Every time I see one of these articles (or anything related to US healthcare) and read the comments, I can't help but ask myself how rotten a country can be. In this case, as a German, I dare say "rotten to the core".
It apparently is impossible to move the US healthcare system to a system where every person in the US is eligible to even the most expensive emergency healthcare without having to fear bankruptcy afterwards, and that's shocking.
Yeah, the vast majority of us have healthcare, aren't really sick, and occasionally when we do get really sick, our insurance pays the bills.
I had an emergency root canal earlier last year in the US, cost me zero dollars, and I've got one of those high-deductible plans (it's the HSA that covered that).
I'm actually a little surprised you (or anyone on HN) are so eager to jump at the "worst case" stories and presume they're normal. This is a data problem, not a "let's tell our horror stories" kind of problem. Every system has people who fall through the cracks, these half-baked "I'd just do X" without any research is exactly the kind of thinking that causes problems.
> Yeah, the vast majority of us have healthcare, aren't really sick, and occasionally when we do get really sick, our insurance pays the bills.
That's the case in most modern countries. As far as data is concerned, the U.S. performs poorly in many metrics. The risk to individuals in the system compared to other nations is atrocious. The per-capita cost is atrocious. And the actual health outcomes are not spectacular.
I'm biased. As a Canadian I enjoy single-payer universal coverage and the freedom of not having to worry about private insurers and deductibles and copays and premiums and whether or not my doctor or hospital is covered or whether or not my insurer is going to fight me on something when my kid breaks his arm or what the health coverage implications will be if I switch jobs or start a business is totally worth the problems you tend to find in universal systems, in my opinion!
I have health care through the exchange and it drives me crazy that I pay $300+ monthly and if I have to see a doctor I still have to cover the expense myself because I have to spend several thousand dollars out of pocket before my insurance begins to cover anything. It seems to me that ~$4,000 annually is a lot to pay for what is effectively disaster insurance. But if I don't pay it not only do I pay a fee but I run the risk that if anything truly horrible happened I would be bankrupt.
Health care in the US remains a disaster if you are not covered by your employer (I'm a contractor and thus not covered by any employer).
My employer is a big group of people and has the power to bargain with the health insurance companies. I think there are groups you can join that provide the same advantage.
But what you might not understand (and I'm about to sound like a big jerk) is the idea that maybe the system that works best for the country might not work the best for you specifically. That doesn't make the entire system a disaster.
There's perspective here that might not make you healthy, but it would at least provide a modicum of understanding.
HN devolves into non-scientific anecdote city whenever politics are discussed on this site and everyone goes from analytical to happily biased at the drop of a hat.
I wouldn't take any one off experiences here as anything other than that; isolated incidents which most likely don't represent the overall picture.
Yes, it's mostly either illegal immigrants or self-employed one man companies, and I don't like that either... but even if you're not insured, you'll be taken care of in a hospital in emergency cases and not be stuck with a 500k+ bill...
Some employers (such as mine) offer only high deductible plans, but one of the options is for them to deposit an amount directly into your HSA. This has the benefit of returning purchasing power for most low costs to the competitive capitalist system while maintaining coverage for disasters.
My employer does that "for me", though I suppose you could in a way consider that to be my money (they'd pay it to me if they didn't have to put it in my HSA). It is tax-free, though.
It apparently is impossible to move the US healthcare system to a system where every person in the US is eligible to even the most expensive emergency healthcare without having to fear bankruptcy afterwards, and that's shocking.