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Who are these Americans? I have never once been happy with my health insurance; I mean, sure, it beats not having it in this country, but I constantly get bille
by lambda 3y ago
Who are these Americans? I have never once been happy with my health insurance; I mean, sure, it beats not having it in this country, but I constantly get billed the wrong amount because someone at the hospital didn't code it exactly the way the insurance company requires, or suddenly my health insurance decides that my doctor or dentist isn't covered so now I have to pay up front and do a song and dance to get reimbursed for some smaller fraction of the price, or whatnot. If I go to the ER (even accidentally, when I asked for urgent care but got directed to the ER instead), I've got a $500 dollar bill waiting for me regardless of what the treatment I needed was. Oh, or I'm on a medication that's prescribed by my doctor, but suddenly the insurance company decides it's not covered and I have to pay hundreds of dollars out of pocked while I chase my doctor down to send them more documentation that yes, they tried other alternatives first and they weren't effective, yes I really do need this medication.
And I pay more for this, just in terms of my monthly premiums, not to mention all of the out of pocket and deductible costs, than I would in taxes for healthcare in just about any other developed country.
I don't know what metric people are using when saying that they are "happy" with their health insurance, other than comparing it to being uninsured in this country, in which case, sure, it beats that.
- klooney 3y agoKaiser in California is pretty great. It's like an all-in-one thing[1] with the general doctors, pharmacies, specialists etc all under one roof. It's bureaucracy heavy, but sensible, sort of thing. [1]: this arrangement is also technically illegal in California, but worked around with a Three Corporations In a Nonprofit Trenchcoat sort of deal. The seams mostly don't show.