I’m in Australia. We might be a bit nuts over here but at least we have Medicare. Private health insurance is optional and becoming increasingly expensive, but the public system, although stressed, covers everyone.
We do pay a Medicare levy in our taxes but it’s nothing like USA costs. A few hundred a year I think.
we do pay a Medicare levy in our taxes but it’s nothing like USA costs
I was thinking about this too - the American monthly health insurance cost is significantly more than my entire monthly tax contribution, including the public healthcare contributions - and I’m not even “low income” by any definition.
Medicare levy is 2% of income, so you’d pay $1600/year on $80k taxable income.
Insurance in the USA is great if you have a good employer. I pay around $100/month to cover my wife and I, and that includes a $200 deductible (amount you need to pay before the insurance starts covering stuff), $15 doctor visits, $100 for ER, max $15 for generic medication, and a $4k out of pocket maximum per year (after which everything is fully covered). I use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea, and both the machine and supplies are fully covered.
The monthly price plus the deductible is less than what I was paying for the Medicare levy in Australia.
On the other hand, if your employer doesn’t have a good health plan, or you’re unemployed or self-employed, health insurance is way more expensive and the coverage isn’t as great.
The divide between well-off (not necessarily rich, just middle to upper middle class) and poor is significantly larger in the USA than it is in Australia. My parents relied a lot on Australian government assistance when I was young (below market rate government housing, rental assistance to help pay the rent, etc) so I’m very grateful about that.
Honestly I’d be happy to pay more in taxes if it went towards universal healthcare.
Pretty mental isn’t it!
I’m in Australia. We might be a bit nuts over here but at least we have Medicare. Private health insurance is optional and becoming increasingly expensive, but the public system, although stressed, covers everyone.
We do pay a Medicare levy in our taxes but it’s nothing like USA costs. A few hundred a year I think.
I was thinking about this too - the American monthly health insurance cost is significantly more than my entire monthly tax contribution, including the public healthcare contributions - and I’m not even “low income” by any definition.
Medicare levy is 2% of income, so you’d pay $1600/year on $80k taxable income.
Insurance in the USA is great if you have a good employer. I pay around $100/month to cover my wife and I, and that includes a $200 deductible (amount you need to pay before the insurance starts covering stuff), $15 doctor visits, $100 for ER, max $15 for generic medication, and a $4k out of pocket maximum per year (after which everything is fully covered). I use a CPAP machine for sleep apnea, and both the machine and supplies are fully covered.
The monthly price plus the deductible is less than what I was paying for the Medicare levy in Australia.
On the other hand, if your employer doesn’t have a good health plan, or you’re unemployed or self-employed, health insurance is way more expensive and the coverage isn’t as great.
The divide between well-off (not necessarily rich, just middle to upper middle class) and poor is significantly larger in the USA than it is in Australia. My parents relied a lot on Australian government assistance when I was young (below market rate government housing, rental assistance to help pay the rent, etc) so I’m very grateful about that.
Honestly I’d be happy to pay more in taxes if it went towards universal healthcare.