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0 pointsspacedcowboy3y ago0 comments

> And if your income has dropped a lot, most if not all of the coverage will be subsidized by the government

This seems to be very location-dependent. Most states will be reasonably generous and extend Medicaid coverage to you. Some will not. Even when you have Medicaid coverage, it's still a crap-shoot whether a Dr. will take you on as a patient. Hospitals will, in general, but there's plenty of Dr's offices with "No Medicaid" signs in them.

COBRA is an utter joke. If you've just lost your job, how are you supposed to afford $1750/month [1] for medical insurance for your family ?

I think Obamacare was a step in the right direction for health-care in the US. I think it's woefully short of just about anywhere in Europe. The entire healthcare industry in the US seems to pile on huge amounts of stress right at the point where you need to just get well. In-network/Out-of-network, covered/non-covered, co-pays, crazy-high deductibles, the works. In the UK, the only thing I worry about paying for is parking at the hospital...

[1]:https://www.brookings.edu/blog/usc-brookings-schaeffer-on-he...

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4 comments · 2 top-level

legitster3y ago· 1 in thread

> COBRA is an utter joke. If you've just lost your job, how are you supposed to afford $1750/month [1] for medical insurance for your family ?

Agreed. But that's how much your employer was paying.

I'll die on the hill that the US medical system would be so much better if we just gave that cash to everyone instead.

ThePowerOfFuet3y ago

> I'll die on the hill that the US medical system would be so much better if we just gave that cash to everyone instead.

You really don't get it, do you? Remove the profit from the equation.

The rest of the civilised world figured it out decades ago, but the US is just too damned greedy to swallow such a pill.

toast03y ago· 1 in thread

COBRA is what it is, if you had high priced employer paid coverage and you want to continue it, it's going to cost a lot.

Otoh, there's exchange plans which tend to be lower cost. All the exchange plans have to cover the same baseline things, but of course how big your share is varies. There's subsidies if your income is low, but not too low for medicaid.

Yes, there's a lot of fussyness in the details, and it can be stressful, but you just go and do your healthcare and wait and see what the bill is, and then decide if you're going to pay it or not. Mostly, there's no requirement to pay at time of service.

spacedcowboyOP3y ago

"It is what it is" is not an acceptable answer, from a European perspective. That's the point I was trying to make.

And I stand by the original claim: "There are various band-aids to try and help people out when they lose their job, but none of them are particularly impressive, looking on them from a European perspective."

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