Thread: About healthcare.

Originally Posted by Hydaral

I think the major problem in the US is that health insurance is linked to your job and determined by your employer. Does your employer handle your home or car insurance (I don't think they do in the US). Isn't your health more valuable than either of those? Shouldn't it be managed by the individual?

It should be managed by the individual. However, individual health insurance for many many people is utterly unaffordable in the U.S. and for others is a huge monetary burden. That's why so many people try as hard as they can to get insurance through an employer health plan. The EMPLOYER is not recruiting employees for the health plan.

I pay for individual health insurance out of my own pocket. There are five of us in our family. Just last week, I applied for coverage through another private health insurance company. If we're accepted, we'll be paying $460 per month for all of us. On that plan we'll also have a $10,000 family deductible (once the $10,000 is met, it's met for all of us). And.....we'll have no maternity or birth coverage whatsoever. Should my wife and I have another child, we'll have to find some way to pay the $10,000-$20,000 for a birth out of our own pockets.

Our current health insurance DOES cover maternity and birth. And, it only has a $1,500 per individual deductible. Our current health insurance costs us $950.....per month. Those are real dollars. That's the actual amount; it's not a joke.

Chris L

Good lord, Chris...that is terrifying.

Add to that the fact that even if you DO get sick, the insurance company will do everything in their power to deny coverage, and it sounds to me like a wee little bit of hell. It's a freaking crime.

Originally Posted by JimR

Good lord, Chris...that is terrifying.

Add to that the fact that even if you DO get sick, the insurance company will do everything in their power to deny coverage, and it sounds to me like a wee little bit of hell. It's a freaking crime.

Agreed. Vehicle insurance is enough of a PITA, Health insurance must be an absolute black hole of small print.

Figures like that make me extremely grateful for the NHS.

I have to say, I thought there was a lot of noise in that video. Lots of assumptions. Completely missed the bigger picture.

ChrisL,

These sums are horrible. Is it really so that those who get no health insurance from their jobs have to pay prices like that?

Just had to check my insurance papers. My private health insurance is about 200 € per year + 50 € per case. About the same with my wife. Little less for my kids. That covers little more than public health care: For the medicines it covers those parts that public health care doesn't. That is the main difference.

Thanks for that Chris, it seems that a few of us overseas didn't know how bad it was. If your prices are typical then something certainly needs to be done.

Personally, as a 31 year old single male, I am paying ~AU$700 a year, this is after the 30% rebate Australians get from the government. This covers me for hospital, ambulance and major dental. A couple of years ago I went to a private hospital as an outpatient for elective minor cosmetic sugery (removing a benign mole on my neck), didn't cost me a cent. I was actually surprised at that.

If you move to expensive places in the US, the prices only become higher, but usually you get coverage through your employer. On the other hand, you're pretty much f'ed if you don't. A reason I keep my EU passport. If the shit really hits the fan, I can leave and would be happy to pay proper insurance rates in Europe again.

My insurer is not too bad it seems. Rates are pretty steep, but they cover quite a bit and don't seem to give me too much grief yet.

While the prices are alarming, there's something much more significant (IMHO) in Chris' post:

If we're accepted...

This is something that should not be ignored or glossed-over. Right now if you're deemed a "risk" by the insurance companies then you're either going to be denied coverage, or it will cost you much more than the amounts that Chris quoted.

The hilarious thing is all the horrible things that detractors say would happen to you if the health plan passed are already happening to people x10 just that it's the private corporations who are doing it. I guess that makes it acceptable.

Health care in America needs fixing! I am not a Republican or a Democrat. Neither party will address tort reform, immigration problems or government waste that is bankrupting our healthcare system. Making everyone join a government health plan is suicide, just ask the president of Canada. That is exactly what will happen if the government "takes care of healthcare". Only the rich and powerful will get the care they need. There is not one government program that is not a horror to human logic.

Another example this last couple of weeks is the NTSB. The oversight agency that is trying to hang Toyota out to dry. I know for a fact that there are constant problems with any fly by wire control systems, used by any manufacturer, in any device, including the airplanes that we ride in. We won't even go to the point that the government owns GM.

The only people who think the government does anything right are the bean counters that come up with the statistics to support their point of view at the cost of the individual. "For the good of many" is spouted by progressives and the like till they are the ones that have to sacrifice....then it is "I am going to Florida to get the surgery done"....TYPICAL!

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" is just as true now as it was in 1834 when Lord Acton made the statement. Why do we constantly give power to people who prove time and time again that they screw up everything they do? Blows my mind! We need regulations not ownership by the government!


Take Care,
Richard

I wonder what would happen if the USPS suddenly went away?

I ask my "hate the Government", "Government can't do anything right" friends that question and they are the first to say that would suck. Considering only the USPS is required to deliver to every address in the US, not a single private company is required to do that nor do they even come close.

Granted, it's not Health Care but I'm sure you get the idea.