You GOTTA have insurance

[Ghost95]

Just that fact that the bill was negotiated from $90k to $10k shows how sick your system is. How much did you end up paying out of pocket? $5700? That's insane.

I've never paid more than pocket money for any health service - at point of use, that is. And any emergency service or hospital admittance has been 100% free of charge. Because I pre-paid through my taxes. As a bonus, there was no paperwork, and I never had to worry whether any of the health personell were out of contract.

Insane is right. This is why we can't just swallow the transitional costs. It would be insanely expensive to try and shift without getting the cost under control. There are no good options at the moment. I'm sure we'll muddle along and get something figured out eventually but to just switch to that type of system is not feasible as things stand now.

Cheers.

 

[Midwesterndvr]

The us has public hospitals at the county/local level and also charity hospitals for those that can’t afford private healthcare. Also before the 1980s mental health was provided by the states. There is a system in place to get people services they might not be able to afford. Also I don’t know of any us citizens traveling to Canada to use the providers there?

 

[Gareth J]

A quick Google suggests the Norwegian health care system is under financial pressure. It will probably work so long as the world is not too successful at being green.
"Norway is in the global top 7 exporters of crude oil. The oil and gas sector constitutes around 18% of Norwegian GDP and 62% of Norwegian exports in 2018."

I doubt the Norwegian Health Care is under financial pressure. the Norwegians have a legacy fund from their oil and gas revenue which has been growing since the 70's. I believe the it is in credit to a value in excess of $1 trillion. Which means it's hardly likely to run dry in the short term. (Its also known as the Norwegian Pension Fund.)

Norway does have quite a high tax burden, but that is because instead of spending oil revenue money to keep the tax down, they run a surplus. Revenues from oil and gas go into the fund for future generations to protect the country when the oil and gas finally run out, or there are alternative power sources. Current expenditure is paid for by current taxation. I believe the legacy fund has one of the largest investments in 'green' alternate power generating solutions.
I wish the UK had been as sensible.

When I visited last year, the company I was working out has having the electric car charging points increased. Not paid for by the company, but by the government. I don't think I have been anywhere else that can compete with Norway for the number of electric cars you see on the street.

 

[Gareth J]

Insane is right. This is why we can't just swallow the transitional costs. It would be insanely expensive to try and shift without getting the cost under control. There are no good options at the moment. I'm sure we'll muddle along and get something figured out eventually but to just switch to that type of system is not feasible as things stand now.

Cheers.

You are right about your existing cost base.

We have a wonderful phrase in the UK when some one asks for directions

"I wouldn't start from here"
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To the rest of the world, it looks like you started digging a hole 80 years ago. You are now in the position that the hole is very deep, with very shear walls, 90% of the population are in the hole, some with safety lines attached to them. 10% of the population are at the top looking down, busily cutting the safety lines for those in the hole.

You are absolutely correct about costs and control. The only way you will ever make progress in getting the costs down is with government intervention. That is not the American way, so in the short term I can't see things improving, just getting progressively worse. It will take huge political will, which will need to be driven by a social upheaval, in much the same way that the UK health system was born out of the depression.

When the NHS came into being, the medical sector fought like hell to stop it. It was pushed through. Now, the medical sector fights to protect the NHS.

​

 

[Ghost95]

I think of it as the saying about how you eat an elephant. One bite at a time. Here we will have to start with little bites. Maybe then, some years down the road, we'll have an affordable, workable system weather that be single payer, private, our some combination of both.

 

[dmaziuk]

Also I don’t know of any us citizens traveling to Canada to use the providers there?

This is "ignorance of proof" fallacy: just because I don't know $h*t doesn't mean $h*t is not true.

Canada may be be too expensive and regulated for it, but we had a DM who did his teeth in Costa Rica, coworkers who went back to Germany (!) to do theirs, and so on. I do all my "procedures" in Ukraine: since they've introduced $250 up-front "deductible" to pay for our previous Beloved Leader's unfunded "improvement", I can get full body CAT scan and FMRI for less then a single ultrasound here. Of course only that DM was actually a US citizen, the rest of us are little green aliens...