and, overall it would cost about half what we’re paying now as a nation for health care.
Doctors would actually spend time with patients instead of jumping through hoops for insurance denials. Yes, their staff handles much of it, but there are insurance issues that they end up having to deal with directly, wasting their time.
At my last physical my doctor when on a short rant about insurance. Told me that the reason that there is so much burnout and a high suicide rate among medical professionals isn’t due to their primary job function, helping people become healthier, it was due to having to deal with insurance companies bullshit.
Living in a country with universal health care. Doctors have limited time for each patient. Many people complain about it.
US healthcare is extortion
When I was in grad school, I went to a conference in Portugal. One of the other American grad students slipped on a paving stone and bust his leg. It wasn’t that bad, but he was freaking out because he had no idea how European insurance worked and he was afraid he’d be in serious debt. Everyone at the hospital thought that was hilarious. Why would getting hurt put you in debt? They patched him up for no charge. In theory he could have gone to some office and made a modest payment, but nobody was going to actually make him do that.
No copays is not necessarily true.
Back in Australia it was a flat $35 for a PCP visit. A $35 office visit copay with 100% coverage and no deductible is functionally the same.
Our healthcare here in the US is a brutal costly joke. It instantly disproves any claims that our leaders make to care about the welfare of US citizens.
TL;DR: AU isn’t a good model to base change off. Expensive and scammy.
Not sure what a PCP is, but before I left AU earlier this year, my GP visits were ~AU$100 with a $40 rebate. Private healthcare cannot cover the $60 gap by law, along with a host of other specialists and scans. It felt like a massive scam to have private health. Yes there are free clinics you can go to (“Bulk Billing”), but in my experience because they were always overworked and understaffed, the standard of care wasn’t as good. Plus it was hard to see the same doctor regularly, so you waste more of everyone’s time going over your medical history.
Compare that to Germany, I decided to go with public health here, which comes directly out of my paycheque. It’s expensive, but I don’t see that money and I can go to basically any (English speaking) doctor here, pay nothing for the appointment, and prescriptions are 5 or 10€ (only had one so far, can’t remember the exact cost). Standard of care feels much more in line with the private care of AU. I know there are some scans and blood tests I may need to pay for, but nothing feels scammy so far.
Japan is also 30% due at time of service, though prices are nothing like the US (that 30% also drops in retirement age). People can and often do get some kind of private insurance, usually bundled with their life insurance, to cover certain life-altering events. I imagine there’s some sort of private health insurance like US folks would think of, but I don’t know anyone who carries it. One can do certain procedures off insurance and pay (still cheaper than US prices) here as well if they want.
I showed this to my mom, and her reply was “but that socialism!” And promptly hung up on me.
Some people are so stupid and stubborn that they would rather be bilked by conmen than to actually get the care they need, affordably.
That’s kind of bullshit we’re dealing with.
Insurance IS socialism. By definition. The only difference is who holds the money from the group to pay out claims. In one, it’s the government which has an incentive to keep costs low across the board. The other it is a private company trying to make as much profit as possible.