Is GoFundMe Replacing Insurance?

[funksouljon]

They make a lot more because it costs a lot more to pay for med school here. I've priced it out as I was considering it...out of state tuition could run me over $300k depending on where I hypothetically went...that's only 4 years of med school, only tuition. Not undergrad, not living expenses...just tuition.

Given the number of physicians who kill themselves each year (higher than national average), taking away compensation/future compensation isn't going to help them.

Medical organizations limit the # of residencies which in turn limits the # of practicing doctors which then creates a supply demand issue allowing the salaries to be inflated; and inflated significantly more than non-US doctor salaries. It seems that they make a lot more due to this as a factor more than the price of education (which I do agree is absurdly high across the board). Im not sure I buy the argument "they make more because the schooling costs more". This article even points out that specifically as a non factor.
https://www.wbur.org/commonhealth/2018/03/13/us-health-costs-high-jha

Not sure where you are going with the physician suicide rate and salary. Physicians don't seem to rank in 10 top for high stress jobs. Most of the jobs that do are pretty low paid positions (and access to health care seems to be pretty high as far as reasons to commit suicide go). And if they already make a lot and still have high suicide, paying more doesn't necessarily fix the issue and you don't know paying less would hurt. Money doesn't buy happiness, maybe the issue is not fiscal at all.

Back to the original overall costs discussion, it seems pretty clear that it is prices. Everyone seems to be getting their little extra taste along the food chain which drives the overall price significantly for a final product that isn't any better (and in many instances worse) that the rest of the developed world.

 

[cfbfan23]

However I've had several friends who moved to the UK from the US expecting it to be terrible and were quite surprised to find it was so much better. And Dental care is provided, and they loved it, especially since no one seemed to use it and they got right in whenever they needed to. Dental just seems to be a cultural thing there... But I have lots of family and friends in Canada who think their system is very good and the same in many european countries.

I'm pretty sure Dental care is not provided universally in the UK (it may be for children). If it is, then it is a complete failure (judging by their teeth). Canada does not provide Dental universally, either. But they do have the healthcare, and it's pretty decent. Life expectancy is better up there.

 

[mcgrawfsu]

I almost posted this topic a few weeks back. A guy I know set one up for his fiance's daughter. She had an accident and the mom has some hefty medical bills.
She has insurance, but still has a lot of out of pocket expenses.

So they have this GFM setup to raise money to pay for the expenses. The guy I know bought her a very nice engagement ring a few weeks ago, both have purchased new cars within the past 6 months, and they moved into a very nice house a couple of months ago. I'd be embarrassed to ask other people for money knowing that I was still living with luxuries and no apparent cut backs.

Another guy I know posted a GFM to pay for therapy for his autistic son. First line of the description, "as many of you know, we are a single income family." Yep, the wife hasn't worked in years. The son is in 4th grade in public school.

 

[cfbfan23]

Another guy I know posted a GFM to pay for therapy for his autistic son. First line of the description, "as many of you know, we are a single income family." Yep, the wife hasn't worked in years. The son is in 4th grade in public school.

I'd be hesitant to cast judgement on their home/working arrangement. I imagine having an autistic child is extremely difficult....and if she takes on most of the time/burden of raising him, she may really need the public school hours to herself to keep from going crazy. At least they're a single income family and not a single parent family.

It's easy enough not to contribute. I probably wouldn't.

 

[mcgrawfsu]

I'd be hesitant to cast judgement on their home/working arrangement. I imagine having an autistic child is extremely difficult....and if she takes on most of the time/burden of raising him, she may really need the public school hours to herself to keep from going crazy. At least they're a single income family and not a single parent family.

It's easy enough not to contribute. I probably wouldn't.

I see your point of view. There are other details I've left out. She is definitely more of the stay home, work out, go shopping, stay at home wife than needing to spend time with their son. She doesn't pick him up until 5:30 after school.

 

[Gonolz]

The military has its own system of healthcare. The spending on medicare and medicaid far exceeds the spending on military healthcare. I don't understand why there isn't a network of hospitals and healthcare workers run by the government dedicated to medicare and medicaid. Replace the bloated current system (which already includes bloated government medicare and medicaid systems) with a bloated, but less bloated federal government system, cutting out all the profiteers milking the current system.

Further, it would make sense for the government to have either its own medical schools to train the doctors and healthcare workers for free in exchange for service or at least provide scholarships in exchange for service.
The AMA is causing significant problems by limiting the number of medical schools while we are in increasing demand for healthcare workers. The demand for other healthcare workers (physician's assistants, nurse practitioners, etc.) is skyrocketing because there aren't enough doctors.

 

[cfbfan23]

I see your point of view. There are other details I've left out. She is definitely more of the stay home, work out, go shopping, stay at home wife than needing to spend time with their son. She doesn't pick him up until 5:30 after school.

Fair enough. It seems you know them well.

 

[Gonolz]

Fair enough. It seems you know them well.

He should. He paid for their son's therapy, so the hot wife (whose pictures he didn't provide, in gross violation of board rules) could work out to stay in shape and stay home, in view of Mcgraw's binoculars, well at least until 5:30.

 

[Fijimn]

I don't know if Go Fund Me is replacing insurance. I think that it's a function of the fact that, even if you are insured, a catastrophic injury or medical issue will cost you a significant amount out of pocket. And most people--even the rich--are living pay check to pay check. Thus, a sudden unexpected financial hit will hurt. With my daughter, my wife was on hospital bed rest for over two week and Sawyer was in the NICU for over 100 days. We had good insurance, but still incurred about 20 grand out of pocket during the hospital/NICU stay and the approximate 2 years of follow ups and a couple hospital stays for the little one. And that was after me negotiating with several providers. There are not a lot of people in America that are liquid to access that amount of money.

 

[Urban Cryer]

We also don’t ever talk about how unhealthy we are as a nation.

 

[ReliableOstrich]

This is a very informative, brief, description of systems in selected capitalist democracies.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/

No single solution is right or perfect for every nation but this at least provides some examples of how different countries have gone about covering their entire population while spending less than we do, both in raw $ and % of GDP.

One common thread is that basic health insurance coverage is provided by a non-profit, be it the government or private companies.
----
Other very good points in this thread in terms of the ballooning cost of healthcare include medical malpractice liabilities and generally being an unhealthy nation (relative to some other economically/politically comparable countries).

We are faced with multiple concurrent problems, so we need solutions that are multiple. Spanning education, insurance, drug costs, legal reform, etc... Are we a country that fights for its people or do we just whimper, say "it's too tough", and let corporations and their beholden politicians keep doing what they want, extracting our wealth.

 

[mcgrawfsu]

He should. He paid for their son's therapy, so the hot wife (whose pictures he didn't provide, in gross violation of board rules) could work out to stay in shape and stay home, in view of Mcgraw's binoculars, well at least until 5:30.

Trust me, not hot. Not even a little.

 

[kc78]

I'm pretty sure Dental care is not provided universally in the UK (it may be for children). If it is, then it is a complete failure (judging by their teeth). Canada does not provide Dental universally, either. But they do have the healthcare, and it's pretty decent. Life expectancy is better up there.

It is provided, but it is a failure in that the culture of the UK simply does not value dental care. My friends who moved there from the US have easy access to dental whenever they want it and the dentists always comment on how they wish people cared more about their teeth and actually ask them what makes Americans value it moreso than they do, even with it being included as part of their nhs.

I think it just comes down to marketing. We've done a very good job at marketing the benefits of proper dental care. For some reason, the Brits just haven't.

 

[cfbfan23]

It is provided, but it is a failure in that the culture of the UK simply does not value dental care.

Not provided to everyone according to this link. I'm sure that your friends can access a dentist, but they are likely paying for it themselves (unless they are already receiving some type of welfare aid...which may be the case for your friends). Looks like kids are covered as well as well as pregnant women and recent mothers.

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-qu...tled-to-free-nhs-dental-treatment-in-england/

 

[kc78]

Not provided to everyone according to this link. I'm sure that your friends can access a dentist, but they are likely paying for it themselves (unless they are already receiving some type of welfare aid...which may be the case for your friends). Looks like kids are covered as well as well as pregnant women and recent mothers.

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-qu...tled-to-free-nhs-dental-treatment-in-england/

I'll ask them again to clarify. They said whatever it was was simple and inexpensive, and they were surprised with how easy the entire thing went. Maybe it was easy since no one uses it. lol

 

[cfbfan23]

I'll ask them again to clarify. They said whatever it was was simple and inexpensive, and they were surprised with how easy the entire thing went. Maybe it was easy since no one uses it. lol

My guess is that there is some type of co-pay. I agree, it's probably underutilized.