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Comment by consensus1 | Hacker News Reader

Total profits for US health insurance companies in 2025 were $50 billion. The other $950 billion has got to come from cutting:

1. money to providers

2. overall healthcare consumption

3. bureaucratic redundancy and waste

1 is going to piss off medical providers. 2 is going to piss of the general public. 3 is going to piss off the 20 million healthcare industry workers who are not direct care providers. So pick your poison. This is why it will never pass.

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And overhead of running the insurance company like salary and office, then wasted time for doctors.

Have you ever dared to dream of something that sounds impossible but isn't?

The average Georgian plumber has higher purchasing power than the average German doctor. In order for the United States to balance its medical books, doctors will have to be paid dramatically less than they are at present. Perhaps there’s a deal to be made where doctors take the hit, but all of their debt is paid off by the state. Going forward medical school is free, but like in Germany you have to qualify, I mean really qualify to even get your foot in the college door. That’s an expectation change for the United States population on all fronts. We don’t do well with expectation changes.

Yeah, a lot of these issues are felt in other fields too so it feels like there's a need for a larger, wider schism.

Like I would love to go to law school but I can't afford it. So many possible but inherently unattainable futures. We'll get there.

You can afford to go to law school if you're willing to prioritize it and make some sacrifices. There are plenty of law schools that have part time night or online options. Take one class at a time and you'll eventually get through.

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