Quote:
Originally Posted by bukdez
Quote:
Originally Posted by Noctis
Next, he wants to bring about universal healthcare. Are you kidding me? First of all, I don't want to have to sit on a two week waiting list while my upper respiratory infection turns into a lower respiratory infection and maybe pneumonia. Our healthcare system works great in motivating the best doctors in the world to work in our hospitals and really take care of their patients. If anything needs to be done here, Medicare and Medicaid need some tweaking.
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How does this system work at present? Most people pay directly for their health care/hospital bills out of pocket, unless they have insurance, right?
In the case of insurance, do plans cover some or all of the costs? Or does it depend on the plan? Are Medicare and Medicaid government sponsered programs for the poor/uninsured?
My brother-in-law is a doctor in the US, but he never wants to talk about this shit, one thing he says is that people get help faster in the States, but that poor/uninsured people suffer, do you agree with that?...
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To address the questions in order:
All healthcare costs are the responsibility of the consumer. The magnitude of these costs is offset by healthcare insurance (a healthy, single white male with company coverage might expect to pay $40.00USD per month for the best option). The plans cover varying amounts depending on the circumstances and the quality of your coverage. Anyone in the United States can be self-insured with a $500 deductible (I know that's high, but it's better than nothing in an emergency situation) for something like $600-800/year. But just as an example, if I go to my normal physician, I have a co-pay (fee) of $20. Everything after that is covered by the insurance company. For a specialist, the co-pay is $30 and for the emergency room the co-pay is $100, etc etc.
Medicaid and Medicare are indeed government subsidized healthcare plans for the poor/uninsured. These are in addition to free clinics which can be found in most major cities (yes, I know free clinics are the pinnacle of medical science). Free clinics are, however, an option for those who aren't on Medicare/Medicaid for whatever reason (crackheads) and most of the time you can be seen by a healthcare professional the same day. The programs could use some improvement. They need some streamlining to weed out abuse, which is the biggest thing holding it back right now.
I think that yes, there are probably cases where the poor/uninsured get screwed over (anyone seen John Q.?) but I think that even that is the exception. Anyone too poor to afford insurance is covered by Medicare and anyone who isn't covered by it but claims to be too poor is spending their money on Michael Vick Air Force Ones and Reebok authentic game jerseys instead of providing for themselves or their families (and don't even try to put a racist spin on it, I get the example from a guy who used to work for me that I saw in the store the other day. He is white, lives in a trailer, has two kids and is on food stamps. But he is wearing $150 Nikes and a $250 Vick jersey).
Bottom line, I will gladly continue to pay $40/mo if it means that I am able to see the best doctors in the world and be treated immediately, not register on a waiting list and sit around for a week or two while I cough up my intestines. |
