News Disney Parks Chief Josh D'Amaro Says Pricing Model Aims to Keep Vacations Affordable for Families

[JMcMahonEsq]

Yes I concur. Also an ABI survey noted that out of the 2 million bankruptcies filed annually , 62% of the 2 million is due to medical debt.

I am not sure why this would be surprising to anyone given the nature of medical costs/emergencies.

1) Most large medical expenditures/events are unexpected. People aren't planning/budgeting around a car accident, or pneumonia, or a cancer diagnosis.

2) Most significant medical expenditures are immediate. Most times medical emergencies or large necessary costs can not be deferred or postponed. You can't say, well i won't take the ambulance to the hospital now, or let me wait 6 months so i can save and alter my budget in order to pay for the hospital stay.

3) Most significant medical costs are non-discretionary. Unlike other expenditures, in most instances medical costs are non-discretionary. Trips, cars, house, ect., are all generally speaking expenditures that you can put off if needs be. You can keep renting for a year or two if you can't afford the down payment on a house, or the interest rates are bad. You can not take a vacation for a couple years, or not buy that new X or Y. That doesn't really work for medical necessities. Your body doesn't care what you budget is when something goes wrong and you really can't "wait" to fix it.

4) Medical costs are expensive. There could, and are tons written on the average costs of health care, and its not really worth diving into the whys here. But there is no getting around that medical professionals are some of the highest trained individuals, with significant schooling and training costs. Add in technology costs, malpractice insurance, ect., and there is no doubt the costs associated with medical treatment are going to be high.

5) Lack of lower price alternatives. For consumer spending, generally stated you can shop around and potentially find cheaper alternatives to what you may "desire." A budget car vs a luxury one. Bargain clothes vs designer. Staying off property at a budget motel vs. the Contemporary. The emergency medical costs don't really lend itself to that type of discretionary spending. Especially in emergent situations. Your really not going to be able to shop around for the "cheaper" chemo. Or wait around at an accident scene and find the cheapest ambulance service, or wait to decide what hospital the ambulance should bring you to because those doctors have better rates.

Given all these things, and the nature of what bankruptcy is, it would be surprising if these costs didn't make up a large percentage of the basis for personal bankruptcy filing.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Yeah, I hate to point out the obvious, but it is an incredibly privileged (and wrong) position to say "most everyone has medical insurance, etc", which is not remotely true.

Even with insurance, Americans can have crippling amounts of medical debt.

Its is neither incredibly privileged or wrong to point out mathematical statistics.

Most recent studies (take your pick, IRS, HHS, CDC, Mayo, NEJM) peg the number of Americans without insurance as being somewhere in the range of 25-27Million. That is roughly 8-9% of the American population. So while its still a personal tragedy for those people who do not have coverage, that still means 91-92% of the population DOES have medical insurance, which is in fact well into the most everyone has medical insurance range.

 

[DisneyHead123]

Yes I concur. Also an ABI survey noted that out of the 2 million bankruptcies filed annually , 62% of the 2 million is due to medical debt.

I’m guessing long term care like nursing homes accounts for a lot of that - Medicaid / Medicare only kicks in for that after you have depleted all personal funds, and it’s so exorbitantly expensive you’d have to have savings in the upper millions to afford it for long.

It is terrifying how one medical situation can bankrupt you in the US. If a person is in an accident, transported on a helicopter, receives surgery and then it turns out they put them on an out of network flight by accident? That could be hundreds of thousands or even over a million. They’ve tried to put in “no surprises” laws but they don’t cover every situation and they don’t cover when something is in-network but insurance says it’s not covered.

 

[Lilofan]

I am not sure why this would be surprising to anyone given the nature of medical costs/emergencies.

1) Most large medical expenditures/events are unexpected. People aren't planning/budgeting around a car accident, or pneumonia, or a cancer diagnosis.

2) Most significant medical expenditures are immediate. Most times medical emergencies or large necessary costs can not be deferred or postponed. You can't say, well i won't take the ambulance to the hospital now, or let me wait 6 months so i can save and alter my budget in order to pay for the hospital stay.

3) Most significant medical costs are non-discretionary. Unlike other expenditures, in most instances medical costs are non-discretionary. Trips, cars, house, ect., are all generally speaking expenditures that you can put off if needs be. You can keep renting for a year or two if you can't afford the down payment on a house, or the interest rates are bad. You can not take a vacation for a couple years, or not buy that new X or Y. That doesn't really work for medical necessities. Your body doesn't care what you budget is when something goes wrong and you really can't "wait" to fix it.

4) Medical costs are expensive. There could, and are tons written on the average costs of health care, and its not really worth diving into the whys here. But there is no getting around that medical professionals are some of the highest trained individuals, with significant schooling and training costs. Add in technology costs, malpractice insurance, ect., and there is no doubt the costs associated with medical treatment are going to be high.

5) Lack of lower price alternatives. For consumer spending, generally stated you can shop around and potentially find cheaper alternatives to what you may "desire." A budget car vs a luxury one. Bargain clothes vs designer. Staying off property at a budget motel vs. the Contemporary. The emergency medical costs don't really lend itself to that type of discretionary spending. Especially in emergent situations. Your really not going to be able to shop around for the "cheaper" chemo. Or wait around at an accident scene and find the cheapest ambulance service, or wait to decide what hospital the ambulance should bring you to because those doctors have better rates.

Given all these things, and the nature of what bankruptcy is, it would be surprising if these costs didn't make up a large percentage of the basis for personal bankruptcy filing.

One place that will not charge you for an ambulance ride to ( ie Celebration Hospital ) is Disney. It’s a free ride for the guest or cast that need a transport.

 

[monothingie]

Today is June 9, 2025

Josh had trouble doing rich guy things this weekend because he was really down thinking about affordability.

Josh was shocked by how expensive the price of hotdogs have become for his weekend BBQ. Specifically the cost of A5 Wagyu Beef used for his rich guy hot dogs really jumped and he had to settle for A4 Wagyu.

Pour one out for Josh, specifically the bottle of Dom Perignon 1947.

Josh will be back tomorrow

...or will he?

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Yeah, I hate to point out the obvious, but it is an incredibly privileged (and wrong) position to say "most everyone has medical insurance, etc", which is not remotely true.

Even with insurance, Americans can have crippling amounts of medical debt.

If you work most employers have insurance programs. If you are unable to get insurance for some reason, there are government programs for this. The ER's in our area have a sign up that says You will be seen even without insurance or ability to pay. So, I would say most people do. BTW do you live in the US?

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Are you aware? of costs for a loved one to be in assisted living / nursing home etc, continual rehab at home/ outpatient facility after being released from the hospital , etc . I assure you insurance will not take care of what you thing they cover.

Yes, I have had that situation with my Dad. I am familiar with all this. Do you live in the US Lilofan? I know that Canada has an entirely different system. I do not pretend to know what that is however, having never lived there and experienced all of this on my own. BTW I am on Medicare and Medical Advantage system, so am familiar with that too.

 

[Lilofan]

Yes, I have had that situation with my Dad. I am familiar with all this. Do you live in the US Lilofan? I know that Canada has an entirely different system. I do not preten to know what that is however, having never lived there and experienced all of this on my own. BTW I am on Medicare and Medical Advantage system, so am familiar with that too.

Yes in the USA. Having medical debt in Canada is “ what’s that like , USA “?

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Yes in the USA. Having medical debt in Canada is “ what’s that like , USA “?

Look, Lilofan, I am not going to argue with you about this. I enjoy this thread a lot, so let's just say we differ in our experiences and agreements. Have a good day

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Yeah, I hate to point out the obvious, but it is an incredibly privileged (and wrong) position to say "most everyone has medical insurance, etc", which is not remotely true.

Even with insurance, Americans can have crippling amounts of medical debt.

That's why I said MOST Americans.

 

[Ayla]

If you work most employers have insurance programs. If you are unable to get insurance for some reason, there are government programs for this. The ER's in our area have a sign up that says You will be seen even without insurance or ability to pay. So, I would say most people do. BTW do you live in the US?

Sure do. Born and bred Wisconsinite of almost 51 years, thankyouverymuch. And no, not "most" employers have insurance programs.

I grew up poor, with no health insurance and just enough household income to fall between the cracks of government aid (as do millions of people in this country, currently).

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Their imagination ?

Not to go down the rabbit hole, but it's actually completely true. Harvard study showed 62% of all personal bankruptcy cases were due to medical expenses, despite most having insurance. It's not hard to have that happen. My child was born in the first week of January. Since we had miscarriages before, we had all sorts of testing/checks/etc. from about 15 weeks on. Medical insurance had a max out of pocket at $5k. BUT, that resets the first of the year. Long story short despite medical insurance, we ended up paying $9k over the course of about 6 months WITH insurance. Anyone with family members with medical issues will easily owe $5k a year in medical on just their out of pocket max, not including other family members. AND, lets add another fun one from a friend who was going off about this to me literally 2 weeks ago. Screenings are covered by insurance. But diagnostics are not. So, the mammogram was covered 100%. When they felt something and wanted the X-Ray or MRI (sorry, not something I know a ton about), that was considered diagnostic, and fell to your deductibles and out of pocket maximums. Plenty more I could on with (had a family member who was having some sort of issues with their legs where they could not get out of bed, the ER sent them to an inpatient facility, and insurance would only cover 1 week. They could not figure out the issue or fix it, but after 1 week, insurance says you pay yourself or you go home. Unable to get out of bed and with doctors having NO idea why yet, needing a nervous system specialist to help who couldn't get there til the next week).

Yes I concur. Also an ABI survey noted that out of the 2 million bankruptcies filed annually , 62% of the 2 million is due to medical debt.

That doesn’t seem like “imagination” to me.

 

[Alice a]

That's why I said MOST Americans.

Plenty of employers don’t offer insurance anymore. In my 20 years of post-graduate school full-time employment, only one of my employers has offered health insurance.

In the south, even working for the state or for major institutions, there are not necessarily benefits.

I worked full time at the College of Charleston in a graduate-degree required position that didn’t offer benefits.

When I went to work for the family business, a retail store, part of the reason is that to get the best staff, we offer pretty nice benefits, including fully-paid health insurance premiums.

Which is why our retail store has 4 former school teachers, a physicist, a former nurse, 2 former firefighters, and a botanist working there.

Pay and benefits in the south, even for professionals, suck.

I got bitten by a bat on a Friday night. The state can’t test it for rabies until Monday. So I had to get 6 rabies shots to start the process within 24 hours.

I had great insurance (that I paid for myself - this was 2009.)

The bat tested negative, so I only had those 6 shots. It was a $20k bill, after insurance.

One of the shots alone was $9k. I was paying off those shots (I’d had great insurance) for 8 years.

To keep this on-topic: that’s why I don’t have kids. My prime years, all my extra money went to medical debt.

So we don’t spend money at WDW on kids stuff because we don’t have kids, and our parks love won’t be passed on to the next generation.

 

[Ayla]

Plenty of employers don’t offer insurance anymore. In my 20 years of post-graduate school, full time professional employment, only one of my employers has offered health insurance.

In the south, even working for the state or for major institutions, there are not necessarily benefits.

I worked full time at the College of Charleston in a graduate degree required position that didn’t offer benefits.

When I went to work for the family business, a retail store, part of the reason is that, to get the best staff, we offer pretty nice benefits, including fully paid health insurance premiums.

Which is why our retail store has 4 former school teachers, a physicist, a former nurse, 2 former firefighters, and a botanist working there.

Pay and benefits in the south, even for professionals, suck.

I want to make clear my DH has amazing benefits, including medical, at a company most Americans would recognize, but that does not mean I don't understand I am in a very privileged position and his company is in the minority when it comes to benefits.

That does not mean we are immune to crippling medical debt, due to a serious accident or a serious health diagnosis.

 

[marni1971]

That doesn’t seem like “imagination” to me.

Makes a change

 

[FutureCEO]

Plenty of employers don’t offer insurance anymore. In my 20 years of post-graduate school full-time employment, only one of my employers has offered health insurance.

In the south, even working for the state or for major institutions, there are not necessarily benefits.

I worked full time at the College of Charleston in a graduate-degree required position that didn’t offer benefits.

When I went to work for the family business, a retail store, part of the reason is that to get the best staff, we offer pretty nice benefits, including fully-paid health insurance premiums.

Which is why our retail store has 4 former school teachers, a physicist, a former nurse, 2 former firefighters, and a botanist working there.

Pay and benefits in the south, even for professionals, suck.

I got bitten by a bat on a Friday night. The state can’t test it for rabies until Monday. So I had to get 6 rabies shots to start the process within 24 hours.

I had great insurance (that I paid for myself - this was 2009.)

The bat tested negative, so I only had those 6 shots. It was a $20k bill, after insurance.

One of the shots alone was $9k. I was paying off those shots (I’d had great insurance) for 8 years.

To keep this on-topic: that’s why I don’t have kids. My prime years, all my extra money went to medical debt.

So we don’t spend money at WDW on kids stuff because we don’t have kids, and our parks love won’t be passed on to the next generation.

I had that happen to me a few years ago (the whole bat in the house thing, he disappeared though). Cost was 10K for the shots but I didn't pay anything though.

 

[Alice a]

I had that happen to me a few years ago (the whole bat in the house thing, he disappeared though). Cost was 10K for the shots but I didn't pay anything though.

Yeah, if I had owned instead of rented, homeowners insurance would’ve covered it.

As it was, it was a crazy event. My cat grabbed a bat who flew out of the fireplace and threw it on me.

My vet, a friend, was howling over the phone. The cat was vaccinated for rabies, of course.

 

[Disstevefan1]

One of the shots alone was $9k.

Now THAT is organized crime!

 

[HauntedPirate]

Maybe Josh should move into a health care executive position, where he can also think about affordability daily but not have to deal with the unwashed hordes of CMs.

 

[JMcMahonEsq]

Sure do. Born and bred Wisconsinite of almost 51 years, thankyouverymuch. And no, not "most" employers have insurance programs.

I grew up poor, with no health insurance and just enough household income to fall between the cracks of government aid (as do millions of people in this country, currently).

And once again you’re completely wrong. Per the latest us census report 86% of employees worked for employers who offer health insurance which falls firmly into the “most” category