People are apparently clamouring for a health system funded by insurance so...

[Hanschenklein]

Those MNetters in countries outside the UK how much do you pay a month for your health care ? Is your country's system completely financed by this insurance alone or does your government contribute too ?
People call the NHS a financial black hole. They resent the fact that ever increasing amounts of money are apparently being ploughed into the service to see no real improvement. They seem happy to pay via an insurance style system instead.
So how much do you and your family pay ? How do you contribute towards your pension in the absence of national insurance payments ? If you pay a fee to see a GP does that put you off going ? Do you struggle to pay this insurance if not well paid ?
Most importantly is your health service sufficiently staffed, safe and prompt ? Are HCPs in your country valued, well paid and happy in their jobs ?

Tbf to op there have been a fair few posts re different models

Where do you live?

With health insurance what's the discharge situation for the elderly? One of the biggest problems for the NHS is bed blocking, can't imagine insurance covering even 80% of a hospital bed once the HCP signs it as medically fit for discharge

When we moved back to UK from US we had insurance through Dh work.
It was Blue cross that has lots of different levels. The one his company chose for everyone was Medical, optical and Dental. It also included Chiropractor visits at a fixed number per year.
Ours cost us $50 co-pay for medical and once two people in the family had paid out £50 we had no cost for the rest of the year for medical stuff like doctor visits, hospital stays, lab work. .
Optical covered eye checks, and a set price towards the glasses so if you chose something more expensive you pay the difference.
Prescriptions cost $10 each.
Dental cost £12 per visit, they covered al treatments after a low co-pay was met.
You could use any doctor or hospital who accepted the insurance, which was pretty much everywhere. You could go direct to a specialist, no need for the family practice doc to refer you. Women used the OB/GYN as their primary doc a lot of the time.
Kids covered while in education or to age 26 if not working a job that gave them their own insurance.

It's probably some desperate person from conservative central office seeing if mums hate the NHS enough to pay privately.

Answer - not very likely because most of us will have had pretty positive experiences of it before 2019, thanks.

Well quite, that was the situation in Canada as I described upthread - once you are medically fit, what you do about carers and equipment is up to you, it’s not the hospital’s concern. I could empty my ward tomorrow if the NHS operated the same way.

@blondieminx and we pay nowhere near enough tax to sustain it. We pay for healthcare or we accept higher taxes. Which would you prefer?

I worked as a District type nurse in the US. Mostly elderly people on my round. All had Medicare insurance that covered a set number of nurse visits per year, every nurse visit had to be justified as a nursing skill, so no dropping in for 5 minutes to see if they were OK, all visits at least 30 minutes with full exam head to toe and paperwork to verify and show some nursing skill.
We were encouraged to try and teach the family to do the care that was needed, such as dressings, or diabetic care, many refused so you log that and the visit was covered. No carer visits covered unless a nurse was also needed. We had some patients who had a monthly visit with a nurse and so Medicare covered carers daily, but that was rare.

Ireland relatives pay around 200 euros a month. Everyone has to pay 50 euros for each doctor visit. Dentists are private, the public is for kids.

Those who qualify or on benefits have a health card and don’t pay for doctors visits.

The healthcare system is not perfect, rural areas are a long way from hospitals and provision is patchy. Some private hospitals are excellent, some public ones are excellent, some private are terrible, some public terrible.

But they can see a doctor on the same day, often get referred to a consultant,(way more than I have ever done in the UK). And most operations have only had a few months wait.

However sometimes for cutting edge treatment and surgery, I’ve heard of people going to the UK or being referred. The UK, with greater numbers of people can pool expertise and some of the standards are very high (eg key hole surgery and latest techniques).

I would be in favor of a mixed system in the UK, if I thought they would take some years finding the best one, implementing it well and making sure those worse off are still given excellent care. However the problem with the NHS is it’s been mucked around every few years by every government, mostly the conservatives who do give less money, and the population and demands have grown year on year.

So I don’t trust them at all!

Lived in the US for 10 years, moved back in 2020, had health insurance for us as a family provided by a big employer, so was good scheme with lots of Drs and good hospitals in
our insurance network

We paid in approx $600 a month just for health (no dental or eyes) the firm
paid in more. On top of that we had to cover the first $6000 a year of excess, anything after that was covered, so had to budget for that. Sounds insanely high, but average cost of a GP was $250, consultant anywhere up from
$350 for consultations

It was eye gouging but we had specialists on tap when we needed them - having an ob-gyn for all ‘women’s stuff’ and birth was excellent. Kids have pediatricians there instead of family GP, which worked better. You got results of blood tests and x-rays back within 2 days etc

We were v fortunate tho that a) we could afford it and b) had a good plan. plenty of people don’t and the experience is wildly different. Will never forget being at the pharmacy and woman in front of me trying to pick up medication for her kids that was going to cost $300 and she had to not get it cos she couldn’t afford it. Same when i had my appendix out there - surgeon told me that loads of ppl opt for antibiotics instead of surgery as they can’t afford it

I fundamentally don’t agree with private healthcare, and believe it should be free at point of access. Your health and health service should not be dependent on your income

I live abroad. Healthcare is not free. You only pay around 20p for a doctors appointment and around £2 for a blood test, £20 for an ultrasound scan. I had my children here, the birth cost £800 with room for 3 days, epidural, etc included. We have insurance for any bigger stuff, it cost £150 for the year per person and covers pretty much everything. It’s well worth it to be able to be seen that day and get literally all tests and scans done that day too.

Also, there’s a social insurance that everyone who works gets. So employers have to pay 80% of this and employees 20%, deducted from their wage. It’s mandatory for employers to pay their share and for employees to use this they also need to pay their share. Once you pay for X amount of years it covers you into old age and also covers pension too.

Also, there’s a social insurance that everyone who works gets. So employers have to pay 80% of this and employees 20%, deducted from their wage. It’s mandatory for employers to pay their share and for employees to use this they also need to pay their share. Once you pay for X amount of years it covers you into old age and also covers pension too.

The problem with healthcare insurance through employment is that because the employer pays a large proportion of the cost people end up trapped in a job because they don't want to risk moving. It's far more expensive to buy your insurance individually. A friend of mine's husband has a government job so they have great insurance. They pay about $450 a month for health insurance. However he has a long list of health issues, including several bouts of cancer and other conditions. He can't afford to retire, and he's 69.

That sounds bleak @Britinme

@SweetSakura - luckily he really likes his job! However, his employers pay about $1200 a month towards his health insurance, and as he's not on Medicare if he joins late it will cost him more than if he'd taken it at the normal age of 65. I'm guessing he will have a good pension, but even so it will be a hell of a lot to find from their income for health insurance.

I live in Ireland and pay around €3,000 per year for insurance for a family of four. There are entry level plans from around €500 per person per year, mine has quite a lot of cover so I pay more. I have a long-term illness so I don't pay for prescription medication. For people who don't get free prescriptions you can get a family prescription card that limits total spend to €80 per month. I pay €60 for a GP visit, there is a system for people under a certain income or who have certain benefits to have free GP appointments but I think you have to attend a GP surgery that is assigned to you rather than having a free choice. Over 70s and under 6 don't get charged for GP visits.

Anyone can go to A+E and be admitted to a public hospital, but if you have insurance the hospital will charge your insurance per night. Insured people also have the option to go to a private hospital, many of them have A+E departments, there are different levels of insurance that affect whether you get a private or shared room and some of the private hospitals are only covered under the more expensive insurance.

I lived in the UK for a long time and have been here for about a decade. TBH both systems are under a lot of strain and there are huge waiting list problems in both countries. The Irish system has suited me better because I can afford the insurance and it's well set up for a dual system. For instance when I've taken the DC to be sewn up or check whether they might have a fracture I have always gone to the minor injuries clinic owned by my insurance company. It's well equipped with diagnostic machines, the wait is pretty short and I don't have to pay anything. We've also been through the public system as when DD needed an ambulance they took her to A+E, it was a much longer wait but the treatment was still good, however the follow up was rubbish so we went private for physio. However on a whole population level the NHS would be far above the Irish system if it was properly funded.

I wonder why the OP posted and bolted? Didn't get the chorus of agreement they'd hoped for, maybe? Well, if you completely make up the premise of your claim, you won't get many (if any) 'clamouring' to agree with you.

Funny that

Exactly what I thought.

@EmmaEmerald no, the price of your policy is not wholly based on the state of your individual health.

You are part of a cohort with defined risks according to age and sex and location, and that goes into it too, along with lifestyle.

Insurance companies employ actuaries to sift and weigh risk on a population level, and also on an individual level.

And so the machivellian plan plays put...

I’m in the US and have been really impressed with my coverage. My insurance premium is $82/month, deducted automatically from my monthly pay and my employer contributes the rest. It would be less but because I have horses and compete I pay a little extra to add a package that includes things like a lower emergency room copay and MedEvac via helicopter if needed.

No cost:
GP appointments, walk-in clinics, urgent care, 24 hour telehealth appointments
Standard prescriptions
Diagnostics (x-ray, bloods, MRI, etc.)
Treatments, surgeries, hospital stays
Ambulance

If I want a brand name drug when a generic is available it is $7.

Specialist appointments are $10.

Emergency room (A&E) is $25 on my plan (I think the regular plan is $60 or $75 to discourage non-emergency visits).

Honestly the care is unbelievable. I was blown away by the speed of it after the NHS. I stayed with my grandmother when I first came here. She found a lump in her breast and the trajectory was: called GP Friday evening, callback Monday, appointment and mammogram Tuesday, biopsy Friday AM, cancer diagnosis confirmed Monday PM, surgical consult with oncology Thursday, surgery the following Tuesday. Two weeks to the day from GP seeing her to surgeon removing the cancer. She kept joking that she hadn’t even had time to tell anyone that she had cancer before it was gone. Still amazes me when I think of it.

In the US. We pay about $500 a month, the company about $2k. Dr visit aside from the yearly wellness is $100, so yep I think twice about going or taking the kids. Copay total is 10k/yr. last year we didn’t have any major medical bills so we had some savings finally. Yay!

it’s really hard to navigate the system if you’re new. Example one of mine needed a 3 day EEG at home. The provider wasn’t covered by insurance and would cost 3.5k. I started trying to find an in network provider. The dr office called and asked why, I said I can’t pay that much. Then they worked out the cost it would be for in network and said how about you just pay $1800 and we’ll sort it out. Everything is negotiable. But you don’t know that until you face an amount you can’t pay and start looking into it and questioning the cost.

on the plus side I can call whatever consultant I want to see and get an appt within a week, when they’re busy it might take 2 weeks. I don’t need referrals or several GP visits before I can see someone else. X-rays can be booked for the same week, MRI’s for the following week. No hanging around.

a hybrid scheme like Australia would probably work. You don’t want to get in the position though where costs are inflated to ridiculous amounts because insurance pays for it.

That seems like a magical plan!

we pay $250 for urgent care. I can’t remember my last a&e cost but it was substantially more than $25!

It really is, I’m incredibly fortunate because my company makes a big point of providing great medical coverage. It’s one of the selling points they use to draw in talent, especially the lack of copays.

I will say though that I am single as well as fairly young and healthy, which makes a big difference in my premium I’m sure. Once I marry and have kids it will increase exponentially. 😂