Let's care about folks who can pay
May. 22nd, 2019 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mprotsenkoI had a discussion recently about different types of healthcare system. Heard a very honest argument along those lines (not verbatim so I may misinterpret it but I do hope I summarize in the right way):
- Yep, the poor are screwed, but what about those who can pay? Shouldn't we care about them too? Does it make sense to prioritize that care? If we start caring about poor, others will suffer and that's bad.
Well, a couple of months ago I took part in a fundraiser. People were collecting money for a software developer (a friend of a friend of mine). Why? After all, if you work in Facebook, you get the best health insurance money can buy. If you work in Facebook - you are not poor, you belong to top 1-5% incomewise. He must have done something really wrong to screw things up so bad he needs to beg. It must be a poor decision. It will never happen to us. Right?
Well, wrong. Turns out - if you have a cancer, if you're too sick to work, you lose your job. After a certain period of time, your disability insurance stops paying - since you're "healthy" enough to be doing something (even if this something is paying 10x-20x less than your last job). You still need to make your mortgage payments (your kids need to go to a good school, right?), but you also need to travel out-of-state to a clinic that specialized in your type of cancer (and pay out-of-network copays and deductibles). And you need to rent another place to stay during your treatment. Ah, and in addition to that you need to make insurance premium payments (fortunately, due to CORBA you get to keep your insurance - but you still need to cough up several thousands dollars a month).
So if you think that a single payer system only benefits poor people - think again. When you are going to become sick (not if, when - it is a matter of time for all of us) - it is going to become about you, not about poor people. (Unless you have a few hundred thousand dollars stashed away.)
The only lucky break here is that you can be old enough to qualify for an existing single payer health coverage (Medicare, yep).
- Yep, the poor are screwed, but what about those who can pay? Shouldn't we care about them too? Does it make sense to prioritize that care? If we start caring about poor, others will suffer and that's bad.
Well, a couple of months ago I took part in a fundraiser. People were collecting money for a software developer (a friend of a friend of mine). Why? After all, if you work in Facebook, you get the best health insurance money can buy. If you work in Facebook - you are not poor, you belong to top 1-5% incomewise. He must have done something really wrong to screw things up so bad he needs to beg. It must be a poor decision. It will never happen to us. Right?
Well, wrong. Turns out - if you have a cancer, if you're too sick to work, you lose your job. After a certain period of time, your disability insurance stops paying - since you're "healthy" enough to be doing something (even if this something is paying 10x-20x less than your last job). You still need to make your mortgage payments (your kids need to go to a good school, right?), but you also need to travel out-of-state to a clinic that specialized in your type of cancer (and pay out-of-network copays and deductibles). And you need to rent another place to stay during your treatment. Ah, and in addition to that you need to make insurance premium payments (fortunately, due to CORBA you get to keep your insurance - but you still need to cough up several thousands dollars a month).
So if you think that a single payer system only benefits poor people - think again. When you are going to become sick (not if, when - it is a matter of time for all of us) - it is going to become about you, not about poor people. (Unless you have a few hundred thousand dollars stashed away.)
The only lucky break here is that you can be old enough to qualify for an existing single payer health coverage (Medicare, yep).
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-23 01:02 am (UTC)And that is not an unusual scenario - serious illness is a matter of time for each and every of us. The only way to get lucky - is to hope that it hits us when we are enrolled in a single payer system.
And you don't need to have a mortgage or out-of-state treatment to get screwed. Let's imagine a poor scientist who rents a modest apartment in a decent neighboorhood so his kids have a shot of good education.
This imaginary scientist loses a job - you cannot work as a scientist if you cannot concentrate, have a fever and vomit a couple times an hour. However, after a small period of time the disability insurance tells that scientist to screw himself - he can work as a part-time data entry operator. Or he can knit socks. Or whatever. So no income for him.
Now he's facing about 5-10k a year in copays and deductibles. He has to pay around 2k each months for his modest apartment. And he has to pay 1500-1800 each month to keep his insurance. (Less expensive insurance may be not an option - a hospital can choose to not accept it or you will have to cough up extra dough in copays and deductibles.)
Can you please explain what choice can this imaginary scientist make ends meet? And how can he avoid this situation? What choice should he make to avoid that?
(I understand the desire to close the eyes and say "That cannot happen to me, I am young, I am healthy, I will not get sick". But the problem that it SHALL happen to you. The question is not "if", it is "when".)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-28 10:31 pm (UTC)The fact that these questions were left unanswered - seems to be itself an answer.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-11-21 07:21 pm (UTC)