How much are you paying for Health Insurance in 2026?

It's a pragmatic solution to a country heavily in debt that spends the bulk of healthcare costs on seniors over 65. I would go further and say that no public money should be spent on any treatments for those above 80. You would be surprised how much is spent on our two main killers -- heart disease and cancer... close to half a trillion dollars.

Fast Facts: Health and Economic Costs of Chronic Conditions | Chronic Disease | CDC



80 year old billionaire Steve Forbes disagrees though, lol.

What I think is interesting about the big pharma/corporate mindset to this is to keep pouring billions into innovation while circumventing root causes. Solving root causes takes away the money tree. They all want their Novo Nordisk (who ironically are a European company) magic product with massive profits. So if the consensus amongst citizens is more "health care" as opposed to the innovation markup that America is at the forefront of, then there has to be some kind of social score. We see this with SNAP that Americans don't want to pay for people abusing their bodies or taking advantage of the system. This also incentivizes ordinary people to not live off junk food or overindulge with cigarettes/alcohol.

I just find it incredibly naive to compare France to America when we know how different the food and health of the population is over there. In America only the wealthy have access to good nutrition, but in Europe it's the standard. Lo and behold, our wall of shame --

Ranking (% obesity by country) | World Obesity Federation Global Obesity Observatory

America, the only developed country in the top 10 of obesity behind a bunch of Samoan nations.

France, #143 in the world. Many walkable cities and a far more active lifestyle. It's a waste of time to ignore these cultural and genetic factors and say well... if it works in France or an Asian nation with a low bf % population, it will work here. So I agree our primary issue is the cost of care in the US (look at the billing sheet on your next visit to a doctor, a simple swab ends up being over a thousand with a ton of lateral costs that insurance covers, but it has no business being that high in the first place), but it takes two to tango. If we want to move towards universal health care, citizens themselves will have to change their own lifestyles to bring down the cost of care.

 

I don't understand how the MAGA guy can get public treatment in the UK as a US citizen for major issues... wouldn't his wait time be astronomical? Doesn't he have to pay something? And you are in the extreme minority of people with money who would rather wait than cut in line. That number goes even lower for people with kids.

I know plenty of doctors in West U. America is THE place for elite medical education. If you can't get in or afford it, then you look elsewhere. Very few people are cut out to be doctors in the long term, it's not something you can just throw together. Even after education,
Research shows that almost 40% of women physicians go part-time or leave medicine altogether within six years of completing their residencies.

Increasing the jurisdiction of those who are qualified is an option worth looking at- but that can get tricky. People will always prefer the expert with adequate training than the half doctor who may or may not be winging it based on less information. Malpractice lawsuits also increase. The medical liability system is already a huge cost to doctors and subsequently taxpayers

National Costs Of The Medical Liability System - PMC


The cost of care itself is THE issue. If you read my response above, you'd see I approach it from a preventative standpoint because ultimately, it's the healthy subsidizing the unhealthy and we have too many unhealthy. So why keep throwing $ while ignoring root causes?

 

What I wrote above--

 

They're idiots who prioritized the rest of the world over struggling Americans during the Biden era. But they're also seeing now they have no path to power unless they walk it back and admit they were wrong. Next candidate Newsom is already out saying we failed on the border and throwing Biden under the bus. They don't mean it and definitely want open borders, but they can't win with that as a policy.

But now that we're at more of a consensus on common sense issues, healthcare costs (which is more expensive than rent to many working class) will be a key issue going forward.