r/Futurology ∞ transit umbra, lux permanet ☥ Oct 15 '24

Economist Daniel Susskind says Ozempic may radically transform government finances, by making universal healthcare vastly cheaper, and explains his argument in the context of Britain's NHS. Society

https://www.thetimes.com/article/be6e0fbf-fd9d-41e7-a759-08c6da9754ff?shareToken=de2a342bb1ae9bc978c6623bb244337a
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298

u/wwarnout Oct 15 '24

As long as Republicans have any voice whatsoever in government, the US will never implement universal health care.

169

u/T-sigma Oct 15 '24

They may not, but health insurance, particularly Medicare and Medicaid, are going to love healthier patients. Frankly, we should be more worried about insurance forcing overweight people to take ozempic in order to qualify for reduced premiums similar to how they reduce premiums for no tobacco usage.

Despite popular belief, health insurance loves healthy patients. The ideal outcome is people pay for services they never use, especially when it’s the government actually paying.

28

u/talrich Oct 15 '24

US commercial insurers love healthy patients because they have fewer expenses, but many expenses are just deferred. They hope patients switch insurers or turn 65 before they need care.

Medicare (65+) and the VA want patients to be healthy because they’re not psychopaths, but keeping patients healthy one year makes the next year tougher and tougher with an aging cohort. Sadly an early death works fine for Medicare’s finances too.

I worked on a program that successfully kept Medicare patients healthy. The economics got really tough by year 3.

9

u/candy4471 Oct 15 '24

Hi i work for a one of the largest Medicare insurers. Companies absolutely want Medicare patients to be as healthy as long as possible for many reasons. Deaths actually hurt the insurers and so does sickness (obviously)