Universal Healthcare how does it work?

[J-Rod10]

Totally understand why you guys are so pissed!!!!!
My father had 2 knees done here in Australia and he had private health cover and his out of pocket (cash payment) was about $3,000. There is a trend here for people that do not have private health cover and do not want to wait for the public system. They are going to Thailand for surgery and have a holiday at a beach resort during recovery! You could certainly live it up for US$300K in Thailand.

I mean, my insurance covered every penny of it.

$300K in Thailand, I could probably live out the rest of my days on the beach without a care in the world.

 

[Scooter trash]

I got the bill for her, but for the life of me I can't remember the happy ending or beginning. She wasn't cheap though!

 

[VonYinzer]

I mean, my insurance covered every penny of it.

$300K in Thailand, I could probably live out the rest of my days on the beach without a care in the world.

Insurance gained while playing professional baseball correct?

I know some folks in baseball aren't making "superstar" money like the household name guys, so I won't assume anything about you or your career. That said, I still have a hard time believing that your situation is 100% comparable to the average low to middle income American worker.

If I'm way off base (har har) I'll apologize now.

 

[J-Rod10]

Insurance gained while playing professional baseball correct?

I know some folks in baseball aren't making "superstar" money like the household name guys, so I won't assume anything about you or your career. That said, I still have a hard time believing that your situation is 100% comparable to the average low to middle income American worker.

If I'm way off base (har har) I'll apologize now.

Correct, insurance from the club.

The majority of guys who play professional ball, never make much of anything. Few of us are lucky enough to get a hefty signing bonus.

Article about a current lawsuit going on about it.

Granted, like most 19 year olds handed a big check, I was foolish with a lot of it.




http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/03/minor-leaguers-working-poor-lawsuit-mlb-bud-selig

That said, 100% comparable, probably not.

 

[Sonreir]

Just out of curiosity,

What does health insurance cost you folks in the US on a yearly basis?

Here's my monthly costs. All the red circles are healthcare related and are paid by either me or my employer. It's important to note that these are just premiums. I have to pay again if I use most services. That said, my health care is really good by US standards. Premiums are high, but my maximum out of pocket costs for the year (for non-dental and non-vision related items) is capped at $1500.

It's about $19,000 USD per year, all in.

 

[Sonreir]

When we were living in the UK back in the mid-2000s, my monthly contributions to the NHS were about £270 a month. We chose to cover vision and dental ourselves (you don't get a lower tax rate if you do this, btw), as the vision coverage was poor and the NHS was overbooked (we couldn't find an NHS dentist accepting new patients within a suitable traveling distance). My son was born under NHS care and I had some issues with cysts in my eyelids. My son's care was exceptional and mine was adequate.

 

[farmer92]

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Here's my monthly costs. All the red circles are healthcare related and are paid by either me or my employer. It's important to note that these are just premiums. I have to pay again if I use most services. That said, my health care is really good by US standards. Premiums are high, but my maximum out of pocket costs for the year (for non-dental and non-vision related items) is capped at $1500.

It's about $19,000 USD per year, all in.

Thanks for that breakdown

Holy shit though
19k/ year is insane!
Even if employers cover some of it, it's still cash that could be used for salaries or reinvestment.

I can see now why teazer was saying the costs of health care are blown up out of proportion.

Why can canada do it for <6.5k/person?
Thats 1/3 of your coverage costs...

 

[Sonreir]

Holy shit though
19k/ year is insane!
Even if employers cover some of it, it's still cash that could be used for salaries or reinvestment.

And that cost is if I don't even use it. That's just the ticket to get in. Most of those dollars are going to pay for some asshole's third yacht.

Why can canada do it for <6.5k/person?
Thats 1/3 of your coverage costs...

I think part of the problem is that a lot of Americans think that this is how much health care really costs. They're concerned that paying less means you get less.

Another group is suspicious of anything the government tries to do and they automatically equate government control with waste and inefficiency (except the military is many cases? I digress...).

The last major group is people that are just against having to pay for anything that might help someone else out, even if it helps them out, too.

That said, I think a private insurance scheme could definitely work here, but we have a lot of barriers to remove before the free market is actually a solution. For one, most people's health care is tied to their employer and choices tend to be very limited. We have laws in place that prevent a lot of insurers from cross state lines with their plans, so competition is also limited. If health insurance were handled like car insurance, I could see it lowering costs. I don't think it would do much to help the uninsured, though.

 

[Sonreir]

Hang on... I fucked up. The PEBB stuff is my retirement, not my health care. New graphic. I'm paying about $24,000 a year, not $19,000.

 

[farmer92]

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Hang on... I fucked up. The PEBB stuff is my retirement, not my health care. New graphic. I'm paying about $24,000 a year, not $19,000.

With the dollar exchange you pay close to 30,000 Canadian
Five times almost what we pay

A family could live off of what you pay in health contributions

Jesus

 

[Sonreir]

According to NPR, health care spending per person in the USA broke $10,000 last year, so maybe $24,000 for a family of four is actually a good deal?

 

[cxman]

you are better off than rachel and me

you pay more in premiums

we pay just over 13k

but our family copay is 14k per year

 

[irk miller]

The part that no one talks about is that, at least in the US, how much you use your insurance affects how much your premiums are, especially employer provided benefits. One thing that attracted me to the school I teach at is the long tenure of it's faculty. Teachers that stay a while must be happy, right? So that's a good indicator of it being a good school to work at. The downside to that is that the population of that faculty averages over 50 years of age. Our premiums go up a significantly higher amount every year than the other schools in our consortium because of how much our staff uses their insurance to pay for procedures. The same department chair I spoke of with crazy high monthly premiums also takes her kids to the doctor for even the slightest sniffle. She herself misses more than her max PO time due to illness. While she's paying almost $700 per month for insurance, she's also had a $40k plus procedure done on a family member or herself every year that I've lived here (4 years). If you asked me, I'd say she's getting off pretty well considering. She pays $8400 per year for insurance, but gets over $40k per year in benefits.

 

[J-Rod10]

The part that no one talks about is that, at least in the US, how much you use your insurance affects how much your premiums are, especially employer provided benefits. One thing that attracted me to the school I teach at is the long tenure of it's faculty. Teachers that stay a while must be happy, right? So that's a good indicator of it being a good school to work at. The downside to that is that the population of that faculty averages over 50 years of age. Our premiums go up a significantly higher amount every year than the other schools in our consortium because of how much our staff uses their insurance to pay for procedures. The same department chair I spoke of with crazy high monthly premiums also takes her kids to the doctor for even the slightest sniffle. She herself misses more than her max PO time due to illness. While she's paying almost $700 per month for insurance, she's also had a $40k plus procedure done on a family member or herself every year that I've lived here (4 years). If you asked me, I'd say she's getting off pretty well considering. She pays $8400 per year for insurance, but gets over $40k per year in benefits.

Funny how that works, huh?

My insurance has gone up just about every year, I haven't seen a doctor, gotten a script since 2013 when I broke a few bones.

 

[SONICJK]

My thoughts on health insurance:

IMHO there should be a baseline base care policy that is covered by our taxes. 2% or whatever it needs to be to provide everyone with a baseline care. I'm talking emergency room care/life saving care.
On top of that there should be optional plans that you can buy into. Things like vision, dental, random doctor visits, runny nose type crap.
If you want better/faster care then you would have the option to purchase that with additional premiums, things like preferred doctors, private rooms, fancy meals, etc would be covered by this additional cost should you opt for it.
I frankly don't see why this is so complicated.

The real problem is inflated costs, not the complexity of the system. The problem is how do we deal with the fact that the hospitals, pharma companies, doctors, dentists, medical equipment manufacturers etc are used to their absolutely outlandish salaries? The problem is that these people "own" the government. Meaning that their lobbyists control the money flowing into our senators and congressmen's pockets (whether directly or indirectly) which in turn gives them control of the legislation that allows these companies and individuals to keep doing what they are doing.

When I wrecked my bike and tore up my heel I went to the ER and got stitches. That's all. About 1 hour worth of time and 40 stitches.
When I got the bill it was for $20,000. They sent me a non-itemized bill assuming I would just pay it.
I demanded an itemized bill and the things they charges me for were so ridiculous that I couldn't do anything but laugh at it.
1200 dollars for suture material. 1000 dollars for antibiotic cream. 1000 dollars for a stainless tool set. 1500 dollars for a "flush". Etc Etc.
The main problem with our healthcare system is that those sutures can be bought for 15 bucks, the antibiotic creme they tried to charge me 1000 dollars for is a generic and available for 4 dollars at any pharmacy. The "flush" was 5 minutes of a nurses time and 1 gallon of water (FROM THE FUCKING SINK) followed by a sterile rinse.
Yes the insurance companies negotiate that down to 1/2 of what the bill is, but they are still paying 500 bucks for a 4 dollar sample size of creme.

 

[Mr Bernzo]

Sonic, your first paragraph describes amost exactly how the the australian system works. Despite all the bitching from conservative politicians, it works well.
Sounds like the biggest issue in the US is the corporate corruption. Rich companies chasing ever increasing profits. Unsustainable and terrible for users of the system.

Sent from my Moto G Play using Tapatalk

 

[teazer]

It's part of the wealth re-distribution that republicans have been pushing for years from you and me to the rich guys. How does anyone think that people like Trump get so rich? And Kushner is another slumlord whose company apparently pushes people out of substandard housing and then drags them through court if they break the lease.

But I digress.

The current system richly rewards those with the cash to get a health facility built or who can push narcotics of teh opiod variety or who push up prices on things like the epi pen. The system is beyond corrupt. It's immoral.

 

[Tune-A-Fish]

My thoughts on health insurance:

IMHO there should be a baseline base care policy that is covered by our taxes. 2% or whatever it needs to be to provide everyone with a baseline care. I'm talking emergency room care/life saving care.
On top of that there should be optional plans that you can buy into. Things like vision, dental, random doctor visits, runny nose type crap.
If you want better/faster care then you would have the option to purchase that with additional premiums, things like preferred doctors, private rooms, fancy meals, etc would be covered by this additional cost should you opt for it.
I frankly don't see why this is so complicated.

The real problem is inflated costs, not the complexity of the system. The problem is how do we deal with the fact that the hospitals, pharma companies, doctors, dentists, medical equipment manufacturers etc are used to their absolutely outlandish salaries? The problem is that these people "own" the government. Meaning that their lobbyists control the money flowing into our senators and congressmen's pockets (whether directly or indirectly) which in turn gives them control of the legislation that allows these companies and individuals to keep doing what they are doing.

When I wrecked my bike and tore up my heel I went to the ER and got stitches. That's all. About 1 hour worth of time and 40 stitches.
When I got the bill it was for $20,000. They sent me a non-itemized bill assuming I would just pay it.
I demanded an itemized bill and the things they charges me for were so ridiculous that I couldn't do anything but laugh at it.
1200 dollars for suture material. 1000 dollars for antibiotic cream. 1000 dollars for a stainless tool set. 1500 dollars for a "flush". Etc Etc.
The main problem with our healthcare system is that those sutures can be bought for 15 bucks, the antibiotic creme they tried to charge me 1000 dollars for is a generic and available for 4 dollars at any pharmacy. The "flush" was 5 minutes of a nurses time and 1 gallon of water (FROM THE FUCKING SINK) followed by a sterile rinse.
Yes the insurance companies negotiate that down to 1/2 of what the bill is, but they are still paying 500 bucks for a 4 dollar sample size of creme.

That last paragraph IS exactly the problem... Insurance and HC is as expensive as it IS because the goddamn people are willing to pay it, Dr's don't get this money, they all know the "system" is a sham but still the FRN's keep flowing.

Get Givernment out of HC entirely and watch the cost drop like a black dude with his hands up.

Entitlements are for the entitled... are you entitled to anything you didn't earn? Fuck no... get a job and pay your way, but also be willing to help those who are truly in need of help.

redress of grievance... DENIED.

 

[SONICJK]

That last paragraph IS exactly the problem... Insurance and HC is as expensive as it IS because the goddamn people are willing to pay it, Dr's don't get this money, they all know the "system" is a sham but still the FRN's keep flowing.

Get Givernment out of HC entirely and watch the cost drop like a black dude with his hands up.

Entitlements are for the entitled... are you entitled to anything you didn't earn? Fuck no... get a job and pay your way, but also be willing to help those who are truly in need of help.

redress of grievance... DENIED.

The problem is you cannot remove government from healthcare entirely. Because of the money and power behind pharmaceutical companies and hospital chains they influence the government to pass the laws that allow them to keep raping the people.

 

[SONICJK]

Vaguely related to healthcare:
My opinion is that the problem with our government as a whole is lobbyists.
A company should not be able to funnel billions of dollars into "persuading" our government to do things.
I have a pretty high moral opinion of myself, however if you flash a few million bucks in my face, directly or indirectly, I'm fairly likely to at least reconsider my stance on an issue in order to further myself.
The problem is our congressmen and senators are people. They are corruptible just like you and I. Our government is just set up from the foundation to allow corruption to be so easy its absurd.
And frankly I don't see a way out at this point.