Oh, I see. The initial premium just gets you into having a plan. Before they pay you need to meet a deductible, usually around $3,000-4,000 per person, then the plan covers a percent of future expenses usually around 70% of expenses while you pay 30%. The deductible resets yearly
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Replying to @TheBrometheus @MarsDorian
Some plans are better than this but that model has become pretty standard since the affordable care act went into effect. You pay the monthly fee plus the entire deductible before they help and then they pay a portion until you meet an even higher bracket.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus @MarsDorian
So my wife and I had our baby. $3,000 was charged to the mother and $3,000 to the baby to target both deductibles. Those were split between clinic and doctor so we make multiple payments to separate accounts. We also pay 30% of everything that went over those 2 plus all checkups.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus @MarsDorian
And because babies need checkups and our toddler gets sick sometimes we keep adding $200-400 to the bill every month so we’re paying $900 a month in back bills plus $200-400 additional for ongoing expenses.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus @MarsDorian
Plus they lock your account if you owe over a certain amount even if you’re making payments. So if I get sick I can’t really afford to go get checked out or it locks our whole family down with no treatment.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus @MarsDorian
Unfortunately this is the price I pay for working my family up out of poverty. If we’d stayed in poverty and not worked so hard then the taxpayers would cover all of our bills and we’d have no payments and no monthly fees.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus @MarsDorian
After medical expenses and monthly insurance premiums we’re probably back in poverty, to be honest.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus
I'm impressed by your commitment and hard work. Our model is way different from yours as we have mandatory state insurance, which to you probably sounds like a socialist hell but is a blessing for folks with prexisting conditions.
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Replying to @MarsDorian
Right, the fear is another incident like Alfie Evans and that becoming normal, the state controlling life and death.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus
Every modern and capitalist country has a functioning state insurance though. South Korea, Canada, Australia, Western Europe. They all have strong economies and strong health care. Our taxes are higher, but we don't go into debt or even bankrupt because of medical fees.
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Most Americans also have a deep and abiding fear of concentrating power into the hands of a centralized government, and for good reason.
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Replying to @TheBrometheus
I've learned about that during my highschool year in the Southern Colorado. As a European, I think differently about healthcare issues but I understand your sentiments. I'm curious if the stance will ever change in the US. The East and West Coast especially think more like 'us'.
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Replying to @MarsDorian
If we can go a little while without another World War where a centralized power announces sovereign rights over their own citizens or neighboring territories so that the US has to step out of isolation to fix it...
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