Agree with Dan Savage

[politicat]

8. Except young women are paying for his cardiac stents and prostate surgery. At far higher cost.

The cost of contraception for a year for a 20-something woman on an employer plan who is paying $150 a month, also with a $6000 deductible, is between $75 and $200 a year. (IUDs and implants amortize over 3-10 years, so the up-front cost may be $500-700, but they last.) That 20 something is using probably two visits a year, again costing about $100 each. So max it out, she's paying $1800 and using maybe $400 in care.

A cardiac stent, with no complications, averages $30,000. Prostate surgery averages $35,000, but can reach $100,000 pretty easily. Cardiac catheterization (which is extremely common in 50 year old men) cost about $50,000. So the average 50 year old man, paying 800 a month plus 6000 a year in deductible, who has one of those procedures, is free-riding for at least $14,000. It takes 10 young women to make up for his care.

I am tired of being blamed for health care costs when it's not young women who are the expensive ones. Yeah, it sucks that costs go up. And just as a reminder, our contraception is saving tens of thousands in maternity care, and hundreds of thousands in grudging child support and court fees.