Private healthcare

[Bruce Wayne]

I understand alot of US healthcare is provided privately and would love to learn more about this, ie how much it costs, whether its cheaper the healthier you are, what happens if you can't afford it etc.

[pennywise]

Our health system is a mess. There are many who cannot assess healthcare due to costs, lack of knowledge about health, etc. I am very knowledgeable here. In fact in the winter term this year I studied this subject. Private means that employers provide health insurance. If your employer does not provide a good policy, wow! Most bankruptcies occur because of health bills. Disability puts someone out of work, the health care bills clean out the assets (this is why I am transferring them to my dtr), bang - your bankrupt. Poor people have public paid healthcare, however, the service and care is not the same as a good policy from an employer. We desperately need national healthcare. I think we are slowly moving there. Insurance companies were successful in scaring people the last campaign with stories of long wait times and waiting lists. However, there will always be a doctor or nurse practitioner who will take private money to see you sooner given this circumstance. National healthcare with basic coverage for all is better than the hit and miss we have now. Thus, private healthcare is not what you think private health care is.

[34saving]

I think it might actually be better if it was truly private (or public, but not the hybrid we have now.) I have what is well considered excellent insurance in a state known to be a leader in healthcare (and insurance) and I never know what to expect when I go to the doctor. Recently, my husband had a 5 minute throat culture and the bill came for $88, which the insurance reduced to $64 . . . he never even saw a doctor and it was in network! That would have been okay, if we had walked in and seen a sign that said "throat culture, $64", but you just never know . . .so the "invisible hand" doesn't work very well! Many doctors aren't do very well either because of all the insurance junk they have to deal with as well as huge liability. Oh, I think our insurance is pretty close to $1000 a month -- dh's employer covers about 2/3. Our family has two adults and a close to 2 year old. We have to pay the first $200 (per person) and then they cover 80%. Annual out of pocket maximum is $1200 (per family) as long as you're in-network (almost everything "normal" is in-network).

[Bruce Wayne]

Does having to pay for your own healthcare encourage you to take better care of yourself? The information seems readily available regarding diet, exercise etc.

[PrincessPerky]

Many healthcare companies have little flyers and hotlines to encourage people to take better care of themseves, dunno if it makes a difference though, certainly hasn't reduced the obeasity in America.

I have had oh 5 different insurances since 2000ish, The first was awesome to be pregnant in, DS cost a grand total of 270$ . DD on the other hand, lets just say I really want a home birth!

We have 'private' insurance and I am totally with 34 saving, you never know how much anything is going to cost, it is like pulling teeth to get the insurance companies to say anything in plain english, and many tests are not covered. Hence my low test pregnancy, which in some ways is fine, in others you have no idea the worry racking a mother who was recomended for a second US and can't afford it. but of course the public health insurance counterparts get plenty of US's paid for out of MY tax money.

Public isn't free I pay for everyone elses public care. I will not ask you to pay for a second US that will most likely show nothing important, that is a lot to ask of a stranger to pay for a minute less worry (I am pregnant I will find new things to worry about!)

I have a friend her pregnancy was covered under welfare, she got interesting care, I don't agree with it, but she got all she wanted, and she complained because her dental work was not covered after the baby was born, I who had no dental insurance at the time thought she should not whine to me. I who was paying for her insurance, while sitting with a toothache of my own. Only a good friend can complain like that to me and not get a lecture.

A monopoly is never a good way to run a buisness, and completly puplic-ising (wonder if that is a word?) the healthcare in America would be making a monopoly. Profits go down, number of jobs go down(any idea how many people staff those help desks for your insurance company?), quality of service generally goes down (do you really want to have to 'bribe' your ped to see your sick kid?). I know people think the waits will not go up, but how many hypochondriacs without insurance avoid the ER? They wont if they have healthcare (paid for by all woking americans)

Sure there are some sad cases of people suffering with no help due to lack of insurance and I would love to see more support of 'clinic care' and such, but I do not feel that my expensive ped all the way in charlotte is a right, it is a luxury to go see her (though she does do lots of donated clinic care). Having the shots for DCs is prolly saving America money, having a doc call DS 'dude' and talk of poltics in between measurments is a luxury . (I tried a seperate ped first, hated her, searched out this one, cause I have the freedom to do that inside my network)

We monopolized education and saw literacy rates fall, should we monopolize healthcare and have the country everyone goes to to be a Doc start the descent down too?

[Bruce Wayne]

As many of you know in Britain we have the NHS provided by the government which is by far the dominent supplier of healthcare. One of the arguments often used to keep the NHS, even if it isn't providing great service, is that it provides some service to everyone.

So I'm wondering exactly how many people go without in America and secondly are their charities where you can donate to provide free healthcare for those really in need?

[meaghanchan]

The number of people in this country without health insurance is 30-40 million. A lot of those people work and just don't have a job with benefits. I, personally, work 40 hours a week, but the company I work for doesn't provide any kind of benefits. I've lived in a country with public health insurance (Canada) and I'm thinking about moving back just because I'd be able to have health insurance. I know some people have had problems with socialized health care, but I've never seen any of those things people complain about. The quality of care was always excellent.

[Bruce Wayne]

I presume you can buy health insurance outside of your companies program?

[34saving]

You can buy insurance outside of your job, but it's very expensive. Sometimes it's hard to get too because most of the people who get it have chronic conditions that require medical care. There often isn't much "sharing of the costs" since most people have high costs.

I don't really know that people take better care of themselves to keep medical costs low. One thing, while there is a list of tests required to be covered by insurance (mammograms for example), most routine stuff has a copay that ranges all over the place in expense. So, if somebody thinks he _might_ have a funky looking mole that _might_ be cancer he's kind of encouraged to put off seeing a doctor because of the expense. Also, insurance will cover things like bariatic surgery, but they won't cover things like gym memberships. Just now insurance is starting to cover _some_ things related to quitting smoking, but they've been covering smoking related diseases the whole time. I guess what I'm saying is that there isn't a lot of financial motivation to keep things in check. (There are of course other reasons to try to stay healthy, but insurance/health care/financial stuff often isn't one of them.)

[Bruce Wayne]

Are there any charities to help the poor with health issues? For instance are their charitable or non-profit hospitals that cater for anyone and everyone, regardless of insurance?

[34saving]

Yes. There are charities and charitable hospitals. I also think it's against the law for an emergency room to refuse care to anybody who needs it regardless of ability to pay.

[Bruce Wayne]

Originally Posted by 34saving

Yes. There are charities and charitable hospitals. I also think it's against the law for an emergency room to refuse care to anybody who needs it regardless of ability to pay.

If this is so how come people remain un-treated etc. Do people not donate to them enough?

[Fern]

Helathcare should NOT be tied to employment. Everyone deserves basic adequate health care regardless of whether they are working.

It causes a lot of problems for people if they are laid off or otherwise lose their jobs; if it happens to be during an economic downturn, it can get very, very expensive to maintain the health coverage you had with your employer because the employer will no longer pay a share of the monthly premium, (COBRA) so you could end up paying, as i did, about $500 a month (as a single person) just to continue health insurance coverage.

It's also very problematic for anyone with a pre-existing, chronic health condition. I have one that requires very expensive medication, so i can't afford to take chances and go without health coverage. Again, it presents a dilemma if, say, i wanted to retire earlier than age 65,when Medicare kicks in. If i wanted to semi-retire at age 55, i'd have to figure out how to pay for continued health costs/medication out of pocket, not very easy when your meds cost $1,000/month. It also has prevented me from continuing my own small business, because as a self-employed person you don't have access to the same guaranteed health coverage at affordable prices if you have a pre-existing condition. Employees have better protection in this regard.

[pennywise]

To point out the fact: "Poor people have good health care because the working people are paying for it". USA is built on a huge pyramid scheme. The wealthy few at the top have the cream of healthcare. The wide base at the bottom also has good health insurance because all is covered. My spouse is a manager in purchasing in corporate america and our insurance sucks! I would not go to a doctor because of the copays, medicine copays are also outrageous - one time my dtr had an ear infection and the RX was 25 dollars so I passed, I did not have the money at the time (remember my money is locked so it cannot be touched - one must live on current income only). To buy private outside of a policy from work, or as stated many employers do not offer insurance is outrageosly expensive. We have many elderly who are draining our system because it was planned actuariarly (sp?) that they should be dead by now. This is causing many problems for the auto makers - called legacy costs. Our system is horrible. The department of health and human services - key into a search engine - and you will see for yourself.

[PrincessPerky]

Many people 'without coverage' actually could get care if they asked, but many do not want to be indebted. I was without for a long time, much of my childhood and late teen years. I knew if I got pregnant or an emergency, the govt would pay for the care and prolly for my education as well, but I would not ask for it.

25$ is half the groceries for a week, skip milk two weeks in a row and there you have it. Not optimum, but better than letting a kid suffer (and I had an ear infection as a teen - Painful to just wait for my body to fight it. but it did.)

[Fern]

I disagree with Pennywise. the quality of your healthcare coverage in the US really depends on the type of company you work for and the quality of the plan they have chosesn to offer employees. Any given employer offers one or several health plans to employees, who can often choose which plan to go with. So again, the quality of your coverage has nothing to do with how much money you make, or being among the very wealthy or the very poor.

[jmjj215]

Most bankruptcies occur because of health bills.

I don't know if I jump on board with that exactly. While it may be true that a health-related cost ultimately bankrupted the person - what were the events leading up to it? How much house/car payment had they taken on? How much was their CC debt? Why didn't they have an emergency fund? There are a lot of contributing factors to that final blow that is blamed on health costs - I would like to know those also.

[34saving]

An accident or major illness (esp. w/o insurance, but even with) can definitely be a fast track to bankruptcy. For example, one of my friends, who has insurance, just had very needed though somewhat unusual brain surgery to remove a debilitating tumor. They found out insurance would cover it the DAY OF the surgery, but they would have done it anyway. I don't know, but I suspect this surgery was in excess of $100,000. My friend and his wife are in their mid-twenties, just out of school . . .their only real assest is a small condo. Under circumstances like that I think a lot of us would think pretty hard about bankruptcy (if insurance hadn't covered it.)

[jmjj215]

34, there are cases such as you suggest - I just wonder if that isn't the exception more than the rule.

[PrincessPerky]

Since most of my debt is due to my DDs birth, I think I can relate, I was not a wise spender before, if I was either more of my house would be paid for or less of her cost would be on a CC - prolly both. My stupidity, that and not checking to see what the insurance covered, I was spoiled on DS being so cheap!

Oh yeah and if I was on welfare hers would have been almost free- but I'm not. I do qualify though.