White House aiming to scrub medical debt from people’s credit scores, which could up ratings for mil

We wouldn’t actually have to make too many changes with our current system.

When you look at all of the costs we have going to our medical system (co-insurance, deductibles, premiums, direct bills, employer contributions, government subsidies, VA program etc) we actually pay substantially more than other nations do with national programs.

Yes we do need to reform our tax system, especially in the realm of deductions and classifying income but that’s an entirely separate issue.

We also need to negotiate with medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to lower our costs in these areas (the US pays multiples higher for drugs and devices as other nations).

Finally we need to completely reform what we allow in terms of food policy, if we want a health populace we need correct education (pizza is not a vegetable), people on food assistance should not be allowed to buy sodas and unhealthy food with them, and these items need to be taxed the same way we do over extremely unhealthy items and healthy versions subsidized like we do corn.

 

It's been over 10 years since it happened and there were several things that changed and added to the costs, and I don't recall the specifics. I suspect you likely know more about what the ACA mandated into coverages and what taxes, etc were levied as part of it than I ever did or specifically recall. What I do recall is that for our family, the only thing "improvement" we got that we had any use for was a "free" woman's wellness visit per year at the gynecologist whereas before it cost you your doctor visit copay. We had excellent insurance (the company offered I think 4 plans with varying premiums, we chose the top one because it covered the most) and kept that plan until my husband retired in 2016. Thinking back, there may have been some other things included in the newly mandated coverage that weren't there before but didn't apply to us, and I know there were some increased costs for the company due to new taxes. As I said before, it's a public utility, they can't just jack the employee rates and profit from that. And I've got the check stubs to prove the costs and the huge jump in premiums, and it wasn't just our specifc plan out of the 4 that doubled like that. They all did.

 

8.4% or 27.6 million Americans of all ages did not have health insurance in 2022. It would be hard to argue that you wouldn’t have to increase taxes. Right now people who smoke pay higher premiums. This would also have to be applied to the tax policy somehow. Drug legalization will also affect health of many people. I think we are not on a path with drug use that will be beneficial to a healthcare system ran by government.

 

Drug use has been linked to poverty and low levels of life satisfaction. Education and healthcare increase life satisfaction and decrease poverty.

“Sin” taxes already exist — ramp them up for unhealthy lifestyles and you have your tax base while also decreasing use at the same time.

We are getting to a point where we are going to be forced to do something with healthcare. The cost alone isn’t sustainable.

 

So...
What do people like me who earned our great credit scores the old fashioned way get out of this?
Other than more people competing for credit?