Agree 100%. Prices started increasing when company funded healthcare policies were added in the 80’s. Prior to that we had “insurance” for unexpected costs like surgeries. We also used to ask the doctor how much things would cost as part of our decision making process. Once Americans started expected to pay less and get more with only a co-pay, the healthcare costs skyrocketed.
Yeah, that’s cheap as hell for the US.
My mom fell in front of her house and broke her knee. 2K for the ambulance ride alone.
That was out-of-pocket as they were Taiwanese on vacation in the US. Agree about the cost when it is related to quality of life.
That’s really pretty reasonable then. Especially if you consider the small but higher than 0 chance that a growth plate fracture could cause a problem later.
While it’s true that doctors spent hardly any time with me, any specialist treatment was not hurried through. The nutritionist I saw after getting a diagnosis for prediabetes really took her time.
Also do you really want to pay 1000 per month for insulin for type 1 diabetes? Because nobody in Taiwan pays that much.
I am glad you are getting good care. Most of the time, it is sufficient for me.
I should mention, these specialists did not add to the cost of my visit. Still the same 450nt copay that I paid. Including drugs, lab tests, etc.
No 10k forgiveness from Biden yet and repayments will start after January. I hope they do consider at least lowering the interest rates or something. I’m not sure people are ready to start repayment when inflation was 5%+ this year.
We know that there are 45 million Americans that are shackled with student loan debt, and the average amount of debt is more than $30,000,” Omar said. “I truly believe that it’s important for us to cancel student debt in its totality, because it’s going to help give Minnesota families and, you know, families across this country the opportunity to pursue their dreams of homeownership or opening a business and starting their lives.”
Bernie Sanders wanted to cancel all student debt, and Elizabeth Warren wanted to cancel debt over $50,000 for people making up to $125,000
Democrats favour Warren’s plan by 77%- 11%, but of course Republicans oppose it 56%-32%, and Republican senators are even more strongly against it.
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I think gender and post colonial study grads should have their loans forgiven if they become indentured servants at Taco Bell for 20 years. But only after.
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I’m not sure why we want to incentivize people to get education that they can’t afford in fields that don’t pay for them. It seems that we don’t have a lot of money to spend right now, and spending it on the self-inflicted wounds of those primarily in the middle and upper-middle class doesn’t seem wise.
Or force companies to hire them… People get useless degrees because companies require degrees for jobs that didn’t require it in the past, and the job still don’t require college education.
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I agree. But even people who got degrees that traditionally made money with high income potential are struggling if they graduated the last 2-3 years. Most of my classmates have not had great luck finding jobs that pay well. It’s hard right now for us.
I would have struggled living in London and having to pay back my loan even though my job paid more than most peoples that just started. I’m lucky my business is doing well enough I’m not stressed about loan repayments next year.
One reason university tuition is so high is because student loans can’t be forgiven in a bankruptcy, while other loans can. Therefore banks who loan have to assess risks and benefit before loaning as someone could just default on loans and declare bankruptcy and the bank would lose money. What needs to happen is they need to make student loans discharged after a bankruptcy or 7 years, then schools will have to weight the pros and cons and not offer useless classes that are designed to increase tuition but does nothing to help the student learn (I mean all the useless 2 years worth of classes that all college students must take that are literally just a review of high school).
What we need is 1. schools to be more selective, and 2. In order to get financial aid the school must assess the ability of the student’s chosen field of study to repay them, because now if the student can’t repay them they get written off.
Schools need to be more honest as well. My undergrad (none target state school) was putting you can potentially earn 100k plus to start as an investment banker if you study finance…sorry but that’s not realistic. Your chances of getting those jobs are not great if you don’t go to a well known target school.
Which, again, the school would need to assess if the student wants financial aid whether or not the school’s reputation and their chosen field of study gives a good chance of repaying the loan. But schools advertise unrealistic potentials because they can sucker students into signing a master promissory note for a loan that gives the school zero risk. There must be an element of risk for the school or else they’ll keep doing this.
They need to get rid of useless amenities that any serious students would never use because they’d be too busy studying. My school had multiple decked out gyms that are better than most high class fitness clubs, free for students to use. These things cost money, but since students can be suckered into loans that are no risk for schools, they do this. But my school’s tuition fees are more reasonable and can be covered 100% by stafford loans (and with pell grant you actually have a decent living stipend too).
I never used those gyms because I was too busy studying and working.
That’s a lot of truth. The schools used to control their tuition (if they made it too high the students couldn’t afford school), and also control their expenses (had to stay within budget).
After congress made student loans non-dischargable in bankruptcy, the feds then started guaranteeing student loans so the school can’t lose. All the school has to do is get students to sign up for the loan and the wealth is transferred from the government into the university bank account,while the student is burdened with the debt.
So the school doesn’t incur any risk, instead the school is incentivized to get students to sign up for the biggest loan possible in the name of inflated “tuition,” and the school spends the money on sports, architecture, administrative salaries, and ego-massaging promotions. The school just got free money and the students are left paying it back, or living in poverty for decades.
It’s easy to blame young students by asking “why did you take out such a big loan for a useless degree?” But we also have to look at the huge transfer of wealth from the government to the schools that leaves the naive youth burdened with massive, non-dischargable debt. I don’t blame individual students. It looks to me like a system created, whether by design or by accident, to transfer wealth from the government to the universities in the name of “education” while providing little benefit to students, but burdening them for life.
If the school had to guarantee their loans, or had to guarantee that their education was worth something, then the loans wouldn’t be given out like candy.
No other lender works this way. Any other type of loan requires security or proof of credit worthiness (or both). But immature 18 year olds are being given loans ranging from $50,000 to $300,000 USD with no security and no credit history. The only guarantee of repayment is “it will follow you for life, you’re now an indentured servant.”
I approve of the calls to cancel student debt, as well as single payer healthcare or medicare for all. At the same time student loans should be dischargable in bankruptcy (a judge still decides if you can discharge the debt or if you’re just faking), and the schools who convince students to sign up for these loans should suffer some burden–have “skin in the game”–if the students can’t repay the loans. Enacting such provisions would provide more balance in the free money giveaway, and such provisions would also free the economy by allowing millions of U.S. citizens to pursue new careers or entrepreneurial pursuits.
The US has essentially returned to the guilded age where government act as the mouthpiece of corporations, and essentially laws are made to benefit them, while the average people suffer. It is no longer a country of the people for the people, but it’s now an oligarchy that is designed to benefit them and only them.
Until another grassroot level antitrust movement comes along to break up these massive corporations, we will never see the end of a new guilded age.
This won’t happen as long as Americans are being lied to about how free market will solve everything. We’ve been down that road, it was not good. But these giant tech companies who make record profit while providing little to no services, and hiring fewer people needs to be reined in. In the end it was regulation that broke up the big monopolies.
Finally, lobbying needs to be made illegal. It’s basically bribery.
Biden won’t extend the student loan freeze.
I can only roll my eyes at this. He’s going to be hated by everyone by the time he leaves office.