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Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

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Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#51

Post by martin_a »

tetromino_ wrote: post #4
sumofi wrote: post #3

Not having health insurance is not an excuse. In Germany you are required by law to have it.

In Germany, does your health insurance cost >$600 per month for 1 person if your employer or government doesn't subsidize it (for example, if you are self-employed and earning more than minimum wage from it)? Because that's the case in the US.

Nah, it doesn't.

There are upper limits for the national health insurance which is based on a fixed percentage of your monthly income. I've passed that border this year (earning around 66 k€/year) and from now on, I will not have to pay more, so my procentual share actually goes down from now on.

If I'd marry now, my wife and any children would also be covered by my percentage, it's called "family insurance". Pretty fair after all. (Some limitations apply, but if my wife would stop working, she would be covered through my insurance.)

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#52

Post by Cyph0n »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #16

The face values on medical bills in the US are like a bizarre joke - to a first approximation, no one ever pays them. Everyone with insurance gets insurer-negotiated "discounts" to around ~10% of the listed cost. It's tougher for people without insurance - my understanding is that you can negotiate with the entity that sent you the bill to get significant reductions, but I don't have first-hand experience doing this.…

It depends on your deductible, though. If you’re on a HDHP, you could end up paying quite a bit more than 10% of the cost.

But the expectation is that you “negotiate”, which is one the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of. Why can’t my insurance company do that? I already have a ton of stuff to handle, and now I have to worry about negotiating my health bills? It’s a joke.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#54

Post by martin_a »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #48
tetromino_ wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany, does your health insurance cost >$600 per month for 1 person if your employer or government doesn't subsidize it (for example, if you are self-employed and earning more than minimum wage from it)? Because that's the case in the US.

Yeah, I have 3 kids, and my employer pays $3k/month for our health insurance.

In Germany? I doubt it.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#56

Post by baddox »

throwqwerty wrote: post #42
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the USA, acne and pregnancy are often disqualifying conditions. This is not true. Premiums and coverage are only allowed to vary by age and location, not preexisting conditions.

you realize this is literally only as of the ACA in 2010? and if the trump administration has its way (there's a supreme court case on the docket to completely kill ACA) we're going back to that?

Yes, the past was different than the present.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#57

Post by m_ke »

tc313 wrote: post #44
Krokku wrote: post #8

You could buy 0.018 Tomahawk missiles for that or treat 54 people for every Tomahawk missile fired. All of the Tomahawk missiles fired since 2001 would have provided 119.000 people with free Corona treatment. I am thinking that countries with free healthcare care more about keeping their own people healthy than dropping missiles and misery on other countries people.

While your point is valid, it also illustrates how the U.S. subsidizes European entitlement programs by implicitly reducing those countries’ defense spending. If the U.S. were to cut back on defense, European countries would have to cut back on social welfare programs.

US destabilizing the middle east and causing a refugee crisis is not helping european social welfare programs.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#58

Post by verylittlemeat »

sumofi wrote: post #3

Not having health insurance is not an excuse. In Germany you are required by law to have it.

They tried that in the US with Obama's mandate. You had a choice of getting of getting health insurance or paying a penalty roughly the same cost as getting the insurance.

Trump getting rid of that mandate is one of the few things I'm grateful for in his presidency. No longer am I forced to pay for terrible insurance that had high copays and ridiculous deductibles.

I'm a low income worker and in exchange for almost 7% of my income I get 1 free doctor checkup a year and catastrophic coverage.

Sorry but $2000 cash is worth a lot more to me than an imaginary $100,000 hospital bill. Anything less than $2000 I spend on my health in a year is cash money in my pocket. Being "rational" about insurance is a luxury for wealthy. I would rather dispute the cost with my hospital and let the debt go to collections where I can reduce it even further.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#59

Post by adrr »

xyst wrote: post #43

It’s a shame that the only candidate that wants to tear down this ridiculous health system is getting the boot by the party he is aligned with. The health system in the US is only accessible to those with money. It doesn’t have to be this way. I am not saying socialized healthcare will cure all ailments, but it would definitely be better than the current privatized system.

Medicare for all doesn't give people a choice between private insurance or government insurance. It's a non-starter, i am happy with my insurance like tens of millions of people in the US. Government option gives us a choice proposed by the front runner. Everyone wants to compare us to Canada. Canada gives you a choice and 25% have private insurance.

Edit: going to vote me down for just listing facts.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#60

Post by mgkimsal »

alexhutcheson wrote: post #16

The face values on medical bills in the US are like a bizarre joke - to a first approximation, no one ever pays them. Everyone with insurance gets insurer-negotiated "discounts" to around ~10% of the listed cost. It's tougher for people without insurance - my understanding is that you can negotiate with the entity that sent you the bill to get significant reductions, but I don't have first-hand experience doing this.…

my experience is similar, but never 10%. more like final bills end up being ~60% of original. We had a $3400 ER bill for a cut hand in November. Our 'final total' after 'negotiated pricing' was closer to $2400 - approx 30% reduction, not 90%. (fantastic savings for $10k/year premiums!)
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