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The insane part is that the hospital only receives a tiny fraction of the billed amount from the insurance company, yet uninsured people have to pay the full am
by cpncrunch 14y ago
The insane part is that the hospital only receives a tiny fraction of the billed amount from the insurance company, yet uninsured people have to pay the full amount.
The US healthcare system is broken on many levels, and I don't think anyone has the balls to really fix it.
Some ideas:
[1] Free basic medicare for everyone, but allow people to pay for faster/better service. This is the way it works in the UK, and it works very well. The basic service is fine for most people, but if you want a room to yourself or you want to jump the queue, you can pay to get US-style service. Overall it works out much cheaper and fairer than the US system.
[2] Set up a system that allows uninsured people to get the same rates as the insurance company. It's a bit of a scam at the moment - basically the hospitals seem to be out to screw you if you're not insured.
- scarmig 14y agoIt's quite possible to get a lower rate than what's billed to the insurance company if you're uninsured. Maybe not at all hospitals, but at many.
- cpncrunch 14y agoPerhaps, but it seems to be down to your negotiating ability.
- amorphid 14y agoI had a major bike accident in 2006 and was taken to a hospital emergency room. The hospital told me they take my insurance. They really meant they'll bill my insurance. My insurance company didn't have a negotiated rate with the hospital and the treatment was considered out of network. Instead of paying only the maximum out of pocket cost of $4,000 USD per year, insurance only offered 50% and I got hit with a bill for $50,000. It eventually got worked out months later after months of fighting the hospital, doctors, and insurance, but it sucked big time.
- visarga 14y agoHealth care but Financial death.
- aton 14y agoUK doesn't not work as described in [1], and I don't think any other country works like that. In the UK, if you have a certain income (as low as £8,000), you must pay for national insurance, whether you like it or not, whether you're going to use it or not. If you want to use the faster/better service, that is private insurance, then you have to pay for your private insurance, as well as national insurance, both in full.
- buro9 14y agoYou are going to use it... it's just a question of when and how severely the need will be.
- ryguytilidie 14y ago"whether you're going to use it or not" Wat? This is the exact use case of insurance. It protects you should you need it, but ideally you won't.
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- mseebach 14y agoThe point is, you're forced to pay for the government "insurance" (which is actually called insurance, although it's not actually insurance), even if you have private insurance on the side that pays for most things the government insurance would, and more. Thus, "don't need it".
- cpncrunch 14y agoBut NI covers other stuff such as unemployment. Also, I'm pretty sure it's still cheaper than US health insurance in total.
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