[ceejayoz]

I had to drop off my health insurance when the bill hit $4,850.24/month.

Millions did the same. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/19/aca-enrollees-uninsured.html

[slavoingilizov]

This is a problem specific to the US. The price of your health insurance is very far from the actual cost of it to providers.

[8note]

FAANG wages are also fairly specific to the US - the two go hand in hand

[bloppe]

That sucks and I hope congress gets their shit together soon, but there are a lot of non-FAANG companies that offer insurance.

[ceejayoz]

That money black hole hits companies too. A $50k/year job typically can't throw in $60k in healthcare benefits.

[raw_anon_1111]

It’s not that much.

https://www.peoplekeep.com/blog/cost-of-employer-sponsored-h...

A small company can use a PEO like Rippling (a YC company) where employees are “co employed” with the actual company and for taxes/HR/benefits with for Rippling. It’s not like contracting. Everyone from the CEO down is “co employed”

[ceejayoz]

It really is.

The US saw an average of $14,885 per-capita healthcare costs in 2024. Higher now.

[raw_anon_1111]

I’m never going to defend the American health care system as I sit in a country now for six weeks where I fully plan to become a resident of post retirement mainly because of the healthcare even if I don’t live here full time.

[lostlogin]

I think the world would be a much better place if travel was more common.

Having people see how other countries work on a regular basis really opens your eyes.

And then you have travel and expensive healthcare to pay for.

[sylos]

My guy, congress can't even remove valid bad actors who openly lie to and threaten them. They will never fix any problems except their "light" pocket book

[bloppe]

Trump rather likes handing out cash, as long as he can put his name on it. Maybe as long as congress agrees to call it TrumpCare.

[pixl97]

> I hope congress gets their shit together soon

Narrator: "In fact, they did not"

[raw_anon_1111]

I know how much the American health care system sucks. But I have looked into a high deductible health care plan on the exchange for myself and my wife - both over 50 to calculate how much we would need to survive a month of unemployment. It was around $1000/mo with no subsidies for a bronze plan.

[bix6]

You think regular Americans have the money to afford high deductible plans? One ER visit bankrupts people.

[raw_anon_1111]

High deductible plans max out at around $10K deductible. But it’s the same cost in my experience low deductible vs high deductible + HSA contribution.

The difference being that if you don’t need to use your HSA in a year you keep it - unlike low deductible plans.

[bix6]

Ah yes because the family making $40k/year can afford $10k in medical expenses.

[raw_anon_1111]

In my experience the cost of a low deductible health plan is more expensive than a high deductible health plan + equivalent amount of a pre tax HSA.

I have never known a health care provider that you can’t negotiate a payment plan with. Even if your HSA isn’t funded, they could probably have a payment plan = HSA monthly contribution and then take it out of the HSA.

Yes I understand that a lot of people making $40K would be deftly afraid of doing that. But they would still statistically come out ahead

[jmye]

A family making 40k a year qualifies for significant benefits and subsidies, even today. But don't let not knowing what you're talking about stop you from angrily talking about it.

[ceejayoz]

This is a family plan; the bronze plans are $2400 or so a month. But that means a huge deductible; for a high-needs family, it works out worse financially.

[raw_anon_1111]

When I compared plans at work over the years, I’ve found that it is rarely cheaper to do low deductible/higher monthly costs than higher deductible /lower monthly cost + pay deductible out of pocket.

[ceejayoz]

That will vary from person to person.

In our case, we tend to hit the max out-of-pocket pretty fast.

[raw_anon_1111]

Is that still cheaper than high deductible + HSA contribution to cover the deductible?

[ceejayoz]

Yes. Substantially so, in my case.

Likely not for many, but I definitely did all this math annually.

[bdangubic]

Both my wife and I have been contractors for decade+ and have been with Kaiser and are paying $1.1k/month for Bronze-ish plan (1 child)

[raw_anon_1111]

How does that work if you have a pre-existing condition? I am honestly curious

[ceejayoz]

ACA-compliant plans can't deny or change pricing for them.

It was a good change, but it needed the individual mandate to function successfully. That got removed.

[bdangubic]

ACA put a stop to that

[lostlogin]

That’s incredible. That must be responsible for population decline (migration more than death).

[jmye]

You were working at a FAANG and had the enhanced subsidies? That strikes me as complete bullshit and non sequitur to the post.

ACA plans and LG/SG plans are not the same, and pretending they are is, frankly, a large part of why healthcare in this country is such a dumb discussion - those discussing it have no idea what they're talking about.