How many of you have Health Insurance?

PBinWA · Dec 28, 2005

( Health insurance costs are terrible, but I don't see how you can do without. I don't know what the solution is. They have the socialized medicine in Canada, but since they don't need the defense budget we have (who do you think is providing the bulk of the defense for this hemisphere?) they can afford it. How good it is I don't know but have heard there are waiting periods for various procedures that you don't experience here. Also, such a system might not attract the best doctors because their earnings is capped. I would imagine some of our Canadian friends on here could enlighten us.

If there was a reasonable way to have that here I would be all for it, but I don't see how. Right now I am paying through the nose for good HMO coverage, and it just keeps going up. )

I'm Canadian but now live in the US. Let's put it this way. If you lived in Canada everyone (even those with employer subsidized healthcare) would be paying that additional 10K (or a lot more) a year in taxes. So in some ways the USA is better because you actually have a choice down here. Unfortunately, this freedom of choice is something that tends to get abused, people don't manage their finances properly, and the health insurance never gets purchased.

Really, at the end of the day your employer is providing your healthcare benefits out of your salary. If they didn't pay for healthcare then they would probably have to pay you more. It's actually a cheap perk for employers to provide healthcare instead of paying employees more and letting the employees make the choice. Again, in this scenario half to two thirds of the employees probably wouldn't ever get around to buying the insurance. Having healthy and insured employees is also in the employers best interest from a continuity of workforce perspective.

AFAIK, there are state and federal programs that guarantee healthcare to all children under the ages of 18 in the USA. Often, people are unaware of these programs so this confusion is sometimes an issue. I also believe that most people who are on welfare or qualify at a certain low income level are also able to get government funded healthcare. Where I live, this healthcare coverage is probably better than what I get from my employer.

The quality of healthcare that I have received in my 8 years in the US has been faster and better than anything I had previously received in Canada. The wait times in Canada are terrible and the system has developed into a "delay it until it is an emergency" form of health care system.

Of course, I'm a conservative guy and I think people should only have to pay for what they use rather than have to pay for stuff that they are not using.

In Canada they also don't award the huge million/billion dollar pain & suffering awards in law suits so that helps to keep the malpractice insurance costs down.

AFAIK, there are only three countries in the world that offer state funded single tier health care: Cuba, North Korea, and Canada. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Farmwithjunk · Dec 28, 2005

I started working carpenter work right out of the Army. I needed a job, and was able to use a family connection to get one with a thriving general contractor. I loved my job then. Along with it came full medical, disability, life, dental, optical... The whole enchalada. In a few years, I saved enough to buy the little farm we still own. When we started having kids, I had to pay a small contribution weekly to keep up the insurance, but it wasn't much. That was the deciding factor in keeping my job, and not attemting to farm full time.

I flat couldn't afford the insurance any other way.

Now, the kids are grown and gone. Just me and the Mrs. She works for a firm that provides her with good coverage. My employer was forced a few years back, to lower the coverage to fully paid on me only. Wife or kids were out-of-pocket. Luckily, we both have great coverage on ourselves still.

Two years ago, I was offered an office position. I'm an estimator now. I'm also considered "management". That entitles me to extended coverage, good until I turn 65, even if I retire sooner.

My wife has to work until age 62 in order to remain covered.

Still and all, we're probably in better shape than most folks. We have adaquate coverage, and there's no out-of-pocket expense involved.

We just have to stay at jobs that neither one of us are exactly wild about anymore.

Knight9 · Dec 28, 2005

I like the reference to "socialized healthcare" in Canada earlier in the thread. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

While we do have government funding for our health care each province is also responsible for the delivery of the care. That means that we have "Alberta Health Care" premiums. Depending on your employer, you either pay them via deduction or the company can foot the bill. Our premium for my family is, I believe, about $350 and employer paid. That makes it $4200/year. The wait times in a hospital for a procedure may kill you. As you may know, we're going to have a Federal election up here in January, and hospital wait times and health care delivery are certainly election issues.

A couple of years ago I had a kidney stone. As some of you may know that is a VERY painful condition. I laid on a gurney in the hallway of the hospital for the duration of my stay. Never did see a room. With our second child in 1996, the delivery was very well attended. Then my wife was moved to the "overflow" area of the maternity ward in one of our hospitals. I was literally going to the linen cabinets at the nursing stations and getting bedding etc as needed. I also had to hunt down a food cart and take food for my wife. It was pretty sad. It has improved quite a bit since then, but there is still LOTS of room for further improvement.

The reality is that there is lots of money for the system. Like yours, it is just wasted in lots of areas and individual greed of people and organizations ruins the system.

Kevin

JDgreen227 · Dec 28, 2005

My wife and I were state employees for over 30 years until we took the early retirement offer back in late 2002. We are still covered under the state health plan for retirees, it's administered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Our premium rates were raised by about $4 per month back in October, and the two of us pay $60 per month as our share. Our former employer pays $1170 a month to cover us !! There is a deductible of $200 each per calender year we have to pay until insurance coverage begins.

If we didn't have coverage, our total medical bills for this year would have been about $2000, most of that would have been for my colonoscopy. RX costs are another story, as our medications would cost us over $1000 per month if we didn't have insurance.

I'm very grateful to have such a generous health insurance plan, but I am not looking forward to when we have to switch to Medicare.

/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

PBinWA · Dec 28, 2005

( I like the reference to "socialized healthcare" in Canada earlier in the thread. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

While we do have government funding for our health care each province is also responsible for the delivery of the care. That means that we have "Alberta Health Care" premiums. Depending on your employer, you either pay them via deduction or the company can foot the bill. Our premium for my family is, I believe, about $350 and employer paid. That makes it $4200/year. The wait times in a hospital for a procedure may kill you. As you may know, we're going to have a Federal election up here in January, and hospital wait times and health care delivery are certainly election issues.

A couple of years ago I had a kidney stone. As some of you may know that is a VERY painful condition. I laid on a gurney in the hallway of the hospital for the duration of my stay. Never did see a room. With our second child in 1996, the delivery was very well attended. Then my wife was moved to the "overflow" area of the maternity ward in one of our hospitals. I was literally going to the linen cabinets at the nursing stations and getting bedding etc as needed. I also had to hunt down a food cart and take food for my wife. It was pretty sad. It has improved quite a bit since then, but there is still LOTS of room for further improvement.

The reality is that there is lots of money for the system. Like yours, it is just wasted in lots of areas and individual greed of people and organizations ruins the system.

Kevin )

Great post Kevin!

My mother (who lives in Canada) had some orthopedic problems in her foot which required two seperate procedures. Of course, to save money they decided to do both procedures at once. After waiting two years for he surgery lets say the results were less than ideal. Apparently, having both procedures done at the same time may not have been the "ideal" solution to get the best results. Of course, it did save the government some money.

I had carpal tunnel issue since I was 19. Over a period of 13 years in Canada three different doctors told me to just deal with it and use some over the counter wrist splints. When I got the the USA and finally got it looked at again they actually referred me to specialists, had tests done, (I had the second worst case they had ever seen), and had both surgeries done within 6 months. I probably could have done it sooner but I had lots of work to do.

I can't believe the quality of healthcare that is available in the USA. It's expensive but it is the best. It would be nice to offer people second rate low quality cheap healthcare but I suspect the courts and laws wouldn't allow that sort of thing. People would have to be protected from the frivolous law suits.

I think higher co-pays or deductibles are a good idea. They might prevent a lot of unnecessary visits to the doctor which tie up the system and waste resources.

Of course, limits on the lawsuits and malpractice awards is another area that needs to be addressed. The average doctor and surgeon needs to be protected from these things and the expense that they incurr as a result of them.

deereman63 · Dec 28, 2005

This is a very complex issue and no doubt as the threads develop we will get deleted, but to my mind we are faced with the dilemma that our expectations of health care essentially exceed our society's ability to pay for them . This is done, in the case of the US, but cutting out large chunks of the population from the best health care in the world. In europe and canada the same effect is achieved by delaying or rationing services. What is fairer I dont know, but what is important is that the debate is based on an understanding of what are the choices when society redistributes its national resources. It also means that politicians need to clearly lay these facts and scenarios out to the people.

slowrev · Dec 28, 2005

Yes a good thread, but as all conversations get political on this subject.......

Ben

escavader · Dec 28, 2005

Family of 4 plan: 48 per week good medical with prescriptions 12 for dental per week...this is through my company,which comes out of my pay....however my wifes boss pays me back ,cause he cant get it this cheap for his small outfit.Good deal for me huh?

Jagmandave · Dec 28, 2005

My wife and I are covered thru my employer, we pay close to $5k a year for our portion. We also pay significant co-pays, have a $3k deductible now, and pay a larger percentage on prescriptions than before.
Two years ago my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. She went thru two different sets of Chemo, two surgeries and a full series of radiation. She still has rconstructive surgery ahead of her, if she chooses. We' re still not clear on whether the insurance will pay for that or not. All in all, we're way ahead even at $5k a year, but man it sure is a lot of money out of pocket each month. But, compared to what the insurance company paid, we could not afford to be without it right now, and we're both in good health............

LarryD · Dec 29, 2005

Two health plans, one dental and vision.

I get Tri-Care for life from my military retirement, right now $420 annual premium for the max coverage. It's not the best plan out there but beats not having one.

My company has a far better plan that includes dental and vision and pays the full premium. I've had to have some significant dental work done recently and my 20% may have delayed the purchase of new tractor implements but 100% would have cancelled them.