You're Probably Getting Screwed By Unexpected Medical Bills
My friend this past week was diagnosed with cancer. This person works at a job that doesn’t offer health insurance and is very scared about medical debt.
She’s not alone, 65% of Americans #1 worry is unexpected medical bills. Followed by health insurance deductible, and then prescription drug costs.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 100 million Americans owe a combined $195 billion dollars for medical care.
Reminder: we are the wealthiest country in the world… by far.
Yet where I live, nearly every community has a donation box at a gas station, a pancake breakfast or a GoFundMe account to help pay for someone’s medical cost.
This isn’t just a problem of funding healthcare, because the U.S. pays the most per capita of any country in the world.
In fact, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health wrote that “Americans on average continue to spend much more for health care—while getting less care—than people in other developed countries.”
Basically, we are not getting a very good bang for our buck.
I worry about my friend. There are so many people across the country going through similar things. We can do better. Until then, we will continue to get screwed!
YOU’RE PROBABLY (ALSO) GETTING SCREWED BY:
BILLIONAIRE DONORS
BILLIONAIRES
Did you hear that Patagonia’s founder is transferring ownership of the company after nearly 50 years into two entities that will help fight the climate crisis? That’s good!
The other side of the story is that he did so to avoid a $700 million dollar tax hit.
This Adam Conover Twitter thread is delicious…
BANKS
Do you get the sense that banks don’t look out in your best interest? Maybe it’s because the laws are stacked up against you? Maybe that’s why there were laughs about the revolving door from Congress to the banks at a recent House Financial Services Committee.
CORPORATE GOLIATHS
The American Economic Liberties Project has a great Twitter thread about “Why is it so hard for small businesses to compete with Amazon, Walmart and other goliaths?”
THE “HAVES”
I mentioned before about Brett Favre’s texts that said “I hope the media doesn’t find out about this.” Here’s Mina Kimes calling out the funds that are meant to go to the poorest people in the poorest state to pay for a new volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Reminder: Brett Favre’s net worth is estimated around $100 million.
CORPORATE GREED
A Congressional committee recently examined whether big corporations are taking advantage of consumers by hiking prices purely to increase profits. Here’s a quote from Dr. Rakeen Mabud of Groundwork Collaborative “Big companies, like Procter & Gamble, know that they can take advantage of consumer’s basic needs because they make necessities like diapers and laundry supplies.”
BEFORE YOU GO
Before you go, I need two things from you: 1) if you like something, please share it on social media or the next time you have coffee with a friend. 2) Ideas, if you have any ideas for future newsletter content please comment below. Thank you.
Standing Tall for All,
J.D. Scholten