Health benefits can kill you

[Baphomet]

How much do your health benefits cost you per month?
How much comes out of your own pocket during a routine Dr. appointment?
How much comes out of your own pocket during an ER visit?

My wife is a school teacher and one of the districts she used to work for wanted to charge her 1.200 per month for family coverage!! Needless to say, at the time we decided I would carry the family.

I currently pay 300 a month for myself and my wife. When our youngest child was still at home, it would have been another 300 per month just to add him on. Instead, we added 200 a month to his trust fund and paid cash out of it for his medical expenses. We came out ahead ... way ahead.

Our co-pays are 20 buck for office visit, 100 bucks for emergency room, and 1000 dollars for hospitalization. Nice easy to remember numbers; but I have never understood why I still need to pay out money when the whole purpose of insurance is to pay your bills for you. Odd.

I would be interested to learn how medical benefits work for other members.

[fixthecopier]

Funny you should post this morning as I am filling out the enrollment form for insurance. My company pays half, so medical cost me about $45 a week just for me. If I could afford to put the whole family on, It would be in the $1200 range you mentioned. This will give me 20/80 coverage. I pay 20% until I meet $500 deductible, then plan pays 100%. When I worked in factories in the 80's and 90's, insurance was free for the whole family, no worries. Of course the last place I worked has moved most of its operation to Mexico and I can't make the drive every day.

[cobiray]

Our coverage plan changed year before last from a PPO to an HSA (Health Savings Account) The way the plan works is this; a savings account is set up in your name and you are able to make deposits into this account pre taxed up to a pre set amount (I think it's $2,900 this year). The copay on this plan is the first $2,750. So I need to pay $2,750 per year before the insurance company even kicks in a dime. I've been dealing with two minor operations (ankle), and pysical therapy the last two years, so I've surpased the deductable amount for both years. I suppose if you are a sickly person you might get helped out in the long run. I'm normally a health person, doctor visits usually for physicals and maybe an antibiotic for a bad cold or sinus infection. I really feel like we get hosed with this type of account. Although, I'm starting to think all insurance is a hose job.

[fixthecopier]

All insurance is a racket. It is a for profit business, and they make profit by having you pay in more than they pay out. Just like car and homeowners, if you use it a lot, they will drop you. One person I know has a plan that has a $70 copay for a visit to an urgent care and the urgent care down the road only charges $60. Be advised that a lot of politics right now involves people running for office who have a health care plan for you that makes you buy your own coverage. This plan sucks as most people who can afford it already have it. I am sure that most of this is backed by people who own a lot of stock in insurance companies.
I misquoted in my first posting, it will cost $120 a week to insure me with health and dental, and my boss pays half.
Hey, what about Canada and England? Our right wing is always talking about how bad socialized medicine is in your countries, so tell us what it is like. Would it be better if you got to pay?
What about other places on the planet? Speak up so we can learn.

[dogsbody]

i think you are being screwed.

I do have private health insurance, costs about $160 a month for a family of five. I have it incase the kids need something done quickly, I will have some sort of gap payment but they wont have to wait for the public system. I am fairly sure we get about $40 of the $60 back from general visits to the doctor's office (the percentage stays the same for longer visits though), but if we looked hard enough could find a doctor that "bulk bills" and it wouldn't cost anything.

If anyone shows up in emergency here they will be seen and patched up - whatever is wrong, broken leg, heart attack whatever - for free.

I use the insurance for things like the chiropractor (we all go at least once a month and it costs $10 a visit) or dentist work. Also if i needed knee surgery or something like that i could use the insurance so i would not have to wait in the queue with the other public patients (but they will eventually have it done and pay nothing - may take 12 months but it's free).

The federal government also pays us 30% of what our health insurance costs as a way to get more people into the private health system.

I know many people who don't have health insurance and they get along quite fine.

The only thing that isn't covered (but should) is dental work which is one of the reasons i have insurance.

In the end, if I need some sort of medical treatment, surgery or drugs (government subsidises them as well) I will get it, regardless of my capacity to pay, if i can't pay i also wont be stuck with a bill.

It is just after midnight saturday here so i hope this isn't complete giberish.
Cheers

Should probably mention that I live in Australia.