Then why do the Canadians that can afford it comes to the US for treatment?
This past month some of the biggest Medicare only telesales fmo shops have added life divisions
- Thread starter DonP
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- 11,192
Overpaying today, does not fix our situation in the future. It makes it worse.
The aging workforce is a real issue.
70% of premiums today (combined on all platforms), are paid with tax dollars.
Overpaying for care today, does nothing to fix the aging workforce no longer paying taxes in the future.
Cutting a hundred billion in overpayments that go to investors, is the first step.
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Medicare IS single payer. But a lot of people choose to opt off of it to go to Part C through insurance companies.
I also have worked in Canada and in the USA (employee insurance here). While I didn't have anything serious wrong with me other than a broken bone, what I really, really appreciated is that I didn't owe any money. No medical debt (which I accumulated a lot of in the USA with cancers). When we talk about medical debt on cancer lists the folks from countries where they have universal heath care think it is appalling that finances can dictate our care, care can be cut off due to medical debt or we can be sued for that.
The delays in Canada depend on both the province you live in, at times where in the province and what you need done. In some areas it is no different than the USA (and can be faster than someone in the USA with pre-approval issues) and in some places it can be slower. Typically emergency care is no different.
I have lived in 6 countries. In the UK you'd better pay for the optional addition to their free care if you want good care for everything. In the Netherlands they still did house calls when I lived there... What goes on is all over the map depending on the country and how they implement it.
In some earlier thread about delays in Canada I looked up the facts and posted them. Parts of Ontario (care is by province as without a referral outside of the province is not paid for except in an emergency because you aren't in your home province at the time of the issue and the problem is such that it needs to be taken care of now) had somewhat longer delays than the "optimal" (optimal determination was made by medical professionals and then put in the rules) and some was not.
Medicare bro
Guru
- 598
I appreciate what you're saying. But let's say, for argument's sake, that $100 billion (which really isn't that much in the big picture) is redirected back to the people to help fund a single-payer system. A few important questions come up:
- Would taxes go up for everyone?
- Would employers—who currently pay around 50% of most employees' insurance premiums—redirect that same amount into the single-payer system?
Now here's something else to think about: the United States is the sickest, most heavily treated country in the developed world. We use hospitals and doctors far more than most nations.
But there's a real issue—hospitals and doctors already struggle with Medicare rates. Many of them dislike working with Medicare because of the low reimbursement (the "Medicare allowable").
So if we move to a single-payer system that pays providers at Medicare rates, what happens to hospitals that can't afford to operate under that model? How many would shut down? What would that do to access and quality of care?
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Medicare is a multi-payer system…
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I don't know a single person who pays for additional health insurance.
You may not have known anyone who did in the UK, but I knew people in who did and I did. Looking it up around 12% of people have that, some of them their employer provides it. When I worked there the supplemental health insurance premium ("Voluntary Health Insurance", not sponsored by the National Health Insurance program ) got broken finger, hand and toe bones set, got you root canals and crowns instead of your teeth pulled, etc. You have faster access to specialists, access to better hospitals, private rooms in hospitals rather than be on a ward, etc. It wasn't that much more and even though I never needed to use it, if I had I would have been glad to have had it rather than pay the entire amount out of pocket for uncovered services.
I had a student break his hand and the NHI wouldn't set it (he only had the national free program paid for by taxes and no supplemental policy). His parents decided they wanted that done and so had to pay for it themselves.
- 11,192
Mainly because of government subsidies that create ultra low, or even $0, premiums.
- 11,192
I never said single payer. I said non-profit.
The overpayments could go to doctors and hospitals.
You are focused on a boogeyman that Im not even mentioning at all.
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