Your healthcare system

[Igorl]

After I read this thread: https://www.planetcalypsoforum.com/forums/off-topic/143867-my-battle-life.html#post1775282

It made my wonder:

How is healthcare in your country? Insurance premium and doctor paycheck.

I myself pay:
- 200$ / mo health insurance
- insurance is govt owned and pays all surgeries (specially to young ppl) according to urgency

Since my wife is a doctor you may want to know that average doctor specialist paycheck with 60hrs/week working is:
~35k$ /yr before tax (around 25k$ / yr after tax and isnurance)

How is it where you live?

I.

 

[Spikey1989]

free health care to the day we turn 20" (Sweden)
then its some kind of "fee", don't know how much. not 20 yet.

feels good to be under 20
No offence

/Spikey

 

[Rayne Jade]

I am in the USA... and while the country does not have a great healthcare plan, I do. Why? I am in the Active Army

No fees, no co-pay, no nothing. What I need I get immediately. Same for the family (wife and 3 kids under age 4). Since I am now 18+ years in uniform, I am set until I die with the same plan.

Not a bad gig

As for the rest of the country... I wish you all luck.

 

[CycoKick]

uhm,
Pay about 107 euro a month everything is free. Inc dentist and such.
Ofc there are few exceptions like braces if not really needed, sex changes unless u got a really messed up pschyco condition
And a few more, but everything that is harming you will be treated asap.

 

[aridash]

UK. free at the point of use for all who enter the system. sometimes the turn around isnt what you'd like and theres a lot of pressure in some parts of the system. NHS is the worlds largest (or possibly 2/3rd now) organisation in the world and its not perfect but it is free when you need it.

except dental care which for some bizzare quirk of history is seperate.

 

[OgiMini]

portugal.
We have a niec system. have small taxes to pay like 8 to 10 euros for using hospitals in urgency matters.

if u are unemployed its all 100% free in public system.

i dotn realy get why in usa its the worst ever system.. we pay here 1/4 of teh price for the same american medicine sold in us..

so many dolors in people minds..

think that system need a 9 11 too.

worring about all tghat needs assistance in us

 

[Igorl]

Yep - children students, unemployed and retired - free ofc.

So from little data I have - everyone who works pays 100 or 2 USD and all taken care of...

Is USA really the only black sheep it cant be so... I mean - this system is what dreads me about US - one of primary things why I wouldnt leave Europe. I mean - when youre REALLY ill - they stomp u even more. No offence ment.

But then now I know why ppl go to US army

I.

 

[dbelinfante]

Most of Europe have similar systems, they're mostly free, with a fixed monthly fee. And they all have the same drawback: You get what you pay for.

 

[MistyDawn]

except dental care which for some bizzare quirk of history is seperate.

To elaborate on this a little, dental care in the UK is in two tiers:

1) Private - not cheap!
2) NHS - Free for those exempt (pregnant school kids, etc.) and Fixed costs depending on work required going up in Bands: £16.20, £44.60 and £198.

Unfortunately for some folk they have trouble finding and registering with an NHS dentist and have to go private.

National Insurance
If you are employed then you contribute 11.8% and your employer a further 12.8% of your gross earnings up to a certain amount then it goes on to higher income bracket.

If you're self employed then it's a fixed rate of £2.30/week (goes up this April to £2.40)

Kinda seems a bit unbalanced that someone self-employed earning twice as much as me would only pay 1.25% of what my employer and I have to contribute, although I'm not sure about their Pension rights.

No wonder they're running out of cash...



I very much doubt there will be a State Pension when I eventually get old enough to collect it.


NHS Doctor Salary

Not sure which would apply to the OP's wife but the Doctors here can do quite well, thank you very much...

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=553

 

[Legion]

Most of Europe have similar systems, they're mostly free, with a fixed monthly fee. And they all have the same drawback: You get what you pay for.

Not quite true, in france for example they have great healthcare and you hardly pay anything for it.

In the us however you dont get squat if you cant pay and if you cant pay they throw you out. They have even thrown out old ladies on the street that REALLY need help.

The us is great in some ways but totally fucked up in a lot of other ways :/

 

[Razer]

uhm,
Pay about 107 euro a month everything is free. Inc dentist and such.
Ofc there are few exceptions like braces if not really needed, sex changes unless u got a really messed up pschyco condition
And a few more, but everything that is harming you will be treated asap.

About the same for me (also from Holland), but I choose not to pay extra for dentist insurance. So I pay about 90 euro each month, but I have to pay my own dental care.

 

[Heap]

USA here:
Insurance cost me about 70 dollars (both health and dental) ever two weeks from my paycheck, then my employer paid another ~$500 per month so I'm told. So total fee of about $640 a month to insurance and then at the point of service I still have to pay $30s per Dr visit and $20-50 per month for prescription medicine.

One reason people in the US pays so much is all the damn advertising in the health care industry. Since it's more of a free market environment hospitals, Dr. Offices, and drug companies spend a fortune trying to get your business. Then they kindly role the cost right back down to the person who actually needs medical services. Bullshit IMO.

Nationalized health care is a big topic in the US today. I think the biggest concern people have is they believe it will cost them more in taxes. I think a national system will require government regulations to cap the salaries health organizations can pay their employees and doctors. This does a couple of things.

First of all, it will take away the traditional US mentiality of a capitalist economy... Meaning that the difference between the best doctors and the worst doctors won't be $100Ks worth of dollars. This in theory takes away part of the personal drive for each of the health care professionals, why strive to be the best if the reward is only self satisfaction. Money is a motivator!

In turn for that decreased motivation the theory is healthcare will become a less sought after profession and brilliant minds may follow a more financially lucrative career path in another industry. This in turn causes a degradation in the talent pool for the health care industry. The profession as a whole then shrinks a bit in quality and quantity of service.

That reduction in the overall size of the industry then means that there are less doctors to treat a growning number of patients and the lines start to form... I have some Canadian friends who work in the US and they pay for US health care through work because they have less wait times for specialized medical services. In Canada, my friends have told me, that the lines are long and if you need more than a routine Dr.'s visit your then waiting in the queue for your turn assessed on how sick you are. In the US that generally isn't the case. The excess costs do drive excess capacity in the system which generally means specialized services don't have too much wait time on average.

I do think what people forget to consider here in the US is that their contribution and their employers contributions would/should be combined and eliminated from their usual paycheck deductions. That would then shift over to a taxation rate assessed by the gov't. So in theory the out of pocket change to a persons take home paycheck shouldn't change all that much.

What that does then is force the gov't to take a certain role in managing the monies which has proven to be generally a bad thing in this country many times over. lol.

All in all it's a double edge sword for all Americans... Reform is needed but it's going to be a bumpy ass road.

 

[Kage23]

I was lucky. i come from a family that isnt poor, but can barely afford theyre expenses. My mother works at a doctors office and her boss covered all her kids untill they turn 21. when i was almost 20 i broke my left femur and had to get an emergency surgery. the insurance payed for everything. i didnt have to pay a cent. now that im 21 i have no insurance and have no job.. yet, so i have to be very cafefull about my health and not hurt myself.

 

[thoreau]

The costs discussed in this thread really mean nothing unless you have some barometer to measure purchasing power.

A doctor earning 35k/yr means nothing unless you know how much a gallon of milk costs, a loaf of bread, and rent.

 

[thoreau]

In the us however you dont get squat if you cant pay and if you cant pay they throw you out. They have even thrown out old ladies on the street that REALLY need help.

Simply not true.

Most cities in the U.S. have a 'safety net' hospital that provides free or nearly free care to those how are at or below the poverty line.

The people who are in a 'bind' are those who have 'some' money. Too rich to be poor and too poor to be rich. In these cases hospitals generally provide care but the person is left with staggering bills to manage.

What drives me crazy about health care in the U.S. is hearing 20 somethings complain that $200 dollars a month is too much for insurance. Then they spend $50 a week on boozing.

 

[Zacariaz]

In denmark we have a public health care system. I usually works ok.

However, it's not free, taxes are insane.

 

[Zefram]

...One reason people in the US pays so much is all the damn advertising in the health care industry. Since it's more of a free market environment hospitals, Dr. Offices, and drug companies spend a fortune trying to get your business. Then they kindly role the cost right back down to the person who actually needs medical services. Bullshit IMO...

I heard its also because of the insane insurance premiums doctors/hospitals have to pay to get themself insured against lawsuits.
Friend of mine told me her doctor pays like a 100k premium a year for that

 

[mastermesh]

USA here too.

I'm in USA too... and healthcare here does need reform. Hopefully the folks in Washington will look in to fixing a lot of stuff.

I actually work for a hospital and send in appeals on insurance claims, so I have to know the managed care contracts that our hospital is involved in pretty well. It's amazing how many times insurance companies will try to screw over both the hospitals and the people paying the premiums every month, but bow down before the physicians and actually pay their bills on time as much as possible... they do that to keep the Doctors happy because they know that if Doctor's are not happy they can use their uber paychecks to higher uber lawyers... so the Doc's are happy with their oversized paychecks and Doctors don't care too much if the rest of the healcare industry is screwed over by the greedy insurance CEOs....

Even with contracts that should be black and white, tons of insurances underpay claims as much as they can so they can keep the money in their bank as long as possible making interest, then at the end of the fiscal year when they've put off paying as long as possible, they suddenly drop a ton of payments on hospitals all at one time, forcing the hospitals to now have to have tons of overtime payed out to payment posting people to meet the demand... then once the cycle starts up again, blamo, there goes all the money that was coming in fast, and funds are dry, and suddenly all the hospital staff is screwed over because they now have too many people and too little jobs... so eventually someone either gets fired or gets pushed in to quitting. It a very, very, very sad state of affairs, and after having watched it over and over and over every year the last few years, it's frustrating the heck out of me...

I can't tell you how many times I see the law broken almost weekly, but can't say anything about details to anyone about any of it since then I'm in violation of HIPPA... It's completely amazing how many managed care contracts have loopholes the size of Russia in them, and have multiple ways of doing things...

Something else...

This may surprise some, but probably not...

Most inpatient stays are paid by Medicare and some commercial insurances that base their payment schemes on Medicare type rules and policies use a DRG Payment Rate of payment... so a flat rate is paid, no matter how much is actually billed, and that payment is based on the DRG (Diagnosis Related Group) billed on the claim form... In some cases, that might mean that the Federal Government, in guise as Medicare, is paying some hospitals more than the charges are that are being billed... that is a real rarity, but it does happen sometimes... and amazingly, the Federal Government sees nothing wrong with that... ??? Like I said, usually, it's the other way around, and the insurances are screwing over the hospitals... but in this case, it's a little the other way, and no one does anything about it since most politicians that have the power to change this sort of thing either don't care or don't care to take the time to look and see what's going on to really realize that it's happening... just another example of how wisely Washington spends our tax money....

 

[MistyDawn]

A doctor earning 35k/yr means nothing unless you know how much a gallon of milk costs, a loaf of bread, and rent.

OK, a Doctors mid-range wage according to the NHS website is say £34,584 to £64,632

Rent in my area for somewhere a Doctor would probably live is £1,500 - £2,000/month (at least double this for London).

Milk is £0.45/pint

Bread £1.20+ per loaf

Cigarettes £5.80/20 pack (believe it or not more than a few Doctors smoke)

Beer £3.10/pint

Petrol/Gasoline £0.91/litre or £4.13/imperial gallon (US$4.98/US gallon)

They would also be in a high tax bracket, 0% on first £6,035, next £0 - £2,230 = 10%, next £2,231-£34,600 = 22% then 40% on everything above this.
(Too tired and drunk to work it out)

So, a single Doctor or anybody single earning £34k is doing ok, but nothing special if they live within 100 miles of London. If both parents are working and receiving this sort of money then you're doing fairly well.

A Consultant on £173,638 is doing rather well (heck, anybody on that sort of wedge is), this will afford them; kids in Public School, nice house, weekly shopping at Waitrose/M&S, 2 x decent car on driveway, 2-3 holidays in Caribean/year (or maybe a nice gun, some decent armour (Angel+) and a semi-decent FAP ).



Hope that helps



wishes I studied harder at school!

 

[T3h_plonker]

UK. free at the point of use for all who enter the system. sometimes the turn around isnt what you'd like and theres a lot of pressure in some parts of the system. NHS is the worlds largest (or possibly 2/3rd now) organisation in the world and its not perfect but it is free when you need it.

except dental care which for some bizzare quirk of history is seperate.

there are nhs dentists you know

but yeh it's something like 15 £ if you need anything done that's simple like extractions fillings ect ...


but expencive stuff like bridges and crowns ar a bit more dear


that said it is cheep. i got a filling done in the usa and it was over 200 $ ( a filling) , so 15 £ seems more affordable ( considering that for that you can have all the teeth in your gob done for that)

 

[Poisonhearts]

Us Canadians in Alberta no longer have to pay health care premiums, we use to have to pay the most in Canada but no longer pay anything. Actually Ontario and B.C. are the only two provinces left in Canada that pay for health care as far as I know. Surgeries, hospital stays, visits to the doctor etc. are free to us. We need to buy coverage for medication, dental work, eye work and things like this because those are not free and still cost a shit load of money.

 

[Oleg]

National Insurance
If you are employed then you contribute 11.8% and your employer a further 12.8% of your gross earnings up to a certain amount then it goes on to higher income bracket.

If you're self employed then it's a fixed rate of £2.30/week (goes up this April to £2.40)

Kinda seems a bit unbalanced that someone self-employed earning twice as much as me would only pay 1.25% of what my employer and I have to contribute, although I'm not sure about their Pension rights.

Self-employed people typically pay more NI, not less.

As an employee you pay Class 1 NICs (National Insurance Contributions), which is a proportion of your salary as you describe.

Self-employed people pay Class 2 NICs which is the £2.30 a week.

However they also pay Class 4 NICs which are a proportion of total profit.

So Class 4 are essentially the self-employed version of Class 1, and Class 2 are the self-employed equivalent of employer contributions.

Besides all that, NI is not directly linked to healthcare. NI primarily funds state pensions. The NHS is ostensibly funded by general taxation (income tax, corporation tax, VAT etc), though in reality it all goes into a big pot which is divided up by the Treasury depending on what is needed (e.g. cutting NHS budgets to bail out monolithic corporations who cocked up...)

 

[Oleg]

OK, a Doctors mid-range wage according to the NHS website is say £34,584 to £64,632

<snip>

Interesting and off-topic personal fact:

For a short time in the late 1990s I was the guy at the Department of Health who was responsible for working out how much GPs should get paid

 

[WillWren]

*Sigh* I am in the US and wish the US health care system on no one. Especially considering that some insurance won't cover your mental healthcare after you suffer a nervous breakdown from dealing with the US healthcare system.

How someone thought it would be a good idea to create another tier of bureaucracy, and a private profit motivated one at that, to keep costs down is beyond me (the dreaded Health Maintenance Organization or HMO). One such company where I grew up spent 2 million dollars on naming rights for a sports arena. They said it was cuz they need to market themselves. There was only one other competitor in the area.

At least 40% of all bankruptcies in the US are medical bankruptcies by people/families who have health insurance but still can't cover their health expenses.

Not knocking the military, but I find it amazing that so many people say a national healthcare system is anti-american, communist, or some other such nonsense, yet the military healthcare system is essentially a large national healthcare system.

 

[Igorl]

The costs discussed in this thread really mean nothing unless you have some barometer to measure purchasing power.

A doctor earning 35k/yr means nothing unless you know how much a gallon of milk costs, a loaf of bread, and rent.

Galon = for me - so Ill write in litres

1l milk = 1$
bread (loaf) = 1$
rent (if you dont own an app) + communal expenses ~= 600$ / mo for singles appartment
rent (mortgage) + communal expenses ~= 1200$ / mo for a couple
gas 1l - 1.2$
LPG 1l - 0.6$ (i use that)
cigaretes - 2$ store / 1.2$ smuggler

And I find our healthcare system quite adequate. Ok you dont have "appartments" or 1 bed suites in hospitals, but hey - i wanna get well not comfortable. Only drawback is in regular diagnostics which is not a walk in business but you have to schedule an appointment 3 mths in advance (ofc it is periodic, so its your own fault if you didnt do it on time).

Basically our ppl perception is - yes we pay 15% of out paycheck in healthcare tax, but then - noone shoud actually die because they are poor.

Someone mentioned you have to take care and not get ill. I was once late in filing in some papers (im slow on buirocracy) and was left w/o health insurance for 1 week. I must admit I felt a bit uneasy. Cant even think how is it to live with a thaught that if you get ill - you will not be able to afford something.

I.

 

[Kimmi]

Norway has the best healt care.

This Post can now be closed

In short version of the system is that everything is free for everyone.. and you basicly cant buy your way up, but ofc there are exceptions.

 

[Staffas]

Swizerland here.
similar system to america (from what I can figure out after living in both countries for some short time)

By law you have to have a private health insurance, price depends alot on where you live, but I got a cheap one and pay about $200 per month


Only been to the hospital one time, and that was not for me but for a drunk friend that decided to hurt his leg while here on vacation. The bill for ambulance and x-ray and a few hours of doctors fees ended at around $2k

What I do is that if I get sick and have to go to the doctor, I buy a cheap flight ticket to sweden and use the "free" system there
(Im swedish)


Edit: forgot that I have a nice insurance from work, so if something hapends I get 1st grade medical treatment all over Europe.