Hi, I’m from the UK, the healthcare industry in the US has always confused me but one thing I can’t seem to get my head around is how the insurance companies don’t go bankrupt.
I understand how insurance companies work in the fact that they accurately calculate premiums and invest the money whilst not receiving more claims than premiums.
However, in the healthcare industry wouldn’t they receive many claims on a regular basis? Especially from people who require medication on a regular basis e.g Insulin
Furthermore, with hospitals bills and medication being so expensive will they not payout more in bills than they receive in premiums from people?
In: Economics
Dear kind sir.
In the US we pay a monthly fee around 800 for a family of four and our employer usually also pays 800 or so. So what does that get you.
Prescriptions-the insurance negotiates major discounts and you pay $10 $20 $more for each prescription per month.
Doctors visits you pay around $40 for each visit and insurance pays about $70 for you unless it is a specialist then you pay around $75.
Here comes the kicker Deductibles.
Deductibles are what you pay 100% of on hospital stays, surgeries, big stuff. Most plans have individual deductibles that range from $2000 to $6000 or more.
Yep the insurance company gets 1600×12 plus you pay the first say $4000 per person on your own for major issues. That’s $23,200 cost to the employer and employee AND THEN they start to pay. Some plans pay 100% after that and some split with 30% by you and 70% by them.
There is an out of pocket maximum but that is usually around 20,000.
All these costs go away if we nationalize healthcare and then just tax people about $2500 per family of four but you know who doesn’t want that.
Latest Answers