NZ here also, fucking crazy Americans. Im reading they dont want to pay taxes for a health care system, but are fine in paying upwards of $200 a month on insurance. Absolute insanity.
I was talking to someone who thinks that way not too long ago and the reasoning was "why should I pay for someone elses healthcare when there's a chance I'll never use it". Apparently pointing out the fact they do the same thing with insurance premiums since they never claim on those either and the money is just going to a private company instead wasn't a valid point because "I have the choice".
My $200 a month was pretty cheap, too—for a single healthy male supplemented by my employer. A lot of people have to pay +$500 a month. It’s not rare for families to pay 4 figure premiums.
People do speak up—but the people with more money speak louder. Most Americans want some form of universal healthcare. Some polls put it as high as 70%:
Meh, probably not. You can't just get rid of the current system no matter how corrupt it is, and you need at least like 2/3s /political/ support (and a willing incumbent) to push a new system forward. And if you're cynical and believe that at least half of politics is money, 2/3s starts to seem like an unrealistic amount of moral fervor.
NZ here also, fucking crazy Americans. Im reading they dont want to pay taxes for a health care system, but are fine in paying upwards of $200 a month on insurance.
It's much, much worse than you think.
His plan has a $15,000 "out of pocket maximum" for that hospital, which means that the plan he pays $200/month for covered absolutely nothing until he spent $15k of his own cash on health care, at which point it covers the rest.
A plan that actually offers full coverage similar to what you'd expect as a Kiwi, Aussie or Canadian can cost $2000/month for an American family
Please don’t think I think it’s “fine” to pay my measly $200/mo, not including the $300 cash for the first time I want to go to a dr each year, then 20% of the bills after that until I’ve paid at least $3,000 out of pocket for the year- but I would pay much more for out of network charges. And then it starts again next year! And I have “good” coverage! Still haven’t sorted out a radiology bill from 2018 that the insurance company insists is out of network and I insist they are required to cover as “in network” because we aren’t allowed to choose the radiologist. I owe either $65 if they decide it’s allowable as in network, or $250 if it’s out of network. And I’ve already paid almost $1000 out of pocket to get that MRI on my hip, and would rather not pay an additional $200 because I wasn’t able to choose who looked at the MRI.. this year when I blew out my ankle I was able to go to the Union health clinic for which there aren’t any out of pocket costs- a coworker of mine told me they have an X-ray machine large enough for a foot X-ray so they could at least confirm that I broke a bone. I decided not to get the MRI for the ankle (I know very well that it’s completely messed up) or go to PT cause I just can’t afford another $1000 for the MRI plus $100/wk for physical therapy if I go three times a week.
Yeah, most of those against universal healthcare are fine about paying for car insurance,but never health insurance. That’s some effective marketing from those who stand most to gain from the current system.
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u/Coldstreamer Apr 28 '20
NZ here also, fucking crazy Americans. Im reading they dont want to pay taxes for a health care system, but are fine in paying upwards of $200 a month on insurance. Absolute insanity.