To think it is terrible that Americans with health insurance have such high deductibles

[crunchymint]

I have been reading this article about American healthcare.

www.motherjones.com/politics/2018/01/go-fund-yourself-health-care-popularity-contest/

It says -

"With health care costs and high-deductible plans on the rise for more than a decade, medical expenses are the largest single cause of bankruptcies nationwide. Despite Obamacare’s efforts to rein in costs, the average deductible on a typical plan under the Affordable Care Act is $2,550—nearly as much as the entire monthly take-home pay of the average American worker. President Donald Trump’s efforts to destabilize Obamacare have already raised premiums, and experts predict the cost of a deductible under some versions of Republican health care legislation would rise to an average of at least $4,100."

Basically when someone has health insurance, they still have to pay a certain amount out of their own pocket. Typically they have to pay a certain amount to visit a Dr and for any treatment - with insurance covering the rest. So even someone with insurance who has a chronic or serious illness, still has to pay a substantial amount of money out on top of their insurance premiums.

8 weeks ago my Son In Law developed a pain in his leg - he is 42 and fit and healthy. It happened as he was running behind his daughter learning to ride without stabilisers.

Over the next couple of weeks the pain got worse - he eventually went to A&E where he was admitted and had an 8 hr surgery within an hour, this failed and the following morning he had an above knee leg amputation.

He was a lorry driver so his income has gone, the home has steps throughout and he will not be able to drive the cars. My daughter and the two children's lives have been thrown into utter turmoil with no idea how they are going to live going forward.

But the one thing they do not have to worry about is paying any medical bills - not even deductibles, right at the point in time when they are being hit financially they do not have this additional problem looming over their heads - they do not need to deal with Insurance companies or anything - the only fee was a total of £7 in parking charges. He may need further surgery and this is not a concern in any way.

That is priceless - utterly priceless. I would happily wait an extra couple of weeks for my knee replacement to have a system that removes all this stress from people. Our NHS is not perfect by a long way but i would never want to give up this system.

Oh and when i had a rare form of eye cancer i was treated by the fully acknowledged number 1 expert in my condition in the world in a London hospital for free. This included overnight accommodation the previous night and an £275 taxi home after my treatment, plus all follow up monitoring for life. It is one of the myths Americans tell themselves that the experts are all in America. Top experts are all over the world - it depends what condition you have as to where the top expert is.

The US has a huge amount of immigration legal and illegal - can you imagine the floods of people arriving if they were able to get free medical treatment.

@GreatAuntEmily

The US has a huge amount of immigration legal and illegal - can you imagine the floods of people arriving if they were able to get free medical treatment.

So the answer is to leave Americans without the means to pay dying is it? Couldn’t possibly be a middle ground

I've lived in the US - I was just making one point which might contribute to the politicians' attitudes.
It's probably one of the reasons some people in the UK were so against immigration, certain regions were being deprived of what they had previously had in health care and education due to huge numbers of immigrants.

“ So even someone with insurance who has a chronic or serious illness, still has to pay a substantial amount of money out on top of their insurance premiums.”

That’s it they can even get insured in the first place …

YANBU OP, America’s health system is all sorts of wrong. I never understood why credit cards were so ubiquitous/popular over there, more so than debit cards, until a friend explained that almost everyone has one simply to ensure their basic health needs are met.

I live in Australia. Here we have a pretty good universal health care system. If you don't have insurance your care is free but you may have to wait . If you do have insurance you don't have to wait but you may have out of pocket expenses. Which can be large . DH had brain surgery a few years ago to save his sight ....we have insurance so he didn't have to wait, but it cost $30,000 out of pocket expenses for the surgeon's fees. DH had to sell his precious vintage car to pay for it.

@StoneofDestiny

Americans pay a lot, but then they don’t have to suffer in agony and get the treatment

If you have no or inadequate insurance you do!

Same as in the UK then.