Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US

Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (Full Version)

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Dtesmoac -> Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 7:16:25 PM)
On NPR radio tonight I thought I heard it said that medical insurance for a family was $11000 a year, I must have heard this wrong!!!. What does it cost for medical insurance over here (USA) - I'm insulated as my time over here includes all medical bills paid in full by the company & so I had no idea of the personnal cost of insurance for somepeople. - please enlighten me.

cuddleheart50 -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 7:20:15 PM)
I have no insurance, I couldnt tell ya.

WyrdRich -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 7:23:40 PM)
That is about what my wife and I would be paying if our employers didn't pick up the majority of it. Add dependents to mix and it would be much higher. And that is before co-pays.

Dtesmoac -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 7:27:43 PM)
Without sounding to nosey - the salaries over here do not appaer in gross terms to be much higher than equivalent in UK and even given the fact that UK tax is 20% upto equiv of about $55K and 40% after that I can't see that the combination of US Tax plus medical insurance / bills makes US any better off

WyrdRich -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 7:38:16 PM)
NorthernGent has described UK hospitals as being something out of the "Crimean War." The urgent care office I walked into yesterday was clean, comfortable and efficiently run. I was there less than 1 1/2 hours and happy with the service recieved. I can switch to a different provider if I'm not satisfied, so they have incentive to keep me happy as well as healthy.

Dtesmoac -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 7:43:14 PM)
Yes NorthernGent has a certain poetic style. For life threatening conditions and emergencies and also for long term prescriptions etc then I've never really seen a problem with the UK system and it compares quite well. The condition of the hospitals, routine non essential medical treatments and food etc is a different matter - but it works when you need it ireelevent of your ability to pay at the point of use.

WyrdRich -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 8:09:19 PM)
And in the interest of honesty and full disclosure, if I hadn't had the co-pay, I would have been refused service.

Aileen68 -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 8:12:35 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Dtesmoac On NPR radio tonight I thought I heard it said that medical insurance for a family was $11000 a year, I must have heard this wrong!!!. Yup, that's just about what I pay. It doesn't include dental.

FangsNfeet -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 8:38:10 PM)
Back when I signed up for one medical insurance plan in a hospital, $50 came out of my pay each month and the hospital covered the other $200. With the current job, my health insurance is covered. In orientation, we start off with $270 and we subtract the cost of various plans from that. After picking PPO, Prescription, Dental, and Visual, Life Insruance, and Extra Time off, still leaves me with an extra $20 going on my paycheck. Dr Visits are $20, Name Brand Meds are $20, and all Generics are free. The company basicly pays $3600 a year for my well being provided I stay moderatly healthy and out of accidents. As to your idea of $11,000 per year for a family, it can easily be true. However, the company to which the primary card holder works for, will pick up most of that. That's how it works for the American Citizen Families. All the Illegal Alien Families still get there medical treatment for free.

Dtesmoac -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 8:59:10 PM)
On say a $70000 gross salary how much would you loose on Tax etc so I can get a feel for the comparison with the UK. My salary is adjusted and paid in £ so whilst I will pay US tax I actually only have the equuvalent of UK tax deducted.

proudsub -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 9:16:25 PM)
Being self-emplyed, older, and Hubby and i on different policies, ours is outrageous. Mine is about 4K and Hubby's is 13K per year, but one more year and He will be eligible for medicare.

popeye1250 -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 9:19:17 PM)
Dtes, how much do they pay for a gallon of gas in England? I'm on the Veteran's Administration and Medicare so it costs me nothing.

Archer -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/26/2006 9:36:56 PM)
Depending on the employer the plans cost various amounts for the employee. My Employer covers 80% of premiums which seems pretty much standard for good jobs. I have worked for places where they paid none, and where they paid 50%. Here is the current breakdown of the progressive tax structure for the US. Now that is calculated on NET not Gross, with all Employer provided Insurance premiums paid by the Employee being deducted along with any other deductions. Single Taxable Income Tax is Plus X% For all income over 0- 7,300 0.00 10% 0 7,300- 29,700 730.00 15% 7,300 29,700- 71,950 4,090.00 25% 29,700 71,950-150,150 14,652.50 28% 71.950 150,150-326,450 36,548.50 33% 150,150 326,450- above 94,727.50 35% 326,450

Liannan -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/27/2006 1:45:21 AM)
I am self-employed and pay for my own insurance out-of-pocket. My policy is $4200/year plus a $500 deductible before my insurance pays anything (integrated to include medical, dental, visual and prescriptions) and after deductible, I pay 20% if the insurances "allowed amount" which is usually quite a bit less than what the medical professional charges. It is considered a good policy with very few restrictions on who I can see. When my daughter was on my insurance policy, it was an extra $2000/year and a second $500 deductible before coverage kicked in to the point where I only paid 20%. For my sub, Tee, the insurance she came to me with was a different company but there was no reason not to stick with it. Hers is an HMO with many more restrictions btu only costs $2400/year plus copays which are around $10 for her primary doc, $30 for a specialist, and $50 for emergency room care.

meatcleaver -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/27/2006 2:02:03 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: WyrdRich NorthernGent has described UK hospitals as being something out of the "Crimean War." The urgent care office I walked into yesterday was clean, comfortable and efficiently run. I was there less than 1 1/2 hours and happy with the service recieved. I can switch to a different provider if I'm not satisfied, so they have incentive to keep me happy as well as healthy. NorthernGent is a self hating Brit. I don't think I've heard him say one positive thing about the country. However, I had a major life threatening health problem a couple of years ago and the treatment I got was first class. I was also in a state of the art hospital long enough to know that if the troops in the Crimea had such hospitals they would have been back on the battlefield within 24 hours.

EnglishDomNW -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/27/2006 2:28:08 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: WyrdRich NorthernGent has described UK hospitals as being something out of the "Crimean War." If NorthernGent said that it's ludicrous and I can't imagine where he got the information from. Edited because MC beat me to it but I'm beginning to think that NorthernGent must cringe at some of the things he himself types.

Dtesmoac -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/27/2006 4:44:07 AM)
Archer - thanks for breakdown on tax, I've now just got to do the maths to get a US UK comparison. !!! Popeye - over $7 a gallon, of course car is half the size of the one in the US and most of the journeys travelled are half the distance. MC /ED - perhaps Nrothern gent is referring to Florence Nightingale and her nurses who later in the war proided patient focussed care of a standard higher than most other parts f the world at that time, which was free at the point of delivery to anyone that came to the hospital .....ok perhaps he wasn't..LOL

meatcleaver -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/27/2006 4:52:29 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Dtesmoac MC /ED - perhaps Nrothern gent is referring to Florence Nightingale and her nurses who later in the war proided patient focussed care of a standard higher than most other parts f the world at that time, which was free at the point of delivery to anyone that came to the hospital .....ok perhaps he wasn't..LOL Maybe he did. Florence possessed NG's core values. Naah She was too privileged, she couldn't possibly have had 'em. I might start a thread on core values, newspeak and re-education camps.

kisshou -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/27/2006 5:07:31 AM)
You are getting a totally skewed view by what has been posted because most employers do not offer health insurance. Remember the people who can afford to be on CM have computers, internet access and are just a certain demographic of the poplulation. Whenever a person in the US changes jobs that actually do offer insurance they have to pay Cobra for 3 months until their new benefits kick in. For a family that is about 1200 a month under blue cross. On top of that there are deductibles and co-pays. If they choose not to pay the cobra and go without insurance for the 3 months then they have to wait out a year of pre-existing condition clause. Say you have a heart condition , you would then have to go a year without treatment for it to re-qualify for insurance , otherwise it is excluded as pre-existing. Dental insurance has a cap and it also only pays half for fillings, extractions etc. For an adult to qualify for medicaid you have to basically be living on the street, not medicaire that is for seniors. It can take up to two years and you need to hire a lawyer to qualify for medicaid if you are disabled. Also all insurances come with a tremendous amount of paperwork. The number of hours an average american spends on medical paperwork is probably staggering. As you can probably tell I am a proponent of nationalized healthcare. The system here is beyond repair. My local hospital now charges $144.00 for an emergency room visit before you will be seen (excludes children under two or those over 65). If there was anywhere warm in Canada I would move there in a hearbeat!

philosophy -> RE: Cost of medical treatment / insurance in the US (9/27/2006 5:10:14 AM)
"NorthernGent has described UK hospitals as being something out of the "Crimean War." The urgent care office I walked into yesterday was clean, comfortable and efficiently run." ....my mother has just finished a course of chemotherapy following a single mastectomy for breast cancer. The follow-up, care and screening were all of the very highest quality. This all happened in an NHS hospital. Quite frankly she would have recieved no better care if she had gone private. Feel as smug as you like Americans, but quite frankly, if you think that doctors having clean reception areas is better than having a system that allows all to have access to the medical care they need to be productive members of society you have your priorities wrong.

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