I enjoyed reading your comment, its good to have some self-criticism around.. I mean, there was a U.S. presidential candidate who claimed that Holland carried out unvoluntary euthanasia onto old people to reduce medicare costs... I mean, it would worry me if the US common man just took that for real...
However i must admit that i dont fully understand the American healthcare system either, i'd be interested to learn from y'all
So, what Obama is trying to achieve, is to get medicare for everyone, not just 65+ ??
Here in Holland the medicare system (for everyone) used to be more or less nationalised, but the previous government privatised it to enable a free market competition to make it more affordable. However privatisation only works in a free market, not in a restricted market where insurers legally cannot refuse risk groups... So the cost have risen for all of us.
Its my opinion that the government should let the market have its go at things as much as possible, but that certain things to which a free market efficiency would be inhumane (like elderly and handicapped care) should be covered by the government... That means it should be all governmental if necessary, or nothing wherever possible: what we have now doesnt really work either.
You sketch the same problems that we have in Holland, you, me, and our parents are all about the same ages... Next to that, now we speak about it, i learn that the main concepts are the same here compared to the USA, and only a lot of details differ.
Sorry, you mis understood what i wrote. My parents are your age. Dad was born in 1953, so hes a few years after a true baby boomer but really same generation. His SS is in jeaperty, yes but mine will be gone just as i plan to retire.
As for our SYSTEM of Health care. I will try and explain best i can. I am scatterbrained as i cant type as fast as i think. I there fore have huge runon's and skip around. (Im not an idiot i just hate writing, i actually hold a post Bachlorete degree, although i dont sound like it as you read this im sure) . Anyway Our system is based on a theory that you are resonsible for your care. Meaning if your super wealthy you just pay for expenses as they come up. If your like the 75% of the rest of us you have to carry privite Insurance, which is basically just like car insurance. Your protecting your assets. There is all types of Ins. you can buy. Ones that wont pick up any cost till a certain price is reached (usually called High deductible) say $5k per year. But most is based on some type of Copay sysem which is complicated. I work for the Fed govent. I pay something like $300ish/month for my coverage. The feds pay about $600/month on my behalf. So what im saying is the coverage i have would cost the average person between $1000-1500/month for the same thing. Many big companies have a similar set up as i do. Their pay about 60% to sometimes 90% or more of premiums.
OK thats covered, I go to the doctor. I have a $25 copay for the visit. If all he does is say you have a bad cold & sends me home, he bills my ins. He says my ofice visit is $100 (or whatever) they say we negotiate a rate of $60, so i paid 25 and then they pay the other 35. If i were to get shots or xrays or blood work, with my type coverage if its to diagnose a problem then its uaually almost always covered completly, if not its a minimal charge. Now for surgery or chldbirth or other procedures. It gets very complicated. But i have excellent childbirth coverage. It will be about $250 for the birth and prenatal care. My wife had some minor outpatient surgery removal procedure. You pay something like 30% of the surgeons bill or something, all gauze they use :confused2: and "x" percent of the drugs used? You almost have to trust the hospital, but if you take your time with your booklet you can make sense of it all and see if your being charged right. Anyway i think the procedure if i paid out of pocket would be like $5k ish. We ended up paying about $500ish to the hospital and doctor/surgeon.
Now if your over 65 you ged medicare, which is basically a similar gov run insurance, and is way complicated and really cant tell you much as luckily i have not had to deal with my parents and this yet. Then there is MediCADE, this is for the poor, disabled and indigent. This is the same thing yet if they dont pay their portion of the bill its usually written off by hospital on thier taxes as if they could p0ay in the first place they would not be on medicade. BUT what you hear our politions saying that some have NO coverage and the other side saying no one is denied. They are right If YOU or me or any Illegal here or Person with no insurance for any reason walks in to a hospital ER they HAVE to treat them for what ever reason regardless of ability to pay. So basically if your here in the US visiting and have a heart attack and dont have a rider of travel Med ins, and you walk in to our hospital for heart pains, they will do everything to remedy you even if that means emg heart surgury. They will recover you till healthy and if you dont care a bit about anything can go home and stick us for the bill. This is the only health care that the really poor of working poor as they call them use. REASON they either are to ignorant to realize that medicade existst (have to sign up)or dont realize to go to a docotor. BUT if they go to the ER they dont have to pay a thing, they get treated and billed and of course they never pay. They will do this for every thing from a cold or infection to anything. So they keep going back. And the People basically keep paying for them as hospitals get federal funding. But for any normal person they pay their bills as they can put leins on your property or garnish tax returns.
OBaMACARE is a big deal as it basically still will be the same effect, yet increase costs as more folks will be covered and "forced" to buy insurance. GOod right, wrong, the folks who cant pay are getting covered with the government funds, and this will give these "newly" covered folks the impression is everything is free. Its not im paying for them to, now we all know that everything free is over used so our overcrowed doctors will only become worse in time. It also has other things that many are opposed to like doctor record keeping, inreased taxes, business recordkeeping, panels to "review" coverage, doctors will basically be government controlled, if you want a procedure deemed not acceptable you cant pay to have it done or else your commiting criminal event. On and on. but the gist is that those that pay are paying for those that cant. In america alreay 51% of working citizens pay 0 income tax, not the first dollar. Dont let anything you hear twist this!!!!! Yes they pay payroll taxes like your medicare and social security tax but this is for THEIR future use and basically should be in a "fund" for thier future, not used to fund wars saleries, buldings, parks etc (see my abouve post on SS). Income taxes fund the things i just listed, including my own salery, troops, officials saleries, parks, all those that cant pay for thier own coverage, food, rent , heating, etc.
What makes this worse is that the person making minimum wadge and with 2 kids gets medicare most likely, read no health costs. They get hundreds of dollars of free groceries each month, sometimes rent paid, help with electric costs, etc etc. The money they make even menial is thiers to buy things or chloths. They is the "baby dady" lives there or is really married but just works for cash he could make easily 30k if he WORKS and not sits home on unemployment or disability. This cash is untraceable and not taxed further making them have more money for "stuff" wether it be drugs cell phone or just kids chlothes. In many cases they may have a mom or indigent relitive that they care for with them also either on disability or SS. My point here is that some of these folks can have more diposible income that the average hardworking family. I probly have a better life than them but when we first started i was way "worse" of than some of these types. BUT i way paying all my costs myself. The wife and i combined make in the upper $70K range, our taxible income i think with out pulling out my taxes was 50kish. I think i paid about $5kish in income tax between the 2 of us. Or about 13%, my state burden is about 7% of income. Those folks under the talbe $30k is 30K, the minimum wadge working mom i referred to may take 17K home and the SS relitive that could live with them may make 12K. So you look at them as making about 67K take home pay give or take. When the wife and i started i made $29k and she was unemployed, we STILL paid income tax!!
Yea i know you will have questions and i know this has huge holes in it but ask away i will try and elighten you and eduacte. I apreciate your view of things as many think canada and europe our our solutions. I am interested but do not think the same so i appreciate you info.
