amuck-landowner

Do you have health insurance?

MannDude

Just a dude
vpsBoard Founder
Moderator
We've got a globally diverse group here, some of which live in nations with supplied healthcare and others in places who do not provide it. Curious who here has health insurance and who does not. If you have it, do you pay for it out of pocket (not with your taxes) to a provider each month? How much?

If you don't have health insurance, why not?
 

drmike

100% Tier-1 Gogent
Bahaha... here comes political rant in 3...2...1...

See I never understood why "health" care doesn't reward you for health.... Pay towards preventative things - like proper nutrition, exercise, non ingestion of poisions.... and of course such NEVER seems to cover dental when dental issues are linked to a multitude of things that can and do kill masses of people every year...  You can go to a foot specialist and get custom shoes, but you can't go get your teeth (which are bones) cared for...

Instead health care is OH F*CK coverage for when you are UNHEALTHY.

It's false advertising.   It's UNHEALTHCARE.

I am not UNHEALTHY and while some like to gamble at casinos, I "gamble" with the healthcare coverage.. I am unlikely to get UNHEALTHY any time soon, because I invest in staying well and healthy.  So why should I invest in OH F*CK coverage? and why should I be extorted from by law to dillute the risk pool?  No thanks...
 

MannDude

Just a dude
vpsBoard Founder
Moderator
Oh yeah, no healthcare here. Employer doesn't offer it. I can't / don't want to afford it out of pocket and don't want to be forced to have it either. Ideally for me, I should be able to go visit a doctor if needed and pay cash out of pocket without it being insane. If I need emergency treatment to an injury, ideally it wouldn't bankrupt me. But hey, that's not how the world works.
 

drmike

100% Tier-1 Gogent
In big population areas I am seeing a massive increase of walk in non emergency alternative healthcare facilities...  These are for profit businesses for common medical matters... Supposedly semi-reasonable for services.  Take it there market is the whiney folks who run to emergency rooms for fevers, random things... plus I believe they do stitches and related small injury matters and run of the mill broken bones (both of which I've done myself in the past).

Medical care isn't per se expensive.  What is expensive is the face rate on the bill they send you.

Insurers pay NOTHING like what you get billed.  A $10k bill from a hospital might be pack rate $2k... They set accepted reimbursement rates for a laundry list of common things with the insurers and that is why your insurance is accepted here and not there...  Some insurers want to reimburse so little that the care provider can't or won't operate at those rates.
 

devonblzx

New Member
Verified Provider
See I never understood why "health" care doesn't reward you for health.... Pay towards preventative things - like proper nutrition, exercise, non ingestion of poisions.... and of course such NEVER seems to cover dental when dental issues are linked to a multitude of things that can and do kill masses of people every year...  You can go to a foot specialist and get custom shoes, but you can't go get your teeth (which are bones) cared for...
I understand where you are coming from.  I think it would be smart for insurance companies to offer discounts, just like safe driving and such, or for more instances of health savings accounts.  However, the way our health "insurance" works in the States is not really insurance at all.  Insurance is generally for catastrophic events: you total your car, you burn down your house, etc.   Our health insurance covers everything from regular checkups, prescriptions, emergency room visits, and yes even catastrophic events like surgery or long hospital stays.   Auto insurance doesn't cover oil changes and engine issues.

Truly I think medicine would be much cheaper in the US if health insurance was actually insurance.  It would make us realize the cost of medicine rather than just relying on the insurance company to make their "deals" and choose who we can go see (preferred networks).  If all consumers actually paid direct for medicine, people would shop around for prescriptions inducing competition, hospitals wouldn't get away with charging $100 for a tooth brush because everyone in their right mind would be complaining unlike how it is now when people look at the bill and discard it because they have insurance.  Just my two cents.
 

Coastercraze

Top Thrill
Verified Provider
My day job provides it, so yes I have it.

I do wish though that places like hospitals would actually charge for things fairly. Seems ridiculous to charge $200 for a few aspirin (which the insurance companies usually knock down to like $50). That's probably our biggest problem.

Back to insurance, if you have an illness, companies were able to drop you and if you found someone, it'd be like $2000 a month for a barebones policy.

Well, they can't drop you anymore, but that doesn't change the fact they still will charge you nearly $2000 /mo for it.
 

PwnyExpress

New Member
Insurers pay NOTHING like what you get billed.  A $10k bill from a hospital might be pack rate $2k... They set accepted reimbursement rates for a laundry list of common things with the insurers and that is why your insurance is accepted here and not there...  Some insurers want to reimburse so little that the care provider can't or won't operate at those rates.
The way how most provincial health insurance programs work here is, they have a maximum rate they'll reimburse to the health care provider for services performed on the patient. And since there's a single payor system in place, the hospitals get reimbursed on what the provincial health care dictates.
 

KuJoe

Well-Known Member
Verified Provider
Yes I have insurance for me and my family through my primary employer. I pay $369.32 per month and my company pays the difference ($1061.76 per month). Additionally, my company gives me a pre-paid credit card that has $1000 on it that I can use towards anything health related including my co-pays.

Overall I'm very happy with my health insurance, it's improved quiet a bit (at least compared to what it was 4 years ago). I shopped around to see if I could get health care cheaper if I purchased it outside of my company and I could save about $50 a month with a plan that covers all of my needs but nothing extra, but saving $50 per month still doesn't match the $1000 my company gives me each year so I'll stick with the better coverage. I also get to opt for more expensive extras since I'm not paying out of pocket (for example: it's an extra $50 for nitrous oxide at the dentist so I opt for it every time now, might as well enjoy yourself while you're there right?). Now if I end up using less than $600 of that $1000 then I'm paying more per year but since I can use that cache towards eye glasses I'll just take the balance each year and get an eye exam and a new pair (or two) of glasses.
 

wlanboy

Content Contributer
I do have one.

It is a goverment driven health care system where I am able to buy addons from health ensurance companies.

I am paying about $300 a month for it. My wife and my child are included.

Childs and infants and mums don't have to pay anything. Even for more costly treatments.

In my opinion it is about equal payments.

Everyone is paying the same amount and because of that there is enough money left for the costly things - right because noone has ever to pay more for something.
 

MartinD

Retired Staff
Verified Provider
Retired Staff
In this day and age it's ridiculous to think that in some countries, if you are seriously ill or injured you have to PAY someone to fix you, make you better, cure your illness, stop you from dying.

In a world where billions are traded every day for consumables and millions are given to charities there should be no country, anywhere, that requires payment or insurance from patients in order to be treated.
 

DomainBop

Dormant VPSB Pathogen
who here has health insurance
I do..

how much?
Too much but the small business health care tax credit and deductions for employee health care premiums ease the pain somewhat.

Oh yeah, no healthcare here. Employer doesn't offer it.
I'll just leave you with these 2 links.  There are some hosting companies out there that provide their employees with competitive wages and generous benefit packages.  Singlehop provides medical, dental, and vision insurance.  Linode also offers health insurance. 

http://www.singlehop.com/about/careers/

https://www.linode.com/careers

At the other end of the scale are some of the hosting companies that pay their outsourced contract workers sweatshop level wages and offer no benefits.

In this day and age it's ridiculous to think that in some countries, if you are seriously ill or injured you have to PAY someone to fix you, make you better, cure your illness, stop you from dying.
It's even more ridiculous that in many of those same countries if you don't have the money to pay someone to fix you, and aren't eligible for any government assistance, you won't get the needed health care and you very well might die.
 

HalfEatenPie

The Irrational One
Retired Staff
Bahaha... here comes political rant in 3...2...1...

See I never understood why "health" care doesn't reward you for health.... Pay towards preventative things - like proper nutrition, exercise, non ingestion of poisions.... and of course such NEVER seems to cover dental when dental issues are linked to a multitude of things that can and do kill masses of people every year...  You can go to a foot specialist and get custom shoes, but you can't go get your teeth (which are bones) cared for...

Instead health care is OH F*CK coverage for when you are UNHEALTHY.

It's false advertising.   It's UNHEALTHCARE.

I am not UNHEALTHY and while some like to gamble at casinos, I "gamble" with the healthcare coverage.. I am unlikely to get UNHEALTHY any time soon, because I invest in staying well and healthy.  So why should I invest in OH F*CK coverage? and why should I be extorted from by law to dillute the risk pool?  No thanks...
Just putting it out there.  Health is the category of which the care is addressed.  It's not actually addressing the status of your.... body?  Therefore it's called Healthcare :p

In relation to the overall thread, yeah I have healthcare.  South Korea does have universal healthcare for basic necessities.  Therefore, I have supplemental health care which covers all other possible conditions.  
 

KS_Phillip

New Member
Verified Provider
We provide health insurance for our full-time employees in USA, otherwise we all run without (because we live in civilized countries).
 

raindog308

vpsBoard Premium Member
Moderator
I do, through my employer.  I think I pay $10/week for me + wife + 3 children.  But there are agonizingly complex details, e.g.:
 

  • some medicines are virtually free, some are $100/3 months
  • copays at doctors
  • annual family deductible
  • in-network vs. out-of-network
  • the annual ritual of choosing from among the 4 or 5 plans my employer offers and then trying to decide which is optimal.
 
I think the problems with our system are fairly obvious:
 

  • ridiculous litigation drives up costs and induces defensive medicine (ordering extra tests to defend against malpractice, the cost of lawsuits in new medicines, extra trials and regulation, etc.)
  • lack of market pressure on health care companies does not lower prices. For example, why is the same medication cheaper in Canada vs. the US.
  • we do have very fancy treatments now compared to 50 years ago. And of course, everyone wants them. For example, there's a new hepatitis C drug that costs $1000 a day for 90 days. If you have hep C you want it, because it cures 90% of patients, but the cost is astronomical.
  • people without insurance use the most expensive services (e.g., ER)
  • we have insane knee-jerk laws like HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, etc. that jack up the costs of everything
  • and of course, the government puts its regulatory/buffoonish hands in everything
Also, people smoke, eat bad food, drink, etc. but that is true of humans globally. It's expensive to treat heart disease and diabetes - pretty cheap to eat vegetables and quit smoking. Americans actually smoke less than many countries (#51), drink less, and have much lower environmental pollution than many, but we have higher obesity.

I hate the American system because it is strangely tied to employment and it grossly distorts corporate earnings and behaviors. Every exec I know is forced to become a minor expert on health care law. American companies have to manage health care benefits for employees, which takes management time and attention.  It's a relic of a more formal union/employer world of the 1930s.

I work for a big Fortune 500 company that at one time offered comprehensive health care benefits for free. Then copays and monthly fees came and every year, the cost goes up and the benefits grow more expensive. I don't blame my employer - I blame the reality that health care costs grow at double-digit rates every year.

Of course, the problem is that the alternative is giving it to the government to manage, and public sector employees are universally idiots.
 

Oh yeah, no healthcare here. Employer doesn't offer it. I can't / don't want to afford it out of pocket and don't want to be forced to have it either. Ideally for me, I should be able to go visit a doctor if needed and pay cash out of pocket without it being insane. If I need emergency treatment to an injury, ideally it wouldn't bankrupt me. But hey, that's not how the world works.
Are you in the US? Honestly, dude, you're an appendectomy away from bankruptcy. That's the sad truth. I would carry something.
 

In this day and age it's ridiculous to think that in some countries, if you are seriously ill or injured you have to PAY someone to fix you, make you better, cure your illness, stop you from dying.
 
In a world where billions are traded every day for consumables and millions are given to charities there should be no country, anywhere, that requires payment or insurance from patients in order to be treated.
There's no country where healthcare is free. It can't be because it costs money - medicine, people, etc. You pay for it either through taxes or insurance premiums.  Yes, you have to PAY someone to fix you because doctors don't work for free.  The only discussion is who's paying that doctor - either the government takes money from you at gunpoint (aka taxes) or there's an insurance scheme you pay into.

I think there's a misunderstanding that some US citizens don't have health insurance. This is not the case - even prisoners have health care, you can buy it on the market, there are zillions of programs for the poor, old people get Medicare, there's Medicaid, etc. It's just a question of how much it costs and what it covers. People with "good" insurance (which infuriatingly tend to be public sector employees whose insurance is paid for through people's tax dollars) pay less for their care, while people with "bad" insurance pay for more.
 
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