Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
So the annual cost, for a family of four, on your insurance plan is $9,000.
With an HMO, let's call it 4,500 just for argument's sake.
Here's the problem. The median income in the U.S. is $55,000 dollars. For some, this means that they will pay in insurance premiums between 10 and 20 percent of their after-tax income!
In Canada, the cost is across the board far lower. In fact, in Alberta the comparable number is zero.
This is a big part of the reason that I moved my family from Boston to Calgary. I was paying nearly 700 dollars a month in health insurance--and the service was not better than what I get here. In fact, wait times were longer--and I STILL had out-of-pocket expenses after all of that.
I shake my head when people claim that the U.S. health care system is better. In Calgary I get the same level of care for me and my family (frequently better, actually)--and instead of being gouged by an insurance-company middleman, I pay for it with my taxes.
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I think this is why this argument will never have a winner. I have fast service, great doctors, my choice of 4 excellent hospitals close to my home and I can go anywhere I want for treatment. I don't have an issue with my cost of benefits, I don't feel gouged and if I had to, I could alter my coverage to be more affordable. At this point in my life, I'm willing to pay more for options. If I want to go to UCLA Medical Center for a specialist in whatever cancer I may end up with, I want to do that. I don't have to get approval or referrals from my provider. I simply go to whatever doctor or hospital I want and get the treatment of my choosing. I get MRI's on 20 minutes notice, and with my son in hockey, having utilized the MRI more than once, I'm Ok with the cost to have that luxury. If I had an HMO, unless it was an emergency, the MRI would wait a couple of days. We all make choices in our health care. We all have opinions based on our experiences. I can't argue about Canadian healthcare because I've never experienced it. I'm not saying one system is better than the other, I think they both sound flawed. I just have no complaints with how medical needs are met for me and my family.