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People pay hundreds a month for health insurance now.
Yes, I know. But ask them to fork over that money to Uncle Sam, and suddenly people get skittish. So I'd like to know how many are willing to pay an additional major chunk of money on their annual income tax (in lieu of monthly insurance payments) to fund a French-style system.
Figure approx. $600/month (give or take a couple hundred $$) x 12 = $7200 due on April 15, in addition to whatever tax they currently pay. Roughly $7200 (probably more for higher earners, significantly less for low earners) for the privilege of being able to get the kind of services and medicines that have been discussed in the two threads on this forum relating to healthcare in France. And bear in mind that some people in France still buy insurance, in addition to paying taxes to support the public system. Doctors also earn a bit less than in the US, I think. Depending on the specialty.
I was actually being quite serious with my post. I want to see how many people have really thought about this, and are willing to pay for it.
I wrote one of my senators, one whose main interest is issues relating to health care, a some years ago when the debate about health care reform/universal insurance was up for national debate and discussion in Congress, and said, "RAISE MY TAXES" to pay for a national health insurance plan. I said whatever it ends up costing couldn't cost more than my current (at that time) individually-purchased insurance. One of his aides later told me that letter got the attention of the senator and the entire office, and got them into a discussion about it.
So I'm the first to raise my hand. How about everyone else?
What's cool about the French system that would make it a good fit in the US is that it's a combination of private insurance and publicly-funded health care. It's more easily replicable in the US than some of the other European systems. Though nothing relating to health care in the US is easy, lol!
Just so you know France has been experimenting though in a limited way with the "American" system of fee for service.
Wonderful as France's national health scheme is that country like many others in the EU is facing a problem. Aging populations, rising health care cost, high unemployment and or low youth employment and other factors are combining to form a perfect storm.
High taxes are all very well but at some point people start to say enough is enough. Everyone seems to think the "other guy" should pay (usually the rich), but there aren't enough of that sort to go around and quite honestly they are getting a bit fed up as well. 7 Countries With the Highest Health Care Costs - DailyFinance
Just so you know France has been experimenting though in a limited way with the "American" system of fee for service.
Wonderful as France's national health scheme is that country like many others in the EU is facing a problem. Aging populations, rising health care cost, high unemployment and or low youth employment and other factors are combining to form a perfect storm.
High taxes are all very well but at some point people start to say enough is enough. Everyone seems to think the "other guy" should pay (usually the rich), but there aren't enough of that sort to go around and quite honestly they are getting a bit fed up as well. 7 Countries With the Highest Health Care Costs - DailyFinance
Well, something has to be done; the system in the US can't continue as it is (or was, until recently), and it's still a work-in-progress.
Yeah, the issue of aging populations plus falling birthrates is a problem. Another problem is what happens when tax revenues fall short, due to an international recession. In Sweden, hospitals close and services get cut back, which can leave rural residents in a bad situation. Waiting times just to see one's primary care doc can be 2 months in Sweden. Scary things can happen due to budget shortfalls in a single-payer system. France doesn't seem to have that problem, for some reason.
The French system is too good to believe. Who pays for all those house calls, all those in-home services? When you add all that up along with the hospital stay, surgery, doctor consults and everything else, that's a huge bill the government is covering. On the plus side, it employs a boggling number of people.
I can't help thinking "if it seems to good to be true, it usually is", though. How do they do it?
I didn't realize the US spent so much of its GDP on health care and per capita. and this was even before ACA
and look at our population vs european countries. It is similar to me having 2 kids vs if I had 6 kids. My management skills with 6 kids would be severely taxed.
Part of the problem in the US is that even as the health care crisis has been unfolding, more and more doctors create for-profit clinics that use the insurance system as a cash cow. That's why procedures and services cost twice as much (or more) in the US than in Europe; so much medical care here is for profit, vs. non-profit. And that for-profit sector in medicine is growing by leaps and bounds. It's set up to milk the system, even as studies are done and articles frequently published about runaway costs.
yes, and when you have for-profit HMOs running health care plans,
and for-profit corporate hospitals, and runaway for-profit pharmaceutical
enabling, these entities make huge profits. it's not rocket science.
remove them from the system or restrict their profit levels.
French culture is not as money-grubbing as American is.
The French system is too good to believe. Who pays for all those house calls, all those in-home services? When you add all that up along with the hospital stay, surgery, doctor consults and everything else, that's a huge bill the government is covering. On the plus side, it employs a boggling number of people.
I can't help thinking "if it seems to good to be true, it usually is", though. How do they do it?
France unlike the USA controls either directly or indirectly much of the healthcare system, hence the differences you noted while perhaps costly in terms of Euros, is not how society views things.
Physicians in France graduate from state run medical schools and receive their training free of charge. Thus unlike their American counterparts they do not enter the profession saddled with hundreds of thousands in debt.
Most hospitals in France are state owned thus physicians, nurses and so forth work for the government. Since France's national health scheme sets rates for everything from medications to physician rates (in effect their wages) again there is cost control. Private insurance does exist in France but it is more to cover the thirty or so percent that the state scheme does not cover in certain instances which persons must pay out of pocket.
When you cease looking at medicine as a profit driven service and focus on what is best for citizens overall it changes how things are run. If a mother to be lives in a village without a hospital/facilities to handle a high risk pregnancy/birth if needed she will be transported at the state's cost to the nearest place that does offer. When it is time for her and the infant to go home, it is in the reverse.
The United States healthcare system for years has been built around hospitals. It is only recently that there has been any sort of movement to reduce inpatient admissions and length of stay. If you bring/send medical/nursing care to patients in their community they are likely to have an easier time accessing and not put off required treatment. This in turn often leads to not only better outcomes but can cost less as well.
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