SiCKO by Michael Moore

[Money]

HAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Please resize your photos. Thanks.

-Subj

[SEAL]

The typical worker contributed nearly $3,000

In our company the typical worker (family of four) pays only $1440 annually for a family of four, our company pays the rest.

So in short. Companies in usa pay quite alot for your health insurance. Depending how you look on it of course, but the financial fact remains that a employee does not pay for the whole meal. He does not directly see it being withdrawn from his salary.

In your company it's 1440 / 12 months = roughly 110 dollars for a good insurance. For four persons. Which makes roughly 28 dollars per person? That is a sweet deal whereever in the world. (do you sponsor h1b visas? :P)

And the average person, which means the majority, (let's say a bus driver / constructor) pays 3000 / 12 = 250 dollars per month per person on a good insurance? Am i understanding this correctly?

[Money]

So in short. Companies in usa pay quite alot for your health insurance. Depending how you look on it of course, but the financial fact remains that a employee does not pay for the whole meal. He does not directly see it being withdrawn from his salary.

actually almost all jobs, the employee pays nothing but co-pays or deductibles and for his family he must pay for each week, some jobs offer it free for your whole family
so yes they do see it directly deducted from their paycheck

[Epinephrine]

From what I understand, health insurance doesn't cover 100% of your costs right? Like only 80-90% or am I wrong?

Private health insurance in Canada (usually for prescription drugs, or dentist visits, glasses, chiropractors, and other 'non-seeing a MD' things not covered by universal healthcare) usually pays only 85% of the costs, and you have to pay the rest each time you use a service.

As well, while companies usually foot most of the bill for health insurance in the US, the fact is... if companies did NOT have to, they could actually afford to pay their employees more. So really the system in the US in a way hurts companies, because it hides the true cost of healthcare from most people.

Simply put, would people rather be paid much more, and taxed a bit more (because universal healthcare costs a LOT less than the US private insurance system per capita), or get paid less and taxed a bit less? It seems because the fact that the costs are mostly hidden, people think what will happen if universal healthcare were introduced in the US they would be paid the same and taxed more, which really wouldn't be true.

[GuruMeditation]

Man, I was with the wife at some fashion runway thing (my brain heard the words "free booze" and common sense left the building), and they had this black chick walking down the runway wearing a t-shirt with a print of the confederate flag on it. Her face was torn halfway between crying and wanting to slowly kill everyone in the room who saw her wearing it.

[Cops]

I do not understand, we are willing to pay a much larger percentage of the employees health care costs, I would estimate that we are covering more than 90% of other American companies.

"The average employee contribution to company-provided health insurance has increased more than 143 percent since 2000. Average out-of-pocket costs for deductibles, co-payments for medications, and co-insurance for physician and hospital visits rose 115 percent during the same period." Source: The National Coalition on Health Care

Our company has sucked up these increases since 1998 and not asked the employees to foot the bill.

What about the guy who makes $6.50 an hour? I'm sure his company would step up.... and send him some get well soon cards if he ever got hurt.

Your insurance only pays 75% of your family's insurance, which to be honest isn't that great. What if your wife needed to have heart surgery, or some other outrageously expensive surgery. You'd still be dealing with 25 percent of the cost.

[Subjugation]

actually almost all jobs, the employee pays nothing but co-pays or deductibles and for his family he must pay for each week, some jobs offer it free for your whole family
so yes they do see it directly deducted from their paycheck

Yes, many jobs do provide healthcare. However, those types of jobs generally go to skilled laborers or people with an education. So, if you're too young to have gotten an education or learned a trade, or if you're in the lower class or work for a temp agency, you're fucked. But that's another story, let's stick to those who are already covered by medical insurance---which is really what the movie Sicko is about, anyway.

If you have health insurance and break your arm need some stiches, you're covered. You pay like $10 bucks for your meds and that's it. But when you age, your body doesn't just need a stitch or a cast, it needs expensive surgery, maybe multiple surgeries. And since our average lifespans are getting longer, more and more people are going to be needing those expensive surgeries. If you exceed the costs your insurance will cover, or if they deny your coverage, or if the percentage of coverage is not very high, then you're fucked. You're going to be stuck with tens of thousands of dollars of debt.

Like I said in my first post, my mom works for a school district. School districts are notorious for providing generous healthcare packages, and when she got really sick for a few months and needed multiple surgeries, her co-pays kept adding up and there were costs that weren't covered by her insurance company. She lost her truck and had to file for bankruptcy due to these uncovered costs. This happened to an educated, middleclass person with a graduate degree. It was the classic "no-fucking-way-could-this-happen-to-me" situation.

My point is, when people have medical insurance, they feel a sense of security. That security is an illusion. Just like a casino, sometimes you win---but in the long run, they just keep raking in the profits off the backs of the weak. And within the last year or two, congress passed through a bill (sponsored by the credit card lobby) that will prevent individuals from filing for bankruptcy protection even if those credit charges were to cover medical costs. Meaning, if you get really sick and have to pay for an expensive medical procedure with your credit card, welcome to indentured servitude.

Wake the fuck up. The American healthcare system is a scam, and not even the middle class is safe. Communism is bullshit, but there are some very basic things that should be available for the good of all.

[Cops]

Like I said in my first post, my mom works for a school district. School districts are notorious for providing generous healthcare packages, and when she got really sick for a few months and needed multiple surgeries, her co-pays kept adding up and there were costs that weren't covered by her insurance company. She lost her truck and had to file for bankruptcy due to these uncovered costs. This happened to an educated, middleclass person with a graduate degree. It was the classic "no-fucking-way-could-this-happen-to-me" situation.

I'm really sorry this happened to your mother, that's a terrible thing to happen to anyone. I'm extremely lucky that I have free health care, sometimes I forget exactly what I have.

[Ephemeral]

What about the guy who makes $6.50 an hour? I'm sure his company would step up.... and send him some get well soon cards if he ever got hurt.
Your insurance only pays 75% of your family's insurance, which to be honest isn't that great. What if your wife needed to have heart surgery, or some other outrageously expensive surgery. You'd still be dealing with 25 percent of the cost.

I can not speak to other companies. Your point is correct that the vast majority of US workers are not covered. "One half of workers in the lowest-compensation jobs and one-half of workers in mid-range-compensation jobs either had problems with medical bills in a 12-month period or were paying off accrued debt." (1) Roughly 47 million Americans are uninsured. (2)

Respectfully disagree with your statement that paying 75% of our employees families coverage "isn't that great". According to our insurance agent, this rate is better than the any other company offers which she is familiar with. I can not find any national stats for this, but I am certain that we offer better coverage than 90% of American companies. We have also arranged for group 'gap' insurance which gives an employee full, 100% coverage. The company does not pay for the gap insurance, but it does provide a good group rate if we desire 100% coverage.

But others have made good points, like Epi's stating that while a company may suck up the large increases in insurance costs, they will then have less money left for things like raises for people. And the fact that while a person might be a 'customer' to an insurance company, they can still fuck you over.

The quality of the health insurance that companies provide has declined. A big part of this issue is that since 2000, employment-based health insurance premiums have increased 87 percent, compared to cumulative inflation of 18 percent and cumulative wage growth of 20 percent during the same period. (3) Companies having been dealing with this incredible cost spike in several ways. It was not long ago (maybe 15-20 years) when many companies covered 100% of the employee and their families. Now most cover only 50% at best. Additionally, deductibles and co-pays have sky-rocketed. And finally, the 'fine print' now has many 'loop-holes' in favor of the insurance company NOT paying out.



Reference
(1) The Commonwealth Fund. Wages, Health Benefits, and Workers' Health
(2) California Health Care Foundation. Health Care Costs 101 -- 2005. 02 March 2005
(3) The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Employee Health Benefits: 2006 Annual Survey. 26 September 2006

[Money]

subj is a fag, if oyu'd likle i can post tose pics at their original size, bitch

[Dwopple]

money, what area of houston you from???

reppin jersey village.

[Cops]

Respectfully disagree with your statement that paying 75% of our employees families coverage "isn't that great".

Really, cause I thought that 100% was "great", especially when the total is in the thousands. I like that that when I go to the hospital the doctor says "what's wrong with you?" and not "what credit card shall we put this on".

[Ephemeral]

Really, cause I thought that 100% was "great", especially when the total is in the thousands. I like that that when I go to the hospital the doctor says "what's wrong with you?" and not "what credit card shall we put this on".

As I stated, 100% coverage is available through the company. It is also possible for most people to go buy whatever coverage they wish on their own.

The issues to be critical of are ductables, co-payments, and the quality of the insurance (fine print where they talk about what they cover and what they do not).

So you can have 100% insurance coverage and still be asked for your credit card.
Even worse, the insurance company can simply tell you to fuck off, they won't even sell you the insurance due to some 'pre-existing' condition.

[Money]

money, what area of houston you from???

reppin jersey village.

trinity garden/fifth ward

[Eeks]

healthcare in finland is one of the best and it has a max limit in cost to you / year which is pretty small

we do abuse nurses paywise though