Free Universal Healthcare

[AceLuby]

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What happens in the US if you were e.g. a factory worker and were made redundant and have been out of work for say 6m, you cannot afford insurance and you are now diagnosed with e.g. cancer. Do you really just not get treated ?


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Can someone answer this one pls ?

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OK, I work in the insurance industry. If the said person thought at all about the situation he is going to be in, and had coverage from his job before, we have in the US what is called COBRA continuation of benefits. Most benefits will continue for 18 mos as long as you pay the premium. There are also some ways to work this system after losing employment for the cheapest benefits possible. PM me if you're interested.

If the person did not do that and was diagnosed w/ Cancer their best bet would be to search out research medical facilities and possibly get into a program that would be slightly higher risk, but less cost to the patient. My dad did this when he was diagnosed w/ Cancer.

[entertainme]

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What happens in the US if you were e.g. a factory worker and were made redundant and have been out of work for say 6m, you cannot afford insurance and you are now diagnosed with e.g. cancer. Do you really just not get treated ?


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Can someone answer this one pls ?

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There is some government paid health care in the US, but it is reserved for the poor and the elderly. In the situation you describe, the worker would likely have to deplete much of his assets to qualify for government health care. In some states, Medicaid is only available to families with children. This varies a lot by state.

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If the worker had lost coverage from their previous employer, then tried to apply for insurance after being diagnosed with cancer, they would be denied coverage.

I know in my state, Wisconsin, if you are denied coverage from private companies, the state has insurance for high risk individuals. In order to qualify, you have to show you were denied coverage from the private sector. The fee is a sliding scale based on income, (not assets.)

[ChipWrecked]

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What happens in the US if you were e.g. a factory worker and were made redundant and have been out of work for say 6m, you cannot afford insurance and you are now diagnosed with e.g. cancer. Do you really just not get treated ?


[/ QUOTE ]

Can someone answer this one pls ?

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There is some government paid health care in the US, but it is reserved for the poor and the elderly. In the situation you describe, the worker would likely have to deplete much of his assets to qualify for government health care. In some states, Medicaid is only available to families with children. This varies a lot by state.

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Yes I thought I should expand on this.

Another scenario is that the person will be treated and billed. If they can't pay, their credit will be trashed and liens placed on anything they have or earn until the bill is paid.

In the meantime, somebody has to pay. So the hospital will tag another couple bucks onto the price of an aspirin, which the insurance companies will pay, which will in turn be paid by the insured.

[entertainme]

I've pretty much done it all when it comes to health care coverage:

- Had good HMO corporate coverage with the majority of the cost covered by my employer.
- Gone without insurance, (family of four.)
- Paid for HMO insurance out of our own pockets, (more than our mortgage per month.)
- Major medical policy that covers expensive testing and hospitalization. We pay for most doctor visits and have a high drug deductible. Much lower monthly premium. Current situation.
- Imposed upon the good citizens of the UK with a middle of the night totally free emergency room visit during a business trip. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

In spite of the mess/cost we're currently in I'd fight tooth and nail against handing over control of this much of the economy to the federal government.

I know for ourselves, that we were much better consumers of health care when we had no insurance. (Is this test necessary? What will we learn from it? Will the course of treatment be the same irregardless of the test results? etc.)

There are two things I'd look at to begin to improve the current system:

- Untie employment and health care coverage.
- Reform malpractice laws and coverage.

[entertainme]

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Yes I thought I should expand on this.

Another scenario is that the person will be treated and billed. If they can't pay, their credit will be trashed and liens placed on anything they have or earn until the bill is paid.

In the meantime, somebody has to pay. So the hospital will tag another couple bucks onto the price of an aspirin, which the insurance companies will pay, which will in turn be paid by the insured.

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It's true that a large percentage of bankruptcies in the U.S. are due to medical bills.

[AceLuby]

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There are two things I'd look at to begin to improve the current system:

- Untie employment and health care coverage.
- Reform malpractice laws and coverage.


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Also untie the links between health care coverage and actual health care. Best example I can think of is Merc-Medco where Merc creates expensive drugs while Medco insures people to get the expensive drugs w/ expensive premiums. There needs to be a separation IMO.

[diebitter]

Okay, this might be a little strong, but I find any system whereby a terminal patient has to sell stuff and probably leave debts behind for their family or whatever to get any sort of treatment or attempt at a cure to be pretty barbaric and frankly inhumane.


I think if I were put in a spot where I had something terminal, and knew I'd have to sell all the stuff I'd worked for rather than it be for my family (and probably run up a mound of debt for those I leave behind), I'd rather go jump under a train. Seriously.

[katyseagull]

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What happens in the US if you were e.g. a factory worker and were made redundant and have been out of work for say 6m, you cannot afford insurance and you are now diagnosed with e.g. cancer. Do you really just not get treated ?


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Can someone answer this one pls ?

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You will be treated for free and the insurance payers will pick up the tab.

If I'm wrong correct me someone.

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I would be totally shocked if this is the case. For someone like me or you (who aren't at poverty level and aren't over the age of 70), it would be unlikely that anyone would help cover our costs for a major operation or for cancer treatments. Basically, if you're not covered you are really screwed.

[katyseagull]

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Okay, this might be a little strong, but I find any system whereby a terminal patient has to sell stuff and probably leave debts behind for their family or whatever to get any sort of treatment or attempt at a cure to be pretty barbaric and frankly inhumane.




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I'm pretty sure that this is exactly the way it is. Pretty scary huh. People put their house up for sale and spend every last dime of savings to try to come up with operations. Family members try to help too, often with mom and dad taking out 2nd mortgages on their homes just to pay for treatments. Others can say this isn't so but just read the papers and talk to people in your communities. Our community is constantly having fundraisers to try to help out some poor family whose kid needs a transplant or cancer treatment and has run out of cash. I tell everyone I know to get some type of medical coverage any way possible.

[katyseagull]

What I want to know is how much do the insurance companies influence the doctors and what impact do they have on the kinds of treatments prescribed to patients. (I guess I should just watch Sicko [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img].)