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Comment by TSiege | Hacker News Reader

This isn’t surprising. The population overall is aging. Millenials are now the largest cohort and are approaching middle age. Until recently we’ve seen the number of insured individuals rise consistently and our medicine continues to advance. More older adults have access and need more healthcare

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No, I mean on an age-corrected basis, throughout the spectrum of ages.

i.e. young americans are spending more on health care than young americans used to, even if it's also true that there are fewer young americans now, and more old americans.

Part of the Obamacare mandate was forcing young men into health insurance policies when in the past they had a much higher opt out percentage.

Sure, but that's not what's driving these increases in costs.

Why not? Higher demand -> Higher prices.

I don't see how that applies to insurance. The demand pays for it's own supply. The insurance company doesn't have to ramp up production somehow.

As a young man, can I opt into Medicare since I'm opted in to paying for it?

There is a lot more to spend it on. I'm gen-X, ADHD wasn't even heard of by most people until I was in college, and then it was only diagnosed/treated in the worst cases. Today most kids I know are on some medication for ADHD. A few years ago a friend of mine was told "too bad you are not 25 - I know what treatment you need but we can't give it to someone over 25" - he went to the Mayo clinic for his condition at 23 but the treatment didn't even exist yet so it was a waste of time.

In 1860 someone who went to a doctor would have worse outcomes than someone who stayed home. As medicine gets better over time there is more and more value in seeing a doctor. In turn more an more people are talking to their doctor about things that they would have just ignored a few generations ago. Sometimes this results in unnecessary treatment, but it also results in catching and fixing a lot of real problems that would have made life worse before we could treat it.

Sure, this is of course true, but there's also a reason that Americans spend way way more on their healthcare than any other developed nation, and it's not that they have better healthcare, or more healthcare options.

It isn't just aging.

Americans are spending a lot more on quality-of-life medical interventions, many of which are outside the normal standard of care that would be covered by healthcare systems. It is a booming business in the US and many people seem to have no trouble paying for it.

It's like the hydration revolution, wealthy Americans (or those who aspire to be) are very conscious about their health/career/investments/childcare/looks. Many of them seem quite neurotic, maybe it's a consequence of individualism and social media. I don't think it's something which is unique to the US but they're just ahead/rich compared to other countries.

Just as an anecdote, I’m an older Millennial (1982) and since my late 30s I’ve been spending my HDHP cap in health services that my parents wouldn’t have bothered with, such as allergy shots and niche diagnostic blood tests based on the latest science, some of which have been covered here such as HSCRP. I’ve also had LASIK and had laser skin treatments done. I’m not a health nut, I just realized I don’t have to look and feel like crap in my 40s like my progenitors.

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