| JRPGfan said: My dad's knee gave out and he fell and landed badly... he shattered his Patellar (kneecap). Im also happy the republicans havnt been able to take away any healthcare from anyone yet. |
As an American I fully support your non-existent 1st ammendment right to look like a complete ••••ing idiot by not understanding how American healthcare system functions and why costs are so messed up here.
I will clear up a few issues for you pathetic types who have no answers and feel the need to •••s on our healthcare system.
First we have to consider the way insurance works in America (I won't attempt to speak for foreign companies because I don't want to look as dumb as you just did and I don't want to do all that research right now). In America many insurer's are charging the government for your prescription medications, dental, vision and other medical services. These companies still have stages of coverage.
STAGES OF COVERAGE:
Deductible stage- In this stage of coverage you the beneficiary of an insurance plan are (in many but not all cases) responsible for the full cost of any prescriptions and medical services until the deductible is paid. The deductible stage starts at $0 and commonly ends at $500 but can be larger. Not all plans have a deductible stage for those that don't beneficiaries are in initial coverage until the costs th plan and beneficiaries pay exceeds the initial coverage limit for their plan.
Initial coverage stage- In this stage of coverage many procedures and meds fall in to payment categories where the beneficiary pays a flat copay until the cost that you and the insurance company pays reaches the coverage gap. This stage is often times very short especially if you have diabetes or a serious illness that requires regular maintenance medications or hospitalization - starts when deductible stage ends usually goes through $2,500 though some insurers and plans may offer greater coverage.
The coverage gap (yes, that's what insurance companies call it)- This is the point in the coverage where the beneficiary is responsible for a huge portion of their own procedures and medications costs. On many plans this isn't a particularly long stage, however since some medicines especially those pesky maintenance meds like insulin for those who have diabetes cost hundreds of dollars. This makes it hard for many people to afford. There are options for people who can't afford their medications provided by the manufacturers of patients medications though not everyone qualifies for these benefits. This stage starts when the initial coverage ends and ends commonly around $5,000-$10,000.
After you run through those stages of coverage there is one final stage... Catastrophic coverage.
In catastrophic coverage the insurance company covers the majority of medical and prescription drug costs with tier copays for some services set to either a flat copay or a percentage... This has it's own set of inherit problems as some procedures and medicines are so ludicrously expensive that the beneficiary can wind up paying thousands for a single prescription or service in this stage...
Most insurers plans reset at the start of the year (January 1st), but it gets far more complicated. There are crossover payments that I will not confuse you with and many intricacies that Vox news and liberal sources simply won't tell you about regarding the reasons why costs are out of control. There is also a very simple fact that many individuals will not see the coverage gap at all staying in initial coverage the entire year.
ACA - AKA: "ObamaCare":
When the government starts covering the costs and plans still operate in the same way the loser is the consumer. As you might have guessed by now I used to work for one of America's largest insurance companies. I KNOW EXACTLY HOW INSURANCE COMPANIES WORK. I also know why these things coat so much. R&D and non-payment (yes due in part to illegal immigration) all affect costs of American health care, but the biggest cost hike occured when Affordable Care Act started. I was still working for an insurance company when that happened. Employees received new information about how The ACA would impact our customers. In short plans were changed and coat shot up for nearly all medications.
Was this the fault of insurance companies? No, as manufatures of medications and hospitals were well aware they can benefit drastically by charging what ever they want for their goods and services by charging the government while using averages on a spreadsheet to declare that the insured won't suffer any repercussions of these greedy propositions they increased the costs of nearly everything. I actually applauded the •••holes who raised the costs of meds hundreds of percent and not because they raised the costs of meds by ridiculous amounts but because they DIDN'T LIE ABOUT THE REASON WHY THEY CHOSE TO RAISE THE PRICE!
It's simple it isn't cheap to make a medication but as the patents expire and generics become available costs decline... When the government intervened businesses (including hospitals) jumped on the money train. The ACA was and is indeed a disaster that raised the costs of medications to ridiculous highs. ACA isn't even as cheap as other plans were before the ACA was even implemented. Before The ACA plan premiums topped out at $90-$100 per month on more expensive plans while under the ACA plan premiums started at $100/mo! Since open enrollment in ACA plans started in October 2013 ACA plan premiums have increased by over 300% on average nationwide!
On top of those ridiculous increases in plan premiums medication costs continue to rise unhindered by the closure and shrinking of freemarket insurance. The government has all but a complete monopoly in the health insurance market and hasn't fixed anything they set out to.
The ACA has so far been a failure.
