Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
So the teeth are covered by your standard insurance, or is a separate you factored into the price? I'm used to health, dental, vision, and life all being sesperate here in the U.S.
It's all under the same umbrella. I did not know insurance was separated in the US. Back when social security was created after the war (see complete history of its creation helmed by Ambroise Croizat), it was conceived as a single fund for 1.health 2.unemployment and 3.retirement, the idea being that discrimination would be impossible and everyone would chip in for everything. Basically socialism. It was quickly (within a few years, would have to check exactly) split into separate funds, but social security has been pretty sturdy ever since, in the sense that private sharks were kept at bay (compared to the US). This is not the case for retirement funds, unfortunately, which have been shifted to a capitalisation method recently caused by lobbying from fucking blackrock. Anyway, I digress.
To give you an idea, my private plan is 37e a month and covers 100% of medical acts with up to 540e dental expenses a year, one pair of glasses every two years with a ceiling of roughly 200e (depends on the lens type), hearing aids with a ceiling of 1700e, and 150% on GP appointments if they go over standard rate (home or night visits will do that). Dental covers 150% on prostheses as well, I assume those aren't fully covered by universal healthcare but I haven't checked for sure. Anything related to hospital stays is also covered 100%, as well as transport (SMUR, ambulance, etc). Maternity stay is also covered for 12 days a year, but I'm a dude.
We're also in the process of in vitro fertilisation and our entire stay overseas is paid for : lodging, transport, and of course the process itself : daily shots and echographies for her, spermograms for me, as well as a few appointments... This one required special request to social security (to attest that there's an actual possibility of conceiving), and does not involve private insurers at all.
Thanks for making me peruse all this, I probably wouldn't have if not to share the info over here.
Thank you for doing so! Our insurance varies drastically. The last time I had insurance available from work it was $134 per pay period so ~3500 U.S. dollars a year. It had a $5000 deductible, so while you had a co-pay/consult fee so the doctor would see you for $15. But if you needed them to do something, say fix a broken arm, you pay out of pocket until you pass that $5000 mark for the year. Prescriptions they pay some of, but for people like me it's not much different than just not having the insurance. Amoxicillin is less than $10 with a prescription, and that's usually all I need if I get a soar throat and jazz. So once every couple years I'll get that and Mucinex D and I'm usually good in a few days.
Now if you want dental or vision those come separate. My last job offered them but I can't remember what they are split, something like $20 per pay period, so another $240 a year.
You also pay copays for the visits and deductibles for the procedures and something's aren't covered like normal.
The sad thing is that is considered pretty good insurance to many people. My uncle always used private healthcare, and his was much higher than that.
5000$ deductible ? shit... must make you wonder why you're insured in the first place. The other big difference is that your insurance is tied to your job. What if you're unemployed, do you just not get glasses ? or the tooth filling that you need ? what's the alternative ? if you're unemployed at the moment, it stands to reason that you would have less earnings... at least 240$/year for dental (or is it dental+vision?) seems more reasonable.
There will be a day where USians will be able to boast about how good and cheap their coverage is, I'm confident. First the people have to win the revolution for that to happen, but surely it's something worth fighting for.
Standardly you lose the insurance on the day your job ends. There is a program called COBRA that exists where you can pay more (whatever the employer was paying on top of what you were paying, and a fee) to keep it going until you find your next job. I think it maxes out at a year but I'm not sure. Never done it, as I couldn't afford it between jobs. Hope that day you speak of comes sooner than later. Also I hope all goes well in life for you. Best of luck
Cheers, same to you