Anybody going to see Sicko this week?

[Ixix]

I don't know how you feel about Micheal Moore, but i think everybody should see this film.

My husband and i are self employed, and as such we can't afford health insurance. Everything we do is out of pocket. Finding a health care provider here in AZ that covered maternity care was pointless.

One of the biggest insurers here in Az is Cigna. The cost of the plan is $225 per month. There is a 1000 dollar deductible and a 20% coinsurance cost after the deductible. The kicker is that as with most insurance plans, Cigna wont cover maternity for the first 12 months of coverage....

No, right now the total cost for me to have my baby out of pocket will be around $4700 provided nothing goes wrong. This includes doctor costs, delivery, pain meds (thank god), and a 24 hour stay at the hosipital. ( I wanted to go to a birthing center, but they closed down )

anyway, had i decided to purchase Cigna here's how much I would have to paid out:

(225 x 12) = 2700 in the cost of the insurance alone
(.20 x 4700) = 940 in co insurance ( this is assuming that the hospital charges the same amount for the insurance company...in reality that number would be higer...
$1000 deductible

so. $2700+ $940+ $1000= $4640

Keep in mind that right now, i am uninsured, and my out of pocket cost for having the baby will be about $4700, so in essense, I would have saved about 60 bucks w/Cigna.

I know that there are others out there w/out medical insurance. I would think that by now this country would have modernized the health care industry, but it seems like the only ones moving forward are the health insurance and drug companies.

Now, i'm not opposed to paying for insurance, i don't expect to get something for nothing in this world. But the system needs a major tune up, imo.

 

[Chicken]

Well its been going around the internet for awhile and I've seen a bit of it, it seemed pretty good had some good facts. Its crazy about how much it cost to put the tip of a finger back on. I'm not seeing SiCKo tomorrow but I am seeing Live Free Die Hard :tu:

 

[whitebark]

My brother and his family live in Arizona - they own their own small business. What they pay for health care is ridiculously stupid. They pay more in insurance premiums than they would in comparative tax towards a universal health care system like we do in Canada.

And when they do actually go use their health insurance half of the things are not covered, have huge co-pays or other hurdles and walls placed before them. My niece has lupus so medical care from time to time is a neccessity.

On a side-note - they can't afford to pay for their employees health care either. They would go out of business if they did. What about them and their families? It's amazing that working people can't have access to full health care in a first world country.

It's not like the American government couldn't afford to cover each and every person like us socialist countries do. And as Moore points out - our health care systems actually cost less per capita, with as high or higher rates of care, than the US model of for profit health care.

I feel for those caught in this trap. Health care should be a human right.

 

[Chicken]

Its also pretty care about what kind of care you get in france and cuba.

In France they pay for everything, if you have a baby they'll pay for someone to come help you out around the house for a few days.

In Cuba its free health care also.