this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2023
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Here in the US, if you have health insurance, any time you go to the doctor it’s $200. That’s if you have a doctor to go to. So we mostly don’t go, until it’s really bad, then maybe you have to go to the hospital, which may be a few thousand bucks on the low end and bankruptcy on the high end. You have no idea what you will pay when you go, they send you a bill in the mail that arrives 2-3 weeks later.
So we pretty much avoid interacting with the medical system at all costs.
If you do want to see a doctor or specialist it’s pretty easy since they are businesses, you just call them up and make an appointment. But what do I look like over here, John D. Rockefeller?
Then we die young of easily preventable diseases.
Your experience is real and is the case for millions of Americans, but healthcare insurance plans vary widely.
I work in a union job for a large nonprofit and I have excellent insurance. Visits to my PCP for preventative care are free, visits for anything else is $20. Specialists are generally $25. It’s also $25 for urgent care, $150 for the ER, though that’s refunded if you’re admitted. Hospital stays have no copay or deductible if they’re in network. All the major medical facilities near me are in network.
Monthly I pay ~$300 for my insurance, which is 12% of the cost, the other 88% is paid for by my employer. That covers me, my wife and my daughter.
Last year our insurance provider had a greater % of profit from our companies plan then legally allowed, so they had to refund a portion of our payments. My company refunded all that to us, so I got about a months worth refunded.
I’m fairly certain I’m in the top couple percent for healthcare quality, and it’s a real draw to me staying with my employer, though they’re great in pretty much every respect so it’s not the only draw.
I strongly support single payer healthcare because my experience is not the norm in the US and everyone should have the health security I have and feel.