Quote:
Originally Posted by boobaloo
You do realize that in Alberta there are no health care premiums and you can go wherever you like as well. Doesn't cover prescriptions, vision (exams under 18 are covered) and dental, however, but you'd have to have quite a bit of those to justify 750/month premiums......Glasses are 3-400 so if you bought a family of 4 new glasses every year, you'd only spend 2 months worth of your insurance fees.  . And I know, you NEED it in the US...that's why the universal health care thing is so good and so underappreciated up here. |
I wasn't really comparing it to Alberta healthcare since the OP is in the US. There are pros and cons to each systerm and that's an entirely different conversation. I was responding to the comment about someone paying 800.00 for individual coverage, which I think is unnecessary. Like I said, I pay higher premiums by choice because I prefer to see any doctor I want, get an MRI tomorrow (or even today) if I need one, and not wait for approval to see a specialist if that's what I, or anyone in my family, needs. My sister-in-law has her family covered for 220.00 per month with an HMO. That's the choice she makes.
My other main point is that, like it or not, if you live in the US there is no socialized medicine, therefore you need insurance or you need to be able to afford to pay for medical costs out of pocket. If you choose not to buy medical insurance, you risk dealing with a situation like the OP is dealing with.
Also, illegal aliens do not get to walk into any hospital with say, a gall bladder problem, and get surgery for free. They'd likely have to wait a week or so for the surgery. If they aren't dealing with a critical, life threatening illness, they'll be told to go to a County hospital. County hospitals are usually overcrowded and have less physicians and nurses per patient. Its not like they get a free ride at any hospital they walk in to. Obviously, anyone who would die without immediate medical intervention would be treated. Even if the US people are not just allowed to die because they don't have insurance or legal resident status.
I should say, while imperfect, I really don't have a severe problem with private healthcare. Regardless of what anyone in Washington thinks, privatized healthcare is always going to exist. Rather than waste money forcing people to buy government healthcare, which I can't imagine will be decent, they should work on reforming the insurance industry. As for my family, I"m more than happy to pay a little extra to get the treatment I want and I appreciate that we can choose the amount of coverage and the access we want. I do think there needs to be an option for people who make too much to qualify for medicaid but don't make enough that they feel they can afford insurance to get coverage. I just think there's a way to do that without allowing our goverment, which has a terrible track record spending taxpayer dollars, to be the entity overseeing a new huge project like healthcare.