Comment by onlyrealcuzzo
3 days ago
> While what you're saying on the surface may be true from the numbers you are comparing, the fact of the matter is that healthcare costs are becoming more and more expensive during a time when many are experiencing a cost of living crisis.
Which has almost nothing to do with the amount of profits derived from private health insurance - that's only ~1.2% of spending.
Maybe it used to be ~0.8% - that delta is not moving the needle.
But has everything to do with the need to take a closer look at the entire system and how we can do things better.
I feel like focusing on this part of my comment vs. the bum deal part is disingenuous since non-US countries have figured out how to do it for cheaper with better outcomes without the main focus being the up and to the left drive for profit that our current system mandates.
> But has everything to do with the need to take a closer look at the entire system and how we can do things better.
People do that literally everyday.
If there was a silver bullet, we'd take it.
If there is a silver bullet, the first step would be getting rid of the for profit mechanisms.
Instead, because despite data linked in this thread that profit margins are only a few percentage points, Healthcare is an incredibly lucrative field that extracts a lot of money into the private market without delivering results commensurate with the cost to the public.
Add to that lobbying making it incredibly simple and cost effective to influence policy (which comes out in the P&L as a cost of doing business and so isn't tracked as profit FWIW), we are stuck with this situation despite overwhelming evidence that it's a bad deal.
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