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The Coming Great Recession, Brought To You By The Healthcare Cartel
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
So what happens when an insatiable state-mandated cartel attaches itself to households with declining real incomes?
Why the coming Great Recession is brought to you by the Healthcare Cartel is painfully simple: in an era of stagnant household incomes, every additional dollar devoted to rising healthcare insurance, outrageously unaffordable medications and soaring co-pays is one less dollar that's available to be saved, invested or spent on something other than healthcare.
Recent headlines tell the story: off-patent medications suddenly leap in price, healthcare premiums jump 25+% in a single year, co-pays increase and the deductibles on many insurance plans are so high that the coverage is more phantom than real: if you have to spend $5,000 before your insurance plan pays $1, what value is the coverage?
If the plan costs $5,000 a year, but doesn't pay a dime of expenses until you've spent $5,000, then the plan actually costs $10,000.
No wonder rising healthcare costs are tightly correlated with recessions, as longtime correspondent B.C.'s chart reveals: as healthcare expenses consume more oxygen, the rest of the economy starts gasping for air:
Total healthcare expenditures are generally under-estimated, distorting the full consequences of soaring healthcare:
Adjusted for inflation, healthcare expenditures have risen 55% since 2000:
Compared to our developed-nation competitors, the U.S. spends an inordinate amount of healthcare spending on the elderly. Why? because it's so profitable, and the federal government pays the bills, no questions asked--even when the billing is fraudulent or inflated, or the medications and procedures are needless or even harmful.
So what happens when an insatiable state-mandated cartel attaches itself to households with declining real incomes?
There is less money to spend in the rest of the economy, which stumbles into recession.
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Yes, more "rewarding bad behavior at all levels" in 'merica...
You ready for single payer yet? You'll be begging for it soon.
"We can't do it all at once"
American real incomes are falling yet the American Medical Mafia wants to capture what little is left. Our medical system, so called, is being run as a racket, plain and simple.
There's a word I'm look for.....oh yeah.......rico.
Can't we use that?
Yes, these fucks should be arrested on RICO charges. The problem, of course, being that we're asking Congress to arrest themselves as well as various members of the medical mafia lobby.
I bought the exact same RX at CVS for $55 that cost $12.99 at Costco (Amox/Clav). That is majorly fucked up.
Getting prescriptions filled has turned into a fucking art form. What most people don't know is that there are "group buyer" codes that you can use that can really reduce the cost of your scrip, but the problem is different pharmacies accept different codes, with greatly varying costs associated with the different codes.
Here's an app that can help you discover the right codes and pharmacies to use to get a particular prescription filled. Note that if you are getting multiple prescriptions filled, you may have to use multiple pharmacies.
http://www.goodrx.com/
Thanks a ton for that link.
Another thing you absolutely must do if you have a prescription to fill, is poke around your insurance company's website. I know some company's sites suck, but here in Minnesota, I have HealthPartners insurance, and the current iteration of their website actually has a plethora of good information, if you poke around a lot. I can get local price quotes for the generic Simvastatin I take. A 90-pill bottle (90-day supply) runs between $150 and $3. I shit you not. It varies from pharmacy to pharmacy, and from month to month, or 6-month period to 6-month period, depending on the timing of agreements between the insurer and the individual pharmacy or pharmacy chain in question.
That price spread on Simvastatin made me rage and froth, and then wonder. If Walgreen's can sell the shit for $3.00/90 pills, or 3.33 cents per pill, what the hell was Target doing trying to sell it to me for $1.67 per pill? I mean, good on them for being all entrepreneurial 'n' shit, but did they really expect me to take them seriously?
Holy shit-- why on earth would you take statins? The long-term side effects are insidious, and the health "benefits" of lowered cholesterol are completely unproven.
But, despite the fact that there is no reliable evidence that lowered cholesterol is beneficial, if you were really determined to get your blood cholesterol down, you can do it pretty effectively with vitamins and supplements.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/12/01/breitburn-energy-partne...
Moar Green Shoots!
Hey, Buck--thanks for the concerns. I'm aware of what you're talking about, for sure. Everybody in my family has insanely high cholesterol levels. Even the nearly-vegetarian distance runner Division I athlete. There's a weird missing liver enzyme, or something. I made a pretty respectable effort to get the levels down through diet, vitamins, supplements and exercise, and it didn't work. The lowest prescribed dose of statins, cutting a 10 mg pill in half every day, dropped the levels by well over half. It was amazing.
Now, that doesn't mean statins are anything different from what you say. And it doesn't address your point that blood cholesterol may not be a problem at all. Some of us have had health problems that are routinely attributed to the high cholesterol levels, but I have my doubts, and they could easily be caused by something else.
I realize my choice in taking this shit is not very logical. I'm looking for some sort of information that would convince me one way or the other.
"I'm looking for some sort of information that would convince me one way or the other."
Start here.
http://www.statinnation.net/
I agree with Buck. Please research statins. The efficacy has only been shown to a small group of men who had a prior MI. It reduced the chances of a second one in a set time period. Giving these drugs to the general populous is criminal IMHO. My lab manager had several bout of amnesia while taking them. Thank God they stopped when he quit. I believe we will see long term effects for this. We are already seeing Alzheimer's approaching record levels, who knows if statins will add to this?
High cholesterol could be a sign of inflammation. It is a symptom not a cause. Much research is pointing to inflammation as a predictor of health, not simply total cholesterol. Our American diet is highly inflammatory. Long distance runners have been shown to have high markers of inflammation in their blood. Being a distance runner and vegetarian is no guarantee of health.
My total cho is 160 and I have a 65 HDL. I eliminated everything inflammatory and took up yoga. Prior, my cho was 280 and HDL was 35. This did take several years of work. I know popping a pill was not the key to health.
Good luck to you
Miffed
I'll summarize.
One day a doctor who had done alot of autopsies on heart attack victims noticed that most of them had white stuff built up in their arteries. He checked it out and it turned out to be cholesterol. So he deduced that cholesterol had caused the heart attacks, and ran around the country saying "cholesterol is bad!".
But the truth is that inflammation is the culprit. When arteries get inflamed, cholesterol rushes in to try and help/heal. So what you really want to fight is inflammation, not cholesterol.
It's the truth. I'll add to that -- One day a doctor who had done a lot of autopsies on heart attack victiims noticed that most coronary artery damage that needed repair by cholesterol happened to be at the bends in the coronary arteries that were constantly being fatigued with every heartbeat. But he was of the eclectic school and prescribed Vitamin C and lysine to repair the brittle, fracturing artery substrate that was attracting platelets and chlosterol.
Absolutely agree with Buck and Miffed (and I'm university trained in biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics). Do not take statins!
These things are fungal-derived toxins, originally intended to be used as cytotoxics in cancer 'treatment'. They failed in that regard, but an interesting side-effect was noted on cholesterol production.
Cholesterol is critical for life, it is an integral component of cell membranes, serving a structural role. It is also a key component of downstream hormone production (eg, progesterone is produced from cholesterol). Cholesterol is produced naturally within the body and is recruited to sites of damage to assist in cellular repair. High cholesterol (if not due to hypercholesterolemia) is indicative of inflammation (caused by cell death) and the body's attempt to repair it.
If you go to fires, you will often find firemen there. Only an idiot would then turn around and say "oh, there are often firemen at fires, therefore firemen cause fires", yet that's basically exactly what was done with cholesterol.
There is simply no correlation between cholesterol levels and heart attacks. The original study by Ancel Keys that showed this has been comprehensively debunked as fraudulent due to cherry picking of data points to fit the curve the author wanted to see. Australian aboriginals have amongst the lowest cholesterol levels in the world, yet amongst the highest rate of heart attacks. Italian villagers the opposite. Data points like those were not included.
The key factor is inflammation. Reduce the things in your life that are causing inflammation and your risk of heart attack reduces. Stress, lack of sleep, exposure to certain industrial chemicals and poor diet are key factors.
Now let's get technical. Here is a interactive metabolic chart: http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/technical-documents/articles/biology/interac...
Scroll down to the bottom left and you will find cholesterol in the steroids section (blue). Backtrack through the arrows until you find Mevalonate. Above it you will find the number 1.1.1.34, click on it. This is HMG-CoA reductase, an enzyme. Statins work by binding this enzyme, like a key into a lock and preventing it from functioning. The entire downstream pipeline is then blocked, which ultimately leads to cholesterol production being inhibited.
OK, now follow those arrows again. We're a long way back from cholesterol here and if you go foward to Farnesyl-PP then you'll find a branch in the pipeline. Look at where that branch goes...
Holy SHIT man, the entire isoprenoid group is disrupted including a bunch of important enzymatic cofactors (things that make enzymes work correctly) and ubiquinone, something that is essential for proper mitochondrial function (mitochondria produce the body's energy). Block this pathway completely and you're dead. Any surprise then that the number one effect of statins is actually a harmful side-effect: muscle wastage due to muscle cell death and the pain that goes with it, sometimes leading to kidney failure. They just don't give you a high enough dose to kill you.
Knock out the isoprenoids and there will be harmful effects on musculature, vision, cognition, libido and so forth.
So then, if cholesterol is the bad guy, why the fuck block it so far back in the pipeline? Why not hit it much close to production, like, say 5.4.99.7 (lanosterol synthase) which is exactly what any competent biochemist would suggest (and try to do). Well, you see, I researched for inhibitors, they exist, they knock down cholesterol very effectively and guess what? No effect on heart attack rates.
It's.....not....cholesterol and an entirely bullshit piece of pseudoscience and clever marketing has been used to not only con people out of billions of dollars, but actively harm their health in the process. A physician who prescribes these things to anyone who does not have hypercholesterolemia is negligent.
People need to be in prison over this. I watched my father, a healthy man running half-marathons in his 60's, get absolutely destroyed by statins until I could finally convince him that his "expert" cardiologist was full of shit. The "expert" did not even prescribe Coenzyme Q to counteract the most harmful and common side-effect of statins, that's how little he knew.
Got my mother off that trash about 5 years ago.
Can't believe that doctors are still Rx'ing statins.
(Actually, can believe it. Providers are better off legally if they seek cover by following standards of practice.)
Not a bad article, but the author confuses cause and effect.
switch to paleo diet immediately. youll be totally off meds with good cholesterol levels in 3 months.
edit: forgot to mention, you should add intermittent fasting. doing those two things will have you in excellent health in no time.
Statins killed my dad.
He was the strongest MF you ever saw. A John Wayne. Not a thing wrong with him till he got statins as a "preventative" from the VA.
If you're looking to die, you've come to the right statin.
And though my dad had an IQ of over 160 and was a code cracker & gold life master at bridge (dunno what that is, except he won tournaments), after statins, he couldn't make it through sudoku.
If you can't make up your mind about quitting statins, stop taking them and you'll get it figured out.
Btw: not judging you or my dad!
Just furious over it. So's my mom...
Holy moly, Buckaroo, thanks for that link - passed it on to the family.
Learn to read this map, it will tell you everything you need to know about why people should NOT be on statins (some directions in a post if you scroll upwards).
http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/technical-documents/articles/biology/interac...
I'm confident you have the brains to figure it out.
"Compared to our developed-nation competitors, the U.S. spends an inordinate amount of healthcare spending on the elderly."
Whoa. Nice try at trying to sneak a meme in there, pal. In any country the elderly tend to use the health care system more.
The US health care system is ludicrously expensive no matter who is using it.
The U.S. spends an inordinate amount of healthcare spending on everyone.
Also, the American Medical Mafia is trying to maintain their income level while everyone else's is falling due to off-shoring, etc..
Why beat around the bush? Its no secret that the elderly are the most significant users of the healthcare system, particularly the publicly funded part of it.
Makes me wonder if part of what is categorized as spending on care for the elderly may instead be Medicare benefits for end stage renal disease. When compiling data, it must be much easier to assume that Medicare benefits are restricted to the elderly.
What drives me nuts is that liberal tools look at that graph as "proof" that single payer systems are "more affordable" than the clusterfuck we have in the US.
What your average liberal moron can't grasp is that (1) government accounting is bogus, there are a million ways to hide and obfuscate expenses using government accounting, so those single-payer numbers can't be taken seriously; and (2) health care is a technology-driven industry, so in a free-market cash-for-services economy, health care would rightly mimic any other technology industry which would mean plummeting costs, not rising costs.
Funny
But you could supplant 'conservative' and 'd-fence' for 'libruls' and 'healthcare' in your bitching.
You are entirely correct, sir. It's no coincidence that the business model for Obamacare bears a striking resemblance to the business model for defense procurement. It is a model that "works" for politicians, bureaucrats, and contractors-- all at the expense of the taxpayer.
excellent video by an ER doctor outlining every govt healthcare policy and how they led us to where we are today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j8qDwR56DA
The cost of health care is driven the same way every other scam is driven. Asymmetry of information. A patient in an emergency situation, or a life-and-death crisis, can't gather information and compare. A patient in a non-emergency situation, in no crisis at all, often doesn't know how to gather information and compare. It's all emotion, fear mostly; and that's always where the money is.
The guys who work my neighborhood every spring trying to sell home security systems hate the fact that I get e-mails from the cops every month, telling and showing me exactly where the crime is in my neighborhood, and how prevalent. They don't want to talk about that, and they don't want to talk to me after I tell them I know exactly what the crime situation is in my neighborhood, and why their home security system won't do anything for me but cost me money. I have enough information to not be afraid, so I'm a waste of their time.
As for health care, look at the myriad studies of how widely the cost of a given procedure varies within a given area. Something like a hip-replacement, which by now is like adding RAM to your computer (albeit more painful for the patient, one would think), can vary in cost tenfold, depending on what neighborhood you're in and what insurance you carry.
All "ObamaCare" has ever been was a delaying tactic to allow the Healthcare/Financial complex to load up the getaway car before the whole bubble inevitably collapses. US health coverage isn't "Insurance" at all; it's a pre-payment scheme with no recourse on price. Actually, no price disclosure at all. And rife with fraud; I've seen a number of attempts at multiple-billing on invoices for routine care. I can get a reasonably accurate estimate for services from everybody but a doctor. Even a dentist, a lawyer, an auto mechanic, a plumber; they all expect to give you an estimate. Watch anybody at a medical clinic puff up with indignation when you ask them how much stuff costs.
There's the root of it; asymmetry of information. They intend to keep it that way, but they're deluding themselves. When a critical mass of American employers and citizens don't have enough money to pay for it, the value proposition is moot.
BB- wish I could upvote you twice
It has always been a racket. The AMA started in....Chicago.
You know, of all the gangland states in the US thugocracy, the chicago mafia seems to be the ones most in control of things.
Why is that?
Are they controlled by rich jew mafia in Canada?
Is the usa one big billionare jew circle jerk?
In Chicago the Italians have the upper hand. Jews are used for frontmen.
Don't insult my intelligence by calling it " Health Care ", you fucking vampires.
It is corporate Death Care.
Killing you slowly and expensively, just like Big Corporate Food in America.
Even a muppet can look at the TV ads for innumerable new drugs designed to do what ? Solve this or that problem - maybe - but, with a legion of side effects that make the original malady look like perfect health in comparison.
FUCK THAT.
Ever hear that old saying " Physician, heal thyself. " ?
It don't mean let the doctor do it - it means, take charge of your own life and your own health to minimize your disease risk.
Dis ease - an uneasy state, is prevented 99 percent of the time by dialing way back on bad habits for starters.
Try eating real food with low emphasis on meat, tons of vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils, probiotic foods, getting at least 8 hours of sleep, eating heavy early in the day, eating light at night, drinking plenty of water all the time, and getting some physical activity in a couple times a week.
Fuck Big Pharma. Almost all their shit will kill you.
Don't be a sheeple, being led to expensive slaughter.
Take charge of your health, and live a better life.
As for real disease and death ? We all live, and we all die.
It is just the close of one chapter in your life, and the beginning of another.
Dying a clean aware death is far better than getting lost in a fog of drugs and treatment that cannot delay the inevitable.
I intend to nut punch death, and laugh at the idea of a few more days, weeks, or hours while being incapacitated.
When my time comes,
I WANT TO GO FOR A WALK, SIT DOWN UNDER A TREE, WATCH THE SUNSET, AND TURN OFF MY OWN LIFE AS A CONSCIOUS THOUGHT, WITH NO REGRETS.
To that end (nice post, by the way), read Eat to Live by Joel Furhman (sp?).
Agree 100% but Obamacare criminalizes providing for yourself if you don't pay for the insurance you don't need.
Nice post, an extra from the Master. want good health? don't be a pussy and take a fucking chance whenever you can
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X29lF43mUlo
Amen
The average family will save $2500 per year.
If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.
Iraq has WMD's.
I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
Benghazi was about a video.
Read my lips, no new taxes.
Hmmm... I see a pattern of fucking lies for the past three decades. And R or D don't fucking matter...
I can get a .gov subsidized "Bronze" plan for $0/month with a $6,000 deductible and $6,000 out of pocket expense limit.
Or I can get a non-subsidized "Gold" plan for $1,000/month.
Either way I'm out $12,000 if I need it, as is the taxpayer.
Winning!
I can get free healthcare by renouncing my citizenship, buying a fake Syrian passport, and entering the country as a refugee.
Don't forget Section 8, EBT, TANF, and whatever else is being offered to today's Most Favored Parasite.
I found this out when O-care was first passed and found out the cheapest alternative, and the one I've taken, is to pay the tax 'penalty' for not having insurance. I figure it's saved me at least $12,000 so far.
Go Gault
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/2014/10/24/cant-afford-obamacare-consider-a-health-care-sharing-ministry-instead
R&D? You mean "you didn't build that"?
'You can leave the union if you want'
Seems the lies started in ernest 'round 1860.
Same as it ever was.
Moral Hazard---it is more than just a bad band name.
At this stage I don't think that really matters. The "competition" among the players supposedly keeping prices down wound up being who can commit the moast fraud.
Here's an example...doxy...an antibiotic that's been around for about 50 years. It went generic and the price went through the roof. I've looked into this a little bit and it seems that the pharmacy companies (instead of competing with lower prices) joined forces and bought ALL of it to create a phoney "shortage" racing each other to raise prices. So much for the "free market" competition theory being good for the consumer. Any way you want to slice it...it's ALL fraud. I am not advocating single payer at all because that will be fraud too.
When a drug costs 30 times what it once didhttp://articles.latimes.com/2013/mar/07/business/la-fi-lazarus-20130308
This article here is pretty old...prices on this are even higher now.
Well, let's see:
Can't get a prescription for the medication unless a cartel dispenser allows you to
Can't make the medication unless the cartel overlords allow you to
Can't sell the medication unless the cartel overlords allow you to
Yes, I see, the "free" market has truly failed, hasn't it...
Why are you questioning, the cartel?
The cartel does nothing but good for you.
The cartel is there when you need it, with life saving technology.
Hating the cartel is antilife.
Hate towards the cartel is a hate crime, and obviously antisemitic.
Please don't ask for a member of the cartel to visit you and discuss your thought crimes against the cartel.
The debate over which is better, this-ism or that-ism, is an exercise in spinning wheels. All those terms are now obsolete. It's all just fraudism and it knows no ideology.
If the healthcare market was freer, like it is in Mexico, then you could purchase doxy for less than a dollar from any pharmacy without a prescription. That's what freedom looks like.
I'm not optimistic that freedom will last long. My guess is TPP is a collective bargaining agreement among klepto-corporations to ensure that evrybody get's equally ripped off, using the STATE as it's enforcement arm in exchange for a piece of the pie.
ANybody that doesn't agree with TPP is narrow-minded and racist; the story goes.
THE CARTEL is sooo appropriate.
Thanks to pesticide poisoning I am forever chemically sensitive (thank goodness). Unfortunately Ibuprofen is the only drug that will relieve my cramps, but the chemical coating on all brands of Ibuprofen gives me a horrible skin rash. "Great", so I get to feel like crap AND have a painful skin rash.
Ready for this? There IS Ibuprofen without a toxic coating ... but I need a prescription to get it! Yesss!! I need to pay a doctor to get a prescription to buy an over-the-counter drug WITHOUT A TOXIC COATING!!!
I wish all people in and supporting the Medical Cartel a nasty rash in a bad place.
Single payer? Warren Buffet or Bill Gates volunteering to step up? I'm begging for that now. If you're referring to Uncle Sam that's nothing more than 330 million of your closest friends and businesses (plus a massive gov't debt infusion)...wait, that's basically what we have now, so not quite the definition of single. /s
Single payer plan--The GOV'T-- was the plan from the beginning all along. I thought everyone knew that :)
your "premium" payment is now a "tax" payment-to a private corp.
no legislature or court anywhere on the planet will ever mandate services to be provided in return for a tax payment.
that money you send in backstops the insurance companies; it doesn't pay bennies.
The insurance companies are in the same jam as the banks. and TARP 2.0 was a political dead horse.
So they slapped "ObamCare" on it.
That's the most succinct explanation I've ever read.
I totally get why the phone number was 1-800-F(1)UC-KYO and still is.
...AND Barrack Obama + Congressional Democrats
The coming great recession? WTF world do you live in Charles? I have news for you, we're long past recession.
The Fed enabled it. I don't see how it could have passed if the economy hadn't been painted over with fresh printed $$. Then again, Roberts rewrote it, twice.
The coming great recession within this depression. /s
Maybe. However, keep in mind not ONE Wall Street Banker nor ONE DC politican missed a 7-course dinner during the last 10 years of depression for the private sector middle class.
Working perfectly according to plan. Ahead of schedule, actually.
Coming Depression.
ALL the signs in EVERY corner of the globe are pointing to this. And they will take us to WAR!
you mean foreign policy isnt the only shit show the puppet masters have going? Im not playing any more
im a single guy in my mid 30's. started at my company about 14 years ago. when i started, my healthcare every month was $325-350. this past year, it was $700 a month. next years' quote is $775 a month. by the way, im in excellent health, eat right, work-out 4-5 days a week, don't smoke, no major health conditions/illnesses.
i have NO CLUE how people with families do it. the exponential, hyperinflation in this space is simply insane & unsustainable. what they've been doing hasn't worked but more-so when you look at the parabolic rise in healthcare since obama took office, 1. it was in anticipation of the law being enacted and 2. the actual execution of the plan. im not sure what the silver bullet is they are looking for but i would start with the exact opposite of what they are doing as an entry point.
Pretty soon you won't be able to afford food. But your health insurance will cover you for starvation.
Except there's a 2000 Calorie a day deductable. They'll only cover your food for anything over that. So if you're starving, you probably can't afford the deductable to get more food. Sorry!
our family plan is over 10 grand a year. And that doesn't include the company's contribution. We're ass fucked by that same High deductible BS. Our deduct is over 5k. And with kids, we use it. break a fucking toe and its a few thousand for an x-ray. Fuck the government, fuck the insurers and fuck the hospitals. That's stealing money.
Shit, the government used to take on monopolies, now it enforces them. fucking fascists.
Same boat here. I'm at about $13,350/year for a family of 5. Total family deductible around $15,000. I am reaching my end. Just exploring some different options now because I am self-employed and cannot make these payments much longer.
Congratulate me.
As of today, I no longer am insured.
If I'm still around when I turn 65 three years from now, I intend to sign up for Medicare. That is, of course, if Medicare is still around.
There can be no argument against the fact that the whole process of implementing the "Affordable" Care Act was a criminal conspiracy. And of course nothing will be done about it.
Any candidate who runs on the platform of prosecuting current gubmint thieves for corruption would win in a landslide
It's well known the insurance companies wrote the legislation. This shouldn't be too surprising to anyone even mildly aware.
Not to sound facetious but healthcare costs for early 20s is going to be a lot different than someone in mid 30s. Same for life insurance. So in 14 years, the rate of increase per year is roughly 5% per year. Based on your figures, I don't categorize it as exponential.
try 20 percent compounded
Compounding with Common Core math......forget about it.
its a disguised wealth redistribution plan/tax - that's all it is
Extremely important point. In fact, Obamacare doesn't ask what your healthy living standard is, it asks how much money you have? Obamacare does not sell you a health care contract with a provider, it sells you a health care voucher you can give to any provider that will take it for payment. It's up to you to find such a provider. You don't get reimbursed if you can't find an adequate provider.
aliki, WTF? Mid 30s, excellent health, but you're paying over $700 a month for health care you more than likely don't need? You, sir, are an enabler of the corruption and fraud that is the medical industry, government and big business.
It's that simple. Anybody who's in good health in their 30s and single, paying this kind of money (and you didn't mention how high your deductible is, BTW) is just plain stupid.
You actually do have some health issues, IN YOUR BRAIN. It's not working.
$700/month x 12 = $8400/year. And you openly admit you don't need it. WTF?
Am I the only one around here who sees the inherent stupidity of this?
(walks away, shaking head)
Yes. Choose a low-premium, high-deductible catastrophic plan and put the money you save into a Health Savings account. After a few years you will have $10k+ in the account which will easily pay the deductible if something bad happens. Since you are young and in good health, most likely nothing bad will happen, and those savings will really start to pile up.
Or, choose my plan. Have no coverage. Find a GP doc who will take cash for common ailments (hey, they happen, and, have you ever met a doctor who won't take cash? Right.)
If you suffer a catastrophic health issue, deal with it until you die, pass your saved money onto the living.
Sad,,, but that's the way it'll end up for most of us. Only the wealthy and connected will be able to afford health care,,, same at it was years ago.
That's what I've done. I bought a plan pre-ACA, which is "grandfathered in." It costs, now, about $490 a month for myself and two teenagers. It started out around $325, 10 or so years ago. I keep getting older, though. We have a $5000 individual, $10,000 family annual deductible, and a $10,000 out-of-pocket maximum.
My wife gets great coverage from her employer, at about $100/month, but there's no employer contribution for dependent coverage, so she would have to spend close to $1000 a month to cover the three of us.
I've got $10,000 in the HSA by now. I just spoke with my health insurance guy, and he said I shouldn't touch a thing; don't even think about changing out of the grandfathered plan. He says HealthPartners won't cancel it because everyone in that plan has been healthy so far, so it's a cash cow for them. The new plans include all the pre-existing conditions and bad health histories, which is why they all have high deductibles and huge out-of-pocket costs, so as everyone has pointed out, there are no deals to be had.
The problem with HSA's is that since they actually do benefit the middle class and the self-employed, the rules have never been clearly written. Banks, accountants and the IRS don't understand them, and give conflicting information about them (usually incorrect). They're a real pain in the ass.
Hah!
Can't you opt out of your company insurance? I sure would at those prices.
Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats have been living on the Bernanke QE money bomb for 7 years now. I have been amazed that the Bernank has been able to prop up that loser for all these years.
Good Ol' FRED. Are they under the BLS?
BTW, 55% over 15 years is only 3% annuallized. Too bad it's much higher than that.
I gotta think of a way to have the government mandate that every citizen must give me money. What a fucking scam.
It's not a healthcare system -- it's a hostage situation. When will we put a green dot on it and squeeze off a headshot to end it?
Healthcare = Sickcare
A quote from Paul Craig Roberts' recent article, Good Bye to Western Living Standards is "We deserve this situation as long as we tolerate it".
My opinion is that patriots need to be in better shape.
‘one less dollar that's available to be saved, invested or spent on something other than healthcare.’
Technically, every dollar ‘spent’ goes to the next person who saves, invests or spends….
Right now I’m a saver while the sickly are spenders.
Eventually, I’ll have to spend my cash do to sickness, while the then recipients of my dollars will have the option to save, invest or spend.
The bureaucracy gets to eat first.
It is not all about pooled risk.
To make it worse, the bureaucracy shops at Walmart. That money goes to oligarchs and China.
Your gestalt that we are all in this together and sharing the load for the benefit of each other is a delusion that I got over several years ago.
The highest paid workers in the US do not go to Wally World.
There is a multitude of cubicle dwellers sitting in front of computer screen at any insurance company, governmental body, hospital, outpatient facility. They tend to shop at Wallie World and other retailers that source product from China.
You have a family of four but you are really paying for a family of 22. And when it’s free, they go more often….they have plenty of time.
It's a good thing you work.
The FSA is depending on your income.
Note, the FSA is everyone from "refugees" to government hacks, to health insurers and dr's.
Don't even get me started at what they did to my father.
He's got a blood disorder that isn't cancer but requires $50k a month high end chemo. The scare him and make him think if they don't do chemo he will die. So I have my doubts but he wants to try treatment and off we go, after 5 rounds of it over 5 months his blood counts went up one month then right back down.
250k gone he felt HORRIBLE it reduced him to a complete human mess, he couldn't think, he couldn't stand, he was by almost any measure stripped of any remaining dignity and the doctor of course got his fees, the hospital got their fees the drug company go their fees and insurance paid the bills but he DIDN'T GET ANY BETTER HE GOT WORSE!
He's over 80 years old and finally he agreed with me that it was doing more harm then good and stopped them.
What was the fucking oath again?
Fuckers!
My late father's oncologist told me that he could cure my father's acute myelogenous leukemia with just one additional chemo induction. My father bought his lies because doctors aren't in it for just the money /sarc. Not that there's much one can do with AML. But the lying to get another 100k out of medicare is downright criminal.
The economics behind chemo drugs is insidious. The drug companies use the doctors as retailers-- they sell the chemo drugs to the doctors, who then resell them to the patients at insane markups. That's how the drug companies ensure that doctors will be pushing these drugs aggressively.
If your doctor is "recommending" chemo drugs, understand what is really happening. You (or your loved one) is simply a money-filled sack of meat that excretes $$$ every time they pump a round of chemo into you.
My father's colorectal cancer was Stage IV when he was diagnosed. After he was discharged from the hospital post-op, I accompanied him on his consultation visit at the Texas Oncology location in a nearby small city. We were told that there was one chemo drug, an oral one, that was in any way appropriate for his particular type of cancer. The drug would make him sick. It might extend his life a few months. There was nothing curative available and he was probably going to die within a year with or without treatment. When he didn't understand, I reinforced the message exactly as stated here.
Armed with that information, my father declined treatment. He spent his time doing what he enjoyed doing for as long as he was physically able. He was on his backhoe doing a job for a plumber when he had a stroke and had to quit. He loved to work.
Thank goodness for that doctor.
Too many patients and family members seem to think that frankness is unkind. I think it is unkind and leads to harm if facts of an assessment and diagnosis are presented in a manner that is confusing to people who are grasping at straws and not used to evaluating medical situations and choices.
I think that true informed consent, whether it is for chemo, radiation or extensive surgery this sort of frankness is not only necessary, it is genuinely kind. There is nothing more cruel than watching an 88 year old going in for a quadruple bypass, knowing they will probably spend the rest of their lives in the hospital, one failing organ after another. (Sure, there are exceptions who bounce right through it but they are rare.) Or someone on chemo for an unrelenting cancer, knowing that the prescribed chemo is prohibitively expensive - maybe costing the family their home, yet only providing a few more weeks of life.
Doctors may not want to be part of a financial discussion in terms of risk/benefit but with prices skyrocketing they are going to have to be.
Condolences for your father. I'm glad he had the chance to choose how to go.
It is not only healthcare, it is government and banking as well. Each has a mandated to have monopoly control on a portion of our lives.
... and we are forced to work as slaves to support the mandated parasites. People do not think of themselves as slaves. However, unless we can create money, we are forced to work to get it ... and we are only allowed to do it with licenses and permits and paying taxes etc.
We are slaves.
Here in Michigan the citizens voted no on tax increases.
The Republican government waited 3 months after the vote then jacked us all with tax increases.
Who gives them the right to write debt in our names?
the people are starting to wake up and realize they live under tyranny
now how long before the people do anything about it ?
longer than I'll live I'm sure
Do the citizens have general obligation bonds outstanding? Tax increases to meet debt service on such bonds are not at the discretion of the taxpapers or the state government. The decision for necessary debt service tax adjustments was made when the people voted for those bonds.
It is not only healthcare, it is government and banking as well. Each has a mandated to have monopoly control on a portion of our lives.
After some perfunctory googling I have determined the following.
9+% employed in health care
7+% employed in government
7+% employed in education
7+% financial services and insurance
---------
30+ % of total employment
For perspective
1.4+% Automotive industry
1.5+% Agriculture
Sometimes, it seems that modern life is a pitched battle between doctors and lawyers as to which group shall rule and thereby control the scarce resources of the entire community. In this scenario, the smart money is on the doctors, and it's plain the lawyers understand that!!
funny how for years we have had articles that stated the average person had $1000 in saving at any one time. then the .1% and obama think they can squeez $10,000 out of these people....hahahahahahahahahahaha
there are claims that these people would just divert money spent at best buy to insurance so fuck retail but the problem was everyone i ran across whet tits up on credit when the housing bubble refi's stopped. they didnt have $1000 cash. they werent even making all their payments each month.
really i honestly dont see how they keep going....foreclosures in the suburbs are unreal. i know of homes with 5 owners in 7 years. writeoff after writeoff.........
how much longer can this printed money economy keep going....?
Ironically, I was taking a break from working my way through the NY State health site trying to figure out what the hell my wife and I are going to do now since Health Republic (NY State's big ACA insurance company) went bankrupt as of yesterday when I came back to this tab to read this article.
We pay more for health insurance than we pay for our leased Cadillac. And, between the two of us, we've not had to use medical services for anything other than regular checkups for over ten years. We're basically pretty healthy and have thought about going without any insurance and just paying the penalty (which is much cheaper) but still.. one fall from a ladder or picking up a nasty infection that puts you in the hospital for a few days and you're bankrupt.
My son-in-law is a doctor. My mom and aunt retired from medical professions. I grew up thinking that doctors & nurses were right up there with policemen (my dad was a cop) in terms of those who were 'doing good'. But now, I live in bizarroland where I view the hospitals and doctor's offices as the blunt end of the insurance industry's stick and I view police as the blunt end of the government's stick.
OpenEyes, I also went to the NYSTATEOFHEALTH.com (what a fucking joke) website just to see what plans I was qualified for. Self-employed, purposely LOW-income. They sent me a note syaing they wanted to see three months income and expenses from self-employment. I sent them what they wanted.
Within minutes, I got another note, asking for the exact same information.
So, I sent them a nasty note telling them I would not be participating in their fraud unless they could clarify just exactly they want from me. I guess that puts me on yet another list.
I turn 62 in three days. Will begin collecting SS on or about Feb 10 (can't fucking wait). I smoke, I drink, I swear alot, I have sex with animals (if they agree to use condoms or other birth control devices). OK. I'm in decent shape for a guy my age. I have refused any prescription drugs since my 20s. I'm still alive and can run 1/2 mile, bike to my heart's content, play tennis and am generally active.
A few weeks ago I had a toothache. Since I haven't seen a dentist in 30-odd years, I took aspirin and dealt with the pain, which was subdued and finally went away after a few days. Most people would RUN TO A DENTIST BECAUSE THEY'RE WEAK, METROSEXUAL PUSSIES.
Yesterday, I spent three hours cutting down a dead chestnut three (I admit, I did use a chainsaw), then cutting up the wood and hauling it (wheelbarrow). Had to haul part of the tree from the river because that's just where it fell. Did that. Proved to myself that I'm still pretty strong for an old guy.
Woke up this morning with a fairly sore back, but some stretching did away with that.
My point is that I'm nobody special, but my resolve to not engage in the farce called "society" and the "economy" knows no bounds. A friend of mine is getting a gas-powered wood-splitter for her birthday in a few days, so a little tech as I get older? Well, OK.
Resistance. It's what's for dinner, bitchez.
Justa thought about toothaches.
Brush the mouth out with Listerine, and use, ONLY, the old yellow stuff with ... 27% alcohol. Even the generics work here.
Initially might be painful, but wait a while and the pain goes away.
The idea is the pain is caused by bacteria secreting digestive byproducts ... acids ... that aggravate the expose nerve tissue.
I brush with Listerine about 2x day, and despite inheriting a bad teeth genetics, I have been holding tooth decay at bay.
Biggest problems have been teeth breaking, not rotting.
Whats the percent of total inflation since 2000.
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/
$1.00 in 2000 is now $1.38
38%
A dollar in 1913 is now $24.02- 2400%
And median income is 5K less than in 2000. It's all good.
My 1938 Chevy 2 door coupe cost $637.00 f.0.b. Detroit.
Today it would cost $10,745.
1587% inflation!
A little less than 4% inflation a year. 3.738% is closer.
And the other part of this scam that congress enables: TAX INVERSIONS for drug companies. This really bothers me. It's bad enough they charge Americans 10X more for the exact same drugs they sell in other countries, but then they have the balls to complain about paying taxes, so they play an accounting game and just stiff us all more by sending their "headquarters" to Ireland or whereever.
Seriously, people. When are you going to hold people accountable for their actions? How much worse will things need to get before you say fuck it?
SPX 2016 : The Year of the Bear
http://goldenopportunitytrading.blogspot.com
leaches are back - we've come full circle
3 hours to find a doctor that accepts your insurance.
3 hours to fill out all the required paperwork to fax in.
3 hours in the waiting room.
3 minutes with a doctor.
$300 billed to insurance to prescribe a foot fungus cream.
3 phone calls to customer service trying to get the bill paid.
THESE CROOKS SHOULD BE SHOT!
2 minutes to google the local Doc in A Box.
Didn't use my insurance.
45 minutes in the waiting room.
5 minutes with a really cute Indian (dot not feather) female doctor.
$120 payment for the Doc in a Box, another $45 for the script and OTC meds.
0 minutes dealing with the flim-flam health insurance "industry."
And yes, every single one of those motherfuckers in the health insurance "industry" needs to be shot, or better yet, exposed to a slow-kill virus and refused treatment.
@ moonmac If this is your story you should be "shot" in the butt for not doing a little research on the i-net and finding out that silver and tea tree oil both kill fungus. Trader Joe's sells tea tree oil cheap, and silver-laced creams can be purchased over-the-counter many places. Or do a little research online and make your own.
Avoid doctors (pushermen) and their drugs.
Nothing has proven able to stop the Sick Care Industry and the Private Health Insurance Industry and the Drug Companies from buying congress and setting themselves up to loot the entire wealth of the nation. Or better said, to loot what wealth of the nation the military industrial complex leaves behind as it extorts 1 trillion dollars + a year from Americans.
The most expensive health care in the world has a record of outcomes that matches a system funded at about 1/3rd the present US system. We pay for sick care, insurance and drugs at a rate nobody else on earth does, and this is by design.
Congress will allow no changes to the looting. Because the looters have bought the congress. When a nation has a political system that enshrines bribery as the model of political participation, you get today's sick care system.
Major cronic disease has not been cured to any degree since the 1950's when public health was making inroads into death rates. Since then, we have treatments for cronic illnesses, treatments that ensure profits all around. We have few cures, as a cure means profits collapse. This model of for profit drug development is a total human failure. But we worship at the alter of profit, even when facts argue against the present drug development system, we can not change,
America is called the "Empire of Stupid", and for good reason. When change becomes impossible, and that is where we are at now, then collapse is ensured in the long run. Drugs to produce 'hard on's' make billions, drugs to clear womens skin make more billions. Meanwhile, research into real life savers is forgotten by the bean counters who are looking to boost share prices, not cure anyone of anything.
The rotten system survives off of dollar printing. We all know that some day the world will not accept manufactured dollar wealth, and demand fiat have some real value. Till then, money printing can paper over all of America's ills.
Jack, so well stated, as usual.
Thank you, from someone who appreciates your thoughtful commentary. Unfortunately, I'm usually too angry or drunk to organize my thoughts into coherent sentences.
I applaud you. Cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure. I wonder how much is spent annually on those "treatments."
The cancer industry is a complete scam. The others are almost complete, yet still scams.
I have proof positive that quitting your job and smoking pot will lower your BP dramatically. Clinical tests have been performed. The patient is still alive, but went back to work, though is still hitting the bong on occasion.
God bless Kyle Bass and his pharma short strategy.
But I thought our premiums were going to decline by $2,500?
Why aren't the people who made these promises and statements in jail?
Yes, a healthy 28 male has to pay $5,500 in premium for a $6,000 deductable policy. $1,000 a month. These guys are crazy to think this will happen.
Insurance guys call it adverse selection. It will take 10 years to unravel this fiasco with true market reforms. If it can happen at all.
sschu
I think a 28 yo male (healthy or not, doesn't matter), pays a lot less than that for a "bronze" plan, probably under $300/month. And then if healthy, that's all. But one in a hundred 28 yo males gets shot and needs $150,000 in medical care.
These are just somewhat expensive catastrophic care policies. Exactly NOT what candidate Obama ran around selling, and a lot MORE expensive rather than LESS expensive than previously, largely because of the "healthy or not" clauses, which also impose the "registration period" every year.
Little has changed, and less for the better.
I'm a healthy 35 year old male and since ACA passed it's the only time in my adult life I have actively contemplated going without insurance even though it is offerred by my employer. My breakline is $500 per month. After that it ceases to be insurance because I can just save that and still come out WAY ahead for the amount of medical services I consume in a year.
That doesn't cover accidents or catastrophic issues, but that doesn't matter anyway, I'll still hit the ER, still get treatment, and if the hospital hits me with a $150k bill, fuck them, they'll never see a dime. I know that's "irresponsible" but insurance companies leave me with little choice. I'm not paying someone $500 a month just so I can pay the first $5,000 out of pocket and they do jack shit.
We offer a bronze ACA compliant program for $450 / month plus $6,000 deductible. The company pays a portion of the premium based upon wage.
If you went on the exchange, you would be paying close to this, but depending on income, you would get a subsidy.
Medical coverage and costs are just too expensive, only the free market can bring the cost down, the government never reduces the cost of anything it gets its hands into.
Hence why it will take a complete market meltdown and 10+ years to fix the issue ... if at all.
sschu
Blue Shield California is cheaper than that, very age-dependent. Of course the policy is crap. But I think the same curve works for Blue Cross and others.
ObamaCare has been a spectacular success! Puppet Obama campaigned tirelessly to further impoverish the American People with confiscatory Crony Capitalist "healthcare" industry mandates and he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. I sincerely hope that he rots in hell.
The "coming Great Recession"?! Seriously? We had the Great Recession with 08-09, so we have to come up with a new, more catchy name for what's coming. I nominate: "The Biggest Kickass Recession Ever". If you have a better name for it - feel free to share.
Depression
Extended Catastrophy
Every political parasite in the nation should be under arrest for taking bribes, at a minimum. The people who bribe them should also be under arrest for bribing the political parasites. The political parasite class should be subject to the same laws as everyone else. They should not be able to exempt themselves and their masters from the laws that apply to every other American.
More reasons for excessive costs for alleged health care:
1) endless warfare creating endless supply of disabled vets
2) toxins not just in foods, but everywhere approved by EPA/ corporate lobbyists
3) counter-productive "war on drugs" generating needless risk-taking criminality, "emergency room" visits, imprisonment sociopathy, and a culture of violence.
Also related is the "war on sex", in particular against sex workers, thereby generating more imprisonment, spread of disease, etc.
And remember, the "health care" costs are only one part of the total costs to society of the above.
America doesn't need an election.
America needs God.
Donald Trump is not God and neither is Hitlary.
Government is not God.
We have the ability to seek God and to pray without waiting for anyone else's permission.
Look at what happens when faithful Christians get together for prayer.
http://inhabitat.com/egypts-zabbaleen-carves-beautiful-hidden-cave-churc...
The prayer meetings became so crowded that the worshipers had to start taking tickets to be sure of a seat.
We have so lost our way in this country.
As always, follow the money...
7+ years of $150M in lobbying by insurance industry. It's about the same as securities, investment and commercial banks put together.
http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/lobbying.php?cycle=2016&ind=f09
If everyone just kicked the processed and refined sugar habit and reduced their intake by 90%, ate healthy, stopped smoking and limited alchol (more sugar) consumption they would be going a long way in improving their over all health.
Kick the pre-packaged chips and heavily processed foods and eat natural whole foods!
I kicked sugar, improved my diet, worked out at least three times a week and I dropped over 20lbs in three months, my bad cholesterol is down and good cholesterol is up and I'm on the fourth belt noth and nothing hanging over anymore! And I still eat salami and cheese sandhwhiches and eggs and bacon on occasion. I sleep better, more energy, my migraines don't occur anymore!
Having a Japanese wife who cooks healthy J-dishes helps a lot too!
Kick sugar and you'll beat the system!
Organic food is expensive.
A half empty bag of chips is 25 cents lol and packs enough energy to keep you alive for 8 hours or so lol
Too many people in the world to eat healthy anymore, we have switched from producing real food to producing processed shit in a bag that keeps you alive (for a while).
Housing, Health Care and Higher Education are the 3 biggest scams government criminals and their cronies have going. If I had kids, I'd tell them this country is now just one big corrupt scam. Don't get caught on the wrong end of it!
83 people got shot over the weekend in Chicago. Don't worry ObamaCare magically paid the tens of millions in medical bills...
if A=B and B=C, that means they were shot by magic bullets.
The problem is a monopoly on prescriptions, non-opiate or pain killer drugs should all be unregulated over-the counter.
People would be allowed to self-diagnose and self-medicate with the cheap affordable advice of a third party doctor.
volume in sales of medication would rise, driving the cost per pill down.... medicine would be affordable and you wouldnt even need insurance.
Controlled Substances are Expensive Substances.
Uncontrolled Substances are CHEAP substances.
If the drug is not addictive, it should not need a prescription.
Volume of patients doctors would see in a day would drop and the price of medical attention would go down.