Economists 'Surprised Americans Aren't Revolting' Over $8,000 Annual Tax for For-Profit Healthcare

[CousinIT]

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/01/07/economists-surprised-americans-arent-revolting-over-8000-tax-they-pay-each-year-due

Highlighting the thousands of dollars American households are forced to pay in healthcare costs that people in other wealthy countries save thanks to universal healthcare plans, two top economists wondered aloud this weekend why Americans have accepted increasingly high costs and poor health outcomes for decades.

At the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in San Diego on Saturday, Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton said they were "surprised Americans aren't revolting against" the $8,000 per year that U.S. households pay to doctors, hospitals, health insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and the rest of the for-profit healthcare system, compared to what people in other countries.

"A few people are getting very rich at the expense of the rest of us," Case said.

Link to tweet

Highlighting the thousands of dollars American households are forced to pay in healthcare costs that people in other wealthy countries save thanks to universal healthcare plans, two top economists wondered aloud this weekend why Americans have accepted increasingly high costs and poor health outcomes for decades.

At the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in San Diego on Saturday, Princeton University economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton said they were "surprised Americans aren't revolting against" the $8,000 per year that U.S. households pay to doctors, hospitals, health insurance companies, the pharmaceutical industry, and the rest of the for-profit healthcare system, compared to what people in other countries.

"A few people are getting very rich at the expense of the rest of us," Case said.

Link to tweet

[sandensea]

1. Behold the power of brainwashing

Capable, to paraphrase Malcolm X, of making the fleeced side with the fleecers - and blaming their fellow victims besides.

[blm]

3. ✔️

[PatrickforO]

7. It's been a regular Stockholm syndrome for us!

I love this OP!

[Salviati]

10. I'm afraid Stockholm Syndrome is not covered by your insurance..

...You're going to have to pay out of pocket for that...

[StarryNite]

26. LOL

Sadly true but you made me laugh!

[Yavin4]

56. And boy howdy, do we pay out of pocket for it.

in every possible way.

[blm]

2. Mine went up this year to over $900 a month.

That’s just for me.

[Native]

15. I'm paying $1600 a month for a $10,000 deductible.

[blm]

48. Just for you?

Wow.

[Native]

70. My husband and me...last year it was $1250.

I know public school teachers who are paying that for family coverage here. Our school systems don't pay squat.

[brush]

4. Most Americans know we're not supposed to bear this cost. It's long been normalized.

[tirebiter]

68. Since 2016 isn't that long

The ACA had price controls. Trump took them off so that the market could lower the prices. Doesn’t seem to be working that way, though.

[klook]

6. Well, we certainly wouldn't want to get rid of this system.

It’s just too risky politically.

Or so they keep telling us.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Do we have a choice? How would one 'revolt' against this if one wanted to?

Healthy food, clean living, alternative natural medicine has, knock wood, kept me from their clutches for 13 years. I also reduce risk, like not going up ladders. And carrying extra auto insurance.

[catrose]

12. Really. What exactly can we do to change the system?

[ck4829]

62. We might as well just revert back to British rule if this is going to be our mindset

A country founded in the spirit of revolt, now too weak and scared to change anything, to do social experiments, to shake up the system, rattle some cages, etc.

Right off the top of my head - If everyone refuses to pay medical bills or even pays as slowly as possible, that would make some people at the top very nervous.

But if things like this are too much work, maybe England can take us back? That whole thing about undue financial burdens being placed on us, I guess we didn't really mean it.

[JudyM]

17. Vote for a candidate in the primaries who supports changing it.

[blm]

49. ✔️

[ck4829]

63. Don't pay medical bills too

Imagine if everyone rallied around this

[progressoid]

20. Hmmm...

maybe vote for Democrats that want to change the system for the better?

Just a thought.

[bucolic_frolic]

40. Casting a vote is revolutionary?

in the aggregate, I suppose.

[ToxMarz]

9. They're surprised "Americans" aren't revolting

I guess the don't think Democrats are "Americans". Maybe that's part of the problem.

[Nature Man]

39. Trumpian-Americans are quite revolting.

[JoeOtterbein]

11. More from the article:

While campaigning for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential race, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have also rejected the notion that Americans should fear higher taxes under Medicare for All, considering the annual "tax" they essentially pay to the for-profit healthcare industry.

"We are going to increase personal taxes," Sanders said at last month's Democratic debate. "But we're eliminating premiums, we're eliminating co-payments, we're eliminating deductibles, we're eliminating all out-of-pocket expenses, and no family in America will spend more than $200 a year on prescription drugs."

snip

Another great reason for a Bernie and Liz ticket!

[progressoid]

18. +1

[Autumn]

13. We have to purchase private insurance, people love it and Medicare for All will cost us the election

because we can't afford it! Socialism!!!!!!!!! BAD!!!!

[TCJ70]

14. $8,000? That's way less than what we drop...

...I’d be pretty thrilled to only pay $8,000 a year. If I didn’t know there were alternative systems out there better than ours...

[blm]

60. Pretty sure that's an average. Mine is up over 10k now.

Just for my coverage.

[jalan48]

16. It would be great to see a question regarding this information asked at the next debate.

[BigmanPigman]

19. Insurance costs increased 20% this year alone!

I found this out when I renewed my ACA/Bl Shield. Over 25% of my fixed income is for health care. I have been calling congress members, I have been complaining to all my doctors, etc. What else can I do? I have spent more on Healthcare than anything else (housing, transportation, education, etc.) and have been voting in every election since turning 18. What else can I do besides scream at this point?



Check out the chart...
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm

[progressoid]

21. If only our candidates had another plan...

if only...

[DallasNE]

22. The Answer Is Quite Simple

Most Americans are not even aware of this. And the high advertising dollars means the media will not risk losing those high dollar clients over the issue of transparency and honest journalism. It is the problem of for profit media. Always, always follow the money.

[Disaffected]

23. Trump is

revolting.

[airplaneman]

24. I am revolting

I simply won't pay these high prices - it that means I will die sooner - so be it.
-Airplane

[3Hotdogs]

25. BUt Jesus don't like no Socialism or no Communists.

[not fooled]

27. There is a finely honed and time tested system

to pile crap like this on us:

1. Implement the burden incrementally. Start small, turn up the temperature degree by degree. Each increase is bearable and the target has become conditioned to pay, so what's one more increase.

2. Hide as much as possible, e.g. hidden costs because they are paid "by employers" but which in effect come out of workers' pay.

3. Peddle fear and doubt. Spread propaganda far and wide to convince the target that there is no alternative without the world ending.


And, voila--a system so horrible that it could never be imposed all at once is, after a few decades, widely accepted.

[drmeow]

42. add to this

4. Socialize people to internalize "rugged individualism" and destroy unions in such a way that collective action is rejected.
5. Ensure that the burdens are not distributed evenly especially in a way which means people who have more power will appear to pay a greater price for change.
6. Convince people that their health-care issues (especially inability to pay) is some sort of moral failing.
7. Corrupt our government so completely that no collective action short of a reign of terror style bloodbath will remove the death grip the insurance companies have on our system.

[Maeve]

46. Add the tendency we have to believe we won't get sick

it goes with the idea that we'll be rich someday. Nice fairytales we tell ourselves...

[llmart]

54. +1

Not just "won't get sick" but also "won't have any accidents". People young and old have accidents every single day, many of which require doctors/hospitals.

People have blinders on when it comes to what could happen to them.

[blm]

51. Sadly, some Democrats are peddling the lies for personal political

positioning.

Incredibly sad.

[Bradshaw3]

58. Well said n/t

[brooklynite]

28. Americans aren't receiving an $8,000 bill...

[JDC]

29. But what about the death panels? Or being called a socialist?

Surely just the thought of those things are worth going bankrupt or dying for. Amiright?

[progree]

30. Because I don't want "those people" to have free healthcare that I have to pay for

(you know, those "multicultural" types, wink wink).

President Lyndon B. Johnson once said, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

(Snopes rates this as True - LBJ actually said this https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lbj-convince-the-lowest-white-man/ )

[LakeArenal]

31. Three million more of us did vote for better health care

But theElectoral College decides for us.

[onecaliberal]

32. Most people have no clue.

[Hoyt]

33. Agree something needs to be improved. But I'm not for exaggerating problem.

Assuming the dollars are right, the average family is 3.14 people. I’d rather see cost expressed as per person. That is roughly $2550 in this case.

Are Americans willing to give up wide choice of doctors, meds, diagnostic tests, etc., to save that? I am, but I question whether most folks are willing to give that up without a trial period.

Again, I’m for it, but there is going to be a lot of griping, even from doctor’s nurses and other employees who take pay cuts.

We need to do it right or it will face much tougher opposition than ACA.

We should have gone to universal coverage when Truman supported it.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

38. I do not accept your false dichotomy.

[Hoyt]

45. Got anymore to say, other than that?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

61. the current system denies choice

The current system markets itself as providing choice, but then the asterisk always takes it away.
A universal health care system does not have to deny choice as the current one does.

[essme]

50. It's 2.6 people in the US. nt

[TwilightZone]

66. 2.6 is average household size. 3.14 is average family size.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/183657/average-size-of-a-family-in-the-us/

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=ede1a9cebbf74c11bd1556db9618715a

[essme]

78. So individuals do not count? What's the goal here?

A divisor for what reason? Family (related in some "legal" way) versus singles and non-related (gays or co-habituating non-religious scum)?

A family has more than one related. A household is one or more. Hating on singles and "others"?

[mr_lebowski]

34. There's a simple answer to this ... does anyone watch TV?

What's on in BETWEEN every segment of say, Rachel Maddow?

The media LOVES Big Pharma & Big Insurance & Big Medical Supply, they pay their salaries.

Ergo, the media will NOT cover this problem in an honest fashion on the scale it would need to happen for there to be actual CHANGE. They'd lose advertisers right and left.

Larger Web-Based sources of news are, I'm sure, similarly corrupted by their filthy lucre.

[hunter]

67. Television in the U.S.A. is toxic. It probably kills as many people as smoking...

... mostly by damaging their critical thinking skills, causing them to vote for the politicians and support the corporations that are slowly killing
them.

My wife and I quit traditional television over a decade ago. We don't suffer television commercials. We read all our news and opinion.

Our television plays DVDs and Netflix. We buy DVDs in thrift stores or rent them from our neighborhood Redbox. Netflix is $8.99 a month. We never run out of things to watch on television.

I have no idea who Rachel Maddow is except as people talk about her here on DU. I vaguely remember sitting down to watch talking heads and lurid videos interrupted by obnoxious commercials but I simply can't do it anymore.

[mr_lebowski]

71. Fair enough, I don't disagree ...

If you WERE to watch news-type shows on TV, you'd find it's wall to wall commercials from Big Pharma, Big Insurance, and (to a lesser extent) Big Medical Supply. Trust me

The TV news media has negative motivation to rock the boat re: how health care is paid for/provided in this country.

[shadowmayor]

35. Because we can't have nice things like people in other countries do

What is a deductible? A fine or entrance fee we "get" to pay for some illness or accident before our insurance will start. Great concept here folks eh?

Doctor choice? Under a true Health Care Service for all, this is not even an issue, just like in other countries.

People like their insurance plans? Hell no they don't. They like their doctors and are glad that they have a better health care plan than those other "losers".

It's a right to provide all our citizens will health care. It's immoral for a third party to make egregious profits off of this system.

And why do so many Americans go broke? Because of an illness or medical situation that wipes them out. Especially at the end of our trail when our life savings are scooped up by people in tall buildings living off of co-pays, deductibles, and death panels denying medicines and procedures to those who are in desperate need.

That this is even a topic of debate shows how brainwashed our country has become. And far too many knee-benders around here seem unwilling to take up what should be an obvious fight for what is right and just. To say it is too complicated is a slap to all that we're supposed to be as Americans. As my son likes to say - there's no Can't in AmeriCAN.

[George II]

37. Because perhaps it's simply not true? Imagine the annual tax under "medicare for all"?

[mr_lebowski]

72. If you make companies contribute $$$ amounts similar to what they're now contributing to private

health insurance providers for their employees, the annual cost for everyone could go down for sure. If not, at least everyone could be covered, for a similar price to what we're collectively now paying.

If the burden was to shift entirely from employers, so they pay NOTHING, and the employees get teh full burden, then YEAH, we'd be getting F****D, cost-wise.

It can't be done that way, we need something like how SS works, where part comes from the employee, and part from the employer.

[smirkymonkey]

41. There is a solution.

Roll back all tax cuts for the rich and corporations. And start taxing politically involved mega-churches. That's a whole lot of cash right there that will cover healthcare for all.

[CousinIT]

43. "It's the waste that we would really like to see disappear,"

As calls grow among the 2020 presidential candidates to overhaul America’s health-care system, Case and Deaton have been careful not to endorse a particular policy.

“It’s the waste that we would really like to see disappear,” Deaton said.

After looking at other health systems around the world that deliver better health outcomes, the academics say it’s clear that two things need to happen in the United States: Everyone needs to be in the health system (via insurance or a government-run system like Medicare-for-all), and there must be cost controls, including price caps on drugs and government decisions not to cover some procedures.

The economists say they understand it will be difficult to alter the health-care system, with so many powerful interests lobbying to keep it intact. They pointed to the practice of “surprise billing,” where someone is taken to a hospital — even an “in network” hospital covered by their insurance — but they end up getting a large bill because a doctor or specialist who sees them at the hospital might be considered out of network.

Surprise billing has been widely criticized by people across the political spectrum, yet a bipartisan push in Congress to curb it was killed at the end of last year after lobbying pressure.

“We believe in capitalism, and we think it needs to be put back on the rails,” Case said.

[Hortensis]

44. Phony baloney title. At what point were they suddenly "surprised"

at acceptance of excessive costs that are spread out over time and only to some? After all, there is no real $8000 tax.

I hate dishonest arguments targeted at resentments, instead of honorable honest ones.

[bluecollar2]

47. It's worth it to pay $8,000.00 per year

To keep our guns, regulate women's reproductive choices, support racist prison systems, deny basic education to children, bomb Arabs, discriminate against the LGBTQ community, promote white Male supremacy, separate children from their parents, allow pork processing facilities to inspect their own products...

Did I leave anything out?

[blm]

52. You nailed it.

[Doodley]

53. The first step is for Democratic lawmakers to convince Americans of this basic fact.

[blm]

59. Some are encouraging the lies and fear of change.

And doing it for personal political gain.

[LonePirate]

55. Heck, large numbers of DUers have zero interest in changing America's health care system

When people on the left are resistant to change, it's not going to happen.

Oh, a public option is not changing America's health care system. It's nothing more than a band aid for a gun shot wound.

[Bradshaw3]

57. True, and I often wonder why

That so many here have no interest in a healthcare system that truly serves all of our people at a reasonable cost. I always thought that was a goal of the Democratic party.

[questionseverything]

73. sadly they do not want change because...they already got theirs

it is that simply

[Bradshaw3]

75. Spot on

"I got mine Jack". You expect that in other places but to find it so prevalent here is disheartening to say the least.

[ck4829]

64. They should be. K&R.

[MichMan]

65. So how much would it cost with MFA ?

$6k per year?

$4k ?

$1k?

People need to know before it will be embraced

[airplaneman]

79. About 1/3 off or $5333.00 That is what the rest of the world has noticed.

[lettucebe]

69. We pay insurance companies no matter what

which is ridiculous. What exactly are we getting for that money? Not a whole lot. If you are not sick, you just spent thousands of dollars a year for nothing.

I'm paying over $1,000/mo. Then the deductible ($2800), so even with no issues I'll be looking at $12k for sure and probably more. Granted last year I had over $130,000 in medical bills (hospitalization for one lousy week) so my insurance saved by hide but that's not the normal. I typically go to the doctor only if I have to, and two docs that I see once a year.

This is robbery plain and simple. Why don't people realize this? No one loves their insurance company. Period.

[MichMan]

76. Personally, I am more than happy to pay $$$ for insurance and getting "nothing"

Health Insurance. It is there in case I really need it, but happy I am in good health and had no major issues.

Auto Insurance; Also paid a lot of $$, but didn't crash my car which is a very good thing.

Finally, Life Insurance. More than happy I pay for it every year and never collect a dime.

[booley]

74. fear

When you have little or at least think you have little, you worry more about change. Even a bad situation can seem preferable to change.

Plus how many Americans actually know they pay more for less? A lot fo my conservative friends think every country with universal health care is on the verge of economic collapse. They think Mexican and Canadians sneak in here for health care.

Again, when you are stressed out by uncertainty, it becomes easier to fool you.

[Laffy Kat]

77. We have become sheeple.

Plus, we are so busy trying to make ends meet and working too many hours. Most everyone I work (and we are union) are afraid of rocking the boat. I just don't get it. Plus--and this is our fault--we spend way too much time on worthless media; I'm guilty of that myself.

[NCLefty]

80. We're too scared of something new. You can thank GOP for freaking out about ACA for the current

round of fear about it. Oh, and we can thank the GOP again when Hillary tried to do something in the 90s. Oh, and the GOP again, the next time it comes up...

They just use it as a political weapon, every time. The ACA was their goddamn idea (Heritage Foundation). They suck.