UK and America are two countries separated by a common language, UK and US Q&A

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Continuation of the previous thread where posters from the UK ask questions like 'what the hell is going on with the gaps in US toilet doors'; and posters fro the US ask things like 'what is with wearing stripes'

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a2149133-to-think-there-is-something-wrong-with-Americans?msgid=48969042#48969042

Religious schools are state funded but in the case of catholic schools not sure about other religions the catholic church pays something like 25% of the costs .

Mine have always got the school bus Free.

Where we are UK, worcestershire if you go to your lov catchment school but it's over 3 miles away with no pavement it's free.

Bloody brilliant.

Yellow buses are free.

We don't have federal maternity leave, I don't think, herms. You can get 12 weeks through FMLA but that's different and only applies to certain things.

Do the DC really go to school without uniform, always see it on the movie unless it's a posh school.

Right. We looked into Catholic school for DS but it's at least $5000 a year.

Yes ICan. School uniforms are really rare here. I wish we had them!

It's under FMLA, 12 weeks unpaid leave for mothers with newborns or newly adopted children.

My boys went (and are going) to a charter school for K-8 grades, and they do have uniforms. The HS doesn't have uniforms, and most public schools don't.

Our schoolbuses are free (well, our taxes support them).

Going out of state for school ... there are a few factors involved. Private universities and colleges are expensive. A state university has two tuition rates: a lower one for in-state students, that is, students who live in that state, and a higher one for students who come to it from another state.

A state university is in an interesting position wrt. acceptance factors also b/c its mission is to educate the students of that state, but not only those students; its mission is also to attract and educate the students from other states and countries. So let's say you're a high school student with high grades, high SATs, etc., great candidate, in Atlanta, Georgia. You might apply to the University of Georgia, the University of Arizona (both very very good schools), and Harvard. UGA will want you, both b/c you are a high-achieving student and b/c you are in-state. It will be the cheapest for you. U of A may want you but it will be harder for you to get in and it will cost more. Harvard may want you but it will be much much harder for you to get in and it will cost much much more.

Financial aid is kind of a crazy web here. There are types of aid you have to qualify for, i.e., your parents have to earn less than x: need-based government grants, need-based grants from the state or private university itself, a work-study package, which means you work x hours/week in the school's offices someplace. Then there are types of aid you can get regardless of income: government loans, private loans from lending companies, private loans from the private universities, grants based on academic achievement or sports or other talents. Your financial aid package will vary with each school, based chiefly on its tuition and your parents' income -- so along with which colleges you got into, the big thing is how much aid you got offered from each, as for many many people that's what determines where you are actually going!

£3k a year for private schooling isnt bad! I wouldnt do it for religious reasons, but compared to the fee paying schools near to me thats a bargain, its more like twice that much per term!

Can I just ask a few/questions about your health care system ow does your insurance work? If you or a your children have ongoing health problems does insurance over it? What if you can't afford to pay but urgently need health care? What exactly is Obama care? By the way I know the NHS has lots and lots of problems I have worked for them for many years but its just a topic I,m Inter ested in .

Oh and I live in the crappy East Mids, not some posh London Borough!

Here, from the department of labor,

"The FMLA entitles eligible employees of covered employers to take unpaid, job-protected leave for specified family and medical reasons with continuation of group health insurance coverage under the same terms and conditions as if the employee had not taken leave. Eligible employees are entitled to:
Twelve workweeks of leave in a 12-month period for:
the birth of a child and to care for the newborn child within one year of birth;
the placement with the employee of a child for adoption or foster care and to care for the newly placed child within one year of placement;
to care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition;
a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the essential functions of his or her job;
any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is a covered military member on “covered active duty;” or
Twenty-six workweeks of leave during a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember with a serious injury or illness if the eligible employee is the servicemember’s spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin (military caregiver leave).

"

So, it's not a specific maternity leave, that's true. But there's leave for new mothers. It's pretty shitty, and if you had to care for a family member, you couldn't then take maternity leave in the same year (well, you could split it up). Or if you had a baby, then fell pregnant again very quickly, you couldn't take leave for your second baby born in the same 12 month period.

So you get 6 months to care for your husband who got injured in the Army, but only 3 months to care for your newborn? And you have to pick one or the other, because if you pick both you lose your job?

I am not saying that adults dont need care, but a brand new baby needs its mother or father, an injured adult can be cared for by anyone! Seems the priorities are totally wrong.

And also, your elderly father who may have fallen (say) or have Alzheimers is only worth 3 months leave compared to service personnel.

I am not getting political but.....

Are there not normal buses about that do routes that mean the kids could get the bus anyway? School buses seem so expensive and time consuming apart from in the most rural areas. Wouldn't it be better to spend that tax money on some health care for citizens

If you get so little maternity is child care fairly cheap? Here it's very, very expensive.

Military is different. Children of military families have additional opportunities for financial aid for college too. This is b/c of the high risk and high demands of the military life, on both the person w/the military career and his/her spouse and children.

If you or a your children have ongoing health problems does insurance over it? What if you can't afford to pay but urgently need health care? What exactly is Obama care

Yes insurance has to cover ongoing problems. They may have a period at the beginning where they don't cover pre-existing conditions but only if you had no insurance previously. A law called COBRA means that if you did previously have insurance then the new insurance must cover the pre-existing conditions. COBRA also entitles you to continue your employer-offered health insurance for up to 18 months after you've left a company and they may not charge you more than 103% of the premium to do so. (I am currently on COBRA insurance.)

Obamacare does a variety of things. It makes private insurance policies available on a state or federal insurance exchange. There are various levels of cover, bronze, silver and gold - and the government defines what those actually mean in terms of co-pays etc.

If you are on an income of less than around GBP50k per year as a family then you are likely to get subsidies to pay for your Obamacare insurance. If you are single then your income will need to be lower to get subsidies. This is how Obamacare has managed to extend insurance to almost all low-income families.

Obamacare also ensures that health insurance companies may no longer refuse to insure someone because of their current health status. It also requires that everyone must have health insurance except for a few cases. And it requires that insurance companies may not charge you more if you have a health condition (other than smoking or being an older patient - and it also restricts by how much more an older person can be charged than a younger person).

Obamacare also has implications for hospitals - they are now penalised if patients are re-admitted, which means that hospitals are now better motivated to only discharge patients who are ready to be discharged, and also to make sure their post-discharge care is better.

There's a lot more to it but that's the gist of it. It is a HUGE improvement to the system (although COBRA was a fairly big improvement in itself when it came in a decade or so ago).

Omg my parents would have flipped out if I'd had to get on a city bus to get to school as a small child. Anyone could be on it.

In seriousness though, part of the idea w/the school buses is that your children are in the care of the school system from the moment they step on, not out in the world. And bus service does vary hugely throughout the US. I actually think it's nice that the school bus system is kind of an equalizer -- even if you live in an underserved area w/out good bus service, your kids will be picked up for school.

Most people have insurance through their employers. This is how mine works:

I pay $210 per month out of my paycheck for a family plan. My insurance pays 80% of covered services until I've met my deductible, which is $1500 (I think). Once I meet the deductible, most stuff is paid 100%. For regular doctor's visits, I pay a copay of $20 out of pocket, then anything else that the doctor charges for the visit is covered. And there are different charges for different things. My daughter was born in 2010, and I paid $0 out of pocket for her care and mine, including nine months of prenatal care, plus the birth, and our 3-day hospital stay. I'm very happy with my plan.

If you have an emergency, you can go to an Emergency Room (ER) and you will be seen, diagnosed, and treated, regardless of your ability to pay. You will get billed later, but there are programs to help with bills, and you can apply for Medicaid. If you go to a regular doctor's appointment, you have to have some form of insurance or cash to pay.

Obamacare is the Affordable Care Act. It just sort of was intended to make healthcare available to people who didn't have it through work, but weren't low-income enough to get Medicaid. I think the results have been ok. I know people who were excited about it only to find the out of pocket costs were quite a lot, for minimal coverage, and I know people who got on it and are happy with it.

I work a lot with the Medicaid program. Medicaid is for low-income people. The limits are different depending on the state, but if you're eligible, there is no out of pocket cost for anything but prescriptions, and that is only $3 and only on some prescriptions. The guidelines in Ohio are 200% of the federal poverty level for children, and 133% for adults. Disabled people and people over age 65 have their own category, and they are always eligible for Medicaid.

Are there not normal buses about that do routes that mean the kids could get the bus anyway? School buses seem so expensive and time consuming apart from in the most rural areas

It's actually quite efficient to have a yellow bus system, because they are always available to the schools for trips. Also during the summer, the day camps use them all week to take kids off to day trips.

In 7 years I have never stumped up a single penny for a school trip for any of my 3 children.

Faith schools in the US are all private schools. Some states have tried to provide some funding to faith schools through vouchers provided to parents to help pay the fees, but these schemes have been challenged in the courts as a violation of the separation of church and state. Rightly so in my opinion.

I totally agree, Bogey. I think the system is shameful, it's a fucking disgrace.

So many groups rights' are lobbied for, and that's all well and good, but I can't understand why so much is prioritized over an overhaul of FMLA. It's not like the research isn't there to show how important attachment in the first year is to a child's future. It affects our entire country's future.

We need a minimum of six months paid, subsidized by the government, with an option for up to an additional six months unpaid.

Yet hardly anyone seems to be fighting for it.

In Canada don't women get 12 months paid maternity leave? That would be nice to have here.