Finance

Why Is Going To The Hospital So Ridiculously Expensive?

September 28, 2021 Leave a Comment

I’m a professional managed care contract negotiator for a major health system in the US who also teaches health administration classes at a local university. Let me try to be comprehensive:

There’s a difference between what’s price and cost. Hospital prices are what hospitals charge for a service. Like any other business, charges include the direct costs (supplies, clinician time, etc.) and indirect costs (power bill, departmental overhead, etc.). Included in the indirect cost is always an amount to cover uncompensated care. This is cost incurred by people who can’t or don’t pay their bills, and it’s re-allocated into future pricing, creating inflated charges, which are reported as the “price” for healthcare services in the media and quoted by politicians. edit In addition, government programs with set payment systems (i.e Medicare, Medicaid) often cover some, but not all of the direct cost of care. This too is passed on in the pricing.

How Can I Be Financially Free?

March 24, 2021 Leave a Comment

You have two options:

The slow or fast way.

The slow way – work your way up the corporate ladder, max out your 401k, maintain a low cost of living, avoid debt, save every penny you can and invest in a S&P 500 ETF.

Depending on your lifestyle, this method could allow you to be financially free in your 40–50’s.

What Is Hollywood Accounting?

March 3, 2021 Leave a Comment

I’m a big Hollywood studio and I want to make a movie called Big Movie. It’s expected to break box-office records.

The first thing I do is create a holding company called Big Movie Holdings, Inc. While it was started by me, it is actually a completely independent company. I will do a deal with this company: it gets the rights to produce, market and hold the movie rights to Big Movie on one condition: it hires me to do the marketing and distribution.

What Is The Difference Between a 401k and IRA?

January 12, 2021 Leave a Comment

A 401k and an IRA are both tax-advantaged accounts that incentivize saving/investing for retirement. They both restrict withdrawals from the account in exchange for deferring or excluding taxes.

The quick rundown of the differences are the following: you have more flexibility investing in an IRA, you have a higher contribution limit for a 401k, and your employer potentially matches contributions in your 401k (basically gives you free money in the account). But let’s go into some more detail.