Any Americans out there? With your health insurance system how is corona virus covered for those without insurance?

[StrumpersPlunkett]

Just that really.
I am interested not bashing any system.

The federal government said that they will cover the medical costs of any uninsured coronavirus patients

That's good. I thought they must do something and have had plans in place for something like this in advance. Also, America's death to infection rate looks quite low so that's good, that suggests they're doing something right. There could of course be a time lack, it's not death/recovery comparison.

some of the homeless on the streets looked in a really bad way

I've also seen homeless people in a much worse state on US streets than I've ever seen in Europe. People with no legs pushing themselves along on a skateboard for example or people who were obviously very, very seriously mentally ill.

Also, America's death to infection rate looks quite low so that's good, that suggests they're doing something right

I think they're doing a lot of testing now. Comparing death to infection rates between countries is pretty meaningless at the moment because of different levels of testing.

If you lose your health insurance due to a job loss there is a system called COBRA where you can can keep your current health insurance although insurance premiums will increase a bit (companies can negotiate lower premiums if they have large number of clients) . In Virginia, the unemployment benefit has been increased by $600 per month to enable people to do this. If you still cannot afford health insurance then medicaid is a federal-state funded healthcare provider for low income people

I believe that when a state of emergency is declared in a state, there is some funding provided for medical treatment that hospitals can claim. Most, if not all, states have declared an emergency now.

The stimulus package includes grants/ loans to employers to allow them to keep employees on the payroll that they would otherwise have laid off and will hopefully keep their medical insurance too. The employers I've heard of who are furloughing employees are continuing to provide medical cover. As a previous poster mentioned, there is an option called cobra which allows you to keep your existing medical insurance when laid off, although it's horribly expensive for some. I pay $400 a month for employer provided insurance and cobra is $1800 for me.

I have no doubt, though, that some people will avoid going to hospital due to concerns over medical costs they can't afford. This is one thing that doesn't seem to have been covered in the stimulus packages yet.

Ofcourse there will be mass graves, these are grave times that the world is facing, many people are dying. Don't expect them to all be neatly buried while more bodies keep pouring in. They are only doing the best that they can. It's not a fairy tale out there and maybe seeing mass graves will make people think about their behaviour.

Nandocushion have you ever received treatment from the NHS? I have multiple times. The facilities are amazing, yes sparklingly clean, incredible staff. I know many by first name after 20 years of care for a chronic disease.

I’ll give you an example of the treatment my family has received. My DS broke his arm. We took him straight to A&E, it was a Sunday afternoon. No word of a lie-he was xrayed and had a plaster cast fitted in less than an hour. Numerous follow up appointments where he was seen quickly.

I’ve had more in patient treatment than I care to remember and I’ve NEVER contracted an infection while I’ve been there. I don’t know anyone who has.

You will only ever hear the worst case scenarios in the media.

I have no doubt, though, that some people will avoid going to hospital due to concerns over medical costs they can't afford. This is one thing that doesn't seem to have been covered in the stimulus packages yet.

It has been covered - but it sounds like it needs to be better publicised.

www.cnn.com/2020/04/03/politics/hospitals-uninsured-treatment-covid-trump-administration/index.html

Will uninsured people be able to be treated at the private hospitals or will they have to go to public ones?

Sorry my understanding of USA healthcare system is not great!

If the former, will the hospitals want to take them if it means less resources for paid customers, as it were.

If the latter, my understanding is there are less public hospitals so will there be enough resources?

If the latter, my understanding is there are less public hospitals so will there be enough resources?

The majority of hospitals in the US are public rather than private.

"As of 2019, there are more than 6,000 hospitals in the U.S. The vast majority of these are large, public facilities like community-owned hospitals rather than smaller, for-profit private facilities. Public hospitals were responsible for 33.6 million admissions in 2017, whereas private hospitals admitted only 1.8 million patients."

That's really good info thank you.

@Circletime27 yes I lived a decade in the UK. I did not have the experience you had with "sparkling" facilities in the NHS - the clinics and hospitals in my area were all older and pretty grubby - but the care I received was fine, and of course free! I've received medical care under three different systems - UK, Canada and USA. The facilities in the USA are by far the best. The system, not so much.

The US system is what the Tories want here. So much money to be made out of sick people, think of the insurance, the high cost of drugs, the privatisation of every branch of the health service, the over prescribing, the over treating.

I'm amazed, given all the different models of healthcare system in the world, that the UK seems to want to copy the US.

Why not go for a system that seems to work well, without massive expense and inefficiency? The French system perhaps? German?