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I pay $0/month for my employer sponsored health care through BCBS. It's an 80/20 plan with a $200/year deductible per family member (so $600 total for me, my wife, my daughter) but every year if I do a self-survey about my health it takes $150 off my deductible which makes the total deductible $450.
We also have our own health care facility where visits are always a $5 copay instead of 20%, even if our deductible hasn't been met.
@Crackofdawn Wow! That is fantastic. I had a plan like that c. 2002. Do you get a tax penalty for a "Cadillac plan"? Do you know what your employer is paying per month for the plan?
I pay $0/month for my employer sponsored health care through BCBS. It's an 80/20 plan with a $200/year deductible per family member (so $600 total for me, my wife, my daughter) but every year if I do a self-survey about my health it takes $150 off my deductible which makes the total deductible $450.
We also have our own health care facility where visits are always a $5 copay instead of 20%, even if our deductible hasn't been met.
Healthcare providers should have to give you a total cost estimate upfront for all non-emergency procedures. The current system makes it all but impossible to evaluate the quality and cost of care, both of which are key to making an informed decision. We pay more per person for healthcare in this country than anywhere else in the world. If you have an endless supply of money, our healthcare is unmatched. The problem is most people don't have an endless supply of money.
The current system benefits insurance and pharmaceutical companies and screws pretty much everyone else. Many smaller hospitals are losing money with government reimbursement rates below the cost of providing care. Nurses, technicians, and doctors are well paid but given the level of training required and stress level of their jobs, they should be well paid. The push to drive down costs is leading to staff cuts at many hospitals. Talk to a nurse and you will hear how they are drastically understaffed in many cases.
The current system also pays more to providers that are ranked highly by patients. This results in patients being given non-essential services that do not impact actual care just to keep them happy. In the worst case, it results in patients receiving care that is actually detrimental to drive up scores.
The system is broken. Why we can't look to the rest of the world and implement the best of what is done in other industrialized countries is puzzling to me. I guess all the lobbying of congress by insurance and pharma companies works.
This nails it pretty well.
It took me 2 days and multiple phone calls to multiple people to get just a partial idea of how much a procedure was going to cost before scheduling it.
Capitalism and health care don't mix. We need to take the insurance companies out of the equation all together, and negotiate as a society with the pharmaceutical companies for better prices.
Medicare for all.
Obamacare was a conservative Republican idea from the 90's that has brought health care to a lot of people, but is unsustainable in the long run.
I pay $0/month for my employer sponsored health care through BCBS. It's an 80/20 plan with a $200/year deductible per family member (so $600 total for me, my wife, my daughter) but every year if I do a self-survey about my health it takes $150 off my deductible which makes the total deductible $450.
We also have our own health care facility where visits are always a $5 copay instead of 20%, even if our deductible hasn't been met.
You should add about $8-12,000 to your salary when comparing to other jobs.
I'm guessing you don't work for an American company?
Health care is not free, neither in Europe nor in the U.S. It's always financed by the working population. In Europe health care is mostly financed by subtractions from your gross income. In the U.S. it's financed by tax dollars, subtractions from your gross income and out of pocket payments. But at the end of the day it's broadly speaking financed by the working population.
The difference between the U.S. and Europe is, that health care in Europe is much more cost-efficient. The U.S. spends much more per capita, without getting better results. And the way how health care is financed has little to do with the differences in health care costs. How the health care systems is financed is secondary. It's much more important to put the focus on making health care more cost-efficient. The healt care industry in the U.S. needs more competition. And they should implement caps on expenses for certain health care services. Many health care services in the U.S. cost a multiple of what identical health care serives cost in other developed countries.
I agree other countries seems to be doing better. Part of the issue with costs is the "for profit" part of our system. I 100% agree that healthcare workers need to be compensated well, but found some fairly egregious costs with drug companies as compared to other countries. The link here has some comparisons. The response from the drug companies is that some discount is given if you have insurance (dotted parts of bar chart). This seems bogus as I am taking one of the drugs listed and found even with insurance I paid 100% level on the bar chart, no discount.
While CEO Martin Shkreli was in the news for raising a drug price by 5000%, I do not think that is an isolated case from the bar chart and my experience. I have an example of another drug I am on that has been in use since 1500 BC (literally) around the world. Approved by the FDA in 1978. 2007, company convinced the FDA that there needed to be a clinical trial. Despite it has been in use for decades and many studies done. Afterwards the company received exclusive rights in the US. Drug cost went from ~30 cents/pill to $4.90 per pill, 1600%. Which clearly is coming out of insurance premiums.
My husband and I pay $900 a month in health insurance premiums. For $900 a month, we have the privilege of paying a co-pay of $35 to see a doctor and $6850 out of pocket for a serious illness or accident. $900 is 15% of our gross income and, according to ACA rules, if we choose to forego health insurance we will not be fined. However, if we forego health insurance, that leaves us without coverage in the event of a catastrophe. Our health insurance premiums are scheduled to increase by additional $350 a month next year....so $1250. For that amount of money, we could buy 3 new vehicles or a new house. Instead, the money goes into a dark hole, never to be seen again.
My wife and I, on the best plan for us that we could find in the ACA marketplace that covers doctors who are still accepting patients, are paying $870 / month. There is a $2000 / person deductible. My wife has to take prescription medications each month. The plans don't co-pay for these until we meet the deductible, so she meets her deductible by March of each year. All-in, in 2016 we'll pay about $12,440 after taxes. That assumes I do not fall ill.
Before the ACA we were covered nicely on a total of $400 / month, similar deductibles, and only co-pays for the medication. So our insurance was $4800 in after tax money. This was in San Francisco however, where you automatically get some coverage which helped with the medication. So let's say it's equivalent to paying $6800 in South Carolina.
Our costs have nearly doubled; our benefits have gone down; our doctor choice has become limited. Part of this was moving, but really, most is the result of the ACA.
Having good friends from other countries where single-payer is done correctly, I can tell you that we should have roughly a 5% higher income tax which covers all social services for citizens and permanent residents, including healthcare.
For the self-employed, the ACA tax has been a huge negative. It joins the self-employment tax as significant, real cost that deters you from being a full-time contractor to others.
In all honesty we have considered leaving the US and going somewhere else partially to escape the financial burden of the ACA. I believe it to be very unlikely that the current system will not continue large, yearly price increases. Staying out of the US 330 / days a year and buying global ex-patriate insurance is looking to be a much more affordable alternative. We are very fortunate that our jobs allow us to be mobile, and that a US passport allows 2 to 6 month visits to many attractive locations around the world, making this a viable option for us. The simplest plan would be to move between Montreal and one of many locations in Mexico every 6 months. That would allow some sort of community as we go back to the same places, and a nice quality of life that we could afford.
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Wow!
