health care

I don't know quite enough about New Zealand's system to even begin to determine if it is better than the US, but there are some interesting points.

As far as I can understand, New Zealand has no-fault accident coverage. If I'm at McDonald's and I slip and fall, legally I am not allowed to sue McDonalds, because my health expenses are covered by the government.

Why that is good: You can't sue for so much money that it buys you that new truck. You wouldn't even have a case here.

Why that is bad: It removes the incentive to be safe and everyone has to pay for someone's accident regardless who is at fault.






On a side note about Medicare and Medicaid in the US:
For anyone that doesn't know, Medicare is health care for those over 64 or are permanently physically disabled (there are a couple more special cases). Medicaid is for people with low income (and other special cases).





Did you know that..
Medicare costs the US $554 billion per year and Medicaid cost $438 billion per year.
That total is $992 billion (a nice chunk of the total US budget).

Medicare and Medicaid pay about 57% of all patient bills for hospitals, doctors, drugs and other care. The government provides the majority of health care in the US.



There are approximately 45 million Americans with Medicare and 58 million with Medicaid. There are also about 6 million Americans enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid.

There are about 44 million Americans living in poverty.
There are about 40 million Americans over the age of 64.


Ok so according to the above numbers, Medicare covers an average of about $12,311.11 per person, per year. Medicaid covers an average of approximately $7551.72 per person, per year. That's about $1025 per month for Medicare and about $630 per month for Medicaid.


Since these programs are responsible for 57.6% of all health care payments and 97 million people are enrolled in these programs, we can assume that the remaining 215 million Americans are paying for 42.4% of the health care bills ($998 billion, since Medicaid is only partially funded by the federal government). That's an average of $4641.86 per person, per year.
That's about $387 per month.

So..
If you are on Medicare, you receive an average of $1025 per month for care.
If you are on Medicaid, you receive an average of $630 per month for care.
If you aren't, you pay an average of $387 per month for care (or your health insurance does)

Medicaid is mostly income based.
It is important to note that Medicaid is actually larger than noted above. The above figures are only what the federal government spends on Medicaid, which is about 57% of the total Medicaid amount (also state funded).
Medicaid currently assists nearly 60% of those in nursing homes.
And sadly, Medicaid currently covers about 37% of all childbirths in the US.

That tells me that at least 37% of people cannot afford to have a baby.


Today's lesson: condoms are cheaper than babies