A Health Reality Check
I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day in Massachusetts and the conversation went something like this (My Friend):
My dad has been out of work for over a year and elects to pay the health insurance fine because it is actually cheaper than paying for health insurance in Mass.
I was immediately skeptical of this statement but upon further research I discovered that the fine can be as high as $912 if you stay uninsured for the whole year in 2008. The problem emerges when you are looking for health insurance as a single male in Mass. with BlueCross BlueShield for decent health insurance, you would be paying $202.52 per month. Using the MA Health Connector Site, the cheapest plan I could find is for $119.50 per month.
I am a bit split on the decision for mandatory health care because apparently if people can get away with just paying the fine then the purpose of having mandatory healthcare is defeated. Overall I agree with the principle of mandatory healthcare because it ensures that everyone is covered for basic health insurance even though some of us may suffer with regards to waiting periods for certain conditions. I know this next statement sounds awfully like something from Star Trek:” but is it not better for the needs of the many to outweigh those of the few? There are nearly 47 million Americans without health insurance in a population of 301,139,947(July 2007 est.); this means that 15% of the population have no health insurance.
What really bothered me is that my friend’s dad found it cheaper to pay the fine than pay for health insurance. This proves that there is something seriously wrong with the insurance industry if people have to pay that much for something that they may never use. During the course of my research, I have found the relevant health insurance data for Ireland and France in order to compare it to the cost in Massachusetts.
Let’s use the example of myself: 25 year old male with no pre-existing conditions (non-smoker)
- If I was living in Massachusetts, according to the BlueCross BlueShield website, I would be paying $202.52 per month for fair health coverage.
- If I was living in Ireland, according to the Vivas Health web page, I would be paying €52.04 per month which translates into $81 using the current euro-dollar exchange rate as of today.
- If I was living in France, my health insurance would be covered by the state but if I still wanted additional health insurance for complete coverage, I could pay €42.15 per month which translates into $65.
You can see as Americans, we get the short end of the stick when it comes to health insurance. I know many people won’t agree with me on this and there are many negatives when you consider a socialized healthcare system. My simple argument is that it is better for everyone to have some level of health insurance than a select few to have health insurance and other people to have nothing.
1. The BlueCross BlueShield Website
2. The Vivas Health Website
3. Conversation with Frenchmen on MSN
5/28/2008 7:44:17 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo hey quick question, how much does health insurance cost in france for a single gent like yourself
5/28/2008 7:44:17 PM Ch@rlo no worries
5/28/2008 7:44:36 PM Ch@rlo well it depends
5/28/2008 7:44:44 PM Ch@rlo what do you mean by
5/28/2008 7:44:50 PM Ch@rlo health insurance
5/28/2008 7:44:53 PM Ch@rlo
5/28/2008 7:45:12 PM Ch@rlo because in france
5/28/2008 7:45:19 PM Ch@rlo you got free health care
5/28/2008 7:45:27 PM Ch@rlo you just need another small insurance
5/28/2008 7:45:35 PM Ch@rlo and mostly everything is free
5/28/2008 7:45:37 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo how much is that small insurance?
5/28/2008 7:46:08 PM Ch@rlo but in order to understand everything you have to know that we also pay taxes on our income for the free health care
5/28/2008 7:46:16 PM Ch@rlo then it means that it’s not free at all
5/28/2008 7:46:22 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo relatively free
5/28/2008 7:46:31 PM Ch@rlo abd the insurance depend of how much you earn
5/28/2008 7:46:35 PM Ch@rlo for me for example
5/28/2008 7:46:44 PM Ch@rlo I got 30 to 33k a year
5/28/2008 7:46:49 PM Ch@rlo before taxes
5/28/2008 7:47:01 PM Ch@rlo and I pay about ……
5/28/2008 7:47:14 PM Ch@rlo let me have a look
5/28/2008 7:47:18 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo thanks man
5/28/2008 7:47:24 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo I am writing an article on health insurance
5/28/2008 7:47:27 PM Ch@rlo I go to get my payslip
5/28/2008 7:47:37 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo going to compared american to ireland and and france
5/28/2008 7:48:07 PM Ch@rlo ok….
5/28/2008 7:48:09 PM Ch@rlo then
5/28/2008 7:48:15 PM Ch@rlo let’s rock dude
5/28/2008 7:48:28 PM Ch@rlo for a single man who earn 29k per year
5/28/2008 7:48:42 PM Ch@rlo (because 4 k are extra)
5/28/2008 7:48:56 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo ok
5/28/2008 7:49:38 PM Ch@rlo I pay 42.15 euro a month
5/28/2008 7:49:44 PM Ch@rlo and my boss the same for me
5/28/2008 7:49:49 PM Ch@rlo about the small insirance
5/28/2008 7:49:52 PM Ch@rlo insurance
5/28/2008 7:49:56 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo nice
5/28/2008 7:50:00 PM Ch@rlo and for the taxes related to the health care
5/28/2008 7:50:07 PM Ch@rlo it’s about…..
5/28/2008 7:50:53 PM Ch@rlo 18.96 euros from me and 285.54 euros from my boss
5/28/2008 7:51:01 PM Crian - research Ch@rlo man I wish I was french now
*”Crian - research” is me, “Ch@rlo” is the French person in question, this was pasted from MSN’s messenger history so apologies for the format.
May 28 2008 09:27 pm | American Politics
May 28th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
Having been retired for over five years, I receive US medicare. I also have the part D plan and a supplement. Total
$210/mo. If I see the Dr. any more than once a year, nothing is covered. Not very impressed
with the US system!!
May 29th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Hey BB, more than once a year, that is terrible, I worked for a healthcare company in the U.S and I was paying about the same amount per month as well. There needs to be a definite overhaul of the system and what I don’t really understand is why it is not cheaper when providers have the ability to spread the cost of the insurance over a larger population.