Health insurance is expensive in the US. Many sites indicate an average monthly cost in the $400-$600 range, and given it’s average also means it can be even higher.
That’s $4800 - $7200 a year, vs a 1 time $2400 if they are in the average cost area for a colonoscopy.
It’s not great, many people can’t afford that either, but it’s not true that if you can’t afford insurance, you can’t afford $2400
Pricing is far more complicated with the old having Medicare, many of the poorest having subsidies some free, and others a range of plans mostly at least somewhat subsidized by employers.
We are a fat unhealthy folk in a country where a single hospitalization can run you 10-100k and financially ruin you due in no small part to cartel pricing.
So your various medical providers have negotiated given rates for given things that are less special rates and more what you might consider normal pricing whereas if you are not protected by such a “deal” you may pay several times more at hundreds of percent profit for the provider with the expectation that you pay up front for services or die essentially so long as your death isn’t immediately caused by their immediate neglect. Eg you can’t be allowed to actually bleed out for lack of a stitch but you can be allowed to get septic and then be admitted after it’s really too late to do anything but try to bill your family 100k and steal any inheritance from your estate if any.
So you are incentivized to buy at least the shittiest high deductible plan with an 8000 deductible just to have access to sane pricing, get treated and then billed, and limit max damage if things go bad even if you expect to not actually get much direct benefit. Plus favorable tax treatment paid in.
Whilst some may choose to risk it being literally incapable of paying a subsidized 100-300 for the shittiest plan possible means that you are poor in a state which doesn’t choose to subsidize the poor and likely illiquid. Most people in America don’t have 2500 to cover am emergency of any variety. This is true of nearly 100% of the bottom half
Furthermore anyone who needs a colonoscopy needs other things like annual checkups and medication.
The number of people who can cash pay the sucker uninsured rate but not shitty insurance is basically zero
If I’m reading this right, you’re saying there are cheaper insurance options, but the deductible would be so high it wouldn’t cover this $2400 anyway? It’s just more catastrophic things, like if this came back positive and now you needed surgery?
And ya, even if you have $2400 and think the test is important to take because you have reason to believe you might have it, it doesn’t mean you’d be able to afford the aftercare.
If not insured and they find shit or anesthesia is complicated or god forbid you have complications it could balloon out into 5-20k. Even if you can afford to pay up front 2K can you afford to risk financial ruin if something goes wrong?
Again the kind of people who can’t afford insurance even high deductible insurance can’t afford this shit. Hell you are still wrong that people can afford to come out of pocket $2000. Do you even live here?
I don’t live there but youre talking in absolutes which just isn’t the case.
How do you think i know about this in the first place? Someone from the US was telling a story about how they had to get one while uninsured and they paid $1500 for it (that’s the lower end of the scale which is 1500-4800)
Im not saying everyone can, and you’re right if the test comes back positive that’s a whole other story, but a lot of uninsured people can afford to get the test if they think its needed. They might not have 2k sitting around either but could save for it.
Edit: And just going back to my very very first message, I was surprised to hear it was so low compared to other crazy expensive procedures in the states, so I figured it was worth sharing because for some, it is something they could manage.
Ah yes, the classic dismissal because they claim someone can’t know something if they don’t live there, so they can issue a BLANKET no one can afford it.
There’s was 25.3 million uninsured people in the USA in 2023 but you’re so confident that none of them could ever afford a $2400 treatment.
In 2023, of the total uninsured population ages 0 to 64, nearly three in four (73.7%) had at least one full-time worker in their family, and 11.2% had a part-time worker in their family (Figure 4). More than eight in ten (80.9%) uninsured people were in families with incomes below 400% of the federal poverty level
Emphasis mine.
You know what that means? 2/10 had over 400% of the minimum poverty level.
For a single person that would be: $63,840. (5,320/m)
For a couple with no kids, that would be: $86,560 (7213/m)
You don’t think that maybe, these 2/10 people out of 10’s of millions could possibly afford it if needed?
over eight in ten (84%) uninsured adults said they worried that health care costs would put them in debt or increase their existing debt, compared to 71% of adults with insurance (Figure 10).
Hmm interesting, 16% seem to think they could afford something if needed? It seems to line up closely with that 2/10 earning over 400% as well.
That’s more people than many countries have, and more people than many of any given US state.
Like I had around a 1/5 chance of providing useful info to OP when I replied based off this.
I don’t think that’s true.
Health insurance is expensive in the US. Many sites indicate an average monthly cost in the $400-$600 range, and given it’s average also means it can be even higher.
That’s $4800 - $7200 a year, vs a 1 time $2400 if they are in the average cost area for a colonoscopy.
It’s not great, many people can’t afford that either, but it’s not true that if you can’t afford insurance, you can’t afford $2400
Pricing is far more complicated with the old having Medicare, many of the poorest having subsidies some free, and others a range of plans mostly at least somewhat subsidized by employers.
We are a fat unhealthy folk in a country where a single hospitalization can run you 10-100k and financially ruin you due in no small part to cartel pricing.
So your various medical providers have negotiated given rates for given things that are less special rates and more what you might consider normal pricing whereas if you are not protected by such a “deal” you may pay several times more at hundreds of percent profit for the provider with the expectation that you pay up front for services or die essentially so long as your death isn’t immediately caused by their immediate neglect. Eg you can’t be allowed to actually bleed out for lack of a stitch but you can be allowed to get septic and then be admitted after it’s really too late to do anything but try to bill your family 100k and steal any inheritance from your estate if any.
So you are incentivized to buy at least the shittiest high deductible plan with an 8000 deductible just to have access to sane pricing, get treated and then billed, and limit max damage if things go bad even if you expect to not actually get much direct benefit. Plus favorable tax treatment paid in.
Whilst some may choose to risk it being literally incapable of paying a subsidized 100-300 for the shittiest plan possible means that you are poor in a state which doesn’t choose to subsidize the poor and likely illiquid. Most people in America don’t have 2500 to cover am emergency of any variety. This is true of nearly 100% of the bottom half
Furthermore anyone who needs a colonoscopy needs other things like annual checkups and medication.
The number of people who can cash pay the sucker uninsured rate but not shitty insurance is basically zero
If I’m reading this right, you’re saying there are cheaper insurance options, but the deductible would be so high it wouldn’t cover this $2400 anyway? It’s just more catastrophic things, like if this came back positive and now you needed surgery?
And ya, even if you have $2400 and think the test is important to take because you have reason to believe you might have it, it doesn’t mean you’d be able to afford the aftercare.
You are missing the primary part. Without insurance it costs several times more than it would with insurance.
Not an uninsured colonoscopy, that is the uninsured price on average.
Edit: i get youre saying it’d be cheaper if insured, but when talking about this specific thing that is the price.
If not insured and they find shit or anesthesia is complicated or god forbid you have complications it could balloon out into 5-20k. Even if you can afford to pay up front 2K can you afford to risk financial ruin if something goes wrong?
Again the kind of people who can’t afford insurance even high deductible insurance can’t afford this shit. Hell you are still wrong that people can afford to come out of pocket $2000. Do you even live here?
I don’t live there but youre talking in absolutes which just isn’t the case.
How do you think i know about this in the first place? Someone from the US was telling a story about how they had to get one while uninsured and they paid $1500 for it (that’s the lower end of the scale which is 1500-4800)
Im not saying everyone can, and you’re right if the test comes back positive that’s a whole other story, but a lot of uninsured people can afford to get the test if they think its needed. They might not have 2k sitting around either but could save for it.
Edit: And just going back to my very very first message, I was surprised to hear it was so low compared to other crazy expensive procedures in the states, so I figured it was worth sharing because for some, it is something they could manage.
You don’t live here so you have no idea what you are talking about. Being uninsured in the US is absolutely insane.
Ah yes, the classic dismissal because they claim someone can’t know something if they don’t live there, so they can issue a BLANKET no one can afford it.
There’s was 25.3 million uninsured people in the USA in 2023 but you’re so confident that none of them could ever afford a $2400 treatment.
https://www.kff.org/uninsured/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/
Emphasis mine.
You know what that means? 2/10 had over 400% of the minimum poverty level.
For a single person that would be: $63,840. (5,320/m)
For a couple with no kids, that would be: $86,560 (7213/m)
You don’t think that maybe, these 2/10 people out of 10’s of millions could possibly afford it if needed?
Hmm interesting, 16% seem to think they could afford something if needed? It seems to line up closely with that 2/10 earning over 400% as well.
That’s more people than many countries have, and more people than many of any given US state.
Like I had around a 1/5 chance of providing useful info to OP when I replied based off this.