Americans' Health-Care Costs Are Too Damn High, Study Finds

[PatrickforO]

2. I agree that Warren could do a far better job talking about this.

She says, "Your costs will go down..." when asked if taxes for the middle class will go up.

I know you've read some of my rants on healthcare, so I won't belabor it. But I will say these things:

1. Warren, if elected, will surely work for MfA, but will end up having to come to compromise with the House and Senate. That's how our founders wanted it - lots of debate followed by compromise - so when each of these candidates is asked their specific plan by the 'gotchas' in the media, I always kind of shake my head. The truth is that the executive must work with a bicameral legislature to get any reform through. No matter if it is Warren, Biden (not my first choice) or Buddigieg. That's the reality.

2. I do believe my costs would go down because the government would be in a position in a MfA system to negotiate prices. Right now, my employer and I are paying a whopping 19.8% of my gross, just in premiums. When we add my copays, it's out of this world. If both my wife and I need to be hospitalized in the same year, I'm out six large. Seriously. That sucks. Who has that kind of money laying around? My ex pays $800/mo in premium with a $5K deductible. That sucks too.

3. That said, as an economist, I can tell you we must look to unintended consequences. Doctors here make more, it is true, but they have two huge cost centers - malpractice insurance and student debt payments. So, as part of reform, we've got to take a serious policy look and make some changes around medical school costs and loan forgiveness programs. I don't know what that looks like, but this conversation will need to take place.

4. Likewise the pharma pipeline processes need to be revisited. These greed companies (big pharma) maintain their costs to get drugs from inception to market is prohibitive, and it might be good for us to benchmark what other countries do around this.

I guess my point with all this, Hoyt, is that we've got to do SOMETHING, because due to Republican sabotage, our healthcare system has gotten almost as bad as it was before ACA. To my mind, as long as we get a public option, and the worst of the GOP meddling is fixed, I'm cool because I know we're making some progress in the RIGHT direction as opposed to passing more and more and more of the costs onto the consumer.

One other thought - I have been a public servant for my entire post-college career. I went into it because I wanted to help others, and to make a difference. As a person who has provided career guidance services to hundreds of individuals singly and in groups over about a 20 year period, I can tell you that for many people money is not the primary motivation in career choice. It wasn't for me, and I suspect it isn't for many healthcare professionals.

It seems to me as a person who grew up in the erstwhile middle class in the American suburbs, that our society has lost its ideals and fallen hook, line and sinker for this illusion that amassing wealth is the greatest purpose in life (or the other illusion, power). Because it isn't. If we organized ourselves around human need (yes I know you're rolling your eyes at my unicorn-ness here), we'd be a hell of a lot better off as a species, and every other form of life on this planet would also be better off.