Judging the quality of insurance from the standpoint of the "average person" is not the correct perspective. You need to judge it by the person who needs to file serious claims. From this perspective, 70% of "average people" being happy with their insurance seems remarkably low.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick by s_y_n_t_a_x on Friday March 22, 2019 @02:21PM (#19465368)

Funny you talk about quality insurance, but its employer provided insurance that's higher quality than the government or self paid ones. Because the employer gets a very good bulk deal and pays a high premium, much more than the average person can self-pay. That is why satisfaction is so high for employer provided insurance.

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Re:Americans Are Going Bankrupt from Getting Sick by speedplane on Thursday March 28, 2019 @03:26AM (#19510056)

> Funny you talk about quality insurance, but its employer provided insurance that's higher quality than the government or self paid ones.

Government insurance, at least for federal employees, is actually very good, and for the same reasons you stated. There are few with as much bargaining power as governments.

But I don't quite get your point. You said that 70% of people are happy with their insurance. And my point was that doesn't seem very high at all as most people aren't that sick. You can't use a majority's viewpoint to judge the quality of a service that they don't use.

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