"but even saving half the premiums in a money market account not only provides a good cushion for that, but if we don't use the money we actually get to keep it!"
Until they require a $50k life flight or $100k brain, heart, etc surgery.
The problem is that insurance was intended to cover the large, infrequent costs - house fires, totaled cars, etc. The deductibles are intended to influence people to pay out of pocket for the smaller expenses.
The problem with health insurance is that the deductibles, premiums, and cost of care are out of control. The laws mandate significant amounts of coverage for a plan. The costs can be as high as a house fire, but happen much more frequently within the population. You can't get a plan that just covers expenses over $10k-20k per year. You can get kind of close with the super high deductibles but it still has to cover some things before the limit. Even if you could get to that, you're still looking at high costs when you consider the odds of something like 1 out of 100 people might need a $100k procedure in a year (made up numbers).
Genuine question: How does it happen that a heart surgery costs 100k? 2 surgeons (200$/h) + 6 nurses(100$/h) for 10 hours would be 10k. Where do the other 100k come from? Is it the equipment cost? Consumables? After care? Or are the margins just ridiculous?
Lots of equipment, consumable and facility costs. Catheters with realted imaging and machines to place it, meds, anesthesia, cost of the building, specialized HVAC, liability coverage, etc. Margins can also be bad since they'll charge some people more than others.
Malpractice insurance? One insurance premium is high in order to pay for the cost of another insurance premium?
This seems… suboptimal.
I'm in Germany, I don't know what we spend money on here because I'm still integrating myself and have not mastered the German language to the level of having opinions about the Krankenversicherungsbeitragsentlastungsgesetz, but I do know we spend about 2/3rds per capita as the USA for better outcomes:
Reminder if you are in the Pacific Northwest/Hawaii Life Flight membership is only $85, or bit more to cover ambulance if you are in Oregon. If you drive a lot of highway miles, ski, mountainbike, hike, vacation in Hawaii it's worth thinking about.
> happen much more frequently within the population
I assume the high premium reflects this frequency -- a higher frequency than many people realize. I do not assume the insurance companies are price gouging, but rather pricing their plans to break even/slightly profit.
Until they require a $50k life flight or $100k brain, heart, etc surgery.
The problem is that insurance was intended to cover the large, infrequent costs - house fires, totaled cars, etc. The deductibles are intended to influence people to pay out of pocket for the smaller expenses.
The problem with health insurance is that the deductibles, premiums, and cost of care are out of control. The laws mandate significant amounts of coverage for a plan. The costs can be as high as a house fire, but happen much more frequently within the population. You can't get a plan that just covers expenses over $10k-20k per year. You can get kind of close with the super high deductibles but it still has to cover some things before the limit. Even if you could get to that, you're still looking at high costs when you consider the odds of something like 1 out of 100 people might need a $100k procedure in a year (made up numbers).