I used to joke, before we moved here, that we’d probably end up moving back to the UK because of healthcare. One year on, the joke has become reality. I’m embarrassed to admit that I really did not do my homework on this subject, and I had no idea just how expensive health insurance would be.
Turns out that a family of four has an average health insurance premium of $13,000 every year! That’s over $1083 or £645 a month. I had imagined that we’d be paying an annual premium that was more in line with the monthly premium, with no idea that we’d be paying the equivalent of a second mortgage payment each month for health insurance. Those of you that know me well, know that I probably don't spend more on health care for our family in any given year than we'd be asked for a monthly premium.
Just to put things in perspective: We insure our house for $300,000 replacement costs. The annual premium for that is some $800. So we would be asked to pay that and more each month times for health coverage. Premiums, on this basis, would get us $3.6 million cover in any given year. (I’m sure there is some reason you can’t compare health care with house building, but you follow….) Only most health care policies have a lifetime payout limit of $2 million, so if your catastrophic diagnosis requires more than that, well, you can just sell your house to pay for the excess.
Moreover, most policies do not cover healthcare in full. There is not only a deductible, so you pay the first $X of any claim, but there are also these things called co-pays, where, you, the insured, pay not only for the premium, but also for part of the cost of care. If my aunt wants to visit a doctor, she has to pay $20 direct, $50 for a specialist. That's in addition to her $500 per month premium.
It all makes perfect sense really, for how else would the insurance companies be able to afford to pay the in-house doctors that have to review every claim in order to second guess your doctor and decide whether the treatment they’ve prescribed should be provided? How else would they be able to pay legions of people to comb your medical records to find pre-existing conditions that render your policy void? (It says here that you had a broken toe that you didn't disclose. I'm sorry, we can't cover your cancer claim.) How could they pay the lawyers to defend the withdrawal of coverage? How could they pay their own executive salaries and bonuses? How could they pay their shareholder dividends?
Apparently over half of all bankruptcies in this country are filed due to health care bills. Seventy five percent of those are filed by people who have health insurance. It’s barbaric.
You may be paying £5/gallon for petrol but thank God you don’t have this debacle with which to contend.
On a lighter note, we've had more snow: 10 inches the end of Oct, and 6 inches yesterday. Here is a photo of our back garden.
