I put the following poll on Twitter. Even though I have over 900 followers, after five days only six people answered the poll.
I’m thinking many people don’t want to think about that question or don’t want to commit.
How do you want to pay for healthcare?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
I follow you and sometimes comment but I refuse to do polls!
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Poorly worded question, especially for a USA based audience
Taxes only medicine in the US is NOT healthcare! It’s at best crisis emergency triage or acute disease care.
Until we decide to join the community of first-world nations that provide universal care, our only option is Premium and Out of Pocket. [Some may be able to avoid OOP costs if they (or their insurance underwriter) opt for higher premium expense.)
Even Medicare is a premium and OOP arrangement. Much of the premium is paid during the recipient’s work life through taxes.
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No, actually, most of the cost of care for America’s seniors isn’t the FICA-Med taxes we all pay. It is general revenue (income taxes). And, keep in mind one in five have no or reduced premiums and out-of-pocket as they are dual eligible. If the rest of the world is so great, why do people from all over the world come to America for treatment?
Fact is, most people are unwilling to pay everyday costs.
I do agree, however, that idiotic ideas, like health reform, are poorly structured. There should be a social component for the 5% of Americans (mostly older) who incur 50+% of all medical costs – a variant of reinsurance.
But, everyone is in someone’s pocket here.
No one is willing to consider practical solutions – instead of Sandy Cortez stupid ideas.
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We are not taking about the delivery of health care, but paying for it.
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Medicare taxes does not come close to covering the expenses. My wife and I are both retired but do not qualify for Medicare yet. So far this year my wife has accrued $7,989 in charges at our “plan rate”. She and her employers have only paid $7,542 in Medicare taxes total ($3,932 herself + $3,610 from her employers) during her work lifetime. This year alone she spent $446 more than what was collected (so far).
The combine amount that my employers and myself have paid in Medicare taxes is $95,134 and I have been billed the “plan rate” of $23,756 so far this year or almost a quarter of what was paid. (If you still get a Social Security statement, your information is on page 3.)
So far this year we have been billed for $56,365 and the providers have accepted $32,331 from our insurance and it has costs us about $1,395 in out of pocket and another $5,288 for the insurance (totally worth it). I am looking at one maybe two knee replacements in the next few years. What I paid in Medicare taxes will be long gone if I was on Medicare for the knee replacements. One visit to ICU or cancer treatment will kill the taxes I paid in a matter of days.
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One more time. Many, perhaps most Americans want the best health care coverage YOUR money will buy.
However, you should have split IIP and premium in the survey. My experience is that some would be willing to pay more (overinsure) to avoid the risk of OOP spend, in part because they live payday to payday.
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You get what you pay for, so for health care OOP and premiums.
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Limited response was probably because you only listed 3 options. The 4th option should have been ” I prefer not to pay for it at all”
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Good point.
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OOP plus insurance is my vote.
Government doesn’t responsibly spend my tax dollars now, so that is out. I currently have a PPO, so my costs are fixed. I basically know how much I’ll to pay with each visit to the doctor which is the purpose of insurance, that is reduce the financial risks. I still have to gamble if I am in network or not.
Now I only pay about 1/7 of my full insurance costs, where my old employer picks up the rest. If I had to pay the full thing, I would still have a plan, but maybe cheaper and less coverage. I rather pay a payment 3x a mortgage payment and budget for it than get a bill for $30k payable in 30 days. This year both my wife and I had issues and two out patient surgeries. Can’t imagine if we have gotten covid with an long ICU stays.
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I need yo get into this Twitter thing. BTW what’s OOP? Thanks
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I believe OOP is Out Of Pocket.
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