The ironic thing is, if we were still living where we were before, the kids would still qualify for medicaid.
As is, we'll be paying over $600 bucks a month with a $6,000 deductible, no dental, and god forbid anyone need a CT scan or be admitted to the hospital for anything. 'Cuz it ain't covered. And did I mention that I haven't even filled out the paperwork yet? Wonder if having a bad neck (that isn't covered anyways) adds to the bill...Probably. Because it's bullshit. If it adds up to too much more money for pretty much zero coverage, I'm throwing my computer at the wall and strangling Alpha's boss for not offering benefits.
I find the whole concept completely reprehensible. If some republican runs on the platform of repealing this mandatory insurance shit, I'm switching affiliations in a heartbeat. How sad is that?
Totally agree. Had to get insurance through work even though I can't afford it and immediately insurance company got hacked. So no longer earn enough to pay for food AND have to sit around worrying about identity theft.
ReplyDeleteTicklish,
Deleteone would think that people going broke paying for insurance wouldn't have the kind of identity people might want to steal!
That sucks all of the way around...
His insurance should offer insurance. How is that anyone else's fault? And have you looked into subsidies?
ReplyDeleteAnon,
DeleteI don't believe that I said it was anyone elses fault that his employer doesn't offer insurance...And yes, I have. Thank you for mentioning the idea.
Meant to say employer should offer insurance.
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to understand how the American medical/healthcare system works, what about those that genuinely cant afford it, does the quality of care depend on how much one can afford?
ReplyDeleteHere in the UK healthcare is free, although there is the option of going private if one wishes/can afford to.
I know medical care costs but if people pay taxes then it should be freely available, it irks me that governments can send millions even billions to help other countries in need but surely they should help their own first.
ok rant over
x
tori,
DeleteI think that many of us here don't understand it either, lol.
Quality of care is not supposed to depend on what you can afford, and they say it doesn't, but from personal observation, I have to say that's bullshit.
I wouldn't mind paying higher taxes to have actual real healthcare...
I'm like Tori- the US healthcare system scares the shit out of me and I pray we don't go this way in the UK. We do pay for the NHS in taxes, but only when you're earning. The critical thing is it is free at the point of use. So no worrying about whether you can afford a treatment or not and nobody waving fee papers in your face before they'll treat you. It isn't perfect, there is no guarantee you'll get the best or treatment will happen quickly. I really feel for those in the US who stress about healthcare, it shouldn't be so given the GDP of your country.
Deletehugs
DF
DelFonte,
DeleteSee, my impression of your overall system is that it works much better than ours! Here, even when you do have insurance (because even if you don't, you still pay the damn fine) it doesn't necessarily pay for the things you need--even in a catastrophic event. You have to go to certain doctors, only certain things are covered, etc. And to get a fairly good plan (not even great) you pay a Lot, which is where those financial divides show even more--we'll be paying more a year then we ever spend on healthcare, for a plan that basically covers nothing!
We're in a similar boat. I can't understand how forcing people who can't afford health insurance to pay for it helps.
ReplyDeleteLea,
DeleteI can't understand it either!
Sorry lil, what else can I say.
ReplyDeletesunnygirl,
Deletethere's not much to say!
What's hilarious about this is the post appears right above a post that says you are free to chose, but are not free from the consequence of your choice. So, are you willing to be uninsured and then die untreated or have your or your heirs go into long term debt because you can't pay for the treatment? Insurance is to prevent catastrophe, not cover everything - think auto insurance. And be consistent in what you believe
ReplyDeleteAnon
DeleteOh yes--totally hilarious. I'm not in the mood for diplomacy or even attempting to reason with the anonymous assholes of the world. Go fuck yourself.
It's a very complicated issue. As employers, we would go bankrupt providing group insurance. We can't do it. It's over $1000 a month per employee. At the same time, our own very high deductible catastrophic family plan has nearly doubled in cost even though we have never used it. Did I mention that we are a small physician office??? It's insane. I can tell you this -- the ACA has increased the bureaucracy so badly that our overhead has tripled and our take home is much lower. And our quality of life sucks. Everyone, staff included, in healthcare experiences about a 20 point increase in baseline blood pressure at work. It's insane. But government involvement has only made it worse in cost and quality for everyone.
ReplyDeleteOne important note: today someone I know had to call the insurance company in order to get the real details, because the website had conflicting information on what her benefits would be. It turns out that it presents her deductible and benefits based on her income. Income completely changes how much your deductible , copay, and coinsurance are. So, double check anything you see on the website by calling the companies themselves.
Anon,
DeleteIt is a complicated issue, and I think that it is very difficult for small businesses and ones just getting on their feet to offer those benefits. As a former employer, I can sympathize with that difficulty. Being on the employee side, I wonder how people can afford to feed their kids and still pay their premiums without having employment which offers benefits...Seems like the only people who really benefit consistently are the insurance companies...
I will keep your advice in mind about calling the companies themselves. Thank you.
Sitting here in Australia I am often bewildered by the U.S. health system. We have a tax payer funded basic health care system that provides everyone with basic care regardless of income. People who are able to pay more do so either by way of a levy or by taking out private cover. I'm not a socialist by any standard but this seems to be a much more straight forward and caring approach. DtBHC.
ReplyDeleteDtBHC,
Deleteyour system at least guarantees that everybody can get what they need.
Even with insurance, if one of the kids breaks a leg, we'll be paying dearly for it. No care is actually guaranteed. I would much rather pay that monthly money out in taxes and know that those things will be taken care of if they happen, not be afraid that they'll happen because we can't pay our insurance premium and the doctors, which is also bad for the doctors because people are much more likely to pay their insurance premium if they have to make a choice of who to short--if they don't pay the premium, they know for sure they will get fined by the government, if they don't pay the dr, they get sent to collections sometime down the road.
My employer offers insurance, but coverage for the three of us would be more than my monthly mortgage payment. So not affordable. I am in the middle of filling out the online paperwork (before Sunday) for the privilege of paying for crappy coverage. At least here the kiddo is covered by Medicaid. I feel your pain.
ReplyDeletelm,
Deleteoh good god, I had better amend my wish to hoping that his employer starts offering affordable benefits!
And that's the thing that really burns my biscuits--it's crappy coverage! I just don't understand how they have the gall to call it healthcare...
I also love that they charge you basically the same amount in fines for not having insurance as you would pay in premiums. It blows. Fortunately my employer offered insurance this year, but before they finally put me full time, I was starting to apply for Medicaid.
ReplyDeleteSimina,
Deleteright?! And the irony of calling it "The affordable care act" irritates the crap out of me...
Canadian healthcare is all paid for by the Government. To afford it, we pay significantly higher taxes than Americans. But I think it's worth it. If we need to go the doctor we go. If our kid needs treatment we get it. If our parent needs treatment we get it. We don't even think about the cost. And we don't really think about how much the system costs. And we don't think about which doctors or which hospitals we are allowed to go to. There are lots of people who grumble about wait times and availability. But I don't think there are very many Canadians who wish we had the same system as the Americans.
ReplyDeleteFury,
DeleteI highly doubt there are many people in the world who find themselves envious of the American healthcare system. Lol.
And that's one of my big issues with it--you have to worry about who you go see, you have to be worried about what is covered and what isn't. Given that we are paying exorbitant amounts of money to the insurance companies, it would be nice if everything (or even nearly everything) was covered. As is, god forbid anyone spend the night at the hospital or have anything requiring stitches...
I too think you are wrong about mandatory health insurance and your state is wrong about the options it has allowed to be offered. IMHO. Jon
ReplyDeleteJon,
Deletenice to see you!
It is a horrible system. It just boggles my mind that they can force people to buy health insurance (with no capping of how much those companies can charge), and then have the gall to call it "Universal healthcare"....