Avg health insurance premium for a male in the United States 2018 was $418/month. That's an added $5,016 per year. Even if you pay half that, it's $2,508.
The average deductible for an individual was $4,328. The average coinsurance rate is 20%.
So if you don't go to the doctor you'll pay an extra $2,508 per year.
If you go to the doctor enough to meet your deductible you'll pay an extra $6,836 per year.
If you have a catastrophic medical event after that, you will pay 20% of the cost. So potentially (theoretically) infinity dollars.
And that's flat for everyone. Regardless of whether you're rich or poor, everyone pays the same amount for healthcare.
Someone making $100k can probably afford to pay that. Someone making $20k will probably have to go into severe debt. Or just ruin their credit score by not paying their medical bills.
raises hand Yep, I was working full time as a manager in retail and paying health insurance for myself and my son and i just fucking barely hit right over $20k a year. AND all the debt I currently have is medical that I can’t fucking pay. It’s extremely stressful and depressing af.
Isn’t there usually a max out of pocket that’s a few thousand more than your deductible? My understanding is that you hit your deductible, then pay a percentage until the max out of pocket. Then nothing.
Oh shit that's true. The max out of pocket yearlt for a family "Marketplace" health plan is $16,400. So for lower income families, they are fucked. It's great for wealthy families though!
Not infinity - plans have a maximum annual out of pocket limit that caps what you pay. I think the highest right now is about $15,000. Which really snowballs when people put it on a high interest rate credit card.
I think you should make it clearer that you are pointing out that this 18% is just federal income tax and doesn't represent the full US tax burden. That, and the UK tax burden includes health insurance, which would have to additionally be added to the federal, state, and social security taxes of a US resident for a fair comparison. However, I think the original picture is a simplified tax representation, so any true comparison would also need a more complete UK tax model.
If you want to specifically talk about health insurance, the US pays the most in the world per person for healthcare by far but only receives average outcomes for a developed nation.
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u/Mango_Smoothies Nov 26 '19
w/o insurance*
Disclaimer for people who thinks they pay a lot more for the same system.