Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
With the one payer system we all pay for each others healthcare through our taxes. Nobody is working 80 hours a week paying my healthcare, nor is anyone in my country going without it. When you take into account what most Americans pay in private healthcare there isn't much of a difference in overall taxes. The average cost for a family health insurance policy in the Usa topped $10,000 this year, I paid less than half that amount in taxes last year.
you just made my point. It is imposible for the state to provide all the services, infrastructure and "free" health care for less than $5,000 a year--unless someone else pays much more to make up for those paying less.
I do not mean to put you or anyone else down, as we all have been there; my only beef is with the idea that some things and services are "free".
No it's not impossible, the way the USA runs it's healthcare system costs far more than the single payer system because of all the paperwork and middlemen all taking a piece of the pie. It's just a matter of economies of scale, if you have one buyer for a huge group of people, one source of administration and no middlemen your costs are far lower per capita.
The World Health Organization seems to agree. According to one of their past reports, "The U. S. health system spends a higher portion of its gross domestic product than any other country but ranks 37 out of 191 countries according to its performance, the report finds. The United Kingdom, which spends just six percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on health services, ranks 18th . "
[who.int...]
well, someone else is paying for you, and he/she is not even getting a "thank you" note. Most likely that person is working 80 hours a week, taking risks and losing sleep so he could still afford a few thinsg after he's done paying his taxes for the "free" healthcare and other benefits.
Truth be told, "someone else" is paying for a large number of people in the US, and it is:
1. Driving health care costs up
2. Diving health insurance rates up
3. Killing people.
The uninsured don't seek out medical care until it becomes and emergency. This means unneeded hospital/emergency room visits, with associated high costs that are passed on to those that can pay.
It also leads to relatively minor conditions becoming mortal.
Conservative in many things here, but also a supporter of a National Health System that would provide basic medical services to everyone. If memory serves me, last time there was an effort to create a State system in Oregon they figured it would be about a $20 a month increase in taxes - about the cost of a pizza.
On the other hand, I would do away with employer paid health care. It is a way of hiding salary that has longer term consequences few people think about. I have fully paid medical/dental/life - to the tune of nearly $1000 a month. I would rather see that in my salary. For one, I can find roughly equivalent health insurance cheaper (so much for the power of group plans). Having that money in salary would have other benefits too, including more flexibility (think investment for retirement) and more realistic long term planning. I have known many approaching pension age that suddenly realize that they can not affort to pay for Health Insurance (which had been provided by the employer) and end up having to work to MedicAide age.
This one has gotten pretty close to politics, so I better quit.
WBF
Your post IMHO is 100% on the money!
This is a very political subject....so we might as well just bite that bullet!
I'm a right-wing, conservative Republican. However, fact is that Medicare in the USA operate with a 2.6% administrative cost and the average HMO (or whatever), operate with a 25.2% administrative cost.
Good health care is delivered by Doctors, it is not delivered by Attorney's and Administrative pencil pushers.
I'd rather pay for the Doc, and avoid the cost of the unnecessary overhead.
I believe most Doctors are ethical good people, they simply get corrupted by the conditions they are forced to work under in the USA.
The Government is supposed to protect the "people", and that is simply not happening with healthcare in the USA.
I'm lucky, I personally don't care about the cost of "major medical", but, I certainly do care what that does to the society that I have to live in!
Health care is important, we need to get the Ambulance chasing Attorney's out of it. They are not needed as Doctors already obey a code of ethics. Quit making the Doctors pay heavy insurance and the people might see their rates decline also :)
Mr. Perot-I mean Percentages, when did you switch parties ;-)
Yesterday I discovered that the policy quoted to me did not come any with maternity benefits.
This is where the fun begins:
Maternity benefits are $65 per month extra; I'm responsible for the first $1500 and after that it's a 50/50 split. Uh, that sucks... based on our first baby I'd have been out of pocket over $12,000!
So I asked about a differnent policy and before they could quote an hmo they want to know if your wife has ever had a c-section. If the answer to that question is 'yes' then you're not eligable for any hmo under blue cross blue shield. Oh, and If I buy the PPO I can still get the maternity benefits but I'm 100% responsible for the c-section fees!
Nice huh? The reality is what a lot of others have already stated... decent insurance is going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $600+ per month. Unless you work for a large organization that offers it as part of an employment package.
Easycoder- Insurance is there to protect you from things that you didn't know/expect were going to happen. It is not there to pay your bills for you. It seems like you want to pay $65 per month and have a baby. Obviously no one would pay the extra $65 unless they were planning on having a baby. Therefore they would likely pay it for the 2-3 years they attempt and successfully have a child. That would total less than $2000. You obviously know that medical costs typically total much greater than that to have a child. Therefore, why do you expect insurance to cover the approximate $25000 required?
