Interesting, no question Tricare is a good deal. The trouble with all of theses comparison is none are close to apples to apples, at best they are different fruits. Not to mention that considering how obtuse medical prices are I have no confidence in any health care numbers being within +/- 50% of reality.
Matt_W
6154
I did a doubletake at this statistic, which is terrifying (and correct.) But it’s also less terrifying than it seems. If you live to 40, you have about an 80% chance of also seeing 70.
Enidigm
6155
I don’t really care what the solution is - only just getting everyone to admit that the current system is unsustainable. A lot of conservatives i know (Texas, you know) are starting to whisper to themselves that, you know, life is hard and some people just aren’t going to make it. Sucks to be them. We have to both control costs and increase coverage, and making health care not a national policy that we all participate in but some kind of “privilege” that is somehow some sort of proxy for your life “choices” reflects how many of these guys actually see society, which is as an extraction society, not a civic one.
Still think tossing the entire health care industry in a room for 3 months and telling them not to leave until they have a plan among themselves that at a minimum keeps current coverage, at best increases coverage, and must keep costs the same as the year before is the politically correct way of moving forward. I don’t mind giving the health care industry input - but they have to experience themselves their own unwillingness to change or sacrifice, before imposing on them the requirements a society needs to function.
It really depends on the state you live in, and which states have expanded healthcare coverage. If you live in a crap state, then you get crap.
As for government assistance, I guess I do take advantage of that often. After all, my eldest is going to elemental school, and of course, I got to go to school as well thanks to Uncle Sam. I am sure private school would have cost my parents a fortune.
Matt_W
6157
Right. Agreed. TriCare also has the benefit of having medical personnel to staff their “HMO” who are paid on the same scale as every other worker in that program. And they mandate physical fitness for their members. There are a lot of captive costs and controls there that aren’t well reproducible anywhere else.
But it is an example of a health care program in the U.S. that spends about half what private insurance and public OASDI programs do.
Nesrie
6158
Depends on the insurer. If you are looking at Kaiser, they control costs very well… by having closed gates, using internal systems and internal processes. People who use Kaiser tend to pay very little, that’s an HMO which fell out of favor years ago due to lack of choice. The public largely decided they wanted choice over efficiency and tightly controlled costs, but there are several systems out there that control costs better than Medicare does. A number of other insurers follow Medicare and… complicate the system as much as they do if not worse.
It’s efficiency, free… Medicare, yeah when I hear that I know that person does not know what they’re talking about. VA, Medicaid… ugh, the government controlled entities are not good.
Alstein
6159
Technically the last couple of years have been just that. Costs have gone down slightly (like 1-2%)
MikeJ
6160
It looks like on average US doctors make twice as much as their Canadian counterparts. I don’t see how any proposed cost reform can ignore that component.
magnet
6161
Canada has fewer doctors per capita than the US, and far fewer specialists per capita. Both of these can lead to decreased average doctor salaries.
Yeah, lowering supply just tanks the price in any market.
magnet
6163
More intuitively, a lower salary means a lower supply.
Oghier
6164
I pay $1,360/ month for one person with a $10k deductible.
Nesrie
6165
Is that a high deductible plan? It’s not really apples to apples to compare a traditional insurance plan to a high deductible. If that is a employer plan, it would normally come with HSA right? Or is that maybe an individual plan off the market?
Oghier
6166
Individual plan, which I buy from Cigna. The Deductible is 10k. No HSA.
Let’s not even start with the insanity of not considering dental care medical care.
Only about 1 in 3 Medicare enrollees also enrolls in Medicare Advantage. A fifth of all Medicare Advantage enrollees are in employer or union-sponsored plans, presumably because they are getting premium support from those employers / unions. Basically, Medicate Advantage sells to wealthier retirees or those who have the means to pay the extra premiums.
That seems typical. As I said earlier, in 2015 I was paying $800 per month for two people with $13k/$26k deductible. I think I could have paid a larger premium for a lower deductible, but we are healthy people with sufficient savings to take the risk.
Lantz
6170
I object to the idea that BSG forum games are less important than insurance coverage! :)
I just looked at my latest paystub and health insurance is literally 20% of my pay, if you add up the employer contribution (40/60 employee employer). I make well north of $100k, and it’s 20% of that for a family plan.
You all are telling me that Medicare for all is going to cost more than that, when the current medicare tax is like 2.1%? I just don’t believe it. It’s fucking nonsense. Raise my taxes by 10% to pay for it and it’s still half what I pay now for private insurance that charges me $1000 to ride an ambulance.
Yeah, keep in mind, Medicare taxes only pays about 1/10 of what it should. But, despite @Strollen’s very good article, I think the average cost per person would go down, as you would cover younger people.
In any case, I think Medicare would be more cost effective, I just believe you might still see the costs at 10 or 15% of salary. Maybe even 20%.
