Rete

Not available to most Seniors in Mississippi, unfortunately. Neighbor has only an income from social security of $1850 a month. Can't afford supplemental so only has Medicare. Tried to get Medicaid because she needs a knee replacement. Fell and broke the knee cap which was previously replaced. That was last year. Doctor will not replace it because she has no supplemental insurance and her monthly income is over the limit to qualify for Medicaid. Unfortunately, Medicaid is not just federally funded or administered and depends on State funds and requirements.

Nutmegger

Obviously -- but on this forum alone, thread after thread evidences the fact that frequently that is not the case.

Hiro11

Side note: I work for a large company. Every year, they give me a total compensation and benefits statement that covers their actual costs for having me as an employee. I have a PPO that covers me, my wife and two teenaged children. All of us are healthy non-smokers with clean bloodwork. In addition to the PPO, we pay for dental insurance, vision care insurance, LTC/LTD insurance, and about $4mm in life insurance. For all of this coverage, my company is subsidizing $35K a year. My out of pocket is ~$800 per month + co-pays of about $100 per month. That totals over $45K/year! This is problem with coverage in the US: it's ridiculously expensive. That's the problem we need to solve.

Giantaxe

Before Medicare was enacted in the '60's, 50% of seniors were bankrupted by their first significant illness. So I am very sceptical of the line that there weren't major problems in the past. There were.

Giantaxe

Emergency rooms are required to "medically stabilize" you. Nothing more. Yes, some abuse this, but no it absolutely isn't a substitute for reasonable healthcare access.

civilservant

EMTALA works, but it costs providers (including mine) a fortune in write offs.

GeoffM

Even those that try to understand the system before coming here are taken aback at the complexity and costs. Our son was 4 years old when we came over and though we suspected some issues, it wasn't until after living here a year that he was diagnosed with autism (PDD-NOS). Six years later and if we are typical/average parents of autistic children then apparently we're spending $10k a year extra on healthcare than if he wasn't autistic. Not to mention taking him at least once a month to a doctor/psychiatrist/psychologist because nobody will prescribe more than a 30 day supply of meds without seeing him (might be law for controlled drugs, I don't know). Of course there is nobody around here qualified so we have to travel an hour each way, plus allowing for traffic, plus sit in the waiting room for the inevitable late running of the doctor. Lots of time and money.

Had I known how much time I would spend "helping doctor offices correct their billing" (to put it politely), going to said doctors, and paying as much as we do, I would not have come. But you can't turn back time.

RE using ER: as others have said, they will patch up a patient enough to get them back on the street. That is all. Source: ICU RN wife who has raised concerns over releasing of some patients without insurance too early.

morpeth

While of course there is some abuse, qualifying for Social Security Disability is not a quick process. I have known a few people go through the process.

morpeth

Sure some who have no concern for credit or no job ignore the bills- but if you work, and bill high enough, collection agencies can go after your wages.

Even if one has Medicare, there are still expenses for coverage and prescriptions that some cant afford.

And further even if one has insurance, it can still be expensive covering deductibles and out of pocket expenses - and the incredible percentage of the economy spent on Medical care compared to other developed countries yet a higher percentage of people don't have affordable access to health care.

The situation is so idiotic, I think some expatriates simply can't imagine system so messed up.

petitefrancaise

nail on head.

Steve_

Oh God, she's started this thread again.

There is no healthcare "system" per se, but as you'll be E-2 the answer is go and buy a plan via healthcare.gov These are all private insurance companies, as you won't be eligible for the tax credits you might find it simpler to figure out what plan you want and then call the insurance company directly.

It will not be cheap. And it won't completely cover everything. It is very complex, you have to understand deductibles, co-pays, etc. Prescription drugs are only covered to a limited extent in ACA plans generally. Go to goodrx.com and get the coupons.

BTW, the EB-5 investment limit is going to be raised to $1.8 million at some point in the near future, there are pending regulations for the regional centres but I'll be amazed if they don't apply that limit to regular EB-5 as well at some point soon. And your E-2 business is an existing business, so that money has to be extra money.

Bear in mind the trick with E-2 is that one of you gets an open EAD, so whoever can earn the most money should be the person who gets that and the other person is the principal E-2 investor. That way the person with the EAD can earn money via another job. This will also help mitigate your healthcare problem, because if you get a good job, you will be covered for healthcare through that job.

NYer

The eligibility requirements seem loose to me. But that's just me, of course.

morpeth

It is a crazy system- I would be willing to bet that if Americans had a better understanding of how the NHS works in practice there would be enough pressure to change the system in the US. A lot of discussions are about those who are uninsured, but even those with insurance face horrendous financial expenditures at times. How could most expatriates grasp the insanity of the insanity health care system when even Americans find it perplexing as well at times.

scrubbedexpat099

No other country has copied the NHS.

uk_grenada

Porferic...

As a department head in the nhs, over a 5 year period i had visits from ICT delegations working in health services seeking to emulate our patient processes and systems from:

Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston
Japan
Korea
The Netherlands
Denmark
Norway

Those are the ones i remember.

No system as large as the NHS can be perfect, 1.2 million employees, 200 billion pounds a year, but its outcomes - its bang per buck are undeniably world class.

The cost of the NHS put another way is 800 pounds per user per year. Can you get within a coubtry mile of that? Many civilised countries have a national health service, they tend to cost say 50% more than the uk’s, and in some ways parts of them are definitely better objectively. But none approach the scale and bredth of the NHS.

The busiest database in europe is the central nhs patient record system, 100 million live records, 5000 accesses a second at times.