Sicko
 

I just watched Michael Moore's Sicko and that's enough to make me thinking living in britain is good compared to america.

50 million with no health insurance.
People with health insurance being refused claims.
OMG , all the resources going into the medical insurance companies, those huge sky scrappers, people pushing paper around,...

I knew Nixon, Regan and G Bush Senior were right wing but they really hate/d socialism.

Anyone seen this film? Is it a balanced point of view? Do you have any good experiences of the US health system?

Re: Sicko
 

You can do a search on Sicko, we've discussed it before. Is it balanced? No, not entirely. There are the fortunate ones who have good insurance cover and manage to find good care. Trouble is, that's the minority of people, and it's very easy to lose that good cover, especially since it's usually tied to one's job.

It's not so much whether the Republicans you mention "hated" socialism; it's that they love big money, and health insurers and pharmaceutical companies pay all politicians big bucks to keep the broken system as is. The handy thing about "socialism" is that the populace is trained to hyperventilate whenever the "s" word is mentioned, so the Republicans use the word to describe all forms of single-payer health care. That's enough to provoke an instant backlash against it by people who don't even understand the system.

Just realised that aspiration can both motivate you and kill you (as in aspirate your own vomit).

Re: Sicko
 

All Americans hate Socialism. They are raised to fear it by association with Russia and all those repressed and enslaved Euro's. For some reason, they define it as the epitome of anti-Americanism. Whats really anti-American is your life being run by faceless corporations. But I rant.

When I was first here, I remember asking in a local JC class why was it that Socialism was a seen as a four letter word in America? (so green and wide-eyed was I).
The general reaction from the group was astonishment at such a question

Seen the movie - it would have been better were it made by someone else, not already demonised by the media. A 60 minutes marathon perhaps? It seemed very slanted, but then Mr Moore has something of an agenda (like they all do).
Good points were made, no doubt, but the film was surely tarred with the "Moore" brush regardless of content. :unsure:

Oh, by the way. The other day, the local radio was talking about law suits and lawyers here in the US. It seems that here in America, there is no basis whereby the loser in a law suit is compelled to compensate the winner if that person was wrongly sued. Lawyers call this the "English rule" it seems and it exists in almost every civilised country except America.

That would go a long way towards explaining why this country is so litigious in nature.

Re: Sicko
 

Can you give me an idea what health insurance costs per year?

Do the premiums increase as you get older?

Does it cover cancer, because 1/3 of people get cancer?

Re: Sicko
 

It's not intended to be balanced; it's intended to demonstrate to the average American who believes there is nothing wrong with the healthcare system, that they could get screwed by it too. I have never had problems with the system because I'm lucky enough to have good insurance, but I'm also aware that I'm dealing with an insurance company, and the main job of insurance companies is to find a way to not pay out their money.

Re: Sicko
 

For my work plan, it was $750 a month for me and the missus, more if we happened to have kids we wanted on the plan. That is for the premiums only. On top of that there was an 80/20 split on most coverage, where the ins co pays 80% of claim and the insured pays 20%. Prescriptions (30 day supply) were: $20 generic, $50 "preferred" brand name and not covered at all if not on the "preferred" brand name list. No dental coverage with policy. There are better plans, and there are worse plans. I currently have catastrophic care only, costs me $65.00 a month. However, I do not take prescription drugs and I pay out of pocket for a health check yearly ($150.00 or so).

On any policy, look out for pre-existing condition riders, maximum lifetime coverage ($$$ amount), amongst other "small print" bugbears.

There are horror stories of people getting various ailments and being dropped by their ins co, and their prior premiums returned to them, similarly there are stories of people who have had excellent service from their ins companies. Premiums may or may not go up as you age, depending on your level of health and whether the adjuster is having a bad day or not, but after a time you will be entitled to Medicare, assuming you meet the qualifying requirements (residency etc).

Re: Sicko
 

Ironic that the banner at the bottom of the page was advertising private healthcare insurance:p

Re: Sicko
 

That's called Google AdSense. It reads the content of the page and suggest ad's that might be relevant to the discussion at hand. Not irony. Just the magic of Google's technology at work.

Re: Sicko
 

Still, gave me a chickle as the post was not exactly promoting Health Insurance but there they were,still trying to flog that horse....

Re: Sicko
 

I'm thinking about keeping up our NI contributions, just incase!!

we have a $2 million dollar lifetime limit on our policy.

Re: Sicko
 

I am a state employee in SC for a large public hospital. My BCBS of SC ins for me and the 2 boys is $190/month. $350 deductible, after which it's 80/20. No lifetime limit.

It covers all medical conditions, including cancer. From my experience, it is not being treated for cancer that will bankrupt you, but not being able to work and losing a salary.

My premium does not increase due to my age, but does go up each year, across the board. It went up by about $5.

Dental is about $100 for the 3 of us.

For me, my coverage is excellent, but almost all the patients i see are either medicare or not-insured and the cost is just written off.
Here in SC medicaid costs about $5 billion a year, and is set to go up. At the moment we spend approx 16% GDP on healthcare, and by 2020 that will be close to 20%. By 2050 it is estimates to be close to 30%.

All i can say is, that I am scared.......

Re: Sicko
 

i see, so medicare looks after the old

Re: Sicko
 

Currently the over 65's, or anyone who has qualified for it under 65 for reasons such as disability or other disease. I believe Kidney dialysis is included.

Re: Sicko
 

Depends on your job.

I had great insurance, you can find details by doing a search, it's been discussed plenty.

End of the month, as I've been made redundant and a baby due next week, it's the choice of the crap insurance from the missus at $400 a month, or going COBRA to keep my good insurance at $800-1200 depending on which I opt for. I had been paying $65 a month for a family plan that included dental with $25 co-pay and no deductible except on certain hospital things which were at $200 or there abouts.

Re: Sicko