What do Aussies & Brits think of the US health care system?

Trade said:
The Medicare part B Premium will be $185 per month per person in 2025. So for my wife and I that's $370 a month. Then there's the $430 a month per person that I pay Blue Cross Blue Shield to cover what Medicare doesn't pay, plus provide us with prescription drig coverage. So that's $860 a month plus $370 = $1230 a month that we pay for our coverage. That's $14,760 a year for the two of us. Then there's the cost of Medicare per person that the government subsidizes. In 2023 that cost worked out to an average of $15,727 per person per year.

That comes to $31,454 for the two of us. So overall the bloated ticks in the Health Care Industrial complex get a grand total of $46,214 to cover both of us. Now for that I gotta say that we get pretty decent coverage although we still have some co-pays and deductables but nothing that I havn't been able to manage so far. But seriously this is a colossal rip off. And the entire Health Care Insdustrial Complex, Doctors, Hospitals, Medical Supply companies, Pharmaceutical Companies, Health Insurance Companies, etc. etc. are all in on this feeding frenzy.
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Remove profit from the middle man is all that can be done. OR raise taxes on all of a population for the benefit of the "less fortunate" (and I use this term broadly...😉).

I prefer to take out the faustian middle men, and implement STRONG incentives like staying trim, not smoking, not having babies after age 35.
 

hollydolly said:
...and here is the difference between Canadian and UK care.... the same homeless guy doesn't need to carry ANY card to allow him to receive medical care for free....that's what Universal means in MY country...(y)
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So illegal immigrants can get free (UK taxpayer paid) healthcare in the UK free? How long is the line?
 
I've been to UK,
France, as well as Germany.

I get asked how I am going to pay for my visit. What am I doing wrong?

And I can't even immigrate to many countries unless I have proof of three years living expenses, money in the bank, health care coverage, and a SPECIFIC job class/specialty the country is looking for! Some countries also won't take anyone for immigration over the age of 55 - unless they are working in a high skills needed profession and are sponsored.

Sigh.
 
CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
I've been to UK,
France, as well as Germany.

I get asked how I am going to pay for my visit. What am I doing wrong?

And I can't even immigrate to many countries unless I have proof of three years living expenses, money in the bank, health care coverage, and a SPECIFIC job class/specialty the country is looking for! Some countries also won't take anyone for immigration over the age of 55 - unless they are working in a high skills needed profession and are sponsored.

Sigh.
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equally I cant go to America to live , or Canada or Australia, ... yet they don't throw out the people who arrive on their shores illegally... makes you want to break the law sometimes...
 
hollydolly said:
yes.....and believe me in many cases the illegal..yep you read it right, illegal immigrants get faster care, and better accomodation...
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Nope. Don't want that system, I don't want to have to take handouts from working blokes. On the other hand, if the AUS govt is investing the tax uptake as a means to make it really free...cool.

How long can an illegal immigrant stay? Why do they get to have faster care and better accommodations over legal residents - the ones who PAY via income/land ownership for the healthcare?

Something for Americans to think about if they don't like our system!

😂😉
 
CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
Nope. Don't want that system, I don't want to have to take handouts from working blokes. On the other hand, if the AUS govt is investing the tax uptake as a means to make it really free...cool.

How long can an illegal immigrant stay? Why do they get to have faster care and better accommodations over legal residents - the ones who PAY via income/land ownership for the healthcare?

Something for Americans to think about if they don't like our system!

😂😉
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they seem to be allowed to stay indefinitely.... and don't get me started on them getting faster treatment than people who've paid into the system all their lives..
 
hollydolly said:
equally I cant go to America to live , or Canada or Australia, ... yet they don't throw out the people who arrive on their shores illegally... makes you want to break the law sometimes...
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If you immigrated to the US legally, you'd be allowed to keep your UK benefits (unless the UK won't let you) until you establish residency, which would take about 6 months or so. Then you'd be eligible to receive US benefits.

What helps that along is either holding a part-time job, having a relative who's a US citizen, having a US sponsor, or having some special skill, like in technology, the manufacture of some essential product, or mining and farming.
(that leaves you out :p ...unless there's something about you I don't know..)
 
Murrmurr said:
If you immigrated to the US legally, you'd be allowed to keep your UK benefits (unless the UK won't let you) until you establish residency, which would take about 6 months or so. Then you'd be eligible to receive US benefits.

What helps that along is either holding a part-time job, having a relative who's a US citizen, having a US sponsor, or having some special skill, like in technology, the manufacture of some essential product, or mining and farming.
(that leaves you out :p ...unless there's something about you I don't know..)
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what benefits ?...I don't receive benefits !

I have no skill that the USA needs, and at almost 70, no chance of any job there..and I don't have anyone who could sponsor me anyway..that goes for Canada , Australia, and NZ as well... Canada will only accept retirees from here if we have a minimum of £600k in the bank

In Australia, my friend a widow who at that time was still in her 50's nd worked full time, as a Lab technician for Glaxo.. wanted to follow her Only son- and family out to Australia to live, was refused permission... she was heartbroken.. and spent almost evertyhing she earned and all her holidays flying out to visit them....
 
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For many years, high medical cost was a form of taxing the rich.

Wealthy people could and would pay more for their medical care, and the "gains" were used to fund medical research and innovation, and make it possible for low-income people to pay much less or nothing at all based on their income.

That changed when insurance companies took over hospitals, medical centers, and clinics. Congress allowed that to happen, and I'm sure certain members were handsomely rewarded, as were certain medical directors of a few major medical complexes. Medical care became a system rather than a service, and charity hospitals started disappearing.

This took billions of dollars away from medical research and innovation, and the US was no longer the leader in those fields.
(I think Japan is, currently. It's one of the top 3, anyway.)

Another hit came when the US over-spent during the covid pandemic and the unemployment rate took a nose-dive at about the same time, and it has stayed low. All those unemployed people can't pay taxes but they get medical benefits.
 
Murrmurr said:
If you immigrated to the US legally, you'd be allowed to keep your UK benefits (unless the UK won't let you) until you establish residency, which would take about 6 months or so. Then you'd be eligible to receive US benefits.

What helps that along is either holding a part-time job, having a relative who's a US citizen, having a US sponsor, or having some special skill, like in technology, the manufacture of some essential product, or mining and farming.
(that leaves you out :p ...unless there's something about you I don't know..)
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What are you talking about?
 
hollydolly said:
equally I cant go to America to live , or Canada or Australia, ... yet they don't throw out the people who arrive on their shores illegally... makes you want to break the law sometimes...
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Exactly, or not want to pay into the tax base. Government spending and who decides who gets what is what supply and demand means. I just want to be somewhere that appreciates hard working people and doesn't keep making competent and reliable working people pay and pay and pay and have to watch this nonsense go on in perpetuity. 😭
 
Murrmurr said:
For many years, high medical cost was a form of taxing the rich.

Wealthy people could and would pay more for their medical care, and the "gains" were used to fund medical research and innovation, and make it possible for low-income people to pay much less or nothing at all based on their income.

That changed when insurance companies took over hospitals, medical centers, and clinics. Congress allowed that to happen, and I'm sure certain members were handsomely rewarded, as were certain medical directors of a few major medical complexes. Medical care became a system rather than a service, and charity hospitals started disappearing.

This took billions of dollars away from medical research and innovation, and the US was no longer the leader in those fields.
(I think Japan is, currently. It's one of the top 3, anyway.)

Another hit came when the US over-spent during the covid pandemic and the unemployment rate took a nose-dive at about the same time, and it has stayed low. All those unemployed people can't pay taxes but they get medical benefits.
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ANOTHER thing that happened was so many of those people who, during COVID were allowed to enroll in Medicaid (the American equivalent of medical benefits for poor people). The issue though is that

1) These people were not vetted properly for Medicaid;
2) The authorized use period was not short enough, it should have clearly been temporary "60-90" days sort of thing;
3) There was not an incentive ie via warning to go back to work OR this emergency benefit will end;
4) Medicaid is Fed/State funded, the State fund percentage needed to be adjusted temporarily...it was a HUGE can of worms they opened when this emergency Covid kept being extended by the administration.
 
CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
Sounds like she had travel insurance. And she likely paid for it herself?
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Of course. On one of our overseas jaunts we not only took out travel insurance for ourselves but also for my very elderly mother in the retirement village. If anything had happened to her I would have wanted to get straight on a plane bound for Australia. Fortunately we didn't need it.
 
hollydolly said:
equally I cant go to America to live , or Canada or Australia, ... yet they don't throw out the people who arrive on their shores illegally... makes you want to break the law sometimes...
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Those that arrive in Australia by plane do not get to enter if there is anything illegal going on. They are either returned on the next available plane or sent temporarily to a detention centre. If they apply for asylum they are sent to an immigration detention centre until their case can be heard.

People who risk entry to the north of Australia, and there are not very many of them, end up in off shore detention which is the equivalent of Hell on Earth. Free health care? Forget it. Women in the midst of a miscarriage can be flown to the mainland for treatment but always at the very last minute.

I'm proud of our health care system. I'm not proud of our cruel immigration policies for people seeking safety and sanctuary.
 
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CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
Remove profit from the middle man is all that can be done. OR raise taxes on all of a population for the benefit of the "less fortunate" (and I use this term broadly...😉).

I prefer to take out the faustian middle men, and implement STRONG incentives like staying trim, not smoking, not having babies after age 35.
Click to expand...
Luigi Mangioni already "took out" one Faustian middle man. :cool:
 
hollydolly said:
what benefits ?...I don't receive benefits !

I have no skill that the USA needs, and at almost 70, no chance of any job there..and I don't have anyone who could sponsor me anyway..that goes for Canada , Australia, and NZ as well... Canada will only accept retirees from here if we have a minimum of £600k in the bank

In Australia, my friend a widow who at that time was still in her 50's nd worked full time, as a Lab technician for Glaxo.. wanted to follow her Only son- and family out to Australia to live, was refused permission... she was heartbroken.. and spent almost evertyhing she earned and all her holidays flying out to visit them....
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And yet, a former Immigration Minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, allowed a couple of au pairs for his friends to be waved through on false visas. It's not what you know; it's who you know.
 
Warrigal said:
And yet, a former Immigration Minister, now the Leader of the Opposition, allowed a couple of au pairs for his friends to be waved through on false visas. It's not what you know; it's who you know.
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I think it both what you know and who you know.

What the IM was doing, if he did it for getting his OWN au pairs into the country illegally, that is called graft.
If the IM did it for his friends as a favor, that is corruption.

The higher to the top the less "friends" you should keep OR trust.
 
Murrmurr said:
Wealthy people could and would pay more for their medical care, and the "gains" were used to fund medical research and innovation, and make it possible for low-income people to pay much less or nothing at all based on their income.

That changed when insurance companies took over hospitals, medical centers, and clinics. Congress allowed that to happen, and I'm sure certain members were handsomely rewarded, as were certain medical directors of a few major medical complexes. Medical care became a system rather than a service, and charity hospitals started disappearing.

This took billions of dollars away from medical research and innovation, and the US was no longer the leader in those fields.
(I think Japan is, currently. It's one of the top 3, anyway.)

...
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Murrmurr: You are talking about ACA is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). This happened in 2010 and has come back to haunt middle income Americans big time.

Thank 44 for implementing the least well thought out "universal" medical coverage on the planet.
 
Nobody in US has been able to implement a universal health care system

Yet universal health care systems, with minor variations, exist in all other developed countries.

and everyone in this thread from all those other countries have answered the question saying they would not want to switch to US system - some US posters have said they dont want it either
 
Warrigal said:
Those that arrive in Australia by plane do not get to enter if there is anything illegal going on. They are either returned on the next available plane. If they apply for asylum they are sent to an immigration detention centre until their case can be heard.

People who risk entry to the north of Australia, and there are not very many of them, end up in off shore detention which is the equivalent of Hell on Earth. Free health care? Forget it. Women in the midst of a miscarriage can be flown to the mainland for treatment but always at the very last minute.

I'm proud of our health care system. I'm not proud of our cruel immigration policies for people seeking safety and sanctuary.
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oh how I wish the same thinng happened here..perhaps we wouldn't see so many trying to get in...
 

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