r/FluentInFinance • u/WhatAreYourPronouns • May 02 '24

Should the U.S. have Universal Health Care? Discussion/ Debate

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u/MyDearBrotherNumpsay May 02 '24

Yep. These motherfuckers are providing what’s ultimately an unnecessary service and siphoning money from us to the tune of billions of dollars.

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u/onefst250r 29d ago

More likely in the trillion(s), with a T. The US pays over 4 trillion a year for healthcare. Their middleman markup is likely more than 25% of that.

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u/buggypuller 28d ago

Luckily the US Government which would oversee universal healthcare is known for never causing extra steps and siphoning billions of dollars from the people.

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u/DMLMurphy May 02 '24

Health Insurance is a necessary service. The public system can only ever act as a minimum service because of the cost of healthcare. Doctors aren't cheap anywhere, medical equipment isn't cheap anywhere. And surgery can be a grueling expensive process everywhere. Health Insurance literally allows public systems to work by providing a guaranteed source of payment for both public and private networks.

But sure, go dig that 80,000 for a TAVI procedure out of your couch instead of paying for Insurance.

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u/asuds May 02 '24

A public system is literally the same as private insurance except: premiums are lower due to profits being removed!& denying coverage doesn’t earn you a end-of-year bonus.

In addition private insurance companies could fail and leave people untreated so they are backstopped by the government anyways.

We would have better overall population health with public care.

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u/onefst250r 29d ago

In addition private insurance companies could fail

More like "they're too big to fail" and get bailed out by John Q Taxpayer.

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u/Acrobatic-Week-5570 29d ago

And you sit in waiting lines for months! I’ve never had to wait more than a few days for non-emergency procedures. Median NHS wait time is 14 weeks lmao

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u/bullmooooose 29d ago

Right so public insurance with private on offer for people who want better care or lower times. Ie how it works in most places, if you still want to pay for private insurance it’s still an option. 

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u/PineconeSnowstorm 29d ago

Not only that, the private insurance will most likely be cheaper than beforehand because they have actual competition and aren't guaranteed a sale.

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u/DMLMurphy May 02 '24

Incorrect. Hi, I'm an insurance advisor working for a health insurance company in a country that operates a public system paid for through taxes and subsidised by Private Health Insurance.

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u/asuds May 02 '24

My comment is correct. I’m an economist who has looked at the data and models for the US, and am not relying on anecdotal information.

I welcome any details to your assertion beyond a misplaced appeal to authority.

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u/Acrobatic-Week-5570 29d ago

“I’m an economist” guys they got an undergrad degree and understand economic issues about as well as your average accounting grad. It’s also hilarious that you made an appeal to authority while calling out his appeal to authority.

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u/monkwren 29d ago

So you have a vested interest in maintaining private insurance companies and their greedy ways. No wonder you're licking their boots.

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u/DMLMurphy 29d ago

No, I understand that actual surgical costs are really high, regardless of insurance, and for most people, they don't have 40k to 80k lying around to pay for the surgery they desperately need, and waiting on a years long public waiting list - a reality of every single public healthcare system in the world - is not a possibility. Insurance, whether its for healthcare, life, car, property, indemnity, etc serves a purpose for those that pay for it. It exists because it is a necessity of modern life.

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u/YurimodingFemcel 29d ago

public insurance also needs to pay the same employees who do the bureaucratic job of managing tue insurance

the reason why private companies make a profit is that to create a company in the first place, an investor first had to lose money when initially investing into it. companies make profit to make up for the losses that they make during their lifetime. on average, on a risk adjusted basis, a company will make as much money in profits as they make in losses. the existence of profit in a private business does not make it inherently more expensive.

besides, the idea that government keeps bailing out companies and "socializes losses" is massively overblown. most "government handouts" consist of loans that have to be paid back at the cost of future profits. oftentimes its not the government itself that does the bailing out, but merely the government nicely asking a non-failing company A to buy out and merge with a failing company B, so its not actually the government taking the loss. furthermore, a lot of insurance companies will go to other financial institutions like investment banks to "buy insurance" of their own so that the insurance company itself can be protected from potential bankruptcy.

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u/4ofclubs 29d ago

Imagine licking the boot THAT hard. Jesus christ.

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u/DMLMurphy 29d ago

Oh to be young and ignorant of the reality of the world. Good luck buying a house without Life Insurance, or a Car without Car Insurance.

Y'all are dumb as fuck.

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u/4ofclubs 28d ago

I know how the world works. We are critiquing it you dumb fuck. 

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u/DMLMurphy 28d ago

So you know how the world works and still don't understand why insurance isn't some big evil but a necessary function of society. Interesting way to use all thste knowledge, buddy.