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Nobody who can't afford insurance can afford 2400
I don't think that's true.
Health insurance is expensive in the US. Many sites indicate an average monthly cost in the $400-$600 range, and given it's average also means it can be even higher.
That's $4800 - $7200 a year, vs a 1 time $2400 if they are in the average cost area for a colonoscopy.
It's not great, many people can't afford that either, but it's not true that if you can't afford insurance, you can't afford $2400
Pricing is far more complicated with the old having Medicare, many of the poorest having subsidies some free, and others a range of plans mostly at least somewhat subsidized by employers.
We are a fat unhealthy folk in a country where a single hospitalization can run you 10-100k and financially ruin you due in no small part to cartel pricing.
So your various medical providers have negotiated given rates for given things that are less special rates and more what you might consider normal pricing whereas if you are not protected by such a "deal" you may pay several times more at hundreds of percent profit for the provider with the expectation that you pay up front for services or die essentially so long as your death isn't immediately caused by their immediate neglect. Eg you can't be allowed to actually bleed out for lack of a stitch but you can be allowed to get septic and then be admitted after it's really too late to do anything but try to bill your family 100k and steal any inheritance from your estate if any.
So you are incentivized to buy at least the shittiest high deductible plan with an 8000 deductible just to have access to sane pricing, get treated and then billed, and limit max damage if things go bad even if you expect to not actually get much direct benefit. Plus favorable tax treatment paid in.
Whilst some may choose to risk it being literally incapable of paying a subsidized 100-300 for the shittiest plan possible means that you are poor in a state which doesn't choose to subsidize the poor and likely illiquid. Most people in America don't have 2500 to cover am emergency of any variety. This is true of nearly 100% of the bottom half
Furthermore anyone who needs a colonoscopy needs other things like annual checkups and medication.
The number of people who can cash pay the sucker uninsured rate but not shitty insurance is basically zero
If I'm reading this right, you're saying there are cheaper insurance options, but the deductible would be so high it wouldn't cover this $2400 anyway? It's just more catastrophic things, like if this came back positive and now you needed surgery?
And ya, even if you have $2400 and think the test is important to take because you have reason to believe you might have it, it doesn't mean you'd be able to afford the aftercare.
You are missing the primary part. Without insurance it costs several times more than it would with insurance.
Not an uninsured colonoscopy, that is the uninsured price on average.
Edit: i get youre saying it'd be cheaper if insured, but when talking about this specific thing that is the price.
If not insured and they find shit or anesthesia is complicated or god forbid you have complications it could balloon out into 5-20k. Even if you can afford to pay up front 2K can you afford to risk financial ruin if something goes wrong?
Again the kind of people who can't afford insurance even high deductible insurance can't afford this shit. Hell you are still wrong that people can afford to come out of pocket $2000. Do you even live here?
I don't live there but youre talking in absolutes which just isn't the case.
How do you think i know about this in the first place? Someone from the US was telling a story about how they had to get one while uninsured and they paid $1500 for it (that's the lower end of the scale which is 1500-4800)
Im not saying everyone can, and you're right if the test comes back positive that's a whole other story, but a lot of uninsured people can afford to get the test if they think its needed. They might not have 2k sitting around either but could save for it.
Edit: And just going back to my very very first message, I was surprised to hear it was so low compared to other crazy expensive procedures in the states, so I figured it was worth sharing because for some, it is something they could manage.
You don't live here so you have no idea what you are talking about. Being uninsured in the US is absolutely insane.
Ah yes, the classic dismissal because they claim someone can't know something if they don't live there, so they can issue a BLANKET no one can afford it.
There's was 25.3 million uninsured people in the USA in 2023 but you're so confident that none of them could ever afford a $2400 treatment.
https://www.kff.org/uninsured/key-facts-about-the-uninsured-population/
Emphasis mine.
You know what that means? 2/10 had over 400% of the minimum poverty level.
For a single person that would be: $63,840. (5,320/m)
For a couple with no kids, that would be: $86,560 (7213/m)
You don't think that maybe, these 2/10 people out of 10's of millions could possibly afford it if needed?
Hmm interesting, 16% seem to think they could afford something if needed? It seems to line up closely with that 2/10 earning over 400% as well.
That's more people than many countries have, and more people than many of any given US state.
Like I had around a 1/5 chance of providing useful info to OP when I replied based off this.
You said there were people who couldn't afford insurance but could afford elective procedures. For reference most can get high deductible insurance for ~$300/month from your employer
The totality of people you are referencing are those who cannot afford insurance. A moderate to high earning family may CHOOSE to forgo insurance they are not the people you were ever referencing. You have successfully proven that there are people who can afford insurance who do not purchase it. Those who cannot afford any insurance are those who have a lower income than the 2/10 you reference. They cannot afford another $300 a month. Rather than the top 20% of the uninsured they are the bottom segment. They are frequently the people who would have medicaid in states that expanded it. This too is a feature you don't understand because you don't live here.
From your own link again these are the bottom-most not the topmost uninsured.
Here is a study that found that 59% of the entire country didn't have enough to absorb a $1000 one time expense.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saving-money-emergency-expenses-2025/
The overlap with those who don't have 1000 available to cover an emergency with those who don't have enough to cover 1000 is basically total because of the distribution of wealth in MY country. The top half has 91% of the wealth. The next quartile has about 9% of the wealth. The last quartile has debt and nothing else. It is literally that bad. It is a regular thing for people to engage in short term loans at 300% interest until their payday so they can pay their rent on time and get stuck in a loop where they have to keep getting another payday loan because they can't catch up. People regularly crowd fund medical debt and the biggest single source of bankruptcies which are common here is medical debt but oops some years ago we fixed it so even those who have nothing have a hard time getting out from under it unless they have a bunch of money and time to litigate it whilst rich people frequently walk away from debt painlessly and repeatedly.
We are fucked. We are fake successful living off debt like Wile E. Coyote before he runs all the way off the cliff and looks down. This too you don't understand because you don't live here.