Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by lupin_sansei 6952 days ago
Here's a thought: In most Western countries health is supplied for "free" by the government (which deducts a premium from people's taxes). Such a person has no option to temporarily stop paying for health services, but an American can take that gamble. I wonder if this option amounts to another slight advantage that American startups can have over other Western countries? Namely the option to increase your wages slightly for a while in exchange for a reduced health service.
1 comments
cwilbur 6952 days ago
What the lack of socialized health care in the United States means is that instead of the government paying a little bit for preventative and maintenance care, the government pays a lot as elderly and poor people who have lived a life with no preventative or maintenance care need expensive prescriptions and expensive treatments.

This might be a slight advantage in the short run for those whose startups are successful.

link
lupin_sansei 6951 days ago
"What the lack of socialized health care in the United States means is that instead of the government paying a little bit for preventative and maintenance care, the government pays a lot as elderly and poor people who have lived a life with no preventative or maintenance care need expensive prescriptions and expensive treatments."

What preventative and maintenance care exactly? I've lived in countries with (mostly) socialized health care all my life and I'm not noticing any government run preventative and maintenance care really.

Did you make the above up or do you have some links to it?

link
cwilbur 6950 days ago
I'm talking about the ability to go to the doctor routinely, to get things like vaccinations and annual checkups. The government doesn't make you do sensible things elsewhere, but the cost of doing sensible things if you're in the US and don't have health insurance is prohibitive.

To take an example from dentistry: getting a biennial checkup, finding an early-stage developing cavity, and getting it fixed will most likely cost you under $200. Not getting the checkup and waiting until the tooth is abscessed and requires extraction, a root canal, or oral surgery can cost you $2000 or more. But if you don't have the $50 for the initial checkup, what are you supposed to do?

link