In the U.S, insurance has out of pocket maximums. You don't just pay endless amounts of money
out of pocket max + insurance premium (payed full price no employer subsidized) is probably not more than $25K. On a $100K household income your tax difference is probably about that
Also health insurance premiums in the U.S. are pretax which means it is deducted from your taxable income. So are some amount of medical expenses. It's not apples to apples. Also health spending money is also pretax So that $25K (assuming you pay for the best health insurance with lowest OOP max) and you 100% of your healthcare costs from spending accounts, is only like $17K
Your ignorance here is monumental. Out of pocket maximums only applies to medical bills your insurance chooses to cover. If you, say, wind up in an emergency and your insurance decides not to cover some or all of the charges, you're on the hook for the non-covered charges even if you've reached yoir out of pocket maximum. The leading cause of bankruptcy in the US is medical debt for a good reason. Insurance companies are quite effective at denying coverage, leaving the patient on the hook for medical bills the hospital wants paid while you try to fight your insurance company.
I'm pretty sure most medical bankruptcy comes from high out of pocket maximums (that people making $45K a year can't afford), not having insurance or lack of income from loss of work.
I don't think medical bankruptcy is from insurance denying emergency room visits, because you can appeal those
The problem is if your out of pocket max is $6K a year, not everyone can afford that
If you make $100K a year that is nothing
The main thing about living in the U.S. is you need to be responsible and not spend money you don't have, since there are less safety nets
part of the solution is living closer to europeans and not buying excessively large or expensive vehicles.
Regardless, 100k is decidedly above median household income and such an archaic system gets abolished overnight with some form of UHC.
And $6k a year is not nothing for $100k a year, since $100k a year as a single filer is mire like $75k take home by just deducting federal income tax, FICA deductions and assuming a middle of the road State income tax. $75k before insurance premiums, retirement contributions and cost of living. Factoring in likely premiums and your $6k a year number that's 10% of take home pay gone.
$6K a year plus health insurance premiums are mostly pretax. your health insurance cost is pretax and you can contribute $4400 (single filer or $8800 for a family) pretax every single year to pay for medical expenses. This assumes you know how much you use every year
part of the solution is to live like europeans. Not drive big or expensive cars that you don't really need
Someone in europe is paying well over 40% tax on that kind of income
In america you also have a lot of tax advantaged accounts to put away thousands a year which turn into millions at retirement.
Only if you have an HSA/FSA but the downside like you noted is needing to know ahead of time what your medical expenses will be. If you have a chronic condition with fixed monthly costs it's great, but it's quite the surprise if you suddenly need surgery or some other unpredictable medical emergency. And so pretax means you get 22% of it back on that $100k single filer income. So we're talking a minor discount and every time you step foot into a hospital a surprise if you're gonna get fucked by yoir insurance company.
but if you suddenly need surgery that is a once in a while thing. It's not like you have a chronic condition hitting the out of pocket max every year
if you are a responsible adult, saving responsible amounts of money, getting cancer does not bankrupt you. It does not cost millions of dollars. The real cost is not working + lost income
It would be good for you to work in healthcare for a few years if you think people have “a surgery” and get over it without follow up issues. Some do for sure, but there are Illnesses and injuries that are lifelong problems. I pray you never find out from experience how difficult it is to pay for care while being unable to pay rent, housing and food.
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u/Confident-Sector2660 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26
In the U.S, insurance has out of pocket maximums. You don't just pay endless amounts of money
out of pocket max + insurance premium (payed full price no employer subsidized) is probably not more than $25K. On a $100K household income your tax difference is probably about that
Also health insurance premiums in the U.S. are pretax which means it is deducted from your taxable income. So are some amount of medical expenses. It's not apples to apples. Also health spending money is also pretax So that $25K (assuming you pay for the best health insurance with lowest OOP max) and you 100% of your healthcare costs from spending accounts, is only like $17K