I don't have a problem chipping in to cover those who can't afford it.
I DO have a problem with paying at least 50% more than the next highest spending countries like Switzerland or Norway - all with excellent healthcare systems - probably better than the US (except for the very high-end)
Re:Banks, QE, and Money-Printing
by lotsofpulp on Tuesday November 03, 2020 @02:33PM
(#24983099)
Bringing the price of healthcare down simply has to do with increasing the supply of healthcare providers and medicine. Technically, I guess the nation could also work on reducing the demand side of healthcare by promoting better diets and exercise, but I won't hold my breath on that one.
The prior is already happening with the introduction of PA and NPs taking over roles that MD/DOs used to do (for better or for worse, I've seen many discussions on how PA/NP education is very lacking and the bar to qualify is too low, which I agree with).
I don't know much about increasing supply of medicine, but that probably has to do with patent reform and/or FDA approvals for slightly modified medications.
There's also probably something about liability and litigiousness that is a factor of higher prices in the US.
The ACA limited how health insurance companies could determine premiums by restricting it to just someone's age, which means they can't take into account pre existing conditions or whether or not they're about to have a baby. ACA also forced insurers to not charge older, unhealthy people more than 3x what they charge 21 year olds who aren't expected to use any healthcare.
This means the premiums for younger, healthier people are going towards paying for older, unhealthier people. AKA a tax. Additionally, the nation is getting older and there are fewer and fewer younger people to divvy up these healthcare costs.
See this pdf from NJ showing how the age rating factors work:
https://www.state.nj.us/dobi/division_insurance/ihcseh/ihcra...
The ACA requirement for an out of pocket maximum for in network health care also made it so insurance companies have no ceiling per person healthcare spending, so if someone needs $5M of healthcare in a year, then that insurance company is going to have to pay for it, and it's going to have to come from everyone's premiums.
Bottom line is the amount and quality of healthcare people expect to receive is very costly. So if people want health insurance premiums to not go up so fast or go down, they need to consume less healthcare, lower quality healthcare, or they need to increase the amount of healthcare available so prices of the healthcare go down.