2 hours in the emergency room cost me......

[Kath2003]

We have great insurance and it costs DH and I 7.5% of our income to pay our premiums. If we got NHC I am sure my taxes would increase by more than 7.5%, my wait time would increase and my coverage would be less. I need no referals. I could go in and get bypass surgery and they would pay.

You're right - my healthcare costs me 8% of my income. But that does include my state pension. And of course it covers me in my entirety, with no excess to pay. It also covers everyone else.

 

[hildasmuriel]

I am so greatful I live in England, even though my taxes are high I am thankful for our national health service.

National Health Service

 

[drag n' fly]

Insurance laws have changed and as long as you maintain coverage they can't exclude preexisting conditions. I have to say that your friend must not have looked very hard because $1000/month is EXTREMELY expensive for ANY insurance plan here. Again, even in Canada you PAY for your insurance, it is just in your taxes and I bet you pay MORE for your insurance then most of us in the US. Yes, there are people that don't have insurance but for most there IS insurance available they simply choose NOT to pay for it. There is insurance available to EVERY US citizen but yes, they have to do a little work to get it, fill out some paperwork mostly. You will hear a lot of complaining about people not having insurance but like the OP, it is their CHOICE that they don't have coverage, not that it isn't available.

Each province in Canada has their own Health Insurance program. We pay a health insurance premium each month it is not paid through our taxes. In Alberta where we live we pay 88.00 a month for insurance for our family of five. My dh's employer pays that as a company perk. As of January 1, 09 our health care premiums will be zero as the provincial surplus will now cover everyone's premium so it will be free.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

I know how you feel. Been there, done that.

Actually, still there.

I do not know if pre-exsting conditions exclude you from any policy, but it is not bad to at least have a high deductible polcy So that you don't go homeless.

Some people still can't afford any kind of insurance. I can't.

There are many individual health plans out there that are not all that expensive, $100/month or so. Many have first dollar coverage meaning they pay bill up to a certain amount and then you pay your deductible. Do some research and you will find that health plans are NOT always expensive, a LOT less then $5000 that you will be paying just for one visit to the ER.

Some people don't have an extra $100 per month. I sure don't. I also don't qualify for free programs and still can't afford the "cheap" programs.

Many of these programs don't take into account certain extra expenses some people may have.

On our insurance plan that same visit for me would cost $75. Not everyone is like the OP here. I would bet you pay more in taxes then our health plan costs us. Not everyone has as good of a plan that we do but they COULD if their employer decided to get a plan like we have.

Oh yeah. Easy as that. Make the employer get a health plan. Sorry, just doesn't work that way.
I'm not offered insurance at work because I'm contracted in. Under the contract, I get nothing extra. Period. No insurance of any kind, no paid holidays, no paid vacation, no paid medical leave, etc. If I'm not working, I don't get paid.

And there are a lot more people in my position than you think.

I can't even afford to pay on the medical bills I have from 7 years ago. Not even payments. Everyone seems to think it's so easy. Just make payments, they always say. I don't have the money to make payments, let alone pay off those bills.

Universal Health Care: Taxing the snot out of me to pay for your healthcare so that you can buy stuff I can no longer afford because my taxes are too high.


So, while someone cant go to DW because they are paying for those without insurance, someone else is not paying for insurance so they can go to DW.

This is the argument that people have. Sorry. There's has been nothing concrete said in how much taxes would increase due to universal healthcare.

Why is it that the general populations of many of these countries with univeral healthcare have better overall health and can actually live better with more free time and have more and live happier than we can here in the US?


Although, I do believe that they OP should pay her med bills and have insurance before taking a trip to WDW.

 

[minnie56]

The choice was not "between seeking medical help and not." It was between seeing medial help and DW.

I wasn't referring to the OP--just what I hear 'in general'. I have a friend that lives in Minneapolis..his Dr 'suspects' he has an ulcer. He is trying him on different meds because my friend cannot afford the tests to know conclusively that indeed-he does. He has some coverage through his Employer (Getronics-Target) but obviously it is insufficient to fully cover the required scans. That astounds me.

 

[tlens]

I'm from Canada too and I wouldn't have it any other way. It's not like income taxes eat up all my income. We get by just fine.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

We have great insurance and it costs DH and I 7.5% of our income to pay our premiums. If we got NHC I am sure my taxes would increase by more than 7.5%, my wait time would increase and my coverage would be less. I need no referals. I could go in and get bypass surgery and they would pay.

But, you still have a deductible to pay and our insurance only pays for a certain amount of the fees. I had insurance when I had my operation 7 years ago. After my insurance paid their part, I still owed over $8000. And that was just the hospital. It did not included the over $500 I had to pay the doctor and it didn't include all my doctor visits afterwards.

It also didn't pay for the last check up I had with my OB/GYN. Because it was "preventative", that visit cost me $500 out of my own pocket.

These things are not taken into account when people complain about the possibility of universal healthcare.

So you're trying to tell me (us) that you would pay absolutely nothing if you went into the hospital today for a major surgery?

 

[drag n' fly]

But, you still have a deductible to pay and our insurance only pays for a certain amount of the fees. I had insurance when I had my operation 7 years ago. After my insurance paid their part, I still owed over $8000. And that was just the hospital. It did not included the over $500 I had to pay the doctor and it didn't include all my doctor visits afterwards.

It also didn't pay for the last check up I had with my OB/GYN. Because it was "preventative", that visit cost me $500 out of my own pocket.

These things are not taken into account when people complain about the possibility of universal healthcare.

So you're trying to tell me (us) that you would pay absolutely nothing if you went into the hospital today for a major surgery?

zippo

 

[Teresa Pitman]

In Ontario, we did not pay any health care premium at all until recently. It was all paid through corporate taxes. Recently the government added a premium which is paid at the same time as income taxes.

I hear you saying that have universal health care means that taxes are unreasonably high. I think there is value in providing health care to everyone in our community, even those who do not work for large companies or who are self-employed, or who have financial challenges, even if it means paying higher taxes. As I mentioned before, I also appreciate the peace of mind that it provides for me.

Teresa

 

[phorsenuf]

oops, wrong thread.

 

[Planogirl]

I wish that I could pay just $100 a month. I have insurance through my job and I pay almost $300 and have a huge copay besides.

I feel your pain a little when it comes to the emergency room. DS broke his collar bone and we were in and out in no time (that is after spending an hour in the waiting room). All they did was x-ray and tell us that yes, he had a broken collar bone. My portion was about $300 just for that.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

zippo

Nice.

I was asking those that have insurance here in the US. I know that national healthcare pays for everything.

I wish that I could pay just $100 a month. I have insurance through my job and I pay almost $300 and have a huge copay besides.

I feel your pain a little when it comes to the emergency room. DS broke his collar bone and we were in and out in no time (that is after spending an hour in the waiting room). All they did was x-ray and tell us that yes, he had a broken collar bone. My portion was about $300 just for that.

See? Out of pocket expense that would have been free with universal healthcare.

 

[sandy2330]

But, you still have a deductible to pay and our insurance only pays for a certain amount of the fees. I had insurance when I had my operation 7 years ago. After my insurance paid their part, I still owed over $8000. And that was just the hospital. It did not included the over $500 I had to pay the doctor and it didn't include all my doctor visits afterwards.

It also didn't pay for the last check up I had with my OB/GYN. Because it was "preventative", that visit cost me $500 out of my own pocket.

These things are not taken into account when people complain about the possibility of universal healthcare.

So you're trying to tell me (us) that you would pay absolutely nothing if you went into the hospital today for a major surgery?

DH's last surgery we paid $0 out of pocket. Mine we paid $2500
(which is the max).

 

[tlens]

Universal Health Care: Taxing the snot out of me to pay for your healthcare so that you can buy stuff I can no longer afford because my taxes are too high.


So, while someone cant go to DW because they are paying for those without insurance, someone else is not paying for insurance so they can go to DW.

What does this mean? Sorry but if I'm understanding you right, you don't understand what you're talking about. Canadians ALL pay taxes. Canadians ALL get access to the same level of healthcare regardless of income. The homeless person on the street gets care as does the founder of RIM. Same hospitals. Same doctors. People in Canada afford stuff the same way people elsewhere do...probably more equitably since we ALL pay taxes.

What am I missing? I have to be misunderstanding the intent of this statement.

 

[kimluvswdw]

 

[momto2girls]

Nice.

I was asking those that have insurance here in the US. I know that national healthcare pays for everything.





See? Out of pocket expense that would have been free with universal healthcare.

Sorry, but nothing is free. Someone is going to pay for it.

And I don't mean to be rude at all, but you say that you can't even afford $100 a month for medical insurance. So, how will you afford it if there was UHC and your taxes were raised to cover it? It certainly isn't going to pay for itself. Or do you expect the "rich" people to have to pay more taxes to cover everyone?

 

[cteddiesgirl]

DH's last surgery we paid $0 out of pocket. Mine we paid $2500
(which is the max).

So that $2500 comes in under .5% of your annual income?

Dang, I've love to have your income. Then maybe I could afford your type of insurance.

 

[Chicago526]

Nice.

I was asking those that have insurance here in the US. I know that national healthcare pays for everything.

It really depends on the policy. Some policies (usually the cheapest ones) are bare bones and short of a catostrophic illness, don't cover much of anything. Others will cover you for everything under the sun with little to no out of pocket expenses. Most are somewhere in between those two extremes.

I had an outpatient procedure done over the winter. I have insurance through my employer. The cost was about $13,000. I paid $15 to have some precriptions filled. That was it.

On the other hand, my DH had to have three MRI's done. Cost about $12,000. We had to pay $1200 of that. DH is on his employers insurance and they don't cover as much. $1200 still beats $12,000 though, so I'm not complaining.

 

[sandy2330]

So that $2500 comes in under .5% of your annual income?

Dang, I've love to have your income. Then maybe I could afford your type of insurance.

Where did I say that? I said our insurance premiums were 7.5%. If we have costs that gets added on. How many surgeries per year would a normal person have. This was only my second in my entire life. The first was my toncils at 6 years old. This was DH's first surgery of his entire life.

 

[Kath2003]

Sorry, but nothing is free. Someone is going to pay for it.

And I don't mean to be rude at all, but you say that you can't even afford $100 a month for medical insurance. So, how will you afford it if there was UHC and your taxes were raised to cover it? It certainly isn't going to pay for itself. Or do you expect the "rich" people to have to pay more taxes to cover everyone?

You're right.

But universal healthcare takes one major factor out of the equation.

PROFIT.

Every penny that goes into universal healthcare is spent on healthcare. It is not spent lining the shareholders of insurance companies' pockets. It is recycled back into the healthcare system; into training new doctors, into building new facilities, into providing people with the best care possible.

So I guess that it's not free, but at least I know where my money's going. I know that no matter how sick I, my family or anyone else get, they will receive the best treatment possible.

And by the sounds of it, I pay the same as people who get a good insurance deal through their employers - only I don't have to worry about the insurance any prospective employer may or may not supply me. It's a done deal.