sjolsen & @[email protected]
Kspacewalk2 13 minutes ago | prev | next [-] fwo economists are walking in a forest when they come across a pile of shit. The first economist says to the other “I’ll pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit.” The second economist takes the $100 and eats the pile of shit. They continue walking until they come across a second pile of shit. The second economist turns to the first and says “Ill pay you $100 to eat that pile of shit.” The first economist takes the $100 and eats a pile of shit. Walking a little more, the first economist looks at the second and says, “You know, I gave you $100 to eat shit, then you gave me back the same $100 to eat shit. I can’t help but feel like we both just ate shit for nothing.” “That’s not true”, responded the second economist. “We increased the GDP by $200!” 16 Sept 2023, 20:45 530 17
Sort of like a for-profit healthcare system will work if it relies on two things: everyone can afford insurance and everyone is very healthy.
There just need to be enough people to cover the costs of the unhealthy.
Good thing that’s something that can be calculated and prepared for.
Statistics don’t lie, and you always need a buffer.
That’s why it works pretty well in Europe. At least in Czechia, but should be about the same in the other countries.
What statistics would those be?
About patients, diseases, injuries, and other medical emergencies. These companies do massive data calculations to make sure they are not in the negative.
They don’t just eyeball their prices and hope for the best.
Please present these statistics which can accurately predict, for example, a global pandemic which would overwhelm hospitals.
You are going into unnecessary details.
If you are so keen on sources, tho.
The last pandemic was H1N1 (bird flu) in 2009. Before that was 1968 (H3N2). 1 Obviously, this cannot be predicted, which I am sure you know, but just want to troll me on this one.
The statistics, of course, I do not posses (as I am not a health insurance company nor do I work for one). These statistics are mainly maintained by these insurance companies. But like I said, the prices are calculated based on one’s health and chances of an insured event happening. 2
1 https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/basics/past-pandemics.html
2 https://www.kotaklife.com/insurance-guide/health-insurance/how-is-health-insurance-cost-calculated
If they can’t be predicted ahead of time and the system relies on healthy people, the system will break down when that happens.
So long as we never have to use this time machine, it works perfectly!