US health insurance unaffordable?

Here in Australia we pay between 1 and 1.5% of our income into Medicare through the PAYG tax system which gets us healthcare an no additional cost at public hospitals, GPs and specialists in private practise have the option to "bulk bill" in which case there is no out of pocket expense, or they can choose to charge over the scheduled charges, in which case there is a co-payment. We also have the option to take out private health insurance which covers the cost of private hospitals, it gets quite complicated what is covered by Medicare and what is covered by private insurance, but that's not generally something that the consumer needs to worry about. There's also a surcharge on the Medicare levy (I think it's 0.5% for high income earners, if they have private health insurance, they are exempt from this surcharge. There are often some out of pocket expenses, and the system is not perfect, but by the sound of things it's a lot less costly that the USA.
 
AP90 said:
I guess I can consider myself lucky hearing everyone else stories. Like I said, we pay $320ish/month for our healthcare, and we already have the family plan. So once we have kids it will stay the same. $600 deductible per person with max $6000 out of pocket. But After we meet our deductible we only pay 10% until max is reached. I figured it out and we would have to have $54000 in medical expenses to reach our max. If we have that much in medical expenses then I will gladly pay up to $6k because we have some serious issues that are being taken care of. Im pretty pleased and feel pretty secure with our healthcare coverage.
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We just had our first kid and the hospital billed our insurance ~$25k for my wife's care (routine, no issues) and a separate $25k for my baby's care (2 days in NICU being observed). When it all went through the insurance and had deductibles and co-insurance calculated, we ended up paying ~$5k out-of-pocket, after having already paid another $1.2k in advance during the 9 months pregnancy for the Dr. to deliver the baby.

I too am fine paying close to my insurance maximums if there are some serious issues being taken care of but feel like something as normal and frequent as childbirth shouldn't be costing anybody (me or my insurance) close to $50k...
 
OffsetStorefront said:
We just had our first kid and the hospital billed our insurance ~$25k for my wife's care (routine, no issues) and a separate $25k for my baby's care (2 days in NICU being observed). When it all went through the insurance and had deductibles and co-insurance calculated, we ended up paying ~$5k out-of-pocket, after having already paid another $1.2k in advance during the 9 months pregnancy for the Dr. to deliver the baby.

I too am fine paying close to my insurance maximums if there are some serious issues being taken care of but feel like something as normal and frequent as childbirth shouldn't be costing anybody (me or my insurance) close to $50k...
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I hear you there. It seems like with any profession, the more you do it the easier it becomes and can be streamlined and efficient to save money. We have looked into the cost of having a child and i believe we are looking at $2500-$3500 out of pocket for a "normal" birth and stay time. And honestly thats what most of my friends were ended up paying recently when they had children. So I feel like our insurance is on par with what my friends insurance is and we all work in different fields and companies. Even had babies at different hospitals and payments were pretty much the same.
 
The wayback machine...in 1981 when we had our son I paid nothing for health insurance. The premium was fully paid by my employer. It had $100 deductible. The entire cost to us was $100. I have no idea how much insurance paid but I'm sure it wasn't close to $50K.
 
My children were born in '95 and '98 at zero cost to me. My coverage hasn't changed since then, although my premiums have more than doubled. If my children were born today, the cost would be as others have stated. I was and still am covered by my employer for the first $2k. However, hospital costs have exploded. Kaiser's website states that today the cost would be between $2k and $12k (assuming no complications). If the max, I would pay $6k out of pocket (all expenses covered after $8k). Same coverage - no cost 20 years ago.
 
So, which is the better option for the U.S.:
1. Fix the ACA (Obamacare) & offer a "Single Payer Option" or,
2. Provide a central, government administered system (Medicare for all)?
 
prwhite said:
So, which is the better option for the U.S.:
1. Fix the ACA (Obamacare) & offer a "Single Payer Option" or,
2. Provide a central, government administered system (Medicare for all)?
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3. Or maintain the status quo.

First, I think the US should, like the majority of developed nations, provide universal healthcare. Not everyone agrees with that though.
From my experience here in Canaduh I think that the US might want to look at the Canadian and Australian single payer systems and take the best parts and avoid the worst in order to create a made in USA system. If we can afford it up here then I’m sure that the richer US can as well. I don’t think the US can afford not to.
 
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Gordo, the Pols have looked at the Canadian system before & something quite similar to it was created in Massachusetts, but the lobby $$ flowing from the insurance companies appear to have won over. Although the ACA was meant to emulate the Massachusetts plan, only a truncated version of it could be passed during Obama's administration. Down here, this has been a conservative verses liberal tug-of-war. Unfortunately, those freely flowing lobbying $$ seem to be in control: "Money Talks & ......etc."
 
Gordo: "Or maintain the status quo."

The problem with the current status quo is that it is very costly & forcing many Americans into bankruptcy.
 
prwhite said:
Gordo: "Or maintain the status quo."

The problem with the current status quo is that it is very costly & forcing many Americans into bankruptcy.
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But but but...The insurance companies and the hospitals are for profit businesses. That is their priority - profits for their share holders. If a portion of their customers can’t afford their services and/or goes bankrupt that’s not an issue for them as long as there are enough folks willing to pay in order to generate the profits they need.

That's why you have US hospitals dumping patients who can't pay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsBvpdinRRQ
 
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In the US, we pay for firefighter and police services through taxes. For the most part, we don't pay for-profit entities to provide those vital services because, as anyone could see, the ground would be ripe for corruption. Imagine needing "Police Insurance" so you could afford the police bill you'd get in the mail if you ever had to call the police! No for-profit middle-man companies to inflate the cost (for the most part).

Always seemed odd that medical care (at the very least, emergency medical care) isn't the same way. Ambulances are run by private companies and you get a bill in the mail for them if you need to call an ambulance.
 
gordo said:
I’m not sure. A US study that compared prices between areas that had little competition vs high competition showed that the low competition areas were 3.5% - 5.4% higher which, from a patient point of view doesn’t seem to be much of a difference. ( https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-ne...hers-find.html )
From any commodity vendor’s point of view (e.g. gasoline, groceries, retail stores, dentistry etc) competition is simply a matter of “price match guarantee”. That allows them to claim there is competition without actually having to compete. Also, I’m not sure how one could set up a system that would enable patients to shop around without service providers using that information (which they already have anyway which is why there’s no competition ) to settle on shared common pricing. Providers in less serviced areas could still charge more since patients have little or no choice while areas that have many service providers would simply standardize their pricing. That’s what happens in other business sectors so I don’t see why it wouldn’t apply to healthcare.
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Studies are all BS! News fodder and usually financed by the group wants a predetermined outcome.
 
 
It is my understanding that whereas before you could go out and get coverage anytime you wanted and change plans whenever you wanted, now with the ACA you are locked in until the enrollment period and if you miss that you can't get coverage and can't change coverage. How is that an improvement? It just means it is harder for people to get coverage.
 
 
Mark said:
See it's news fodder just like i said! They have 24/7 coverage across how many news outlets? Owned by just a few corporations. The "studies" exist to fill the news not to inform.
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The study findings align with the studies from many other organizations. For example, the World Health Organization ranks the US #37 in overall health system performance:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...ystems_in_2000

In this study by the Lancet (a world leading independent, international weekly general medical journal) the US ranks 29:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/l...seccestitle190

Look at any international health care study and the US typically ranks low in terms of overall quality of health care. Especially sad given that it's one of, if not, the most expensive systems.

Click image for larger version Name: Cost.jpg Views: 0 Size: 54.0 KB ID: 288126

The US cost is the tall bar on the left.

The messenger is not the problem.
 
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Show all the data driven reports you wish but the USA has the best health care, educated doctors and cutting edge equipment and research. Obama Care ruined it IMHO.
Socialized Medicine will never be my choice.
 
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